Friday Reads: Douchy Dude Bro-paloozah Day
Posted: December 18, 2015 Filed under: morning reads | Tags: Bernie Sanders Campaign, Dude Bros, Pharma Bro 44 CommentsGood Morning!
I have to admit that this has not been one of my favorite years.
I’m looking towards the night we usher it off with hope that the next year is more promising. Meanwhile, it is what it is.
This seems to be the year of the Douchy Dude Bro. Maybe that’s why I feel so alienated from what passes as reality these days.
So, let’s start with a little discussion of what goes around comes around. It’s always nice when a total jerk gets a perp walk. Jerk probably isn’t the best description of ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shekreli but I’m the economist at the blog, not the psychologist. I leave the technical jargon to BB and the more graphic descriptions to JJ. Let’s just say the pictures did him justice and I’m waiting for the system to do the same.
Martin Shkreli, the 32-year-old former hedge fund manager notorious for jacking up the price of an obscure but critical drug, was arrested Thursday on securities fraud charges.
The charges are unrelated to Shkreli’s leadership of Turing Pharmaceuticals, which bought a drug, Daraprim, for $55 million this summer, then increased the price of the 62-year-old drug by more than 4,000 percent.
Instead, the charges brought by the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York are related to Shkreli’s time at Retrophin, another bio-pharmaceutical company he founded, and his time at MSMB Capital Management, a hedge fund.
Federal prosecutors alleged that for five years, Shkreli lied to investors in two hedge funds and bio-pharmaceutical company Retrophin, all of which he founded. After losing money on stock bets he made through one hedge fund, Shkreli allegedly started another and used his new investors’ money to pay off those who had lost money on the first fund. Then, as pressure was building, Shkreli started Retrophin, which was publicly traded, and used cash and stock from that company to settle with other disgruntled investors, prosecutors contended.
Shkreli “engaged in multiple schemes to ensnare investors through a web of lies and deceit,” U.S. Attorney Robert L. Capers told reporters. “His plots were matched only by efforts to conceal the fraud, which led him to operate his companies … as a Ponzi scheme.”
So, even the SEC eventually catches up with Wall Street Sociopaths. Good thing this event was sooner than the Bernie Maddoff situation. Too bad they still save the cushy prisons for these types.
Speaking of douchy dude bros, one or more of Bernie Sanders Campaign staff seems to have gone all Nixonian on Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Data in a feat reminiscent of CREEP. It seems that the DNC database needs better security.
The Democratic National Committee has suspended Bernie Sanders’ access to the party’s 50-state voter file in response to a software glitch that allowed the Sanders campaign to access Hillary Clinton’s internal voter data.
The DNC move effectively freezes Sanders’ field organizing program six weeks from the first caucuses and primaries.
The breach occurred on Wednesday, a DNC official confirmed, through the NGP VAN, the leading technology company that allows campaigns to identify voters, as well as monitor their preferences and leanings, in what’s called the 50-state voter file. For a “brief window” — about 30 minutes, an official said — a bug in the software exposed the campaigns’ internal “voter ID” data.
During that period, the Sanders campaign discovered the breach, accessed the Clinton campaign’s data, then called the vendor to point out the flaw, according to the official. The DNC has since cut off Sanders’ access to the voter file — until his campaign officials can “prove” they’ve deleted the Clinton data.
“The DNC places a high priority on maintaining the security of our system and protecting the data on it,” said the committee’s communications director, Luis Miranda. “We are working with our campaigns and the vendor to have full clarity on the extent of the breach, ensure that this isolated incident does not happen again, and to enable our campaigns to continue engaging voters on the issues that matter most to them and their families.”
It seems the Sanders campaign made use of a brief period of time when a patch was being applied. The breach did not go unnoticed. 
The DNC maintains the master list and rents it to national and state campaigns, which then add their own, proprietary information gathered by field workers and volunteers. Firewalls are supposed to prevent campaigns from viewing data gathered by their rivals.
NGP VAN, the vendor that handles the master file, said the incident occurred Wednesday while a patch was being applied to the software. The process briefly opened a window into proprietary information from other campaigns, said the company’s chief, Stu Trevelyan. He said a full audit will be conducted.
The DNC has told the Sanders campaign that it will not be allowed access to the data again until it provides an explanation as well as assurances that all Clinton data has been destroyed.
Having his campaign cut off from the national party’s voter data is a strategic setback for Sanders — and could be a devastating blow if it lasts. The episode also raises questions about the DNC’s ability to provide strategic resources to campaigns and state parties.
Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said four Sanders campaign staffers accessed Clinton data, and that three of them did so at the direction of their boss, Josh Uretsky, who was the operative fired.
Uretsky told CNN Friday morning that he and others on the campaign discovered the software glitch Wednesday morning and probed the system to discover the extent of their own data’s exposure. He said there was no attempt to take Clinton information but said he took responsibility for the situation.
“We investigated it for a short period of time to see the scope of the Sanders campaign’s exposure and then the breach was shut down presumably by the vendor,” he told CNN. “We did not gain any material benefit.”
Weaver said the Sanders campaign never downloaded or printed any of the data, meaning it is no longer in possession of any proprietary information. He squarely blamed NGP VAN for the glitch — and blamed the DNC for hiring the company.
I’m still checking to see if any of the alleged hipster campaign bros sport man buns. That’s just in the interest of demographics mind you. If you really want to know how most Hillary supporters feel, follow Uppity Woman on Twitter. I’ve found the whole thing douchy and laughable since I consider Bernie Sanders to be the definition of a gadfly campaign.
We’re less than 48 hours from the next Democratic debate so the 
timing is a bit interesting. The third debate will be on December 19th, Saturday, in New Hampshire.
Hillary Clinton looks increasingly like a general election candidate performing from a primary stage.
The challenges that come along with that, both for her and her Democratic competitors, will be clear at the party’s third debate Saturday in New Hampshire.
Clinton, who’s maintaining more than a 20-point lead in national polls over her nearest competitor, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, has focused less on mirroring his progressive positions — with the exception of a pledge Wednesday to raise taxes on the wealthy — and more on positioning herself for the general election.
With much of the 2016 spotlight focused on the GOP battle and Donald Trump’s provocative statements and proposals (such as his recent call to temporarily ban non-citizen Muslims from entering the country), the debate is a chance for the Democrats to get some media exposure. Clinton and Sanders will be joined on stage by former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley.
The last debate, held in Iowa the day after the Paris terrorist attacks, was punctuated by hits on Clinton’s foreign policy record, including her vote as a U.S. senator to authorize the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Now, the question is whether O’Malley and Sanders sharpen those attacks with polls showing the race largely stagnant since October.
“For Sanders and O’Malley it’s a gut-check moment,” said Dante Scala, a political expert at the University of New Hampshire. “Are they, in their hearts, fine with Hillary being the nominee,” or do they want to escalate attacks that could hurt her in a general election, he said.
Speaking of douchy dude bros, first generation douchy dude bro Donald Trump shocked the monkey err fellow first generation douchy dude bro Joe Scarborough today on Morning Joe. Just what won’t come out of the Donald’s active orifices? Oh, and does a man bun turn into one gigantic comb over after most of the hair’s gone? Just asking as a matter of public interest. After all, inquiring minds want to know.
During a Friday-morning interview with Donald Trump, MSNBC host Joe Scarborough was baffled by the Republican front-runner’s embrace of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Sure, when people call you ‘brilliant’ it’s always good. Especially when the person heads up Russia,” Trump told cohost Mika Brzezinski when asked about Putin praising him as “very talented” the day before.
Scarborough pointed to Putin’s status as a notorious strongman.
“Well, I mean, it’s also a person who kills journalists, political opponents, and invades countries. Obviously that would be a concern, would it not?” Scarborough asked.
“He’s running his country, and at least he’s a leader,” Trump replied. “Unlike what we have in this country.”
“But again: He kills journalists that don’t agree with him,” Scarborough said.
The Republican presidential front-runner said there was “a lot of killing going on” around the world and then suggested that Scarborough had asked him a different question.
“I think our country does plenty of killing, also, Joe, so, you know,” Trump replied. “There’s a lot of stupidity going on in the world right now, Joe. A lot of killing going on. A lot of stupidity. And that’s the way it is. But you didn’t ask me [that] question, you asked me a different question. So that’s fine.”
Scarborough was left visibly stunned.
“I’m confused,” the MSNBC host said. “So I mean, you obviously condemn Vladimir Putin killing journalists and political opponents, right?”
“Oh sure, absolutely,” Trump said.
Several of Trump’s Republican presidential rivals criticized the billionaire businessman on Thursday for saying it was a “great honor” to receive Putin’s praise.
Okay, I can’t take any more of this thread as well as the remainder of 2015. Oh, btw, I consider douchy to be the perfect word for these misogynists. Let them be associated with the thing that disturbs them the most: VAGINAS!!!
