Category: Politics

Obama endorses dozens of Dems, snubs Ocasio-Cortez

Interesting.

It’s not clear whether the omission is deliberate or an oversight.

Baghdad Barb, no longer content to support things Trump makes up, starts making up her own stuff

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SANDERS: “One of the worst cases was the reporting on the U.S. ability to listen to Osama bin Laden’s satellite phone in the late ’90s. Because of that reporting, he stopped using that phone and the country lost valuable intelligence.”

First of all, that never happened at all. “The claim has been scrutinized since 2005, when it was publicly made by President George W. Bush, with his press team fingering an Aug. 21, 1998, article in the Washington Times as the reason bin Laden stopped using the phone.” The Washington Times wrote about bin Laden’s satellite phone in August of 1998, and bin Laden continued to use the phone through October. Moreover, other news outlets had reported that story dating back as far as 1996, and in no case did the stories consist of anything more than “bin Laden stays in contact with the world via satellite phones,” which was obvious before it appeared in newsprint since he was giving interviews via satellite phones in that period.   (The Times article never even mentioned the possibility that those phones were being monitored by the West, although the L.A. Times did mention that in September – after which bin Laden continued to use the same phone anyway!)

Second of all, in her attempts to discredit the mainstream press, Sanders was referring to an example of 1998 reporting by the right-wing Moonie paper, the Washington Times. Here’s what the Columbia Journalism Review wrote about that paper’s performance in that period under Wed Pruden’s editorship (1992-2008): “A forum for the racialist hard right, including white nationalists, neo-Confederates, and anti-immigrant scare mongers.” So that paper was not exactly what most people would call mainstream journalism.

(But again, even though they may have been the preferred news source for far-right lunatics, they did nothing wrong in that particular story, and their story did not have the purported negative effect.)

In other words, Sanders’ criticism was equivalent to making a false claim about the impact of a story reported by Sean Hannity, and then using that as an example of how the mainstream media outlets act irresponsibly!

Second Playboy model alleges an affair with Trump, received payment from AMI

Back-up link if the first one fails. The reporter deleted the story when AMI threatened to sue him personally.

Giuliani says there are two witnesses to a meeting that never happened

Remember again that this whole claim – that Cohen is willing to testify to the existence of such a meeting – is based upon a leak, and Cohen’s lawyer says that their side is not responsible for the leak, although he did not deny that such testimony was Cohen’s to give. So at this point the news story is this: Giuliani is denying the existence of a meeting that nobody has said existed in the first place! Such is the nature of the voracious 24-hour news cycle. But let’s consider the imaginary story, assuming that Cohen really did make the accusation.

First of all, there’s kind of a philosophical point Giuliani is missing. How can there be witnesses to something non-existent?

However, he’s not really talking about “witnesses” as we understand the concept. According to the leak, Cohen claims to have been there when Trump Jr reported the Russians’ offer to Trump Sr. Giuliani’s  claim that there are “witnesses” is his weaselly way of saying that the two Trumps deny that the meeting happened, which is not exactly breaking news. They have been denying all along that there was any communication between them about the Trump Tower gathering, so IF they were lying, and IF Cohen is accusing them of lying, Giuliani is merely repeating their lies rather than offering any rebuttal.

However, keep in mind that they may not have been lying and/or Cohen may have made no such accusation, leaving Giuliani simply trying to piss in the wind without even feeling the urge to go!

Cohen claims Trump knew in advance of 2016 Trump Tower meeting

Cohen is playing a dangerous game. He is showing both Trump and Mueller that he knows where all the bodies are buried. He hopes he can achieve something with these leaks – presumably either a pardon or a promise of reduced sentencing for full co-operation with the investigation.

When it comes to the Russia probe, all roads lead to Rohrabacher

He actually said this:

“I’m not Putin’s best friend.”

Sure, maybe not BEST.

Omarosa has finished her book about the Trump White House

It is called “Unhinged.” It’s not clear whether this adjective is meant to apply to her, to Trump, to the White House environment, or all of the above.

Her publisher wrote: “Omarosa is finally ready to share her side of the story in this explosive, jaw-dropping account.”

OK, I know they are trying to sell books, but can you imagine anything about Donald Trump that would be “jaw-dropping”? I’m trying to make a mental run-through of the worst things anyone can say about another person, and I’m having a difficult time coming up with anything that would surprise me enough to be jaw-dropping. What secret could she possibly have to spill? He’s a KKK grand dragon? He admits he is the antichrist? His hobby is torturing golden retriever puppies? He is a Kenyan Muslim? He had a gay affair with Putin? He was a member of Manson’s family and personally killed Sharon Tate? He thinks he’s the reincarnation of Hitler? (Hey, he was conceived six months after Hitler’s suicide.) If the secrets fall short of that level, my jaw will remain firmly in place.

Maybe he and Omarosa did anal, with Melania nursing Barron in the next room.

Wait. Never mind. That last one wouldn’t surprise me at all.

Trump says that Russia will be pushing hard for the Democrats in the mid-terms!

I had to read this a second time to see if he was making a joke, but he apparently was not. He claims Russia will be helping the Democrats because he is so tough on Russia.

You have to give him credit. He is the master of what Hitler called The Big Lie – a distortion of the truth which is so gross that it requires brass balls to make it public – and is effective because people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one, so the theory goes, especially it is repeated frequently.

This does raise the question that always pops into my mind with Trump – can he be so delusional that he actually believes he has been hard on Russia, and can just ignore the obvious pro-Trump posts from the Russian bots that appear every day on social media, or is he just a pathological liar who is willing to cynically manipulate his gullible base? I still can’t figure that one out. Either way is terrifying.

SIDEBAR: While Hitler did coin the phrase “grosse Luege” in Mein Kampf in 1925, Hitler and Goebbels did not advocate the use of the big lie, contrary to popular belief. They condemned it! Hitler used the term in his book to accuse “the Jews” of this technique; Goebbels accused the British of it on many occasions during WW2.

More than 450 people have been deported without the children they were accompanying

100% of fake black people support The Republican Party

This Russian bot post is easily dismissed, and your initial instinct is to think that nobody could possible buy the claims therein – until you realize that it was re-tweeted by the wife of a Supreme Court justice! It demonstrates how eager people are to see confirmation of their beliefs.

(I believe that this is an aspect of human nature, and not a form of behavior specifically limited to the right wing. In my observations, the left is just as gullible. Case in point: the “we don’t tip terrorist” hoax.)

Trump will talk to Mueller as long as they don’t ask any hard questions

As a reflection of the age in which we live, it is no longer possible to tell the difference between real stories and the mockery of The Onion.

This one is real.

They basically would only be allowed to ask him how his golf game is going.

Trump will not answer any questions about obstruction of justice. Needless to say, that’s why they want to talk to him in the first place. There is (to my knowledge) no evidence that candidate Trump colluded directly with Russian agents, but there was the letter he dictated (and initially denied dictating through Sarah Sanders), his pressure on Sessions not to recuse himself, as well as the Comey firing and his stated reasons for doing so.

Do the Russians consider Trump an “asset”?

Close. Just off by two letters.