My little nephew has a headache and is upstairs lying down. I went to check on him, sat down on the bed next to him, and he opens one eye, and says: “person, woman, man, camera, tv”
This is a US Govt official praising the GODDAMN BERLIN WALL, the symbol of 70 years of oppression and division under the Soviet boot.
In any other administration, this person would be fired immediately and never work in this town again. What an embarrassment these clowns are.
Ken Starr is on CNN talking about how poor pitiable Manafort deserved mercy + compassion, then pivoted smoothly into condemning Monica Lewinsky as a devious manipulative perjurer even at age 21-- & I feel like we've reached a new low to punditry. Happy int'l women's day from
@cnn
I’ve seen about 5 articles and 4 TV segments this weekend about how “boring” it will be for the press to cover a Biden presidency.
Perhaps if policy debates were explained/covered with the same enthusiasm/detail as the spectacle, better informed voters would elect less buffoons.
Meanwhile over in the Roger Stone trial, Rick Gates just confirmed candidate Trump, Manafort, Bannon had advance knowledge of wikileaks releases in 2016 -- which, you know, was one of the first questions in this whole investigation.
POTUS has nothing else on sched today but is nonetheless late to Arlington National Cemetery to honor veterans on Veterans Day, keeping decorated veterans, their families, and others waiting in the rain, not understanding the significance of the day, hour, minute of commemoration
Why local journalism is important: Kentucky governor put taxpayer $$ into an aluminum plant owned by one of his backers. Then the 2 KY senators, McConnell+Paul, were 2 of 3 votes needed to overturn sanctions on Deripaska, whose Rusal then invested $200mil in the plant.
Get it?
The more interviews Biden gives, it becomes apparent he has an encyclopedic brain of every outrageous, wrongheaded, inflammatory thing Trump has said as president — and it’s actually astonishing the level of detail he recalls while the rest of us are overwhelmed by waves of BS
If you want to know what Vladimir Putin is afraid is, it's pretty much the kids from Stoneman Douglas High School: speaking out with one voice, commanding the attention of a nation, and asking what the President is going to do about it.
Info warriors all. Keep it up, kids.
Breaking: reporters who have spent years covering Melania and explaining that she’s actually not so bad now confess she is actually pretty darned bad, and also indifferent to the lives of absolutely anyone other than herself
I don’t need anymore updates on the First Lady.
I need updates on the soldiers, airmen, marines, and secret service agents who have been exposed by the hubris of this president.
Updates on the journalists, butlers, staff exposed in the WH and at events.
POTUS knew he had COVID.
They treated him in secret, hoping he wouldn’t show symptoms.
He continued to do events and expose others.
Lies. Endangerment. Lies.
Vote them out. None of these people should ever work in this place again.
Estonia’s Ministry of Interior announces that all Ukrainian citizens who are currently in 🇪🇪 (even those whose work/study visa is about to end) can stay. Also, as of today all Ukrainians, even those who don't have a biometric passport, can enter Estonia without a visa.
Another A+ for Biden event planners — arriving at Andrews in the low afternoon sun, en route to sunset memorial service at the Lincoln Memorial, everything awash in the golden light of nostalgia, hope, better times.
Later — not now, not soon — it will become apparent that allowing this POTUS — moribund, diminishing, corrosive — to remain in office during this crisis — spewing out lies, poisoning minds, piling bodies — was the greatest dereliction of duty in the history of our government. /1
Today seems like a good day to remember that the Trump campaign changed the language on Ukraine in the party policy platform at the RNC convention in 2016.
So
@RepValDemings
just gave best answer yet re confederate monuments. I’m paraphrasing, but: “African Americans have been hung, beaten, tortured, marginalized for 400 years... I don’t really care what happens to a statue of a guy who committed treason to defend slavery.../1
Bernie's new press sec is a person who promoted Kremlin propaganda by calling for votes for Kremlin-shill Jill Stein; she also doesn't believe Russia hacked the DNC.
Any more questions about what Bernie is or do we need to keep pretending?
Pence‘s long series of interviews this morning is like a train crashing into a bus that crashed into a tractor that crashed into a car next to a fire tornado
He’s a broken android that must complete a sequence of meaningless words before returning to an emotionless resting state
Everyone seems shocked by revelations secret service was sitting on their hands (& intel). Not sure why. If you look back to Trump’s rallies in 2016, basically as soon as he had SS protection, he started using those guys to intimate press and harass protestors. There’s footage/1
Kim killed his half brother using nerve agent. He's executed men by flame thrower and mortar rounds. He's killed much of his own family. He executed his mentor. His people starve; North Korea is a giant prison camp.
This is a disgrace. Those who rehabilitate Kim are a disgrace.
I just watched a completely clueless President proclaim a special bond with one of the most ruthless murderers in the world, whom he thinks is “a talented man” who “loves his country.” If I cringed any harder my spine would snap.