What’s on your reading and blogging list today?
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
mablue2
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
According to the NYT, four Sanders staffers accessed Clinton data during the breach; and the Sanders campaign won’t say who the other three unfired staffers are.
Yet, magically nothing of note was discovered.
Trump’s comments on Morning Joe are gobsmacking. Trump has now shocked two (former?) supporters: Bill O’Reilly and Joe Scarborough. Glenn Beck says he won’t vote for Trump if he’s the nominee. Who will Trump alienate next?
Good question. This man would be on the streets if he hadn’t inherited so much money. What a hateful moron!
Charles Pierce is wondering why the info about the software glitch was released. Did the DNC do it to help Hillary the day before the debate? Pierce also suggests that scheduling the debate for Saturday night a week before Christmas was part of the plan to grease the skids for Hillary. He does admit this if the Clinton campaign had done this, the media reaction would be a lot harsher.
Thx. I’ve been watching the Hillary Krewe discuss this on Twitter. It’s been interesting. Was wondering if the Election commission would consider this spying of sorts and be interested or if it’s just an internal DNC thing.
Bernie is threatening to sue the DNC.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/18/politics/bernie-sanders-campaign-dnc-suspension/index.html?eref=rss_latest
What’s he going to do, tell them to fix the democratic party, the independent party, and the republican party?
If he is going to sue, why is the guy(Josh Uretsky) who downloaded and was fired by Bernie doing telephone interviews, saying that the DNC wanted him fired? Bernie was the one who fired him. His campaign manager, Weaver, said that “no data that I’m aware of was exported in a way that could be used by anybody.”
Hillary doing quite well in the debates, and don’t need no help from DNC, or anybody else, she’s been involved in a civil campaign for sometime, and I appreciate all her hard work. This idea that she needed a grease job is bullshit! I listened to Chuck Todd, and he said these Bernie supporters were aggressive. Andrea Mitchell said they ran a clean campaign.
Whut…………..it’s Hillary’s fault. She didn’t make the rules at DNC.
Let Weaver get on his big ass horse and ride.
From Bloomberg article on the threat:
So, you’re not going to write a memoir about 2015 called, “My Favorite Year?”
Reading this post reminds me why, every morning, I offer up a prayer for every “woman, child, and animal on the planet.”
Yup on both accounts.
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Yeah, and the next time my back door is open, come on in and help yourself. That’s why I leave it open that way, so you can get your eyes full, and your pockets too.
Someone on twitter said they got email from Bernie for the first time last night after the breach.
Did he show it to everybody? Not all Sanders supporters, but a lot have been feeding to the GOP, doing their dirty work, to advance Bernie, and hurt Hillary. I have seen that for myself.
Posted on FB:
TIME: Bernie Sanders’ campaign’s breach of Hillary Clinton’s voter data may have been far more extensive than previously reported, according to a person with knowledge of the investigation.
According to data reviewed by TIME, the Sanders campaign appears to have obtained files with lists of voters that the Clinton campaign had cultivated in 10 early states including Iowa and New Hampshire.
Beyond simply reviewing the data, the logs show the Sanders staffers took deliberate steps to harvest and store the information. According to the log, the Sanders staff created from scratch no fewer than 24 list-consisting entirely of data pulled down from the Clinton’s database-and saved them to their personal folders.
The logs show the Sanders campaign access the Clinton data for nearly one hour beginning at around 10:40 pm on Wednesday. The Sanders staffers were apparently able to view unique voter information along with accompanying information about how likely the voters were to vote for the various candidates, crucial information that the Clinton campaign has likely spent millions of dollars to collect.
Here’s the link to the Time story:
http://time.com/4155185/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-data/
I didn’t like Jeff Weaver’s tone at all, not to mention he was surrounded by all white men!
Fannie, was Weaver the one who said they’d be willing to interview Hillary for VP?
Yes, he was the one who said she would be considered as VP.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/10/28/bernie_sanders_adviser_hillary_clinton_would_make_a_good_vice_president.html
That link isn’t working Sweet Sue, but can be found at Slate.
Thank you BB.
What’s interesting to me is that the Sanders camp knew exactly when this small window of accessibility would occur. Investigators should not only be looking at the Sanders people, but the people at the software firm who may have tipped off the Sanders camp as to when they would have access.
Josh Uretsky, the fired Sanders staffer, has a long resume. Check it out on LinkedIn. This ain’t his first rodeo.
Bet he’s been known to wear a man bun, too. Dude has the hair for it.
That’s what intrigued me.
