Friday, December 21, 2018 and the weekend.
THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION
Jill Stein
- Russians launched pro-Jill Stein social media blitz to help Trump win election, reports say
- Rachel Maddow: Russians launched pro-Jill Stein social media blitz to help Trump win election, reports say
- Ali H Soufan: Unfortunately, the Russian strategy paid off: In PA, Stein received 49,678 votes. Trump won by 46,765 votes. In WI, Stein received 31,006 votes. Trump won by 22,177 votes. In MI, Stein received 51,463 votes. Trump won by 10,704 votes.
And now, the obligatory picture of Jill Stein…
Flynn
- We were FBI agents. We want to know why Flynn lied to the bureau.
- Flynn stopped military plan Turkey opposed – after being paid as its agent
Whitaker
- Watchdog group says DOJ needs to investigate whether Whitaker violated ethics standards
- Trump lashed out at Whitaker after explosive Cohen revelations
- Senator Diane Feinstein: A letter from the Justice Department makes clear that ethics officials told Matthew Whitaker that his comments disparaging Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation DO create the appearance of a conflict of interest and he should recuse himself.
So, after the Cohen guilty plea came out, Trump lost his shit on Whitaker and asked him why he didn’t stop the attorneys in SDNY from naming him as an unindicted co-conspirator.
Obstruction of Justice exhibit #4,398, 209.
Reality Check
- Mother of jailed NSA contractor rails against Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, and Michael Cohen: ‘Those actually responsible for threatening our election continue to get off easy’
- My Daughter Reality Winner Faced Severe Punishment, but Key Figures in the Trump-Russia Scandal Are Getting Off Easy
Working During the Shutdown
- Mueller’s office would continue working in the event of a government shutdown
- Robert Mueller’s team, “exempt” from a partial government shutdown, will keep working
Mystery Subpoena Case
- Mystery Filing Appears to Ask High Court to Act in Mueller Probe
- Mystery foreign company continues court battle over possible Mueller subpoena
Assuming that SCOTUS hears the case, they’ve never taken one on before that was sealed this tight the whole way up. That we know of.
- To unravel the Trump/Russia affair, don’t follow the money, follow the lies
- Top US Intelligence Official Confirms Russian Propagandists Tried To Meddle In The Midterms
- The Trump Tower meeting gets another intriguing layer
- Schiff: ‘Prepared’ to force Mueller report release if White House blocks
- Schiff: Democrats will subpoena Mueller report if Trump tries to hide it
- Schiff: Trump conversations with acting attorney general ‘wrong at every level’
- Trump supporters turning on president over Mueller investigation into Russia ties, poll shows
- How Trump Has Treated His Former Associates Caught Up In Mueller Probe
- I talked to Mueller after Trump’s election. Here’s what was on his mind.
- Paul Ryan Aide, Rep. Adam Kinzinger Received Steele Dossier Early, Court Documents Show
GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN
- ‘He takes no ownership — that’s just Trump’: President eschews responsibility for a shutdown he once craved
- ‘This is tyranny of talk radio hosts, right?’: Limbaugh and Coulter blamed for Trump’s shutdown
- ‘Very possible’ that government shutdown could last into the new year, says White House budget director Mick Mulvaney
- A Shutdown Would Be a Fitting End to the GOP Majority
- Adam Parkhomenko: The party of Christian values shut down the government at Christmas because they can’t get $5 billion for a giant sign that says “NO ROOM AT THE INN.”
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Says Lawmakers Should Lose Their Salaries Too When They Shut Down the Government
- Amid government shutdown, a host of bigger worries
- AP Explains: What happens in a partial government shutdown
- As Trump battles Congress, federal workers are caught in the middle
- Asked who ‘gets fired’ during Obama shutdown, Trump Told Fox News: the President
- Chuck Schumer says Trump ‘plunging the country into chaos’ with government shutdown threat
- Democrat Suggests Invoking 25th Amendment Against Donald Trump Amid Government Shutdown Fight
- Democratic Senator Calls Out Donald Trump’s Shutdown ‘Bulls**t’ On Live TV
- Fox News Calls Out Trump for ‘Flipping a 180’ on Shutdown Blame
- GOP Congressman Blasts Trump For ‘Toddler Logic’ On Shutdown
- GOP Sen. Bob Corker blames shutdown on ‘tyranny’ of ‘talk-radio hosts that get the president spun up’
- GOP Sen. Corker Slams ‘Tyranny’ Of ‘Talk Radio’ Hosts For Impending Shutdown
- Government shutdowns are rare when one party controls White House, Congress. President Trump is on his third.
