March 12, 2018


News and Views


YES, I'VE BEEN EXPECTING SOMETHING ABOUT THIS. ALL THAT "DEAL-MAKING" IS PROBABLY UNETHICAL RATHER THAN HONEST. THERE IS ALSO THE LURID AND DISGUSTING TAPE OF THE TWO PROSTITUTES TITILLATING SOMEONE -- TRUMP HIMSELF, PERHAPS?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/vladmir-putin-has-something-donald-trump-news-anchor-megyn-kelly-interview-a8250446.html#spark_watch_next
News anchor who recently interviewed Vladimir Putin believes he 'has something' on Donald Trump
'I think there’s a very good chance Putin knows some things about Donald Trump that Mr Trump does not want repeated publicly'
Jeff Farrell March 11, 2018

WASHINGTON — Despite unrelenting criticism from the White House on the course of the investigation into Russia's election interference, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Monday offered unqualified support for special counsel Robert Mueller.

"The special counsel is not an unguided missile," Rosenstein said in an exclusive interview with USA TODAY. "I don't believe there is any justification at this point for terminating the special counsel."

Rosenstein's remarks are among the first to address Mueller's status since it was disclosed more than a month ago that President Trump sought to have the special counsel dismissed last summer. The president relented only when White House counsel Donald McGahn threatened to resign if forced to carry out the directive.

The deputy attorney general, who is tasked with overseeing the special counsel, appointed Mueller last May to run the wide-ranging investigation after Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself because of his prior contacts with Russia Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Appearing upbeat and at ease in his fourth-floor office, Rosenstein said oversight of the inquiry requires only "a fraction" of his daily work. He estimated that less than 5% of his week is related to briefings or other matters involving Mueller's investigation.

He dismissed the near-constant and pointed criticism aimed at the Justice Department from the White House and from an ultra-conservative Tea Party Patriots group. The group has run an ugly ad campaign, describing Rosenstein as "a weak careerist" and suggesting that he tender his own resignation.

"I believe much of the criticism will fall by the wayside when people reflect on this era and the Department of Justice," said Rosenstein, who did not refer to Trump directly. "I'm very confident that when the history of this era is written, it will reflect that the department was operated with integrity."

Confident in his job
Of his own job status, Rosenstein appeared both secure and pragmatic in the unpredictable age of Trump.

"I feel very confident in my ability to do the job," he said. "In any political job, you recognize that your time is going to be limited. My goal is to get as much done for as long as I'm here in the job.

More: Ex-Trump aide Sam Nunberg calls Mueller subpoena request 'ridiculous'

"And when my time is up, whenever that may be, I'm confident that I'm going to be able to look back proudly on the work our department has done while I've been fortunate enough to be here."

Rosenstein did invoke Trump's name when he referred to the Justice Department's so-far signature campaign aimed at reducing crime, while pushing for harsher punishments in cases involving violent crime. He said the department was responding to the priorities laid out by the president, while "restoring" the authority of federal prosecutors and other law enforcement officials to bring homicides down across the country after two years of increases.

Rosenstein also referred to the department's effort against the scourge of opioid addiction, with Justice recently pledging to pursue manufacturers.

"Most of the work goes unheralded and un-criticized," he said, adding that his work is focused in "implementing the priorities of the president and the attorney general."

Comey's dismissal increased pressure
The deputy attorney general first emerged as a central figure in the tumultuous first months of the Trump administration when the White House disclosed that Rosenstein and Sessions had recommended the May dismissal of FBI Director James Comey.

Later that month, Rosenstein announced the appointment of Mueller to oversee the continuing inquiry into Russia's interference in the 2016 election, igniting Trump's bitter campaign against his own Justice Department.

The criticism only seems to escalate with the announcement of every new indictment in an inquiry that has snared — among others — Trump's former national security adviser, former campaign and deputy campaign chief.

"Ignore the media," Rosenstein says he tells his worried children. "They know I'm here to do the right thing."
"Ignore the media," Rosenstein says he tells his worried children. "They know I'm here to do the right thing." (Photo: Jarrad Henderson, USA TODAY)

The decision to appoint Mueller fell to Rosenstein after Sessions' recusal in March. Two months later, Rosenstein called the appointment of a special counsel "necessary in order for the American people to have full confidence in the outcome."

