Trump’s Buddies
Two former Twitter employees accused of spying for Saudi Arabia
Washington, DC (CNN Business)— Federal prosecutors accused two former Twitter employees of spying on behalf of Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.
Ali Alzabarah, a Saudi national, and Ahmad Abouammo, a US citizen, allegedly used their access at the social media giant to gather sensitive and nonpublic information on dissidents of the Saudi regime, the Justice Department said in a criminal complaint.
The case, unsealed in San Francisco federal court, underscores the efforts by the Saudi government to control anti-regime voices abroad. It also recalls a move reportedly directed by the country’s controversial leader to weaponize online platforms against critics like Jamal Khashoggi.
Mohammad bin Salman takes care of critics with the same techniques used by Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un, Xi Jinping, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan – hunt them down and take them out. Trump envies all of them and wants to join the “club”.
15 comments
Unsurprising. Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud owns at least 5.2% of Twitter shares since 2011. I tweeted about it over a year ago & warned that the content was being filtered & certain tweets were being rapidly deleted & accounts were being banned or blocked. Twitter blamed a technical glitch, of course.
This Saudi prince now owns more of Twitter than Jack Dorsey does
I figured I’d post this tweet of mine here, instead of messing up another thread. You’ve probably heard about this by now and was not at all surprised.
https://twitter.com/Kryten_42/status/1193801669982580736
The Lieutenant Colonels Vindman will both be released from their White House duty and return to the Pentagon for reassignment. They were seconded, and Aleksandr, who testified, needs to get back to an infantry assignment or attend the War College if he wants to make Colonel, while Evgenie will return to a JAG assignment. The problem for Trump is that Aleksandr reported the problem up his chain of commend, as he was required to do, and testified in response to a subpoena. He did his duty, and the military knows it. Trump seriously hurt his standing with the military by screwing over the Kurds in Syria. Following on his decision to attend a parade in New York City, rather than a Veterans Day service at Arlington, he keeps antagonizing the military and using the troops as a photo op backdrop.
You buy the media and control message. It works for Murdock and the Saudis.
Agree about Aleksandr & Evgenie. I think they will land on their feet. They don’t strike me as fools.
Speaking of Murdoch… I tweeted this the day before my comment & your reply above. Seems it’s not working so well for him lately. 😉 😀
https://twitter.com/Kryten_42/status/1193237370184683520
(Apologies for the delay, my new enemy, Hay Fever, hit me hard this week. Lot of smoke, seeds & pollen about. Still trying to get to grips with it. I never realized how debilitating it can get.)
On another note… I’m thinking of taking a time out from Twitter. Maybe permanently. I’m starting to feel as I did towards the end of Loaded Mouth. Exhausted. Especially knowing that I’m just “Preaching to the Converted” (or those just wanting to get their follower numbers up). 🤷🏾♂️ We’ll see. You know I’ve never been a fan of any “me too” club, but at least I’ve been able to give some info that wasn’t generally known by some of my followers the past 4 years, so there’s that I guess. 🤷🏾♂️
I visited “Sadly, No!” earlier this week and noticed the last post was a year ago. Do you know it’s still maintained or in hiatus? Just curious. I check some of the old blogs now & then. 🙂
Take care Bryan, stay safe m8!
I had to move “Sadly, No!” to the On Vacation list. Blogger burnout after trying to keep up for years and have a job for the hosting fees.
Yes, Twitter has become very tribal, and you can’t get into a serious discussion with people anymore. I have had a few conservatives hang around here, but they just can’t deal with facts. As noted by many – you are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own “facts”. I have no problem with discussing opinions, but there’s no need to be an asshole about it. As a result things fracture into tribes. In the old days on Usenet you could have rip-roaring discussions on all sorts of topics, but you would be shunned if you got “ugly”.
Rupert sold off the entertainment side of the corporation to the Mouse, so it is no wonder that what is left is not making money. The advertising demographics aren’t there and the prime time line up on Fox News keeps shedding advertisers by insulting large groups of consumers.
The Pollen dies down during the summer and comes back in the fall. The bushfires are probably stirring up a lot things and carrying aloft with the smoke. Allergies are a real PITA, especially when we didn’t have them when we were younger. A good air cleaner helps.
I’d guess you’ve seen this somewhere, but just in case not:
Alexander Vindman’s Family Under 24-Hour Security Monitoring After Twitter Targeting By Trump
My Tweet (if curious):
https://twitter.com/Kryten_42/status/1197168398376951809
And this (complete non-surprise):
Nikki Haley Used System for Unclassified Material to Send ‘Confidential’ Information
My Tweet:
https://twitter.com/Kryten_42/status/1197171368741048320
Yeah. Another day, another stench of hypocrisy & stupidity from the GOP WH & it’s appointees.🙄🤷♂️
The rumor is that LtC Vindman and family may be moved into base housing for security reasons. Trump paints targets on people and refuses to take any responsibility for his actions. FYI: there’s is nothing to indicate that Vindman even votes. Many military officers and senior NCOs don’t vote to avoid any appearance of political bias.
