July 31, 2017

Say what Laurence Tribe?

What would Professor Tribe's Harvard law students say if they knew that he retweeted a clickbait headline that distorted a news story without doing the most basic due diligence of actually reading the article that appeared under it?
https://twitter.com/tribelaw/status/891825851448295425
Here's what Mrs. Pelosi actually said according to the Fox News Sunday transcript:

WALLACE: OK. I got 30 seconds and the question is, what are the chances Democrats win back the House in 2018? And if so, will you run for speaker?

PELOSI: It’s so unimportant. What is important is that we have a lively debate on a better deal, better pay, better jobs, and a better future. And that’s what we look forward to having. We have unity in our party. You saw with the fight on Affordable Care Act in the House and in the Senate.

With respect Professor Tribe, The Hill's headline is an insane distortion. You should be more careful.

July 27, 2017

Senate passes House version of Russia sanctions bill.

It passed 98-2.

http://thehill.com/policy/international/russia/344221-senate-sends-russia-sanctions-bill-to-trumps-desk

July 27, 2017

I happened to hear Rush Limbaugh today on the car radio.

Lord Haw-Haw explained everything.

Trump and Sessions aren't really feuding. That's merely a distraction so that the MSM and Democrats will be be blindsided and surprised by what's really going to happen. It's a "good cop/bad cop" tactic.

It's part of a master strategy to put all the pieces in place for a full and comprehensive investigation of Hillary Clinton, her illegal and traitorous private server, and her masterminding DNC collusion with the Russians. The wheels are in motion! And the idiot journalists and the entire Congress are falling for the ploy, just like our wise and crafty leader planned!

What Limbaugh and Hannity will not do for money is beyond the pale.

July 27, 2017

"Before Trump banned transgender people from serving in the military,

here's who praised him as pro-LGBTQ."

https://www.mediamatters.org/research/2017/07/26/trump-banned-transgender-people-serving-military-heres-who-praised-him-pro-lgbtq/217386

This example is especially galling.

MSNBC’s Mark Halperin: Trump’s speech at Republican National Convention made it “one of the biggest days ever” for the Republican Party and gay rights. [MSNBC, Morning Joe, 7/22/16]

July 27, 2017

"Someone Should Go to Senate and Snatch a Knot in Their Ass"

According to Mediaite:

"Rep Buddy Carter remarked that he agreed with Trump for singling out Sen. Lisa Murkowski for voting against the motion to proceed.

'I think it’s perfectly fair,” he noted. “Let me tell you, somebody needs to go over into that Senate and snatch a knot in their ass."'

What does that even mean?

It certainly sounds horrible. At least I understood Blake Farenthold's threat of an "Aaron Burr style" solution.

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/gop-rep-to-ali-velshi-someone-should-go-to-senate-and-snatch-a-knot-in-their-ass/

July 21, 2017

She was right. Say it. Hallelujah edition.

I was just in the lounge reading a pet peeve thread about the use of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" at funerals. And then I watched Kate McKinnon's cold open for SNL the Saturday after the election. And then, for the first tim in a long time, I found myself crying.

Collectively we were all injured by whatever crimes were committed in the course of sabotaging this election, but on a purely personal level, it is Hillary Clinton who was the target and the primary victim.

I've yet to hear any of the punditry actually say it. Where is the outrage on a level personal that this was done to the first woman nominee of a major party for the office of the presidency? Will no one stand up for her as a person and as a victim?

She was right. Say it.
And then acknowledge that she was also wronged.

Silence = Complicity

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029307974

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029311060
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029316314
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029325259
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029330347
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029333583
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029337042

July 17, 2017

She was right. Say it. Of false equivalency and Mr. Bannon's narrative.

