*The President & Facebook’s Denials | From Russia with Spying & Sex | Sleeping & Aging

“I’m Jewish, and there’s a set of people who deny that the Holocaust happened. I find that deeply offensive. But at the end of the day, I don’t believe that our platform should take that down because I think there are things that different people get wrong.” – Mark Zuckerberg

“I’m CEO, Bitch” – Mark Zuckerberg’s business card circa 2005

“Can we go back to using Facebook for what it was originally for – looking up exes to see how fat they got?” – Bill Maher

From Russia with Spying & Sex: According to federal court filings Wednesday, accused Russian operative Maria Butina was living with an unnamed 56-year-old American (identified in documents as US Person 1) with whom she had a “personal relationship.” On Butina’s Facebook page she is seen with Paul Erickson, a South Dakota-based conservative political activist who is listed in public records as being 56 years old. Erickson may have thought he had a real girlfriend, but apparently, it was all part of the job for Butina. Documents seized by the FBI show she had “expressed disdain for continuing to cohabitate with “the American man.” Prosecutors suggested Butina must not have taken the relationship very seriously because on at least one occasion she had offered someone other than US Person 1 sex in exchange for a position within a special interest organization. Butina’s social media accounts show she frequented National Rifle Association (NRA) events, including a convention in May 2016 at which she met Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son.

The Department of Justice (DoJ) also alleges that Butina worked “under the direction and control” of a senior Russian official who is not named in charging documents. Court papers say the Russian official acted as her handler and coached her through online messages. A month before the 2016 election, Butina allegedly wrote to her contact through a private Twitter message, saying: “Right now everything has to be quiet and careful.” On election night, she messaged the Russian official: “I’m going to sleep. It’s 3 a.m. here. I am ready for further orders.” The Russian official appears to be Alexander Torshin, a deputy governor of Russia’s Central Bank and a well-connected ex-Russian senator from President Putin’s political party. Torshin was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department in April. Butina remains in jail, without bond.

Putin Tests NATO’s Resolve: Putin must have been feeling pretty saucy even before the start of his summit meeting with President Trump. According to the Estonian military, while flying from Moscow to Helsinki Monday morning, Putin’s presidential plane had entered NATO airspace without clearance over a portion of the Baltic Sea that is often the site of Russian military jet fly-bys. The violation lasted less than a minute, but as spokesman Roland Murof said Tuesday: (the instances) “go up when something political is going on,” suggesting that the incursions are intended to send a message. He added: “Events yesterday just showed on what level they were willing to carry this.”

The US’s NATO allies have already been rattled by Trump’s obvious hostility to the alliance, which he made even clearer at last week’s summit in Brussels. He doubled-down, in an interview taped after the Helsinki summit and broadcast this week on Fox News, telling Tucker Carlson that sending troops from the alliance to defend an “aggressive” Monte­negro could result in World War III. That tiny country had accused Russia of coup attempts over its joining NATO a year ago. Article 5 of the alliance calls for NATO members to come to the aid of allies under attack, and Trump may have been signaling he may not want to comply with that.

– A day where shops are all closed, the streets are cleared of cars, and everyone is cleaning – sound like paradise to you? Umuganda is designated as the last Saturday of each month by the government of Rwanda and is a day all about cleaning the streets and rebuilding of communities. The idea of this government implemented system is not without enemies, however, as many people from the outside see it as imposed harsh labor, and store owners complain of the loss of business for an entire day. (NPR)

– Two Chinese pilots were fired and had their licenses revoked after one vaped during a passenger flight and caused an emergency descent. The co-pilot attempted to turn on a fan so the smell of smoke would not spread through the main cabin, but accidentally turned off the plane’s air conditioning unit, causing a massive drop in cabin pressure; this forced an emergency descent, and passenger had to wear oxygen masks for around twenty minutes before the plane was able to stabilize at a normal altitude. (Guardian)

