Mediaboss Marketing

Eric Holder posts cryptic 3amtweet by thegrio | July 1, 2017 at 10:40 AM

The Wall Street Journal published an article on Thursday that added a new dimension to the Trump-Russia probe.

The main point of the article was how a now dead Republican operative named Peter Smith, tried to get his hands on the stolen Hillary Clinton emails, possibly at the request of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.

The most important part of the article is where it says that the operation Smith described is consistent with information that has been examined by U.S. investigators probing Russian interference in the elections.

The article got the attention of many lawmakers with some of them taking to Twitter to share their thoughts.

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif) tweeted, Hmmm, would this explain why @RealDonaldTrump worked so hard to try to get FBI to drop Flynn investigation?

California hires Eric Holder as legal defense against DonaldTrump

But hours later it was former Attorney General Eric Holder who sent the most memorable if cryptic tweet.

To the career men & women at DOJ/FBI: your actions and integrity will be unfairly questioned. Be prepared, be strong. Duty. Honor. Country.

Unfortunately, Smith is now dead which will hamper the investigation where he is concerned. But if intelligence reports are correct, then Flynn, who we know has asked for immunity, would be a valuable asset.

He would be able to tell investigators if Trump has anything to do with what went on.

We will have to wait and see how it all plays out but one thing is assured, it wont be boring.

See the article here:
Eric Holder posts cryptic 3am tweet - The Grio

In the aftermath of Travis Kalanicks ouster as CEO of ride-sharing behemoth Uber, Silicon Valley is grappling with an age-old management question. Namely: Do business leaders need to be nice?

In the opinion of former US attorney general Eric Holder, the answer would seem to be yes. After Holder was hired to investigate sexual harassment allegations at the company, he diagnosed the underlying issues responsible for the scandals that have slammed the brakes on Ubers potential. Holder suggests that Ubers problems can, in part, be traced directly back to its 14 cultural values, which praise the virtues of Toe-Stepping and Principled Confrontation.

In light of the companys recent scandals, those values might seem a tad harshmaybe even malicious. But those same values also really do lead to success for a lot of truly innovative companies and the leaders who run them. What the Uber debacle has shown us is not that good leaders must be niceonly that they must be respectful. There is a difference.

Personality research shows that people score high on the personality trait of agreeablenessthose kind souls who go out of their way to not step on peoples toes and shy away from directly confronting other peopleare less likely to challenge existing rules and violate expectations about how things are supposed to be done. Given this resistance to conflict, its not surprising that agreeable people are also less likely to successfully bring creative innovations to life. And so turning Ubers cultural values into a list of rules befitting of a kindergarten classroom might protect the company legally, but kill them strategically. Kalanicks earlier success at Uber proves that prickly people can actually be great entrepreneurs.

At the same time, too many entrepreneurs and innovators continue to fall prey to the Steve Jobs myththe idea that some people are just so brilliant that they dont need to concern themselves with others feelings, and that innovation and rudeness necessarily go hand in hand. The fall of Ubers leadership team is evidence that the ghost of Steve Jobs is still haunting many start-ups. Like all pervasive myths, there is a grain of truth to it. Innovators and entrepreneurs do need to be willing to swim against the current. If they care too much about what other people thinkand by extension, what other people feelthey will have a harder time firing employees who arent good at their jobs, or giving tough feedback to an engineering team thats on the wrong track.

But what is often overlooked is the fact that the qualities of a great leader and a great innovator are not necessarily the same. Its okay for innovators to be jerks. But its almost impossible for a CEO to act callously toward people and still be an effective, transformational leader.

The best transformational leaders have high levels of agreeableness. It is what helps CEOs and other leaders build cohesive teams. And even though the personality trait of agreeableness has a negative relationship with successful innovation, the link is a weak one. There are plenty of successful innovators who arent jerks. Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn, and Shantanu Narayen of Adobe all have an impressive 95% or higher approval rating from their companys employees. The best transformational leaders have high levels of agreeableness.

There are basically four different kinds of leader in an innovative company. Some leaders are brilliant innovators, but not particularly good at inspiring their colleagues. Others are effective leaders, but not especially innovative in their thinking or practices. Some leaders (the worst ones) are both poor managers and unimaginative thinkers. And some people are innovative leaders who both excel at innovative thinking and inspire people to follow their lead.

Innovative

Unimaginative

Of course, charismatic, innovative leaders are ideal CEOs. But they are also a rare species. And so companies wind up with leaders from all four categories, including a fair number of brilliant assholes.

Its unrealistic to expect that the Uber debacle will inspire a wave of niceness throughout Silicon Valleys high-flying startups. So long as a leader is producing quality work, they are unlikely to be reprimandedlet alone get fired. Ubers board and investors didnt seem to care that much about its rude and misogynistic culture, or Kalanicks brash management style, until the companys performance began to plummet. At the end of the day, the bottom line is still the key measure of quality and performance in virtually all businesses.

