A Weekend of Trolling
And a celebratory sale on #DogShirtDaily subscriptions
Good Evening:
I was feeling impish this weekend. A lot of fun trolling happened as a result. So I’m having a Special Trolling Sale for the next week to celebrate it. You can get a full subscription to #DogShirtDaily for a year at 50 percent off the cut-rate dog shirt price.
That’s right. Half off membership in the Greek Chorus—which is to say access to the live studio in which #DogShirtTV happens daily. Half off of access to my notes on The Confrontation. Half off of
’s “Tell Me Something Interesting” series. Half off the ability to leave comments. Come on, guys, there are 14,000 of you who have not become paid subscribers yet. It’s time.Why was I feeling impish this weekend?
Well, on Friday evening, the estimable
showed up in town. I picked her up at the train station and we had dinner, and she told me she was steamed about this Kim Jong Un-like banner that was hanging from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and thought we should “Lord Laser it”:
So off we went, down to the Mall, at 10:00 pm on a Friday night with two dogs and one laser. Here’s what we did:
It was an unusually fun way to spend a Friday evening.
Secret Service Story Telling Hour
The next morning, we woke up and—over morning coffee—decided to tell the story of “That time the Secret Service came to my house and interviewed me over a ‘threat’.” This livestream was, of course, in response to the Secret Service’s interview on Friday of former FBI Director Jim Comey over his alleged “threat” to president Trump. The last time Kate stayed at my house, I had had my own encounter with the Secret Service:
It’s a pretty funny story. And it’s all true.
An Anonymous Sprite of Mischief Strikes at Jim Jordan
Then, this morning, I learned that an anonymous mischief sprite had struck at Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who was speaking before a national Republican lawyers group. As shown in this video clip, he found himself interrupted by Frank Sinatra playing “Send in the Clowns”:
And later in the speech, he found himself interrupted just so:
Which, I must say, is kind of awesome.
Now, I know what you’re wondering. You’re wondering: Am I the anonymous mischief sprite?
Answer: No, I’m not. But I wish I were. It’s a great op. And I wish the anonymous mischief sprite much success in future endeavors.
Sunflower Update
Finally, this afternoon, the weekend of trolling mischief ended with some gardening. I stopped in to check on the sunflowers and to rope off the area of the Polonne Sunflower Garden. I roped it off for two reasons: first, as a mild deterrent for people who might be inclined to mess with the sunflowers—a reminder that this year, they are on private property and one cannot tear them up without both stealing private property and trespassing. More importantly, I roped it off to prevent accidental mowing by the landscaping contractor employed by the landowner. I also added a bunch more seeds. I will keep you updated on their progress.
Friday on #DogShirtTV, the estimable
and I discussed various issues from the perspective of a Ukrainian patriot—like, for instance, the estimable Anastasiia Lapatina. We talked about Russian dissenters who don’t wholly disavow Putin’s aggression, international organizations that don’t see Ukrainian voices as significant, and Ukrainian national identity as a concept:The Situation
In my “The Situation” on Friday, I got pissed off at the National Symphony Orchestra and the Kennedy Center:
The National Symphony playing Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis was the last thing in the world I expected to have a political valence, even in Trump’s Washington.
Had I looked closely at the event announcement page, however, I might—and I emphasize the “might” because I probably would not have read to the bottom to see who the sponsors were—have noticed, listed as “Performance Sponsors,” “General Michael Flynn and America’s Future.”
I didn’t look at all, the ticket having been a gift from friends. I knew the piece. I wanted to hear it. I didn’t think about it more than that.
It was only as the concert was beginning, and the public address system announced thanks to General Flynn and America’s Future (of which Flynn turns out to be chairman) that I became aware that this concert was brought to me by MAGA—and that the house wanted me to know it.
Friday On Lawfare
Compiled by the estimable Caroline Cornett
The Law Firms’ Deals with Trump are Even Riskier Than They Seem
Natalie Orpett and James Pearce detail the substantial legal risks attached to the deals that some law firms have struck with the Trump administration, including criminal liability for bribery and ethics violations and civil claims from clients.
Assume that Client A, a long-time client of the firm, loses a bid on a lucrative government contract that instead goes to a favored ally of President Trump. Imagine further that Trump has made public statements alluding to how he’s in constant contact with the firm and it’s being very cooperative, or, worse still, he’s made noises about consequences if the firm failed to cooperate. Might the client wonder whether its lawyers failed to provide adequate representation because they feared what might happen if the client beat out Trump’s ally? If so, it may consider bringing a malpractice suit.
Chinese Mobile App Encryption is Suspiciously Awful
In the latest edition of the Seriously Risky Business cybersecurity newsletter, Tom Uren discusses vulnerable proprietary cryptosystems on Chinese mobile apps, the recently disbanded Cyber Safety Review Board, and a French government agency’s report on Russian influence operations.
The agency published a report this week on Storm-1516—what appears to be one of the Russian government's most sprawling and active disinformation clusters.
Unlike many previous disinformation reports that tend to play down the effectiveness of such operations, VIGINUM doesn't mince words and describes Storm-1516's efforts as successful and "a significant threat to French and European public debate."
The Thing About Facebook
Paul M. Barrett reviews Sarah Wynn-Williams’s “Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism.” Barrett highlights how Wynn-Williams draws on her personal experiences at Meta and with its high ranking executives to provide a detailed account of the company, from Facebook’s role in the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people in Myanmar to the events that led to her firing in 2017.
The sanctimoniousness peppered with deceit that Wynn-Williams observed is the vital through line for understanding the Meta story. From Zuckerberg’s relentless campaign to crack the China market, which included a plan to facilitate Communist Party surveillance of users to the company’s marketing of its own surveillance abilities to help advertisers target teenagers experiencing emotional turmoil, Meta’s deplorable conduct cannot be fully appreciated without the firsthand, up-close description Wynn-Williams offers of the proverbial fish rotting from the head down.
Podcasts
On Lawfare Daily, Joel Braunold joins Scott R. Anderson to discuss the state of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, President Donald Trump’s recent trip to the Middle East, and changes to Syria sanctions.
Videos
On May 16 at 4 p.m. ET, I sat down with Anderson, Anna Bower, Roger Parloff, and Pearce to discuss the status of the civil litigation against Trump’s executive actions, including the dismantling of federal agencies and freezing of federal funds.
Today’s #BeastOfTheDay is the swan, seen here making a relatively smooth landing:
In honor of today’s Beast, remember that no one can look dignified all the time.
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