"Our nation is grounded on the rule of law and the public must be assured that government officials administer the law fairly," Rosenstein said in May. "Special Counsel Mueller will have all appropriate resources to conduct a thorough and complete investigation, and I am confident that he will follow the facts, apply the law and reach a just result."

Although Trump continues to refer to the inquiry as a "witchhunt" and has leveled bitter criticism against the leadership of Rosenstein and Sessions at Justice, the deputy attorney general has not wavered from his support of Mueller.

"I can assure you that the special counsel is conducting himself consistently with our understanding of the scope of the investigation," Rosenstein told a House panel in December, before offering a stirring defense of the special counsel's credibility.

"I think it would be very difficult to find anybody better qualified for this job...I believe that, based upon his reputation, his service, his patriotism, his experience with the department and the FBI, he was an ideal choice for this task."

Rosenstein acknowledged Monday that the work is sometimes difficult in the face of constant scrutiny.

He also conceded that the public nature of his job, traditionally carried out in near-anonymity, was un-expected.

"I anticipated that this would be a lower-profile job," he said.

Still, Rosenstein said he wouldn't trade places with any of his predecessors, including those who served during Watergate and more recently during the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

"It's inevitable that the deputy attorney general will get caught up in matters that are the subject of public controversy."

“We need to do what we believe is right based on the facts and the law,” he said. “To the extent we get any criticism from any side, we need to set that aside. That can’t influence us in our decision making.”

Explaining that criticism to his two teenage children is another matter.

“No offense,” Rosenstein said, referring to the reporter sitting across from him, “ignore the media. They know I’m here to do the right thing.”



“... WE HAVE THOROUGHLY INVESTIGATED THE AGREED-UPON PARAMETERS....” I WONDER IF ANY DEMOCRATIC ISSUES WERE INCLUDED IN THE “AGREED UPON” MATTERS FOR INVESTIGATION. SEE REP SHIFF’S COMMENTS. CBS STATES THAT TODAY’S TRUMP-PUTIN REPORT FROM THE REPUBLICANS IN THE HOUSE, A TOTALLY CLEAN BILL OF HEALTH FOR TRUMP. YOU KNOW IT!

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-intel-committee-finishes-its-russia-probe-interviews/
By OLIVIA VICTORIA GAZIS CBS NEWS March 12, 2018, 6:02 PM
House Intel Committee finishes its Russia probe interviews, finds "no collusion"

Photograph -- Rep. Mike Conaway on Capitol Hill on May 23, 2017, in Washington, D.C. DREW ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES
FILE: WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 23: Rep. Mike Conaway (R-TX), now leading the House Intelligence investigation after Devin Nunes was forced to recuse himself, arrives for a hearing featuring former Director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) John Brennan at the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on Capitol Hill, May 23, 2017 in Washington, DC. DREW ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES

WASHINGTON -- Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee announced Monday that they found no evidence of collusion between members of the Trump campaign and Russia as they announced the completion of the interview phase of the committee's year-long investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

"We have found no evidence of collusion, coordination, or conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russians," said a one-page summary of the committee's findings, which Democrats on the committee immediately criticized.

The summary document also says the report includes "concurrence with the Intelligence Community's Assessment's judgments, except with respect to Putin's supposed preference for candidate Trump."

That assessment, issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence last January, said with "high confidence" that President Vladimir Putin and the Russian government "developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump," and sought to help his election chances.

"After conducting 73 witness interviews, holding nine hearings and briefings, and reviewing over 300,000 documents, we are confident that we have thoroughly investigated the agreed-upon parameters, and developed reliable initial findings and recommendations," said Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, who has been leading the investigation.

Democrats have said the number of witnesses is closer to 60, and pointed out that the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is carrying out a parallel investigation, had interviewed more than one hundred witnesses as of October 2017.

Republicans will share their 150-page draft report with the committee's Democratic minority on Tuesday. As of Monday afternoon, Democrats were not informed that the committee had completed all of its interviews or intended to end its investigation.

In a blistering statement, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the committee, called the shutdown of the investigation "premature" and "another tragic milestone for this Congress."