What Ubers mess has done, however, is highlight the distinction between being nice and being respectful. Insulting someones ideas or even their intelligence is not a nice thing to do. But its very different from, say, openly propositioning a subordinate for sex, or allowing ones employees to do the same. Innovators sometimes need to step on peoples toes, but they dont get to violate other peoples rights.

In the end, Kalanicks firing is unlikely to cause a revolution in the culture of management in Silicon Valley or anywhere else. But leaders would be wise to learn from his downfall, and begin thinking deeply about the difference between being outspoken and being out of line.

Follow Nick on Twitter. Learn how to write for Quartz Ideas. We welcome your comments at ideas@qz.com.

Continued here:
The scientific explanation for why so many CEOs act like jerks - Quartz

Former Attorney General Eric Holder is the latest former Obama administration official to turn to social media to oppose the Senate Republican healthcare bill.

"McConnell/@realDonaldTrump: who do you stand with on health care?," Holder tweeted Monday night. "The average guy or the wealthy? You're taking care away from millions-why?

Former President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic nominee for president and former secretary of state, have already posted their own statements opposing the healthcare bill, which would repeal and replace parts of Obamacare.

The Senate healthcare bill would insure 22 million fewer people than Obamacare at the end of a decade and would reduce the deficit by $321 billion, according to an analysis published Monday by the Congressional Budget Office.

After the release of the CBO score, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said lawmakers would "soon take action" on the legislation.

So far, at least five senators want changes in exchange for their support.

Read the original post:
Eric Holder blasts Senate Republican healthcare bill - Washington Examiner

Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images

First, a prayer.

Dear Black Jesus,

If you are listening. I apologize for the chewing gum I stole from Mrs. Jeffersons purse when I was in third grade. I was selfish back then. Also, I want to be clear that I forgive you for allowing one of Satans babies to govern the continental United States. Now that we are even, please let this Eric Holder for 2020 thing actually be real. Also, let this really happen, and in doing so, stop Joe Biden from talking about what he wouldve done but ultimately didnt do. Rap with you later. Your humble servant,

Steve

I cant lie; I have no idea what Eric Holders platform would be or whether hed actually be a good president, but when you consider that a junior senator from Chicago, by way of Hawaii, was also once this guy with little political experience and that worked out quite well, then Im all for a Holder presidency!

Look, Holder is like the rest of America who didnt vote for Russia to be all in the videos (Suge Knight voice). On Monday, Holder told Yahoo! News that hes ready to push his career to the forefront, with sources telling Yahoo! that Holder is thinking of running for president in 2020.

Up to now, I have been more behind-the-scenes, Holder said. But thats about to change. I have a certain status as the former attorney general. A certain familiarity as the first African-American attorney general. Theres a justified perception that Im close to President [Barack] Obama. So I want to use whatever skills I have, whatever notoriety I have, to be effective in opposing things that are, at the end of the day, just bad for the country.

Now is the time to be more visible, Holder continued. Now is the time to be heard.

Holder was a laid-back, mild-mannered attorney general during his tenure with the Obama administration.

I thought, frankly, along with everybody else, that after the election, with Hillary Clinton as president, I could walk off the field, he told Yahoo! So when she didnt win, I thought, Well have to see how this plays out. But it became clear relatively soonand certainly sooner than I expectedthat I had to get back on the field and be in effective opposition.

So this could mean a run for the White House, and I know its a long shot, but I also know that Holder kicks it with the Obamas, and even if they just come over and hang in the White House and play Scattergories, Ill take it.

Read more at Yahoo! News.

Read this article:
Eric Holder May Run for the White House in 2020 - The Root

In the wake of Tuesday night's hope-crushing defeat of House candidate Jon Ossoff in Georgia's special congressional runoff election, the Democratic Party is once again casting about for the ideal political archetype in this fallen, Trumpified world of ours. As fate would have it, Yahoo News floated a suggestion just hours before Ossoff's rebuke: "Eric Holder joins the anti-Trump resistance and mulls a presidential campaign of his own." From the article:

"Up to now, I have been more behind-the-scenes," Holder told Yahoo News in an exclusive interview about his plans. "But that's about to change. I have a certain status as the former attorney general. A certain familiarity as the first African-American attorney general. There's a justified perception that I'm close to President Obama. So I want to use whatever skills I have, whatever notoriety I have, to be effective in opposing things that are, at the end of the day, just bad for the country.[...]

"If opposition is to be the courseand it must bewe must recognize and remember that the power of the American people has been too often underestimated. Once roused we are a mighty force."

Feeling the Holder yet?

