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Posted December 10, 2019 10:54:45

He's been the subject of alt-right conspiracy theories, labelled an "errand boy" for Hillary Clinton, even accused of being a leftist spy.

Australian diplomat Alexander Downer's warning to his US counterpart in London was the "tipping point" for an FBI probe into Russia's interference in the 2016 US election and, even now, may form part of impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.

Now, thanks to the release of a watchdog report, we know what he said.

It started with a night out at the Kensington Wine Room, a posh bar in London, in May 2016.

As Australia's High Commissioner to the UK, Mr Downer was meeting with a member of Mr Trump's campaign team, George Papadopoulos.

According to Mr Downer's account of the night, Papadopoulos revealed information about Russia's plans to interfere in the US election before the release of tens of thousands of emails authored by Mr Trump's opponent Hillary Clinton, a claim Papadopoulos has denied.

"[Papadopoulos] said one of the reasons [Trump would win] was that the Russians might release some information which could be damaging to Hillary Clinton," Mr Downer said previously.

In a diplomatic cable to Canberra, Mr Downer downplayed the significance of Papadopoulos' apparent prediction.

But when Wikileaks subsequently dumped the Clinton emails, Mr Downer requested a meeting about an "urgent matter" with his counterpart at the US Embassy in London.

A report by US Department of Justice inspector-general Michael Horowitz has today revealed exactly what the then-high commissioner said.

Referred to in the report only as a "friendly foreign government official", Mr Downer said that Papadopoulos "suggested the Trump team had received some kind of suggestion from Russia that it could assist this process with the anonymous release of information during the campaign that would be damaging to Mrs Clinton (and President Obama)."

Deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe characterised Mr Downer's statement as a "tipping point" in the July 2016 decision to open an investigation into Russia's attempts to interfere with the 2016 election.

"Because not only was there information that Russia was targeting US political institutions," the report states.

"Now the FBI had received an allegation from a trusted partner that there had been some sort of contact between the Russians and the Trump campaign."

The FBI's probe led to US special counsel Robert Mueller's two-year investigation into election meddling, which congressional democrats may now use as evidence that Mr Trump obstructed justice as they start drawing up articles of impeachment.

In short, Mr Downer's suggestion that the Trump campaign "received some kind of suggestion from Russia" set off a chain of events that, along with more recent claims about Ukraine, are likely to see Mr Trump impeached by the democrat-controlled House of Representatives and tried in the Senate.

It's no wonder Trump allies have gone after the former Australian foreign minister.

Many of the theories that spread in right-wing chatrooms originated with Papadopoulos himself. He has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that Mr Downer recorded their now-infamous wine bar meeting on his smartphone.

Papadopoulos and other Trump supporters often cite a theory that the intelligence services of several countries, including Australia, had a secret plan to disrupt Mr Trump's campaign.

Mr Papadopoulos served a 14-day prison sentence last year after admitting he had lied in a 2017 interview with the FBI, hindering their investigation.

The wild theories have made it all the way into the halls of power.

Republican senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch Trump supporter, gave credence to the tale, suggesting in October that Mr Downer was "directed" to seek a meeting with Papadopoulos.

He wrote that "US intelligence communities" accepted "information from an Australian diplomat who was also directed to contact Papadopoulos and relay information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation".

In a letter to Senator Graham, published on Twitter, US ambassador Joe Hockey rejected the assertion.

There were also claims that by reporting the matter directly to the US Embassy in London, Mr Downer did not go through the correct diplomatic channels.

Mr Graham even implied Australia might be working against Mr Trump by initially refusing to release the text of Mr Downer's report.

Today's report offered a 476-page deep-dive on the origins of the Mueller probe. Mr Downer's role as the "friendly foreign government" (FFG) official is scattered throughout, but the main focus is the FBI's propriety.

There's no criticism of Mr Downer or Australia's role, and it's conceivable that, had the inspector-general discovered wrongdoing, he would have found the space to mention it in such a sweeping report.