"By ending its oversight role in the only authorized investigation in the House, the Majority has placed the interests of protecting the President over protecting the country, and history will judge its actions harshly," Schiff said.

"On a whole host of investigative threads, our work is fundamentally incomplete, some issues partially investigated," Schiff said, "others, like that involving credible allegations of Russian money laundering, remain barely touched. If the Russians do have leverage over the President of the United States, the Majority has simply decided it would rather not know."

Democrats have been saying for weeks that ending the investigation credibly would require calling in dozens more witnesses and issues subpoenas for hundreds of more documents, including those related to developments from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Mueller has indicted 13 Russian nationals and four Trump campaign associates to date.

`Schiff has said the committee's work would not be complete without hearing from some of the witnesses cooperating with Mueller's probe, including former campaign aides George Papadopoulos and Rick Gates and former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

He has also said the committee had obtained only incomplete -- and, in some cases, potentially incorrect -- testimony from a spate of other witnesses, including Donald Trump, Jr., Attorney General Jeff Sessions, former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, outgoing White House communications director Hope Hicks and Trump associate and Blackwater founder Erik Prince.

Prince's testimony before the committee has been called into question by recent reports that a Lebanese-American adviser to the United Arab Emirates, George Nader, told investigators from the special counsel's office that he attended a January 2017 meeting in the Seychelles with a Russian banker with ties to the Kremlin.

In a statement Monday, a spokeswoman for House Speaker Paul Ryan said, "After more than a year investigating Russia's actions in the 2016 election, we are well into the primary season for the 2018 elections and experts are warning that we need to safe guard against further interference. That's what this next phase is about and we hope Democrats will join us in seeing this through."

Conaway said he wanted to complete the report "as quickly as we can," but said the intelligence community would have to review it for declassification. Its public release is not expected for several weeks.

He also said he would seek Democrats' input to edit the report, and that he expected some of the process would be bipartisan "with precious little pushback."

He conceded, though, that in other areas Democrats "may take a different interpretation of the facts, or want to add a different conclusion."

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.




WE NEED A MANDATE IN THE CONSTITUTION FOR THE HOUSE AND SENATE TO HAVE REPRESENTATIVES TO BE EQUAL IN NUMBER FOR BOTH PARTIES, WITH TWO NON-VOTING MEMBERS UNLESS THERE IS A TIE. THAT WAY THE VICE PRESIDENT, ALSO, WILL NOT GET TO PUT HIS HEAVY THUMB DOWN ON THE SCALES. ALSO, ALL COMMITTEES WITHIN THE LEGISLATURE SHOULD NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO NOMINATE ONLY – OR ALMOST ONLY – FROM MEMBERS OF THEIR PARTY. TO THE VICTOR SHOULD NOT GO THE SPOILS! WE NEED A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD AND MUCH MORE GOOD DEBATE AND DECISION MAKING THAT ISN’T DONE ALONG PARTY LINES. WHAT I SEE HERE, IN THE WAY OF PROCEDURE TRULY SMELLS TO HIGH HEAVEN.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/draft-gop-report-no-coordination-between-trump-russia-220046436--politics.html?soc_trk=gcm&soc_src=ecd5e8af-dc90-3332-9efb-d522bf6b8dfa&.tsrc=notification-brknews
MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press • March 12, 2018

Photograph -- In this March 8, 2018, photo, Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, left, at the Capitol in Washington. Republicans on the House intelligence committee have completed a draft report concluding there was no collusion or coordination between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and Russia. The finding is sure to please the White House and enrage panel Democrats who have not yet seen the document. After a yearlong investigation, Conaway says the committee has finished doing witness interviews. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee have completed a draft report concluding there was no collusion or coordination between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and Russia, a finding that is sure to please the White House and enrage panel Democrats.

After a yearlong investigation, Texas Rep. Mike Conaway announced Monday that the committee has finished interviewing witnesses and will share the report with Democrats on Tuesday. Conaway is the Republican leading the House probe, one of several investigations on Russian meddling in the 2016 elections.

Conaway previewed several of the report's conclusions.