Can’t we just imagine if the breach scandal was reversed?
Every Bernie supporter in the land would be screaming, “See, we told you, Hillary’s just Nixon in a pantsuit!”
“NIXON, sheeple!!!!!!”
They’re already trying to find a way to blame her for them losing access.
Bill Press of Free TV had his boxing gloves on, going after Hillary and DNC. Nothing about going after free technology. He could have avoided this problem, but it’s a matter of his survival.
oh, hell yeah, they go after Hillary and her grandbaby too.
From Ruby Cramer at Buzzfeed:
“Hillary Clinton’s campaign is calling for rival Bernie Sanders to undergo an “independent review” following the data breach that her top officials described on Friday evening as theft and a possible “violation of the law.”
Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook, and spokesman, Brian Fallon, laid out the demands in a conference call with reporters on Friday: Sanders, they said, must provide a full accounting of the incident and submit to an external review to ensure that his campaign aides no longer have access to or copies of Clinton’s data.”
http://www.buzzfeed.com/rubycramer/clinton-campaign-demands-sanders-undergo-independent-review#.vyo4qN3NQ
Reasonable request from Hillary.
The popular consensus seems to be that Bernie is a victim. MSNBC especially.
If he’s a victim, he’s a victim of his own staff, I think. Looking at the access log, it’s pretty obvious they were stealing data from the Clinton files. They were searching for soft-support, non-committal, and non-Clinton voters in the Clinton canvassing records. They were then saving those searches in new files of their own.
And they already sent out fundraising ads to addresses they got from the Clinton files.
For sure. I notice that Jeff Weaver in his spin in front the national audience was that the DNC and Schultz was undermining the Sanders campaign, by denying him access to the voter files. When I look at that segment, I noted not one woman was in site during the rant.
Then I noticed Chuck Todd come out and say Bernie’s came were of the “aggressive” type, and another male came out saying he ran a clean campaign, and was disappointed to see other males jumping on the band wagon. To the point that they think Hillary doesn’t want to be seen in the likness of this mess, because it wasn’t going to be good for her.
Then I see tonight they (and mostly white males) want her head to roll. They are now posting all kinds of crap about she should be the one fired. As I understand it, she called Bernie to inform him about this crisis, and he told her he didn’t know anything about the situation. In other words his campaign had failed to tell him, and was hoping they wouldn’t get caught. Whether they like her not, it wasn’t her that breached any information. She was/is doing a careful investigation, and from what I heard Hillary’s team are meeting as we speak, this being Friday night. I think they (mostly men) want to loud and clear, it’s all they can do to demonize Hillary, and feed into this that Bernie should be advanced for the behavior of his staff. I certainly don’t think so, they all were required to sign on in advance, now it’s all about how bad Debbie Wasserman Schultz has handled this, and yes BB, he is the victim.
Hillary is about 30 points ahead of Sanders in the polls. Thus I could have done without this mini-tempest. Of course, it was caused by Sanders staffers, and Hillary and her campaign have to take a legitimate strong stand.
There are many Sanders supporters who seem like they would be happy to vote for and support the Republican candidate in the general election. I would not completely rule out the possibility of Sanders running as a third party candidate, but I hope he is more reasonable than the majority of his political base. They are conspiracy theorists, anti-Democratic Party, anti-virtually everything. They would have it that Hillary, who dominates debates, and has a big lead, is afraid of having a debate on during the week; or that the DNC is trying to protect her from Sanders. This next debate and the next couple of months will be a test of Sanders’ political decency, and how much he cares about the future of the country. And even with that, I think that a lot of these supporters are intransigent and angry people who don’t care nearly as much about issues as they claim, but are far invested in personality battles and vendettas.
If Sanders does run as a third party candidate, he will be breaking his pledge not to. Not a good look for the supposedly honest and straightforward candidate. Of course he’ll get away with it, because so many people out there want anyone but the woman to win–even a 74 year old guy who knows nothing about foreign policy and can’t even control his campaign staffers.
Here, here!
William wrote: “This next debate and the next couple of months will be a test of Sanders’ political decency, and how much he cares about the future of the country.”
Very wise statement. Does Sanders want his legacy to be a dignified one or does he want to be the next Ralph Nader? That is his decision now.
It’s not over, the final showdown is coming.
Thank you William, he does have a strike against him regarding his so called clean and honest campaign. There is no comparison to Hillary’s civil campaign, she’s had control, when the media, and GOP, and Sanders tried to pull it out from under her, she’s been steadfast.