Open Thread for Friday, November 3, 2017

The owner of the Glasgow Court trailer park wants to oust residents to make way for a housing development, but the plan might have hit a roadblock. A FOIA request by WDEL’s Amy Cherry unearthed the fact that the park owes over $300,000 in unpaid sewer fees. The manager says that much water leaked from pipes and not through the sewer system, so she wants to pay nothing.

Grand Elf of the Keebler Klux Klan Jeff Sessions has his pointy ears in a big fat wringer. The Papadopolous plea makes clear he lied to Congress about knowing of the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russians, not a good look for any nation’s top law enforcement officer.

More on Robert Mercer’s surprise exit from his hedge fund and sale of his stake in Breitbart (albeit to his equally conservative daughter): Pressure on investors in the hedge fund over his ties to white supremacists apparently did the trick.

I’ve been inclined to brush off the supposed influence of Russian propaganda on the election. Sure there are people dumb enough to believe everything they click on, but the Constitution enshrines anyone’s right to dupe them, right? Still, I’m amazed at the lengths to which the Russians went to influence the weak-minded, as documented in this Daily Beast article. Condolences to anyone who crushed on her.

There’s no better way to mislead people than with statistics. Remember that as you read this explainer about restoring electricity in Puerto Rico, and why almost everyone remains without power even though officially 30 percent of it has been restored.