Do you see something wrong with this headline? (snow in Chicago).

Interesting angle on Russian meddling and on Twitter itself.

Before I start, I'm NOT a troll. I'm reporting a story that I found interesting. The story does NOT suggest that the Russians didn't try to help Trump.

But here's what was new to me. An expert on these kinds of things (whose name I can't remember - on CNN or PBS) who claimed long experience watching Russian cyber-warfare, said that one of their strategies is to stir up any kind of dissension in a society (not just U.S., but we already knew that). They send out bots to stir up feelings, including movements like Black Lives Matter. One of the main points he wanted to make is that Twitter is completely capable of distinguishing bots from real people but won't do it because the more twitter traffic, the more important Twitter seems. Apparently they have not yet made a profit (????? - how do companies survive????), and are hoping to get bigger and bigger in hopes of one.

Did Pelosi get any bathroom breaks?? nt

Where can I complain about NBCSports and Nissan?

When we're away from home we can no longer get the Celtics on the computer via plain old Comcast. Instead we have to use NBCSports.com. We still need our Comcast/Xfinity account to get there. But a third of the screen horizontally is taken up with two static Nissan banners, and a 3rd vertically by other ads. It sure is making me HATE NISSAN! How can I best express my anger???? Have any of you experienced this?

tia
las

Does anyone else think The Newshour is less "newsy" than it used to be?

I'm talking about the daily news show on PBS. I've had that impression for months.... much more time taken up with author interviews and "magazine" stories about worthy topics like micro lending in India. Now I think I know what's happening. There's not much truly newsworthy going on in Washington. All anyone talks about is the Russia investigation and party reactions. They're not talking about legislation. The Newshour isn't going to sink to spending lots of time on Trump tweets and different people's reactions. So they go to their backlog of magazine stories.

Do you think I'm on to something?

Is there someplace where I can/should report this?

Phone rings this morning.

Me: Hello. (Long silence, maybe a marketing call, but I hang on because our son and family are out of the country).

Male: Hi, Mom (I think he said "mom", but maybe it was Gramma????) I also think he sounds like he has a cold or something.

Me: Oh! Hi! Let me get Dad!!

Male: No, no! Wait! Promise you won't get mad?

Me: Yes.

Male: Uh, uh, I got arrested. (Visions of son calling from jail after getting arrested for speeding on his motorcycle flash before me.) Uh, uh.....

Me: Who is this?

Male: Uh, your oldest grandson.

Me: I didn't need that clincher, really, to hang up. My oldest grandson is 7.

Is there someplace to report this sort of scam? *69 tells me the phone call was from 223-304-0009, but when I call it I get "the number you have dialed is not valid."

Comcast said they can't do anything about it.

FINALLY!!!! The NYT is putting Trump's tweets where they belong!

In the first section of today's Times, there's a news analysis below the fold on the first page. I didn't see any other Trump stories until page 21!!! Two 6 inch columns in the bottom right hand corner "Trump Says Republican Memo Proves His Innocence on Russia." That's where Trump's baseless, idiotic pronouncements belong, given that the Times has to put it somewhere.

Has anyone seen evidence of this kind of common sense anywhere else? Oh that the cable stations would follow the Times example. I hope they keep it up!

So why does anyone care if the Steele report was used in the FISA application?

As a federal judge (possibly retired) on TV (MSNBC or CNN) said last night. The motives of a source of information are irrelevant. Warrants are applied for all the time on the basis of information from hostile people, cheated on wives, betrayed criminal conspirators, etc., etc. What matters is whether there is reason to think the information is good.

If this is true (and on the face of it it seems to be), why isn't that reported and we're all done with it?

Did you know that "Chair" has reverted to "Chairman" at the fed?

The new chair has ostentatiously changed his title from Chair to Chairman.

It's such a simple thing. Like "humanity" or "humankind" instead of "mankind." And yet over and over, people and institutions that should know better use "mankind." Why????

Can someone tell me what parts of "the memo" were objectionable to the FBI and...

... why?

tia
las