NSA Chief says that Donald Trump STILL has not directed them to protect the country from the Russian cyber threat.

WATCH: NSA Director Rogers on Russian cyberattacks: "I believe that President Putin has clearly come to the conclusion there's little price to pay here, and that therefore I can continue this activity." pic.twitter.com/3c5gGLvrAS

— NBC News (@NBCNews) February 27, 2018

Courtesy of CNN: 

US Cyber Command chief Adm. Mike Rogers told lawmakers on Tuesday that he has not been granted the authority by President Donald Trump to disrupt Russian election hacking operations where they originate. 

Asked by Democratic Sen. Jack Reed if he has been directed by the President, through the defense secretary, to confront Russian cyber operators, Rogers said "no I have not" but noted that he has tried to work within the authority he maintains as a commander.

While he did not agree with Reed's characterization that the US has been "sitting back and waiting," Rogers admitted that it is fair to say that "we have not opted to engage in some of the same behaviors we are seeing" with regards to Russia. 

"It has not changed the calculus or the behavior on behalf of the Russians," Rogers said about the US response to Russia's cyber threat to date. 

"They have not paid a price that is sufficient to change their behavior," he added.

In other words we have not adopted any of the same aggressive tactics that Sweden utilized recently, and let's keep in mind that WE were actually attacked and the outcome of our last election possibly altered.

I am going to say it again, and I might actually say it every day until somebody listens, the ONLY reason the leader of our country would not to take steps to protect ourselves from foreign interference is because that interference is beneficial to the leader of our country.

And once again for the slow kids, THAT IS TREASON!

Sweden moves swiftly to deal with Russian election interference, while America sits on its hands.

Courtesy of WaPo: 

Hundreds of local election workers have been trained to spot and resist foreign influence. The country’s biggest media outlets have teamed up to combat false news. Political parties scour their email systems to close hacker-friendly holes. 

The goal: to Russia-proof ­Sweden’s political system so that what happened in the United States in 2016 can never happen in this Nordic country of 10 million people. 

Although the general election isn’t until Sept. 9, officials say their preemptive actions may already have dissuaded the Kremlin from interfering. In Washington, meanwhile, the FBI says it has received no White House orders to secure the 2018 midterms against Russian influence.

The ONLY reason that an administration would not push to protect the country from interference by foreign agents, is because their interference benefited them directly.

The Trump Administration, and the Republican party itself, is trading our election security for the possibility that foreign interference will elect more of their people.

No matter how you look at it, THAT is treason.

Swedish school children are not only learning how to write computer code, but also how to identify fake news.

Courtesy of The Local: 

Along with programming, the moves to improve digital competence will also include teaching kids how to differentiate between reliable and unreliable sources, a subject that has been particularly hot in Sweden as of late, with everyone from comic book hero Bamse to the King emphasizing the importance of source criticism. 

"There has been some naivety when it comes to the information society. An idea that all knowledge is just a short click away and we don't need to know as much as we needed to before," Fridolin explained. 

"It's the exact opposite: we need basic knowledge in reading, writing and numeracy so we can’t be tricked, but we also need to advance our criticism of sources to the same level as we previously taught students about scientific theory for example. You already need to have your first taste of this today at about the age of ten." 

A multitude of sources is a reality of the modern digital age, the education minister added, so it is important to prepare kids to identify trustworthy outlets. 

"You need to know what you can trust, what the difference between a serious media outlet and a propaganda site is. And how certain can you be that your image of the truth is formed from facts, and not someone who wants you to think about things in a certain way?”

Well I think we should prioritize this in America as well. 

The idiots who believe, and share, fake news really fucked us up in this last election and educating future generations to avoid a similar outcome seems like it should be a priority.

And while we are at it perhaps we could offer online classes to those currently of voting age as well.

After all the Trump voters are still out there, waiting to manipulated in the next election cycle as well.

Donald Trump admits that he got that fake Sweden attack story from Fox News, and then attacks media for pointing out it was fake.

My statement as to what's happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 19, 2017

Give the public a break - The FAKE NEWS media is trying to say that large scale immigration in Sweden is working out just beautifully. NOT!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2017

So to be clear it was not the fault of Fox News for reporting a now debunked fake news story, or Donald Trump's fault for then exaggerating it to make a point.

Instead it is the fault of the media for doing their job to point out that the story is false.