US Attorney-General William Barr told The Australian that Mr Downer "did the right thing in supplying that information; the FFG has acted at all times just as we would hope a close ally would".

"We are grateful that we have such friends," he said. "What was subsequently done with that information by the FBI presents a separate question."

Only time will tell whether the Australia/Downer conspiracy theories will fizzle out, starved of fuel.

In the meantime, Mr Trump's allies may find alternative sources of ammunition in the report's pages.

The inspector-general ultimately "did not find any documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivation influenced the FBI's decision to conduct these operations," which contradicts Mr Trump's 'witch hunt' narrative.

However, a substantial portion of the report criticises the FBI for failing to meet its own standards of accuracy and completeness in filing applications for surveillance into a member of the Trump campaign.

One low-ranking FBI lawyer may even face prosecution for altering a document related to FBI wiretaps.

Mr Trump described the report's findings as "a disgrace".

"It's far worse than I would've ever thought possible. It's an embarrassment to our country. It's dishonest."

A separate review is also underway, led by prosecutor John Durham, who was handpicked by the President's ally, Mr Barr.

In a rare statement, Mr Durham publicly said he disagreed with today's report, as did the Attorney-General.

The President says he is waiting for Mr Durham's report.

Topics:donald-trump,government-and-politics,world-politics,us-elections,united-states

Originally posted here:
How Alexander Downer set off a chain of events that may lead to Donald Trump's impeachment - ABC News

Is irony or despair the best way to process the news that real was the most used word on Tinder bios in 2019? People are constructing advertisements for their hearts on a platform where their face will be viewed by thousands of people for the fraction of a second it takes to totally reject them. All the while, they say things like Im real, or Im looking for something real or you better be real.

Tinder released a summary of all the data it collected from its users over the past year. And leaving out all of the creepy stuff it keeps tabs on like, your exact location when you get horny for attention and affection, what you do on other apps like Facebook and Instagram, and the exact phrasing of your awkward attempts at flirting with strangers and then sells to advertisers, it presented us with The Year in Swipe: What 2019 Taught Us About the Future of Dating.

And what does it tell us about dating? Other than its a hell we all acknowledge but cant seem to escape? The big revelations includes the fact that Generation Z someone please come up with a better name for this reference politics more than travel, probably because the generation includes those 24 or younger and most of them dont have any money at the moment. Believing in something is free, after all. And people like to spell out their particular dietary preferences, with kombucha, vegan, and avocado all increasing in usage from the previous year.

What that actually says about dating is that it is the same as it always was. People tend to date and mate with people who share the same political beliefs, so flashing AOC or RBGs initials on your profile, a very popular thing to do in 2019, is just a quick way to weed out all the alt-right or Trump supporters in the sea of daters. If you do fight on your first date, if a message on the app leads to a date which it most likely wont, its probably going to be about whether the Irishman was the most boring movie of the year. (I dont know, I think I lost consciousness for like an hour of it, nothing was happening. The Irishman is a profound study of a mans inability to participate in the intimacy... Date picks up their phone and starts texting.)

People also tend to date people with similar socioeconomic backgrounds, and food has become an easy way to determine which class you belong to, without just announcing your salary to all other Tinder users. Kombucha is about five or six times the price of a can of soda, avocado prices have almost doubled over the past year, and vegans tend to be more financially affluent than meat eaters. Food preferences then become a kind of class signifier, a nicer way of saying No poors, no fattys. And Ive seen language like that on the app a lot, but that will never make one of these surveys.

In other words, people couple (or throuple or whatever poly people do) up in the same way they have for generations, the app simply changes the way that coupling looks. A much more entertaining, and illuminating, survey of Tinder data might be how people actually experience the app. How many people experience soul death when they log into their accounts, how many people have been sexually assaulted by people they met through the app, how the whole format of Tinder creates obstacles to commitment or intimacy, how many unsolicited dick pics and harassing messages and emotional abuse people have to wade through on their journey to love.