About the best thing you can say about Barack Obama's longtime attorney general and self-described "wingman" is that he's not Jeff Sessions, and that in the final two years of his tenure he started taking tentative steps in the direction of long-overdue criminal justice reform (this after four years of cracking down hard on medical marijuana, among other unwoke practices). But as flawed as Holder is, he slots almost uncannily well into the odd and off-putting place the modern Democratic Party finds itself in, as the two-party pendulum swings away from Trumpism yet with little noticeable enthusiasm for the fast-approaching #resistance fighters on the left.

In how many ways is Eric Holder the ideal candidate for the Democratic Party, if not the rest of America? I count at least three:

1) He's intolerant of Republicans. Forget Hillary Clinton's half-hearted "basket of deplorables," which after all only accounted for "half of Trump's supporters" (and for which she later issued a tepid regret)Holder has suggested just flat banning Republicans from respectable venues of discourse.

Three days after the election, the federal government's former chief law enforcement officer was the lead guest on HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher, and beginning at about 5:40 in this clip went on a remarkable tear against Maher's tendency to invite onto his program Republicans such as Rep. Darrell Issa:

Holder: The one thing I didn't like about your show, given all the crap I had to deal with him, I had to watch your show and then see him up here, you know.

Maher: Well, you know...

Holder: Ban him!

Maher: Uh, no, that'swe can't do it that way. Come on. We have to come together, we have to listen to both sides.

Holder: Not in this new world we have. We push our side!

"We push our side" fits snugly into the post-Ossoff lefty punditry just flat writing off Republicans as irredeemable. "This not a failure of Democrats," as one wrote, "but toxic, vindictive voters willing to elect hateful bigots." Republicans don't need tough love, they need tougher hate. Send Eric!

2) He's a Deep Stater. In an era where former CIA/Goldman Sachs employee Evan McMullin is getting thunderous liberal ovations (except when suggesting that maybe the authoritarian tendencies of this presidency are cause to at least question the size and scope of government), and where Vox is running headlines such as "The FBI is America's best hope against Trump," what better candidate than a guy who spent 12 years in the Justice Department, five years as a Superior Court judge, four years as U.S. Attorney, and four years as deputy attorney general, before elevating to Justice Department's top slot (with some hot Wall Street action on the side)? We need authority to rid ourselves of authoritarianism, people!

Holder has the kind of record that would be routinely portrayed as problematic if attached to the letter R. As Nick Gillespie pointed out in 2013, not only did the then-A.G. "sign off on the search warrant for Fox News's James Rosen's personal emails, he is at the center of questions over the state's broad surveillance of the AP, an operation that has raised hackles across the political spectrum regarding First Amendment issues and civil-liberties concerns." But hey, that was back before the nation slipped into true darkness. Speaking of which...

Media Research Center3) He's a hypocrite about the attorney general's independence from the presidency. The same man who while still in office referred to Barack Obama as "my boy" is now furrowing his brow about (in this Buffalo News paraphrase) "whether current Attorney General Jeff Sessions will be able to put aside a political relationship with President Trump and work with some independence from him." Do tell.

Holder, lest we forget, was officially held in contempt by Congress (including by 17 Democrats) for refusing to divulge documents to an oversight committee looking into the Fast and Furious scandal. As attorney generals tend to do, he performed the liver function in the body of the Obama administration, filtering out whatever toxic Republican accusations were thrown its way. (Hence his particular ire for Issa, who was always poking around Holder's business via oversight committees.)

In the political spot-changing season that comes every time the keys to 1600 Pennsylvania switch hands, Capitol Hill anxiety about the A.G.'s independence from POTUS has gone from a fringe Democratic opinion to an urgent national priority. When Obama's wingman left office, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) gushed, "I hate to see Eric Holder leave....I've been here throughout with a lot of attorneys general. Nobody's done it better than he has." Leahy was considerably less hospitable to the arrival of Jeff Sessions:

I am concerned that the independence of the Justice Department will be in jeopardy under this administration. It is already clear that the cost of saying "no" to the president is your job. Now more than ever, we need an Attorney General willing to pay that cost. I am not convinced that describes Senator Sessions. Throughout his nomination, he has not demonstrated the independence that he himself once demanded of nominees.

Eric Holder dutifully hates the Electoral College. He thinks Trumpism represents "the worst of us." He has greased the revolving door between Washington and Wall Street as well as anybody. He may just be the perfect 2017 Democrat.

"[P]lease let this 'Eric Holder for 2020' thing actually be real," Stephen A. Crockett Jr. prayed over at The Root. After all, nothing says #resistance like getting behind the former chief prosecutor in all the land. "Whatever he decides his new role would be," wrote Essence's Malaika Jabali, "Holder's legal expertise and public platform defending civil rights are sorely needed now, as the President has become intent on undoing practically all of the progressive gains of Obama's administration."

Reason on Eric Holder here.

Go here to see the original:
3 Reasons Why Eric Holder Is the Perfect Presidential Candidate for ... - Reason (blog)