"We found no evidence of collusion," Conaway told reporters Monday, suggesting that those who believe there was are reading too many spy novels. "We found perhaps some bad judgment, inappropriate meetings, inappropriate judgment in taking meetings. But only Tom Clancy or Vince Flynn or someone else like that could take this series of inadvertent contacts with each other, or meetings or whatever, and weave that into sort of a fiction page turner, spy thriller."

The public will not see the report until Democrats have reviewed it and the intelligence community has decided what information can become public, a process that could take weeks. Democrats are expected to issue a separate report with much different conclusions.

In addition to the statement on coordination with Russians, the draft picks apart a central assessment made by the U.S. intelligence community shortly after the 2016 election — that Russian meddling in the campaign was intended to help Trump and support Democrat Hillary Clinton. Committee aides said they spent hundreds of hours reviewing raw source material used by the intelligence services to make that claim and that it did not meet the appropriate standards.

The aides spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the intelligence material. Conaway said there will be a second report just dealing with the intelligence assessment and its credibility.

Democrats have criticized Republicans on the committee for shortening the investigation, pointing to multiple contacts between Trump's campaign and Russia and saying they have seen far too few witnesses to make any judgment on collusion. The Democrats and Republicans have openly fought throughout the investigation, with Democrats suggesting a cover-up for a Republican president and one GOP member of the panel calling the probe "poison" for the previously bipartisan panel.

According to Conaway, the report will agree with the intelligence assessment on most details, including that Russians did meddle in the election. It will detail Russian cyberattacks on U.S. institutions during the election and the use of social media to sow discord. It will also show a pattern of Russian attacks on European allies — information that could be redacted in the final report. It will blame officials in former President Barack Obama's administration for a "lackluster" response and look at leaks from the intelligence community to the media.

It will include at least 25 recommendations, including how to improve election security, respond to cyberattacks and improve counterintelligence efforts.

The report is also expected to turn the subject of collusion toward the Clinton campaign, saying an anti-Trump dossier compiled by a former British spy and paid for by Democrats was one way that Russians tried to influence the election. Conaway did not suggest that Clinton knowingly coordinated with the Russians, but said the dossier clearly "would have hurt him and helped her."

He also said there was no evidence that anything "untoward" happened at a 2016 meeting between members of the Trump campaign and Russians, though he called it ill-advised. Despite a promise of dirt on Clinton ahead of the meeting, there's no evidence that such material was exchanged, he said.

The Senate Intelligence Committee is also investigating the Russian intervention, and is expected to have a bipartisan report out in the coming weeks dealing with election security. The Senate panel is expected to issue findings on the more controversial issue of coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia at a later date.

The Senate Judiciary Committee, also investigating the meddling, is expected to release transcripts soon of closed-door interviews with several people who attended the 2016 meeting between the Trump campaign and Russians. It's unclear if the Judiciary panel will produce a final report.

The congressional investigations are completely separate from special counsel Robert Mueller's probe, which is likely to take much longer. Unlike Mueller's, congressional investigations aren't criminal but serve to inform the public and to recommend possible legislation.

READER COMMENTS

Marcus Burkett Jr11 minutes ago
GOP Draft or Mueller's Draft?.................I'll wait for Muller's
ReplyReplies (42)38893

Will
Will8 minutes ago
More evidence of party over country. Our system is horribly broken. We need term limits. We need a viable third party. We need campaign finance reform.
ReplyReplies (4)12413

Joseph Peschel
Joseph Peschel3 minutes ago
Republicans on this rigged committee may find no evidence of election collusion between Trump and Russia, but I wonder the Democrats think. Mueller has certainly found all sorts of evidence of misdeeds: possibly collusion, but certainly obstruction of justice.
Reply9



NO. ROBERT MUELLER IS A STRAIGHT ARROW ALL THE WAY, AND WELL-AIMED. THAT’S WHY THEY ARE TRYING SO HARD TO, METAPHORICALLY I HOPE, KILL HIM.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/03/12/rosenstein-mueller-not-unguided-missle-interview/416388002/?csp=chromepush
Rod Rosenstein, deputy attorney general, says Robert Mueller is 'not an unguided missile'
Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY Published 5:46 p.m. ET March 12, 2018

WASHINGTON — Despite unrelenting criticism from the White House on the course of the investigation into Russia's election interference, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Monday offered unqualified support for special counsel Robert Mueller.