But its the word real in an incredibly fake environment where you know the vast majority of people are using face-tuned selfies and photos from when they were five years younger and outright deception in their bios that gets to me. Real bios, real photos, real height if youre a man, unless you really are tall and hot and fascinating, are only going to get you discarded faster.

A few weeks after we met on Tinder, Nicols told me a friend ran an intervention on his Tinder bio. He wasnt getting much attention, and his wise female friend informed him that he was too honest about his belief in social justice, his experiences as an immigrant in the United States, his passion for soccer and jiu jitsu. He needed to tone it down. His profile, when I came across it, was much pared down. It kind of just said he liked coffee. He disclosed his height because that was frequently the first question women asked and he was tired of answering it over and over. He added a picture of himself with a cat.

And it worked. Flattening himself out into a couple of pictures taken at a flattering angle and saying he liked a thing that everyone likes got him more responses, and it got him the first interaction that led to an actual date. And it led to you and me, he said. Because two weeks after we met on Tinder, we were wed.

I didnt have the heart to tell him at the time that I didnt even read the part about him liking coffee. I thought he was hot, and I was looking for a one night stand and figured he would do. The fact that it worked out so well was due to all the ways that courtship has always worked: the mystery of chemistry, the discovery of shared values and political beliefs, and a love for David Fincher movies (always important for any relationship).

Love is and always will be a great, big puzzle. No amount of data analysis will ever reveal the mystery at the heart of it.

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Why are people on Tinder swiping right on Kombucha and 'realness'? - The Guardian

We should have known better. When the Brexit party was launched in a metal workshop just outside Coventry back in April, it looked like we were seeing a new Nigel Farage. A perma-tanned, more professional, healthier version of the boozy chancer who had hot-footed into the embrace of Donald Trump and the US alt-right chatshow circuit after leading Ukip into oblivion. The louder bigots and racists appeared to have been sidelined, to be replaced by leavers from the left and right who felt disenfranchised by the traditional parties and were ready to swear allegiance to King Nigel instead.

And when the Brexit party topped the polls in the European elections, helping to steer the Conservatives further to the right and toppling Theresa May in the process, it seemed that this time Farage might be here to stay. At least for a while. He was the one man who had the clout to keep the Tories even when led by someone as slippery as Boris Johnson honest in his tireless pursuit of a hard and damaging Brexit. A power behind the throne.

Yet we and his followers had all forgotten just one thing. The man himself. Because Nigels unique talent is to destroy everything he creates. He craves power but is unable to delegate or share it. People who disagree with him are cast out and crushed. Like Trump and Boris, he is a political narcissist who can see no further than his own reflection. He has no friends or equals. Only willing acolytes who are, from time to time, granted a slot as his warm-up act. Nigel makes the rules and Nigel changes them.

It was Nigel who chose not to stand as an MP in this election. Why bother when theres so much more money to be made elsewhere? It was Nigel who arbitrarily decided to stand down 317 Brexit party candidates, all of whom had paid 100 for the privilege, in Tory held seats. It was Nigel who oversaw his party plummet in the polls from 17% to 4%. It was Nigel who turned Nigel and the Nigel party into an irrelevance.

And now it was slowly dawning on some of his most faithful retainers that they had been had. No one would call Brexit MEPs Lance Forman, Lucy Harris, John Longworth and Annunziata Rees-Mogg the brightest kids on the block, but even they had finally decided to call it a day by holding a central London press conference in which they would call on any Brexit party supporters to vote Tory instead.

The spirit of Nigel lives on, though. So it was entirely fitting that the press conference was a total shitshow. First it was delayed for 20 minutes because a Brexit party spokesman chose to have a rival press conference denouncing the breakaway four in an adjacent room.

Youre all slags, shouted the spokesman.

Youre the slag, the scabs yelled back.

Who are you calling a slag, slags.