- House adjourns, shutdown near certain
- Joe Walsh: Point of information: Trump is threatening to shut down the government to make the American people pay for something that he repeatedly said a foreign country would pay for. Thanks.
- Major parts of the federal government begin shutting down for an indefinite closure
- Mueller’s office would continue working in the event of a government shutdown
- Ocasio-Cortez calls for congressional salaries to be furloughed during next shutdown
- Partial government shutdown assured after lawmakers leave Capitol without budget deal
- Robert Mueller’s team, “exempt” from a partial government shutdown, will keep working
- Schumer Reminds Trump: You ‘Called For A Shutdown No Less Than 25 Times’
- Senator Mark Warner: If the President gets his way and the government shuts down, 380,000+ federal employees will be furloughed and 420,000+ more will be working without pay over the holidays. Merry Christmas.
- Shutdown to stretch on until at least Thursday as Senate adjourns with no deal over budget, Trump’s border wall
- The self-proclaimed party of ‘patriotism & strength’ is willing to shutdown the American government because they’re scared of being tweeted at by a bully who gets his marching orders from the hosts of Fox & Friends. – Rep Joe Kennedy III
- The White House Told Democrats To “Come To The Table” To Negotiate The Shutdown — But Invited Only Republicans To Lunch
- Trump reverses, says Dems to blame for shutdown
- Trump said a shutdown is the president’s fault, and a fireable offense
- Trump says ‘Democrats now own the shutdown’ just nine days after declaring he was ‘proud to shut down the government’
- Trump says he’s working with Democrats during the government shutdown, but his border security meeting only included Republicans
- Trump shuts down government in fight over wall he promised Mexico would fund – This is the third shutdown of 2018.
- Trump warns of a ‘very long’ government shutdown if Democrats oppose bill that includes border wall money
- Trump Warns of Very Long Shutdown if Democrats Vote No on Wall
- Trump: I don’t mind owning shutdown
- Trump’s shutdown stunt is an act of needless stupidity
- U.S. Geological Survey Unable To Provide Indonesia Tsunami Data Due To Government Shutdown
- Violence Against Women Act expires with government shutdown
- What closes when the government shuts down?
- White House, congressional leaders hold last-minute talks ahead of midnight shutdown deadline
- Who gets sent home when the government shuts down
- A matter of distrust: In impasse, lawmakers head home with no idea of when closed agencies might reopen
Here’s the thing with this newest shutdown: Nobody wins in the United States. If the Democrats cave and give in to the wall, they lose their high ground and will screw themselves in the future with the next shutdown when Trump says he wants more money, which he will. The only reason he won’t is if he’s gone by February, and that feels a little soon for his ouster.
COLD WAR 2.0
- From now on, Trump will try to use foreign policy to distract us. It won’t be pretty.
- Graham warns against pulling out of Afghanistan
- Protesters return to streets as Hungary’s Orban digs in
- Russia Gloats Over Departure: ‘Trump Is Ours Again’
- Russia Gloats: ‘Trump Is Ours Again’
- Russia warns of global conflict following nuclear pact collapse
- It’s official. We lost the Cold War.
- CBC: BREAKING: Canada escalates language in dispute with China, calls for immediate release of two detained Canadians.
- Eric Garland: If China were smart, they’d realize how many of their assets there are to seize in Vancouver alone.
- Bill Browder: UK law enforcement halts cooperation with Russia on Browder case
- UK law enforcement halts cooperation with Russia on Browder case
- WADA denied Moscow lab data access, leaving Russia facing ban
- Bill Browder: BREAKING: Russia in hot water again over sports doping as the Russian government denies WADA access to Russia’s anti doping labs. This could lead to a further sports ban (which should have never been resumed in the first place)
- U.N. tells UK – Allow Assange to leave Ecuador embassy freely
- We Will Not Get Peace from the People Who Dismember Dissidents Alive | emptywheel
- Japan’s abdicating emperor calls for young to be taught about horrors of war
ISIS, Syria, Turkey, Mattis, Et. Al.