Interesting.

Does that mean that all of these tweets from Sweden mocking Trump for making shit up about their country  are ALSO fake?

Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking? Questions abound. https://t.co/XWgw8Fz7tj

— Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) February 19, 2017

WARNING! Graphic pictures of terror attack in Sweden! #IStandWithSweden pic.twitter.com/O2K6kPLx7Z

— ❄️ Dr. A ❄️ (@AAPsyc) February 20, 2017

Pray for Sweden. They will wake up with universal healthcare. Paid parental leave. Green energy. Free daycare. Sane leaders. #swedenincident

— pixeliza (@pixeliza) February 19, 2017

#lastnightinsweden I ate shrimp, drank some wine and counted my lucky stars I don't live in the US.

— Ida Grasman (@IdaGrasman) February 19, 2017

Alternative facts #swedenincident pic.twitter.com/QbSAzsHmyo

— Kimbro13 (@kimbro1360) February 19, 2017

Trust me, there are many more at the link.

But see that's the thing.

After being mocked during the Bush administration for having a barely coherent, short bus riding, moron in the White House, we then had eight years of the coolest, most intelligent, leader on the planet.

During those eight years other countries looked at us with envy.

And then what happens? We end up with a guy so ill informed and stupid that he makes George W. Bush look like an intellectual giant.  

Trump's campaign style rally in Florida. Melania reads the Lord's Prayer, Trump makes up a terrorist attack in Sweden, and only about half the usual people show up to hear them.

And that is how this bizarre, ego stroking, campaign style event started off.

(Did you notice that Trump found some of those non-white folks to stand behind the stage?)

 Personally I when I hear Melania speak I don't think "First Lady," I think "Bond villain."

However that was not he weirdest thing about this rally.

There was also this:

Trump, discussing terror, seamlessly mentions incident "last night in Sweden".

There was NO "incident" in Sweden last night. pic.twitter.com/XtcC4PRiNU

— Steve Kopack (@SteveKopack) February 19, 2017

Now to be clear there was NO terrorist attack in Sweden.

Just like there was never a Bowling Green Massacre.

They just make this shit up. (The New York Times identified a number of other lies during the rally as well.)

But this crowd gladly swallowed all of the bullshit whole.

It should also be noted that while 9,000 people DID show up to be directly lied to by Trump, that back in September that number was 15,000.

That is a 40% decline.

However there was nothing smaller about the crowds that showed up to protest Trump. In fact they set a record:

Hundreds of demonstrators — the largest group of progressive protesters in Brevard County in more than a decade — lined Apollo Boulevard before, during and after President Donald Trump’s rally, stretching from the AeroMod International hangar entrance to Airport Boulevard.

A loud chorus of boos erupted when Air Force One descended for landing across the street at Orlando Melbourne International Airport. 

“Lock him up! Lock him up!” hundreds of demonstrators chanted in unison shortly before Trump took the stage. 

Yeah I know, hundreds of demonstrators are a lot less than the 9,000 who showed up to hear Trump spew his bullshit.

True, but I never claimed that Melbourne, Florida was a bastion for intellectuals.

Besides one has to wonder how many of these folks were paid, or bribed, to show up?

I think the takeaway from this is that Donald Trump loved it when he was RUNNING for the presidency, but fucking hates BEING the president.

I mean just look at his face before the rally.

And it's real. I just took it watching Cnn live. https://t.co/CnJB8GGoSI pic.twitter.com/heHWbTpLPA

— John Aravosis (@aravosis) February 18, 2017

That does not look like a mentally stable person. 

You know I may have to move to Sweden.

Courtesy of Eureka Alert:

In Swedish classrooms, religion is often associated with an obsolete time when people just didn't know better - as if religion used to serve a purpose but there is no need for it in the modern world. This is the conclusion of a doctoral thesis from the University of Gothenburg that explores how teachers and students talk about religion and worldviews within the framework of non-confessional integrative Religious Education in upper-secondary classrooms. 

'I found that religious faith is portrayed as incompatible with being a modern, rational and independently thinking human being. In contrast, a non-religious, atheistic position is articulated as a neutral and unbiased approach to religion. I had not expected this discourse to be so strong in all the studied classrooms,' says Karin Kittelmann Flensner, who wrote the thesis. 

