Joanne pre-NYMHM: 26 Jan 2017

(1) Putin has manipulated the UK and the US into electing people who are, shall we say, inclined to view Putin’s policies positively.

Now Buzzfeed reports that Trump supporters are organizing a massive campaign of fake Facebook and Twitter users with fake diversity (“ideally young, cute girl, gay, Jew, basically anyone who isn’t supposed to be pro-[FN]”) to attack current French presidential frontrunner François Fillon and to make right-wing Marine Le Pen and the National Front (FN) seem more popular.

They’re coordinating to make hashtags they choose trend, and providing support so trolls can participate without actually speaking French.

They quote one of the trolls as saying there’s no Russian influence, but how much do you trust the judgement of people who are pro-fascist because it’s funny? I mean they don’t even have the courage of their convictions. And it doesn’t even matter, in a sense. It’s not like the FN will be anti-Putin.

Now, who are the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council? China, the UK, the US, the Russian Federation, and France.

(2)

“Aetna made its decision at least partially in response to a federal antitrust lawsuit blocking its proposed $37-billion merger with Humana. Aetna threatened federal officials with the pullout before the lawsuit was filed, and followed through on its threat once it was filed.”

U.S. judge finds that Aetna deceived the public about its reasons for quitting Obamacare,” LA Times.

(3) I’m frightened. “Donald Trump Will Publish A Weekly List Of Crimes Committed By Immigrants & We Should Have Seen This Coming,” Bustle.

(4) The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions has postponed the vote on Trump’s education pick Betsy DeVos. The hearing will now be held at 10 a.m. Jan. 31.

The Washington Post reports Ethics Director Walter M. Shaub Jr. says a full vetting of extremely wealthy individuals, such as DeVos, could take weeks, if not months, but her ethics information was only made available to Senators Friday.

[Note from the future: NYMHM grew out of these public posts from Joanne Merriam’s Facebook account. We retain them here in archives to provide a record going back to the beginning of Trump’s presidency.]