– Google has been fined a record five billion dollars by the European Commision for violating the European Union’s antitrust laws by forcing Android phones to download the Google search app and Chrome browser. Not the first time Google has been fined, the European Commision had fined the search engine company for 2.72 billion dollars last year for breaking other antitrust laws. (NPR)

– A four-year battle between the United States government and Defense Distributed has come to a close with a new ruling which states that outlines/blueprints for 3D printed firearms can be posted on the internet. The first 3D printed firearm was released in 2013 and after its blueprints were posted online, the United States government ordered them to be removed, sparking a legal battle focused on the First and Second Amendment rights. (BBC)

– A million, or should we say billion dollar question about a hostage situation in Qatar remains unresolved. After twenty-eight members of a royal hunting party was kidnapped and taken hostage in Iraq, many stories have emerged as to the actions taken by the foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, and ambassador to Iraq, Zayed al-Khayareen – however, no official statement on the situation has been made, despite the hostages’ safe return to Qatar. (BBC)

Twilight Zone Meets the Presidency: The whole world watched and heard Monday’s Trump-Putin press conference. People saw the president kowtow to Russian President Putin. They heard Trump disavow US intelligence agencies who are certain Putin interfered in the 2016 election and is continuing to meddle to this day. Trump even said he didn’t know why it would be Russia who would do that.

Then the spin started. Tuesday Trump went on TV to say he had misspoken — he’d intended to say he didn’t know why it wouldn’t be Russia. But then, of course, he had to add he still didn’t believe it was Russia, could be somebody else. There are lots of people. On Wednesday, at the start of a cabinet meeting, a reporter asked the president “Is Russia still targeting the U.S., Mr. President?” Trump responded, shaking his head, “Thank you very much. No.” The reporter asked again: “No? You don’t believe that to be the case?” To which the president responded: “No.” He then went on to claim no president had been tougher on Russia than he had been.

A few hours later White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said when Trump said “No” he wasn’t talking about Russia continuing to target the US with hostile actions, he was telling reporters “No” he wouldn’t take any more questions from them. Sanders then said: “The president and his administration are working very hard to make sure that Russia is unable to meddle as they have done in the past.” She added that “we are taking steps to prevent it.” Which is interesting, because less than three weeks after being sworn in, Trump fired the White House’s chief information security officer who was responsible for ensuring the president and his closest staff were safe from cyber-attacks. Then in May 2018, the White Houseeliminated the position of cyber-security coordinator on the National Security Council. That person’s responsibility had been to develop a policy to defend against increasingly sophisticated digital attacks and the use of cyber weapons.

– Venmo has been shown to have little to no default privacy protections, meaning that anyone can see what purchases have been made from a Venmo account.Though users can change their settings to private, the default is set to public, meaning anyone on the internet can see every payment and purchase made by a particular account and continue tracking that data. (Guardian)

– Thumb and wrist tendonitis is a very real thing – the culprit: texting. Overuse of the thumbs and wrists causes inflammation and often leads to weakened grip strength and sometimes even crippled hands. A new-age epidemic, it may be time to switch your texting habits before they get the better of you. (Tonic)

– Take that New York, California is now the most influential force in American dining! West Coast proves to be the best coast in another category as New York’s stagnating influence is making way for California’s bright and flourishing paradise of new and exquisite foods. From the classics of all cultures to new-age fusion and everything in between, the Pacific sky won’t be the only thing you miss after visiting the Golden State. (Eater)

– Do we need less sleep the older we get? “No.” Plain and simple much? As the years pass, people often say that they need less and less sleep to function when in reality, there’s no difference between how much you should be sleeping at age ten and age forty. Rather, it is about the adaptability of the body over time, and the perception of required sleep to continue performing daily tasks. The more often we sleep fewer hours, the more accustomed our bodies will become to such schedules, and the better adapted our bodies become to sleeping less and doing the same amount of work. (Time)

LAST MORSELS

“Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty… I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life. I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well.” – Theodore Roosevelt

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