The newspaper of record is absolving itself from responsibility for its part in helping to put Trump in the White House. The function of journalism in a free democracy is so crucial that its voice is protected by the very first amendment in the Bill of Rights. With that right comes the duty to report in the public interest. Many abrogated that duty in pursuit of revenue and ratings. It began early with the New York Time's agreement with the discredited author of the discredited screed "Clinton Cash" for rights to exclusive early access in exchange for promoting the book's "story lines". Think Progress noticed:

https://thinkprogress.org/steve-bannon-new-york-times-washington-post-clinton-cash-d59d6492546

So did the Time's readers:
https://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/04/23/an-exclusive-arrangement-on-a-clinton-book-and-many-questions/

Similarly, readers warned the NYT about the dangerous game of "what-about-herism" before the election. Readers (via the recently eliminated post of public editor) put them on notice:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/11/public-editor/the-truth-about-false-balance.html

And the NYT's very own Liberal Conscience warned them as well:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/05/opinion/hillary-clinton-gets-gored.html?mcubz=1

Yet the Times was still defending their discredited tactic as recently as May:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/17/opinion/false-equivalence-between-trump-and-clinton-yet-again.html?mcubz=1
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/06/opinion/two-presidential-candidates-stuck-in-time.html

The Washington Post seemed more aware of the danger:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2016/12/07/study-clinton-trump-coverage-was-a-feast-of-false-equivalency/?utm_term=.76374aea663d
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-danger-of-false-equivalence_us_57db909ae4b04fa361d99724

However, WaPo, in its very own "exclusive deal" with the discredited author of Bannon's publication, had no problem promoting the right wing Clinton Cash narrative in order to to stoke its revenue.
https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2015/05/01/after-forming-clinton-cash-exclusives-ny-times/203492

WaPo seems to finally have a clue about how badly it was played and pwned, but alas, it is too late to have any impact on the election.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/how-bannons-multimedia-machine-drove-a-movement-and-paid-him-millions/2017/04/09/203df1ce-197b-11e7-855e-4824bbb5d748_story.html?utm_term=.a2d4988733c4

The New York Times and the Washington Post need to take personal responsibility for their failed campaign coverage. And then they need to apologize frequently and publicly. We should expect nothing less. And besides, think of the revenue generating hits that would follow!

Silence = Complicity

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029307974

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029311060
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029316314
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029325259
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029330347
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029333583

July 16, 2017

Paging Doctor 13. SHE is wanted in the Tardis.

Prepare for heads to explode as the newest Time Lord (Lady?) prepares to take HER place in the storied BBC series.

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-40624288

http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/07/16/doctor-who-13th-doctor-revealed

July 16, 2017

She was right. Say it. The Bruni edition

I’m talking to you, Frank.

While your support for Mrs. Clinton pre-November 9, 2017 was evident, it was often couched with helpful advice for the clumsy candidate.

Not so the day after:

"She was a profoundly flawed candidate unable to make an easy connection with voters. She was forever surrounded by messes: some of her own making, some blown out of proportion by the news media, all of them exhausting to voters who had lived through a quarter century of political melodrama with her."

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/09/opinion/donald-trumps-shocking-success.html

And then there’s this more recently:

"They’re still not sure how much of Trump’s victory had to do with Hillary Clinton’s flaws versus the party’s poor grasp of America, and the more they focus on the former, tattling for the tell-all book “Shattered” and then tittering over its revelations, the less they own up to the latter."

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/10/opinion/sunday/can-democrats-save-themselves.html

Post-election Mr. Bruni has been walking a fine line that seems to ensure he is on the "correct" side. It reads like narrative shopping, this movement to and fro to as the conventional wisdom shifts from one standard story line to the next. He even suggested that Mrs. Clinton run for mayor so she could "settle scores", because, you know, that's what Hillary does.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/06/opinion/sunday/rumors-of-hillary-clintons-comebackhas

It has all led people to think, “Et tu, Bruni?’

Today’s column is a start, but it’s not enough. Now that the newspaper of record that employs you has eliminated the desk of the public editor (the editorial board's representative of the people) it’s time to step up.

https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/05/31/new-york-times-failing-its-readers-eliminating-public-editor/216720

Stop worry about being on the correct side. Be on the right side.

Silence = complicity

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029307974

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029311060
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029316314
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029325259
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029330347

July 16, 2017

As per tomorrow's Onion: "He speaks in tongues,"

an alarmed Pence tells his wife, "and on the Sabbath!"

No Mr. Vice President. The man you helped to cheat out of a free and fair election is speaking Spanish.

That's just the fully fluent Tim Kaine on Al Punto's Sunday morning news and politics show on Univision. Maybe Junior can recommend an "interpreter".

Catch the full interview via this link:
http://www.univision.com/noticias/al-punto/