WordPress is more than a blogging platform. It also powers very large enterprise WordPress websites that don’t look like blogs. WordPress VIP hosts such sites. One example is FiveThirtyEight. Minimum price is $5,000 a month. They comment on just-released WordPress 5.0 with the Gutenberg editor, about where WordPress is going next, and what that means for the enterprise.

Everything is or will be a block.

Blocks can be anything from a paragraph in a post to the entire post, or even an entire CMS. Blocks are powerful, easy to work with, drag-and-drop, can be embedded in other blocks. The ultimate goal in WordPress is everything will work via blocks. Among other things, this means way less problems with rogue or squabbling plugins.

WordPress is all-in on blocks.

They reflect the reality of HTML structure, making it (finally!) possible to meet user expectations on things like copy-and-paste from applications like word processors. But as developers we’re able to simplify their presentation, make their function readily apparent to users, and make them reusable across the interface.

Blocks will be the default way to configure a site

Right now, blocks are only in the editor. They will soon be in plugins, menus, and themes. Editing everything in the front end becomes a possibility.

Blocks will break out of the text box.

Blocks might replace what we currently know as ‘widgets’ and ‘menus’. Configuration would take place within the WordPress admin area, in the Customizer – or perhaps even inline, on the front end.

Major advantages coming for the enterprise

Plans include editing content at the block levels and multi-language as a part of the core. This means multiple people can edit different parts of the same post without issues and multi-language becomes part of enterprise WordPress.

Phase three is set to focus on collaboration and workflows. It is likely to include content locking based on blocks, rather than pages as now. This will be especially valuable to newsrooms working on breaking stories: we know many of our clients already have elaborate workarounds to allow journalists to work on different parts of the same article simultaneously.

Phase four will finally bring an official way for WordPress to support multilingual publishing. Numerous proven approaches already exist, of course. But the lack of a canonical solution within WordPress core is often cited as a weakness, and existing solutions often cannot guarantee to be compatible with other plugins and services.

Trump got hammered on three fronts today. The new New York Attorney General promises many investigations into Trump finances. National Enquirer has flipped and is providing information against Trump. Michael Cohen can get a reduction in his sentence in return for future cooperation.

New York Attorney General

Incoming NY AG Letitia James promises numerous investigations into Trump family finances. Predictably, some on the right squealing that she does not appear unbiased. To them, I say, if she was investigating a known organized crime family, would they say the same? And really, is there anyone who thinks Trump and family haven’t been breaking laws for decades?

James will investigate Trump real estate, Trump Tower meeting in 2016, government subsidies Trump Org got, whether Trump violates the emoluments clause of the Constitution, and the Trump Foundation, and “anyone in his orbit who has, in fact, violated the law.” Wow.

National Enquirer

David Pecker, CEO of the company that publishes the sewer known as National Enquirer, says the company is cooperating with federal prosecutors. The company admitted it made payments to women Trump had sex with in return for their silence. This was done with the intent of protecting the Trump campaign. Further, they said it was coordinated with the campaign. So many felonies…

Federal prosecutors took a major step on Wednesday in their investigation of hush-money payments made to two women who said they had affairs with Donald J. Trump, announcing that The National Enquirer’s parent company was cooperating.

The company, American Media Inc., the country’s biggest tabloid publisher, played an important role in a scheme to keep the women silent in the months before the 2016 election so that Mr. Trump’s chances would not be damaged, federal prosecutors said

Michael Cohen

Cohen got three years in prison. He continues to cooperate with Mueller, who said Cohen “provided valuable information, investigative information.” and “provided our office with credible and reliable information about core Russia-related issues under investigation and within the purview.” Cohen could have gotten 10+ years, so must have cooperated bigly.

He could have his sentence reduced further if he continues to cooperate

What’s going on? Here’s my best guess.

Cohen has a lot more he could give. The government knows that. They want to crack him. Moreover, even on the stuff he’s given them so far, he is a less valuable witness so long as he refuses to be fully candid. They are tired of playing his coy little game, and political considerations require speed. So they’ve accelerated sentencing, and set up a classic “good cop – bad cop” squeeze. New York has told the judge to hammer Cohen. By contrast, Mueller looks like a generous friend.

It’s all coming crashing down on Trump and his fellow criminals. Each week now will be worse than the previous week for them.

Yesterday: Maria Butina changed her plea to guilty and is cooperating. NRA executives stopped ranting long enough about how we all need moar guns to change their Depends. Republican operative Paul Erikson, who was bonking Butina probably had a very bad day indeed. Yup, she totally thought you were a hottie, Paul, even though you are almost twice her age, balding and dorky. Idiot.