"The special counsel is not an unguided missile," Rosenstein said in an exclusive interview with USA TODAY. "I don't believe there is any justification at this point for terminating the special counsel."

Rosenstein's remarks are among the first to address Mueller's status since it was disclosed more than a month ago that President Trump sought to have the special counsel dismissed last summer. The president relented only when White House counsel Donald McGahn threatened to resign if forced to carry out the directive.

The deputy attorney general, who is tasked with overseeing the special counsel, appointed Mueller last May to run the wide-ranging investigation after Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself because of his prior contacts with Russia Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.

Appearing upbeat and at ease in his fourth-floor office, Rosenstein said oversight of the inquiry requires only "a fraction" of his daily work. He estimated that less than 5% of his week is related to briefings or other matters involving Mueller's investigation.

He dismissed the near-constant and pointed criticism aimed at the Justice Department from the White House and from an ultra-conservative Tea Party Patriots group. The group has run an ugly ad campaign, describing Rosenstein as "a weak careerist" and suggesting that he tender his own resignation.

"I believe much of the criticism will fall by the wayside when people reflect on this era and the Department of Justice," said Rosenstein, who did not refer to Trump directly. "I'm very confident that when the history of this era is written, it will reflect that the department was operated with integrity."

Confident in his job
Of his own job status, Rosenstein appeared both secure and pragmatic in the unpredictable age of Trump.

"I feel very confident in my ability to do the job," he said. "In any political job, you recognize that your time is going to be limited. My goal is to get as much done for as long as I'm here in the job.

More: Ex-Trump aide Sam Nunberg calls Mueller subpoena request 'ridiculous'

"And when my time is up, whenever that may be, I'm confident that I'm going to be able to look back proudly on the work our department has done while I've been fortunate enough to be here."

Rosenstein did invoke Trump's name when he referred to the Justice Department's so-far signature campaign aimed at reducing crime, while pushing for harsher punishments in cases involving violent crime. He said the department was responding to the priorities laid out by the president, while "restoring" the authority of federal prosecutors and other law enforcement officials to bring homicides down across the country after two years of increases.

Rosenstein also referred to the department's effort against the scourge of opioid addiction, with Justice recently pledging to pursue manufacturers.

"Most of the work goes unheralded and un-criticized," he said, adding that his work is focused in "implementing the priorities of the president and the attorney general."

Comey's dismissal increased pressure
The deputy attorney general first emerged as a central figure in the tumultuous first months of the Trump administration when the White House disclosed that Rosenstein and Sessions had recommended the May dismissal of FBI Director James Comey.

Later that month, Rosenstein announced the appointment of Mueller to oversee the continuing inquiry into Russia's interference in the 2016 election, igniting Trump's bitter campaign against his own Justice Department.

The criticism only seems to escalate with the announcement of every new indictment in an inquiry that has snared — among others — Trump's former national security adviser, former campaign and deputy campaign chief.

"Ignore the media," Rosenstein says he tells his worried children. "They know I'm here to do the right thing."
"Ignore the media," Rosenstein says he tells his worried children. "They know I'm here to do the right thing." (Photo: Jarrad Henderson, USA TODAY)

The decision to appoint Mueller fell to Rosenstein after Sessions' recusal in March. Two months later, Rosenstein called the appointment of a special counsel "necessary in order for the American people to have full confidence in the outcome."

"Our nation is grounded on the rule of law and the public must be assured that government officials administer the law fairly," Rosenstein said in May. "Special Counsel Mueller will have all appropriate resources to conduct a thorough and complete investigation, and I am confident that he will follow the facts, apply the law and reach a just result."

Although Trump continues to refer to the inquiry as a "witchhunt" and has leveled bitter criticism against the leadership of Rosenstein and Sessions at Justice, the deputy attorney general has not wavered from his support of Mueller.

"I can assure you that the special counsel is conducting himself consistently with our understanding of the scope of the investigation," Rosenstein told a House panel in December, before offering a stirring defense of the special counsel's credibility.

"I think it would be very difficult to find anybody better qualified for this job...I believe that, based upon his reputation, his service, his patriotism, his experience with the department and the FBI, he was an ideal choice for this task."

Rosenstein acknowledged Monday that the work is sometimes difficult in the face of constant scrutiny.