My proposal for the week ahead:
Don't watch the State of the Union.
We know he wants ratings.
We know he will attempt to reset the narrative and two days later it won't have mattered at all.
Don't feed the trolls.
Don't engage the inflammatory content.
Deny him the news cycle.
Isn’t this basically the thing right wing militias and open-carry LARPers have been panicking about for eons? Where’s the NRA ad on this or are they still busy telling republican voters that Hillary will take your guns?
A children's magazine best known for the hidden items search on the back cover has more moral courage than 2/3 of elected officials and 98% of the country.
The silence is always the worst. Speak out.
At Highlights, our core belief is that children are the world's most important people. In light of the reports of the living conditions of detained children & threats of further deportation & family separation, here is a statement from our CEO Kent Johnson.
#KeepFamiliesTogether
All POTUS cares about is ratings.
Don't watch the State of the Union address Tuesday.
You can read it later.
Watch the hallmark channel. Sports. Netflix reruns. Whatever.
Don't give him your eyes. Your tweets. No more RTs.
Diminish him. Diminish him before it is too late.
POTUS chose loathsome MAGA TV clowns as his “legal” team because he wants them to preemptively fight against impeachment.
TV news has responded by giving them infinite free time to make their case.
For more information, see “how trump got elected with free media coverage”
A lot happened today, and I'll revisit this later.
But I don't think we should overlook that associates of POTUS's key fixer were discussing kidnapping/disappearing/or something an American ambassador in a foreign country.
And she was warned about it by FOREIGN FRIENDS first.
All: I adore you. I do. But for the love of all that's holy, stop, STOP posting propaganda hot-takes from the Hill. John Solomon may be gone, but their click-for-BS model of social media posting remains. It is as important as Fox & Breitbart at driving the disinfo narratives.
I have a question. Maybe there’s an answer so obvious that there’s a reason no one writes about it.
But — Mitch McConnell has had a stranglehold on what gets done in Washington for nearly 20 years. Why is there so very little reporting on him, his ties, his motivations?
If there were Senators on the committee who understand what is really at stake, they would ask Ratcliffe one question:
You have promoted the QAnon conspiracy. Do you believe that a cabal of democratic cannibal-pedophiles are conspiring to end America? Please explain.
Zelensky’s speech at Munich reminds that Ukraine has been a shield for Europe against Russian aggression for 8 years, and explains what that looks like for Ukrainian children, soldiers, citizens. A powerful confrontation of the moment at hand.
I can’t stop thinking about what Gov Cuomo said today: that FEMA is now outbidding states — already forced to bid against each other — to buy ventilators and other essential supplies.
While POTUS says only states that are “nice to him” should get supplies.
It's really hard to read this and not say "hey there's an open, unabashed white nationalist/eugenicist working in the WH and Republicans have defended him being there"
House GOP: We just want the Democrats to find unity in their hearts
Also House GOP-Conspiracy Caucus: WE’RE NOT WEARING MASKS, NO MASKS, EVEN IN A STRESSFUL CRISIS NOOOO BECAUSE LIIIIIIIIIIIIIBERTY AND CONSPIRACIES REIN! I WILL TURN MY GADSDEN FLAG INTO A SPEAR IF YOU MAKE ME!
Yesterday, Putin went on a long riff about how Democrats are actually just communists, so it was funny to hear POTUS whip that one out today re Kamala Harris.
Since I have previously been critical of this -- CNN has started noting which commentators have NDAs with Trump campaign/admin, and this is an important and positive disclosure measure.
US Secret Service is making some staff changes in the presidential detail that will guard Biden, amid concerns from Biden allies that some current members were politically aligned with Trump, per
@CarolLeonnig
LTG became Ambassador in Liberia when I was working there. Pretty much the 1st thing she did was walk outside the gates of the (spectacular) embassy compound — startling the Marine guards to no end — and start picking up the trash that lined the road. She viewed it as her job /1
Democrats close to Biden expect him to name Linda Thomas-Greenfield as ambassador to the United Nations, looking to a Black woman and respected diplomat to restore morale.
So, are we going to talk about how a member of Al Qaeda infiltrated the Saudi military/was recruited from w/i Saudi military, used that to gain access to the US, US training & military facilities, and then conducted a terrorist attack on US soil --
Or just vitamins or whatever?
Warren on Biden: “He’s exactly who he says he is.”
On Sanders: “We are responsible for the people who claim to be our supporters and do threatening, ugly things to others.”
This Tillerson interview, which eviscerates POTUS as undisciplined, impulsive, and believing he can violate the law, won't get enough coverage here on Circus Friday -- so here you go:
For everyone out there who is still operating by the old rules, and keeping their powder dry: This is the fight. You're missing it.
You won't be remembered as wise for conserving your position later on; it won't matter. None of it will. The fight is now.