The regular email system at the State Department leaks like a sieve. Hillary Clinton’s server was much better protected than the standard State Department system. I can’t believe that Haley doesn’t have a decent encrypted chat app on her cell to contact the IT help desk and get a temporary password for the encrypted system. Who the hell briefs the State Department on comsec?
It looks like Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland has decided he doesn’t want to go to jail [like Roger Stone and Michael Cohen] protecting Trump. After today, Trump is a candidate for a heart attack or stroke. With his diet, lack of exercise, and excess weight, I’m not surprised he makes unscheduled trips to the emergency room on Saturdays.
Stay safe. Those fires must make this one of, if not the worse years for bushfires you have had.
“The regular email system at the State Department leaks like a sieve.” — That did make me laugh! 😆 😆 Because the same was also true for most US Gov. Agencies comm’s systems back when I was working with DIO. I think I told you some years ago that when our new Boss asked who to speak too about something the USA was up to, we said “The Soviets” almost in unison (with one saying Chinese, it was either/or! I just found the Sov’s to be much easier to deal with. They looooved sticking it too the USA more than China did then. And obviously, still do.
This should make your day… I’m 😆 😆 about this too (we predicted it). 😉 From ABC News (USA):
House Intelligence Committee in possession of video, audio recordings from Giuliani associate Lev Parnas
Synchronized posting strikes again.
The US government has replaced its technical employees with contractors. The contracts are for 5 years, which results in a lack of continuity. The last “IT professional” that I interacted with on the local base had a degree in chemical engineering and a college user’s level of experience with software and no experience with hardware. These are the type of people who neither know about or understand the importance of patching the system’s software and firmware. This is the system that gave the US government Edward Snowden and Reality Winner.
Lev owes Trump nothing and will do everything necessary to reduce his sentence.
Mohammad bin Salman … Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un, Xi Jinping, and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan … Trump envies all of them and wants to join the “club”.
fortunately, for now, none of them, not even putin, seems to really want to let trump into their club. not sure how long we can count on that though.
The US government has replaced its technical employees with contractors.
and not just its IT employees, either, but all kinds of useful, knowledgeable, dedicated employees who thought it was their purview to work for we the people. nor is this limited to just the federal govt, state and local govts do too much of this too.
The regular email system at the State Department leaks like a sieve.
i’m not entirely opposed to that. they are, after all, the ambassadorial, diplomatic, “good cop” side of the govt. if they feel the need to resort to nefarious or secret back channel ways of getting stuff done, it should be difficult and unusual for them to pull it off. we’ve got enough other departments invested with the tools and powers to do that (most of them now mostly infested with contractors, too, unfortunately).
Hillary Clinton’s server was much better protected than the standard State Department system.
yes, but we can’t someone who is both female and democrat be seen as actually competent or anything. /s
Hiya hipparchia! 👋 I hope all is well with you. 😀
Seems pretty much all the current International players have something they can blackmail Don the con with. Here’s the latest two (I haven’t been able to vet these yet. But neither would surprise me.
Kushner Implicated In Khashoggi Murder In New Report
Drat! I lost the link for the 2nd one. Basically, the Exec. Branch told Gov. agencies that they could get funding & spend it on anything they wanted without Congressional approval or oversight (paraphrasing).
Though… There was some *good* news… 😉 The GOP finally win a first (and Twitter finally obeys it’s TOS, setting a precedent) :O
Republican running to challenge Rep. Ilhan Omar has Twitter account permanently suspended
The challenger to Rep. Omar has a bit of difficulty remembering to pay for purchases in stores and can’t remember that death threats are prohibited in the Twitter TOS even if you are a Republican politician.
Kushner is dependent on Gulf loans to stay afloat, so being involved in MBS’s schemes wouldn’t be surprising. It is known that Trump doesn’t think that he is prevented from spending Federal money on anything he decides to do. He refuses to accept that Congress controls the “purse”.
Like Kushner, Trump needs loans to stay afloat, and he can’t afford to piss off the people bankrolling his companies. North Korea is the odd man out. Kim is in worse financial shape than Trump, so it makes no sense to suck up to Kim, unless it is something Vlad wants him to do.
hi, kryten! our local hurricane season is finally over (officially, at least) so I’m a happy camper at the moment!
That’s good to hear hipparchia! We are still in the midst of an early fire season (started about 6 weeks earlier than is usual). Sydney (Capitol of NSW) is currently *surrounded* by fires (everywhere bar the coastal side of course). Unfortunately, most of the cretins in Gov. that reduced funds to fire/forest services & constantly deny “Climate Change” live on the coastal side, of course. I’m hoping for a tsunami or major Earthquake… 🤷♂️🙄
It sounds like people are getting a bit annoyed with Morrison & Co. about the lack of climate change awareness and bushfire preparation. (based on ABC reporting).