He also conceded that the public nature of his job, traditionally carried out in near-anonymity, was un-expected.

"I anticipated that this would be a lower-profile job," he said.

Still, Rosenstein said he wouldn't trade places with any of his predecessors, including those who served during Watergate and more recently during the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

"It's inevitable that the deputy attorney general will get caught up in matters that are the subject of public controversy."

“We need to do what we believe is right based on the facts and the law,” he said. “To the extent we get any criticism from any side, we need to set that aside. That can’t influence us in our decision making.”

Explaining that criticism to his two teenage children is another matter.

“No offense,” Rosenstein said, referring to the reporter sitting across from him, “ignore the media. They know I’m here to do the right thing.”



FACEBOOK BLEW OUT THE TOP ON THE STATISTICS CHART OF WHOSE MATERIAL WAS USED BY CBS, ETC. IN 2015, 2016 AND 2017, PROBABLY DUE TO THE NUMBER OF RUSSIAN STORIES, THE MAIN SOURCE WAS FACEBOOK. SAD. I NEVER WOULD GET MY NEWS FROM FACEBOOK, ANYWAY. TO ME, THEY ARE A FAR, FAR, FAR LESS RELIABLE SITE THAN ANY OF THE WELL-KNOWN SOURCES LIKE CBS.

DO LOOK AT THE PRIMARY PHOTOGRAPH. THIS IS ONE THOSE ELEGANT ALL GLASS CITY BUILDINGS WHICH IS PROBABLY THE FACEBOOK BUILDING, AND PROBABLY IN NYC. I CAN’T VERIFY THAT BECAUSE WIRED.COM DIDN’T PUT A CAPTION. I THINK IT IS PROBABLY FACEBOOK BECAUSE OF ITS’ EMBLEM POSTED OUT FRONT -- THE FAMOUS THUMBS UP HAND THAT FACEBOOK USES ON ITS’ WEBSITE. IT’S VERY NICE. GO TO THE WEBSITE AND LOOK AT IT.

https://www.wired.com/story/why-facebook-has-been-less-important-to-news-publishers/
FOR NEWS PUBLISHERS, FACEBOOK IS A LESS RELIABLE FRIEND
AUTHOR: FRED VOGELSTEINFRED VOGELSTEIN
BUSINESS
03.12.1807:00 AM

Photograph –NIALL CARSON/GETTY IMAGES
Chart -- The chart shows the share of traffic coming from Facebook, Google, and Twitter to 2,500 news sites tracked by Parse.ly, quarterly since 2012. PARSE.LY

IN JANUARY, FACEBOOK said it will reduce the volume of news in its news feed, in favor of more posts from friends and family. In fact, Facebook’s role in distributing news has been falling dramatically for more than a year.

Data from Parse.ly, which tracks visits to more than 2,500 publisher sites, shows that ahead of the 2016 US presidential election, more than 40 percent of traffic to those sites came from Facebook. By the end of 2017, Facebook accounted for less than 26 percent of traffic to those publishers.

That trend will likely continue as Facebook rolls out the changes to news feed. At a February conference sponsored by Recode, news feed boss Adam Mosseri said that in the coming months, news will represent roughly 4 percent of content in the news feed, down from 5 percent before the recent change. On some days in February, Parse.ly data show that the share of publisher traffic coming from Facebook dipped as low as 20 percent, lower than at any time since 2013.

Facebook says a big part of the decline in 2017 stemmed from the explosion of video being posted in news feed after the election. News feed spokesman Tucker Bounds said people spent longer watching video than snacking on headlines. News feed algorithm changes to reduce clickbait, sensationalism, and misinformation in 2017 also reduced referral traffic, he said.

The chart shows the share of traffic coming from Facebook, Google, and Twitter to 2,500 news sites tracked by Parse.ly, quarterly since 2012. PARSE.LY
Another factor in Facebook's decline has been the rising popularity of Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) technology with publishers. AMP is Google's effort to make publisher content load more quickly in mobile web pages and to make it easier for readers to find their content on Google sites. At an event in San Francisco in February, Google general counsel Kent Walker said to expect Google to post further gains. “We are not backing away from news—we are doubling down on news," he said.