We could have been back in the Ukip days. Euphoric recall and all that. A member of the press offered to get both sides together for a spot of mediation and couples counselling, but no one could agree on where it should take place. So it was left to the not-nice-but-dim four to cope as best they could. As in badly. There really was no explaining why they were now backing Boriss Brexit deal that they had all described as a crock of a shit a few weeks ago. There again, they had all found a smidgeon of self-worth in finally finding a voice and standing up to Nigel, so I guess it was worth it. Baby steps and all that. Coherence might come later.

None of which was quite how Farage had envisaged his TV swansong in his interview with Andrew Neil. Then Nigels Last Stand was probably never going to end well, even if he hadnt self-immolated over the preceding six weeks. After all the one rule of an Andrew Neil interview is that Andrew Neil always wins. End of.

Youve barely got a walk-on part in this election, Neil said, his eyes barely open. Youre going nowhere. From the off, it sounded as if he was a bit bored. As if this really wasnt a good use of half an hour of his time. Several times he had to check his pulse to reassure himself he was actually still alive. He was like a cat toying with a limbless mouse. Disappointed not to be getting any real pushback, and only going through the motions out of professional instinct.

Not that Neil was acting out of pity. He doesnt do that. He cant access that emotion. Just that it was all too easy. Teasing Nigel over his numerous mis-steps, his idiotic immigration policies, Islamophobia, his stated desire to privatise the NHS and his apparent support for Donald Trumps right to talk about sexually assaulting whoever he liked. Youre going to end up with no MPs and could be remembered as the man who thwarted Brexit, he yawned. Nigel could do little but contradict himself, admit there was nothing he could do about Boris betraying Brexit and scarper out of the studio in search of a large Scotch and a revolver. Never to be seen again.

Neil only really came alive once Nigel had left. Then he addressed the camera and listed the questions of trust, propriety, Brexit and the NHS that he would like to ask Johnson if only the prime minister had the guts to be interviewed. Now that would be worth Neils time. Over in Downing Street, Boris quietly projectile vomited. It was the first honest thing he had done in weeks.

John Craces new book, Decline and Fail: Read in Case of Political Apocalypse, is published by Guardian Faber. To order a copy go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over 15, online orders only. Phone orders min. p&p of 1.99.

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A bad day for Farage as Brexit party MEPs realise they've been had - The Guardian

This editorial represents the opinion of the Dispatch editorial board, which includes the publisher, editor, editorial page editor and editorial writers. Editorials, like opinion columns, represent a particular viewpoint and are not to be confused with news stories.

Immigration has been President Donald Trumps signature issue since the start of his candidacy in 2015, so its not surprising that, of all the institutions that have been damaged and twisted by this toxic presidency, the U.S. immigration system might be the worst hit.

Thats not to say that it was in good shape before Trump. For decades, Congress has been unable to agree on how to effectively and humanely manage the ceaseless flow of people seeking better lives in the United States.

But the radical transformation of priorities and tactics under the 45th president has been truly shocking. And, disturbingly, the worst of it seems to be driven by the malignant views of one adviser: White House aide Stephen Miller, said to be obsessed with reducing immigration and known to favor the writings of white supremacists.

Millers influence has built a worse-than-ever backlog in U.S. Immigration Court. TRAC, a nonpartisan federal data research center at Syracuse University, reported recently that the backlog has nearly doubled since Trump took office and is now at nearly 1.1 million cases. In Ohio, 12,851 cases are pending, up from 6,184 in 2016.

Immigration courts have been underfunded for decades. Congress and presidents of both parties share blame for ramping up immigration enforcement spending far more than courts and thus feeding the backlog. But two Trump administration moves, besides being wrongheaded, have made things far worse.

In his first days in office, Trump declared that deportation actions no longer would be focused on illegal immigrants who have committed crimes; now, all those in the country illegally are of equal priority for deportation. It is both cruel and dangerous, not only ripping apart families who are living peacefully and productively but also spending scarce resources that should be focused on deporting bad guys instead upending innocent lives.

In May 2018, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions Millers onetime boss decreed that immigration judges no longer can dismiss cases administratively and ordered that thousands of previously closed cases be reopened.