Kittelmann Flensner's study is based on observations of Religious Education in three Swedish public upper-secondary schools during the schoolyear 2011-2012. She followed 13 teachers who taught in 24 different student groups. Sweden is often described as the world's most secularised country, and Kittelmann Flensner found that the country's secular attitudes were easily discernible also in the studied classrooms and dominated the talk about religion and worldviews.

Could you even imagine how refreshing a learning environment that must be?  

With almost 80% of Americans identifying as Christians I will assume that we have a long way to go before achieving this level of enlightenment.

Swedish cops on vacation show American cops how to do it.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

Four vacationing Swedish police officers helped out after two homeless men began fighting on a New York City subway – and showed it’s possible to subdue violent suspects without hurting them. 

The officers — Samuel Kvarzell, Markus Asberg, Eric Jansberger and Erik Naslund — were riding an uptown No. 6 train Wednesday on their way to see “Les Miserables” when they responded to the subway driver’s call for help, reported the New York Post. 

The video shows one of the brawlers sitting calmly on the floor, flanked by two of the Swedish police officers, while two others kneel on the other man – who is more unruly – to hold him face-down on the floor. 

“How do you feel?” one of the officers asks the seated man, who says he feels fine. 

The other man struggles, but the pair of officers calmly keep him pinned to the floor. 

“I can’t breathe,” he screams, as he rises occasionally from the floor but is unable to escape. 

“Take it easy,” one officer repeatedly tells him. 

“Sir, calm down, OK? Everything is going to be OK.” 

The man eventually calms down, and he admits to the officers that he’s not injured after they ask.

When this video got around on social media it immediately earned the hashtag #swedishcops on Twitter as people began comparing their actions to what Americans have seen from their own police lately.

Police in the US should be trained by these cops. #swedishcops https://t.co/i1Fw5gFOP0
— Heather Matarazzo (@HeatherMatarazz) April 24, 2015

Yes you can break up a fight without using guns and racial slurs. #swedishcops
— Bano Yousif (@BanoAbdulla) April 24, 2015

Those #swedishcops asked the men they detained if they're alright, if they're injured. Simple questions that show how humanity works. #NYC
— Kay Eves (@KayEves) April 24, 2015

Treating suspects like human beings? How un-American.

For those who still argue that government cannot effectively deliver health care, Sweden would like to politely disagree.

Courtesy of The New York Times:  

The United States spends more than $8,000 a person per year on health care, well more than twice what Sweden spends. Yet health outcomes are far better in Sweden along virtually every dimension. Its infant mortality rate, for example, was recently less than half that of the United States. And males aged 15 to 60 are almost twice as likely to die in any given year in the United States than in Sweden. 

In fairness, those differences result partly from lifestyle. In Sweden, workers are more likely to commute by bicycle than by car, for example, and obesity is far less common. Absolute poverty and income inequality — both associated with adverse health outcomes — are also lower. 

But when illness strikes, the Swedish health care system responds efficiently. Managers have exploited economies of scale by consolidating services into fewer but larger hospitals. The American system has also gone through consolidation, but, by contrast, boutique hospitals are also more common here — partly in response to demands from patients with very high-cost health plans. In large hospitals, CT scanners and other expensive diagnostic and treatment machines are in nearly constant use, versus only a few hours of weekly use in some small ones. 

Larger hospitals with heavier patient flows also enable their staff to hone their skills through specialization and experience. If you are getting a knee replacement or coronary bypass surgery, you want teams that do scores of such procedures each month. 

Doctors in the two countries also face different financial incentives. In the United States, under the fee-for-service model, they can bolster their incomes, often substantially, by prescribing additional tests and procedures. Most Swedish doctors, as salaried employees, have no comparable incentive. 

Another important difference is that, unlike many American health insurance providers, the government groups that manage Swedish health care are nonprofit entities. Because their charge is to provide quality care for all citizens, they don’t face the same incentive to withhold care that for-profit organizations do. That more hip-replacement operations are performed per capita in Sweden than in most other countries is almost certainly a reflection of the generous care options rather than of any inherent deficiency in Swedes’ hip joints. 

The Swedes also provide drugs and other treatments only when evidence establishes their effectiveness. People can spend privately on unproven treatments, but the government refuses to impose their cost on taxpayers.

Remember the conservatives are not against Obamacare because they fear that it will NOT work, they are against because they know that it WILL.