Lastly, publishers themselves have contributed to the drop in Facebook referral traffic. From their perspective, Facebook's distribution strategy has been schizophrenic, so they've grown less willing to give Facebook access to all of their content. For example, during 2015 and 2016, publishers were excited by Facebook’s Instant Articles feature designed to allow their content to load faster. But by 2017 many publishers concluded the arrangement wasn't helping them make money, and they made less content available for that program.

As recently as January it seemed that Facebook was having trouble making up its mind about how to think about news distribution. For example, one week after announcing that it was changing news feed to promote more meaningful interactions between friends and family and deemphasize news, Facebook said it would start giving boosts to the most trustworthy publications based on user surveys. A few weeks later it said it also plans to boost content from local newspapers, in an effort to help struggling publishers who’ve watched much of their ad revenue flow to Facebook and Google.

In the Recode appearance, Mosseri and news partnerships head Campbell Brown tried to clear up any confusion: Longer and better-reported stories will now do better in newsfeed than shorter more clickbaity pieces. Also, more news appearing in newsfeed will mirror the paywalls publishers are erecting on their own sites. Translation: If you ever counted on Facebook to distribute your content, stop.

Brown acknowledged that even the best publishers have found Facebook’s approach to news distribution to be maddening. “We are going to have to be way more transparent with publishers and candid” that we are going to need to experiment and that some experiments may not work out, she told the conference. “We have not been as open about that as we should have been.”

But she also said that sites that are more interested in news quantity over news quality, that are overly attached to short stories with clickbaity headlines, should not expect Facebook’s warm embrace either. “My job is not to go recruit people from news organization to put their stuff on Facebook. This is not about us trying to make everyone happy. My job is to ensure that there is quality news on Facebook and that the publishers who want to do quality news on Facebook have a business model that works.” If Brown makes good on that promise, many publishers won’t have a problem forgiving Facebook for previous transgressions.


THIS IS ALMOST CERTAINLY ONE OF THREE RACIST KILLINGS IN AUSTIN BY BOMBING. THE PERPETRATOR SIMPLY PLACED PACKAGES ON THE FRONT PORCH AND DISAPPEARS INTO THE NIGHT. ALL OF THE VICTIMS HAVE BEEN BLACK OR HISPANIC. THEY ALL MADE A FATAL MISTAKE. THEY TRUSTINGLY BROUGHT THE PACKAGE INSIDE AND OPENED IT. LOOKS LIKE WE HAVE YET ANOTHER TWISTED ATTENTION-SEEKING SERIAL KILLER WHO IS ADDICTED TO THE EXCITEMENT OF THE BIG EXPLOSION. PS, HE PROBABLY ALSO DOESN’T LIKE BLACKS.

http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2017/06/06/could-climate-change-shut-down-the-gulf-stream/
2nd explosion rocks Austin hours after blast at a home kills a teen, injures a woman
Good Morning America
MEGHAN KENEALLY and JOSH MARGOLIN
March 12, 2018

Photograph -- 2nd explosion rocks Austin hours after blast at a home kills a teen, injures a woman

A second explosion rocked Austin, Texas, hours after an earlier blast, which was apparently caused by a package left on a porch, killed a teen and injured a woman.

The first blast, reported about 6:44 a.m., killed a male teenager and injured a woman in her 40s. The second explosion today injured another woman, with authorities evaluating whether a second person was also hurt, according to the Austin Police Department.

Investigators said earlier that first blast today may be connected to a March 2 blast in Austin because of the composition of the explosive device used. The police chief declined to discuss the construction of the explosive device or what specific elements make it look similar to the earlier one.

The explosion "is very similar to the incident that occurred in Austin back on March 2, and if you’ll remember, that incident also occurred in the morning hours when the victim, in that case, went out front and found a package on their front steps that exploded causing that individual’s death," police chief Brian Manley said at a news conference Monday.

What is known about today's blasts
PHOTO: Yellow police tape the scene in East Austin, Texas, after a teenager was killed and a woman was injured in the second Austin package explosion in the past two weeks, March 12, 2018. (KVUE )

The first explosion today occurred at a single-family house in the northeast section of the city and appears to have been caused by a package that had been placed on the porch of a home rather than delivered by a mail service, police said. Police believe the explosion happened after residents took the package inside to open it.