Besides this maladministration, Miller reportedly was the driving force behind the decision to separate immigrant children from their parents at the border Trumps most outrageous immigration action to date. Now, Miller is determined to enact a rule that would deny permanent resident status to legal immigrants who have received any public benefits such as food stamps, Medicaid and Section 8 housing vouchers or who are deemed likely to ever need such help.

The rule has been blocked temporarily by a federal judge, who called it repugnant to the American Dream and said the administration offered no good reason for why the change is necessary.

Recently, emails from Miller, made public by a former editor of the alt-right website Breitbart, illustrate his seeming obsession with immigration, especially by nonwhites, as a threat to America. He spoke admiringly of President Calvin Coolidge for introducing discriminatory national-origin quotas that were aimed at keeping out Italians and Poles and now are viewed as bigoted.

There is plenty to debate about how to manage immigration, but Millers dark vision of a fearful fortress, closed to all but the already fortunate, is not the idea of America that most Americans cherish.

We can only hope that the better vision of America as a refuge from oppression survives until the Trump administration is history.

Continued here:
Editorial: America is not the bigoted fortress of Stephen Millers vision - The Columbus Dispatch

Richard Collins III, left, and Sean UrbanskiPhoto: U.S. Army, University of Maryland Police Department (AP, File)

Jury selection will begin today in the trial of Sean Urbanski, the Maryland man accused of fatally stabbing Bowie State University student Richard Collins III at a bus stop on the University of Maryland campus two years ago. The 23-year-old Collins was a freshly-commissioned U.S. Army lieutenant just days away from graduating.

Urbanski will be tried for first-degree murder and a state hate crime charge, which could bring him life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted. As WJZ-TV reports, the trial for the high-profile crime has already been delayed four times.

What wont be contested at the trial is the fact that Urbanski killed Collins on May 20, 2017. What prosecutors will try to prove in the next two weeks is that Urbanski killed Collins because he was black.

From the Washington Post:

The surveillance video of the stabbing is clear, according to prosecutors: Sean Urbanski stands in the shadows before approaching a group of three college students at a University of Maryland bus stop. He walks past another man, who, like Urbanski, is white. He bypasses an Asian woman. And then he confronts the only black person in the group.

To persuade a jury, prosecutors will point to the fact that he singled out the sole black person at the bus stop that night, as well as to the contents of his phone, which they say contains evidence of his racist beliefsracist memes, as well as posts on the now-deleted Facebook group Alt-Reicht: Nation.

Between Christmas Day 2016 and April 18, 2017, Urbanski interacted with content that included the image of a noose and a gun or with material that referred to black DNA or racist jokes, according to a judges description of the images detailed at a pretrial hearing for Urbanski.

Prosecutors are also expected to present 911 calls from eyewitnesses, who are also scheduled to testify, and recordings of more than a dozen phone calls Urbanski made from jail, WTOP reports.

Urbanskis defense team, meanwhile, says their client was out-of-his-mind drunk when he stabbed Collins, the Post reports: Eight hours after he was arrested in Collinss slaying, his attorneys said, Urbanski showed a blood alcohol concentration of .10, higher than the legal limit in Maryland of .08.

They also say Urbanski was never a member of the alt-right. Not only was Alt-Reicht not officially affiliated with any far-right groups, they add that the Facebook group was intended to be satirical.

Urbanskis fate will likely rely on what a jury thinks of the material on his phone, and whether they will be willing to dismiss months worth of content and exchanges that suggest Urbanski is racist. According to WTOP, the FBI declined to press charges against Urbanski for a federal hate crime, deeming there wasnt enough evidence to warrant the charges (the maximum sentence for a federal hate crime is the death penalty). Urbanskis defense did try to offer a plea deal for second-degree murder, but prosecutors held firm on the first-degree charge.

Jurors will be allowed to consider finding Urbanski guilty of second-degree murder or manslaughter. Opening arguments are slated to begin Wednesday.

The rest is here:
Hate-Crime Trial Begins in Killing of Black Student on University of Maryland Campus - The Root