I am 100% here for the rawness and quiet fury of
@RepRaskin
“I am not going to lose my son at the end of 2020 and lose my country and my republic in 2021 — it’s not going to happen. The vast majority of the American people — republicans, Democrats, and independents — /2
Drone footage of today's protests in Prague which I think means Americans are the only ones not in the streets about what we are giving up for corrupt dopes with bad suits as toxic leaders.
In approximately 2 hours, there will be a new wave of Ukraine/Burisma/“investigations” news from POTUS loyalists — and you should understand that for exactly what it is.
Kudos to
@maddow
for dedicating huge block tonight to this piece + very overlooked fact that many of DoJ/FBI officials who find themselves in POTUS/radical R crosshairs are experts who have been prosecuting Russian organized crime/illicit Kremlin activities their whole careers
President Trump has threatened to take away the security clearance of Bruce Ohr, a career Justice Department official who fought Russian organized crime
Yesterday someone predicted that far right media would attack Stoneman Douglas survivors to weaken the power of their authenticity.
That's happening now. Terrible stories will run on these kids to make them seem "questionable." Don't buy it. Understand the purpose of that info.
Should we talk about the fact that the current National Security Adviser appeared in propaganda videos made by a Russian organization built only for the purposes of infiltrating/influencing the United States?
Melania Trump: “As a country, we cannot continue to get lost in the noise of negativity and encourage ambition by those who seek only to promote themselves.”
A year ago, Senator Kennedy was on this bad-optics Republican July 4th junket to Moscow.
Sure would like to know what was discussed in those meetings, and who he has been talking to since, for his opinions to shift so far in so short a time.
There are now three different pro-Kavanaugh ads looping endlessly in DC TV market, and precisely zero anti-Kavanaugh ads, so I'm kind of done hearing about this big dark money disparity supposedly linked to the soros/clinton/space aliens collective.
Biden is doing what would in ordinary times be a totally boring-ass townhall-like thing, taking notes with a writing implement that isn’t a crayon, addressing people by name and listing off nerdy policy ideas to solve their problems — and it is so normal it’s bringing me to tears
Everybody’s going nuts about the new Trump campaign logo but people FFS “America First” was the propaganda of the American Nazi Party and Trump used it anyway and didn’t care and basically no one called him on it and GOP voters still think it is mad genius.
The "# releasethememo" campaign shows how computational propaganda & information warfare are used to promote a destructive narrative against the American mind -- and change the face of US politics. My analysis today in
@POLITICOMag
/1
Has anyone asked the obvious — that the buses aren’t coming to Trump rallies to pick people up because Trump doesn’t want to pay for them, because he is currently using the campaign to funnel as much money to himself and his family as he can? All of which happens in the open?
No.1 play in the Kremlin playbook?
- create crisis
- deny you created crisis
- make crisis worse, draw attention to it
- threaten that crisis will get worse if you don't work w/ Kremlin
- propose solution to crisis
- gold stars for resolving crisis you created
Just saying.
Y’all I need a break and a shower like you would not believe. Writing a piece on this and will post later, but:
huge huge momentum shift today toward the side of Ukraine 🇺🇦
Russia didn’t win the way that it wanted.
We have opportunity here. Stay focused on that.
Stay positive.
Why is this not getting coverage?
DHS set up a fake university in Detroit, with fake accreditation.
Foreign students were given visas to attend. DHS collected millions of $$$ in tuition.
Now 100s of students were arrested & deported bc school was fake.
Let's be clear about some stuff, because, 2018:
1- Assange is not a hero.
2- Snowden is not a whistleblower.
3- Wikileaks does not care about the freedom of information unless Russian intelligence wants it to be free.
4- stop reading zerohedge, people. For the love of God. /1
Lindsey Graham directs the Republican base: don't watch the impeachment hearings because they are "a danger to the presidency."
That pretty much says everything you need to know. Their ideas fail totally outside the carefully controlled narrative bubble, where facts still exist.
Mitt Romney: “best way we can show respect for the voters who are upset is to tell them the truth.” OVATION “That’s the burden. That’s the duty of leadership.”
x1000
Thank you
@MittRomney
So. The heads of ALL THREE Russian intel agencies come to Washington secretly, meet with allies of president, and then somehow sanctions get bungled and Putin + cronies off hook before Russian elex.
Sure. This is fine.
I feel it’s worth reminding that both Hitler and Stalin where devout conspiracy theorists for whom those conspiracies became central pillars of the propaganda they used to maintain and advance power.
I'll admit I didn't expect Sacha Baron Cohen to be the one to give such a powerful takedown of how social media companies enable and propagate hate for profit -- but here it is.
It is now clear that POTUS has failed to address the first national crisis of his presidency in a spectacular way. Americans will die because he gutted our institutions & replaced experts with sycophants. In the most critical phase of response, his priority was personal praise.