Today: Paul Manafort’s lawyers are in court responding to the feds saying Manafort is a lying weasel who breached the plea deal. TLDR; the feds are correct.

Wednesday: Michael Cohen gets sentenced. Prosecutors are asking for 4-5 years. In addition, he will owe substantial back taxes with interest and penalties, and gets disbarred so can no longer be a lawyer. ETTD, indeed.

Friday: Michael Flynn sentencing memo will be released. He has cooperated and will probably get a light or possible no sentence. His behavior was greedy and treasonous. Perhaps he decided he didn’t want to die in prison.

Also, Jerome Corsi, a true garbage person (he concocted the Swift Boat conspiracy theory against Kerry and the Obama Birther rubbish) rejected a plea deal about him knowing about Wikileaks leaking DNC emails, apparently unaware that Mueller has emails, texts, phone calls, etc. incriminating him. He also suing Mueller for $350 million. Good luck with that.

All of this is very bad for Trump. Mueller is coming for him.

This was maybe the most contentious WordPress launch yet. Many on social media thought it wasn’t ready. There was much gnashing of teeth. However, three days after the launch there appears to be few if any issues. Everything is going smoothly. 2-3 million sites are already running 5.0. Yay!

WordPress 5.0 has a new editor called Gutenberg. It’s a big deal. Everything is a block; paragraphs, images, embeds, layouts, etc. Blocks are easy to use, powerful, can be embedded in other blocks, and moved around easily.

I’ve been using a beta of the Gutenberg editor since May. It’s way better than the Classic editor (which can still be used.) Gutenberg plugins like Atomic Blocks and Caxton add even more functionality and editor blocks.

Coming versions of WordPress will expand Gutenberg into themes, widgets, and plugins. Everything will be modular, everything will work using the same WordPress core code blocks. No more rogue plugins that break things or incompatibilities between plugins.

Get your WordPress site ready for Gutenberg now. Installed plugins need to be tested and verified against the WordPress Repository to determine what version of WordPress they’ve been tested up to. Plugins that haven’t been updated for a while may have issues and might need replacements.

Going forward, themes will need to do all configuration in Appearance / Customizer. If a theme has its own config panels it’s not Gutenberg-compatible. This isn’t an issue yet but may be in 2019. WordPress and JetPack already have hundreds of Gutenberg-ready themes.

Phase 2 of Gutenberg will bring block-style editing to widgets, menus, and themes.

WordPress just took a huge step forward and is planning for the next 15 years. Contact me if you have any questions or want a Gutenberg tune-up for your site.

“And for all those little piggies, life is getting worse.” Hey, Donald Trump, Mueller has amassed huge evidence against you on a multitude of crimes. Many of your former associates are informing against you, and no doubt against your corrupt kids too. Sucks to be a corrupt traitor, doesn’t it?

Trump criminality includes financial crimes, tax evasion, obstruction of justice, campaign finance felonies, taking money from foreign powers in violation of the law. It’s all surfacing. And Trump can’t stop the investigations now. There are too many of them coming from too many places.

---

Flynn
Mueller is recommending no prison time for disgraced General Flynn because of his “substantial assistance.” Flynn turned into a greedy, whoring, corrupt pig after being fired by Obama. Faced with prison and bankruptcy (he’s not wealthy) he choose to cooperate.

Manafort
Provided info to Trump after pretending to cooperate with prosecutors and thus could easily die in prison. They key point here is Mueller can prove this because of Manafort’s text messages. Let that sink in. Manafort is so dim that he thought texts were somehow safe. Mueller has Manafort’s texts, emails, phone calls, and much more. And that will incriminate many more people. Also, Manafort lied about his ties with Konstantin Kilimnik, who has ties to Russian intelligence.

Cohen
Has provided info to Mueller on “Russia-related matters core to its investigation.” Cohen also says Trump told him to make the illegal payments to the women nd Trump lied to voters about Russia financial ties. Trump wanted Trump Moscow Tower. His credit is so horrible that only a Moscow bank would finance the deal. That bank is blocked from doing so because of sanctions. That’s why Trump wanted sanctions lifted.

Trump Org execs
Allen Weisselberg, longtime CFO of Trump Organization, has been granted immunity by federal prosecutors. He knows everything about
corrupt Trump finances.

---

A flurry of recent activity this past week all points in the same direction: Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation will likely implicate the president, his campaign, and his close associates in aiding and abetting a Russian conspiracy against the United States to undermine the 2016 election.

Mueller is coming. And he is clearly coming for Trump. Not simply for obstructing justice but for conspiring with a hostile foreign power to win an election. This is a scandal unlike any America has ever seen.