"What we understand at this point is that earlier this morning, residents went out front, and there was a package on the front doorstep. They brought that package inside the residence and as they opened that package, both victims were in the kitchen and the package exploded causing the injuries that resulted in the young man’s death and the injuries to the adult female," Manley said today.

Authorities have warned residents that if they receive a package they are not expecting, they should contact the Austin Police Department.

PHOTO: Authorities investigate the scene in East Austin, Texas, after a teenager was killed and a woman was injured in the second Austin package explosion in the past two weeks, March 12, 2018. (Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

The FBI told ABC News that it was responding to the first reported explosion and assisting Austin police, who are the lead agency handling the situation.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has sent staff from both its national response team and reinforcements to bolster local field resources. The national response team is the entity that goes in to major incidents to investigate complex fires and explosions – most recently the church fires in the south and the Oakland warehouse catastrophe.

PHOTO: The FBI asks questions at the scene in East Austin, Texas, after a teenager was killed and a woman injured in the second Austin package explosion in the past two weeks, March 12, 2018. (Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman via AP)

An explosion earlier this month
Today's blasts follow the explosion on March 2, which police received a call about at 6:55 a.m. that day.

The victim in that explosion, Anthony Stephan House, died from his injuries after being transported to a local hospital.

"That case was being investigated as a suspicious death," Manley said today. "It is now being reclassified and is now a homicide investigation as well. We are looking at these incidents as being related based on similarities that we have seen and the initial evidence that we have on hand here today compared to what we found on the scene of that explosion that took place a week back."

Manley noted that "we don't know the motive behind these" events though he said that all three of the homes involved in blasts today and on March 2 blast had African-American residents.

"We can not rule [out] that hate crime is at the core of this, but we’re not saying that’s the cause as well," he said.

Today's blasts come at a particularly busy time for Austin, as the city hosts the annual SXSW music, film and technology conference from March 13 until March 18.

ABC News' Gina Sunseri contributed to this report.



THE STORY OF THE MARCH 2 BOMBING, WHICH WAS ALSO THE HOME OF A BLACK FAMILY, IS BELOW. POLICE SAID IT IS PROBABLY AN “ISOLATED" EVENT. ON MARCH 12, TWO MORE OCCURRED. THIS KILLER IS JUST GETTING STARTED, IT SEEMS. IS IT A WHITE SUPREMACIST KILLING? PROBABLY, FROM THE EVIDENCE, BUT NOT PROVEN. IN ALL THREE CASES A PACKAGE WAS LEFT ON THE PORCH, AND THE RESIDENTS TOOK IT INSIDE TO SEE WHAT IT WAS. POLICE ARE WARNING THE PUBLIC TO LEAVE IT WHERE IT IS, AND CALL POLICE. I’M SURE PEOPLE WILL FROM NOW ON. EITHER THE BOMBER WILL STOP HIS ACTIVITIES OR START USING A DIFFERENT TECHNIQUE.

https://www.statesman.com/news/breaking-news/new-info-police-identify-man-killed-explosion-northeast-austin/YOIKayKI37iHWCzvxLgZhP/
NEW INFO: Police identify man killed in explosion at Northeast Austin home
Mark D. Wilson American-Statesman Staff
9:27 a.m. Monday, March 5, 2018 News

A man who died in an explosion at a home in Northeast Austin on Friday has been identified as 39-year-old Anthony Stephan House.

Photograph -- Anthony Stephan House

Austin police said officers responded to a home in the 1100 block of Haverford Drive around 6:55 a.m. after receiving several reports of an explosion and a man with traumatic injuries.

Police said first responders took House to a hospital, but he died from his injuries shortly after the blast. Police have currently classified this incident as a suspicious death.

READ MORE: Man dies after blast; police investigating death as possible homicide

Police are working with federal investigators to piece together what led up to the incident, which is being investigated as a homicide.

Police said they believe the incident was isolated and that there is no continuing threat to the public.

Authorities have not released any information on the device that caused the explosion, or named anyone who may have been involved.

Authorities are asking anyone with information about the case to call Austin police’s homicide tip line at 512-477-3588, or Crime Stoppers at 512-472-8477.