- Military experts say Trump’s sudden Syria withdrawl could create “ISIS 2.0”
- Donald Trump Jr. hunts down goats in Turkey | The Times of Israel
- Retreating ISIS army smuggled a fortune in cash and gold out of Iraq and Syria
- Splitting With Trump Over Syria, American Leading ISIS Fight Steps Down
- Trump says he doesn’t know top US official leading the fight against ISIS, calls him a ‘grandstander’ for resigning over Syria troop withdrawal
- Trump Thinks His Border-Wall Bravado Can Hide His Pullout From the ISIS Fight
- Trump will reportedly remove 7,000 troops from Afghanistan
- Trump, Angry Over Mattis’s Rebuke, Removes Him 2 Months Early
- U. S. envoy to coalition fighting ISIS resigns in protest of Trump’s Syria decision
- U.S. Allies on Trump: ‘It Used to Be Russia That Was Unpredictable’
- U.S. envoy to coalition fighting ISIS resigns in protest of Trump’s Syria decision
- U.S. troop withdrawal from Syria is ‘a dream come true for the Iranians’
- US envoy quits over Trump Syria pullout
- Turkey masses troops near Kurdish-held Syrian town
- Turkey threatens to ‘bury’ Kurdish forces in Syria amid U.S. withdrawal
- ‘A tailspin’: Under siege, Trump propels the government and markets into crisis
- ‘Fox & Friends’ co-host Kilmeade: Trump just ‘refounded ISIS’ by pulling troops out of Syria
- ‘Very telling’ that Trump didn’t know his own anti-ISIS point man, former official says
- Brett McGurk, top U.S. envoy in ISIS fight, resigns
- Days before he resigned, US envoy Brett McGurk warned that ISIS will take years to defeat
- Dem senator: Trump saying he doesn’t know his top ISIS envoy ‘should scare the hell out of every American’
- Donald Trump Thinks He Should Be the ‘Most Popular Hero In America’ After Syria Withdrawal
- Fox News’ Shepard Smith Stunned Trump Is Doing Vladimir Putin’s ‘Bidding’ On Syria | HuffPost
- GOP breaks with Trump over Syria, Afghanistan and Mattis — but lacks power to stop him
- President Trump’s Call With Turkish President Lead to Withdrawing Troops From Syria
- Trump call with Turkey’s Erdogan led to U.S. pullout from Syria
- Trump reportedly ‘quickly capitulated’ in Syria negotiations with Turkish president
- With Syria decision, Trump’s foreign policy doctrine emerges
- AP NewsAlert: US, Turkish Officials Say Trump’s Decision on Syria Troops Was Made Without Consulting National Security Team, US
- Susan Rice rips Trump over McGurk tweet: ‘I can assure you’ Obama knows him well
- Susan Rice: Trump doing more to undermine national security than any foreign adversary
- From December 11 2016: Trump’s Deals In Turkey Align Him With Powerful Partners
- A tumultuous week began with a phone call between Trump and the Turkish president
- Source: Trump ‘hates’ Mattis resignation letter
- Fear Mounts as Mattis Quits Pentagon
- Jim Mattis’ Resignation Has Conservatives Admitting It’s ‘Time To Panic’ About Trump
- Jim Mattis’ Resignation Left the Pentagon Eerie and Depressed: Report
- LETTER-FROM-SECRETARY-JAMES-N-MATTIS.PDF
- Mattis is out, and Blackwater is back: ‘We are coming’
- Mattis says 40 years of war in Afghanistan is enough
- Opinion | Jim Mattis Was Right
- Europe responds with alarm to US defense secretary’s resignation
- John McCain Once Suggested Trump’s New Secretary Of Defense Patrick Shanahan Was A ‘Fox In The Henhouse’ Over Ties To Boeing
- Trump says Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to leave on Jan. 1, deputy Patrick Shanahan to assume title of acting secretary
- ‘A morning of alarm’: Mattis departure sends shock waves abroad
- ‘A sad day for America’: Washington fears a Trump unchecked by Mattis
- “We Should All Get Very Worried”: With Mattis Waving the White Flag, Official Washington Begins to Panic
- 911corlebra777: I didn’t know Don Jr went to Turkey after the election, on 30th of Nov 2016 to do some goat hunting🤔This smells the same as that Canadian trip where he ditched his SS detail. Wonder if Gulen’s name came up?
- Laurence Tribe: MULTIPLE CHOICE QUIZ: Which is worse? 1. Trump was sucking up to Erdogan to win more favors for his investments like Trump Tower Istanbul 2. Trump responded to a challenge to his “manhood” 3. Trump saw a quick way to win bragging rights re defeating ISIS
- Countercheckist: 4. tRUmp was searching for a way to get Turkey to back off Prince Bone Saw in Riyadh, and since Gülen is entitled to pesky due process, chose this route of appeasement instead.
As much as I hate saying it, everything is connected.
Erdogan wants three things following the Jamal Khashoggi murder.
- Mohammed Bone Saw to face charges in the murder.
- Gulen sent to him for other crimes.
- The U.S. out of Syria.
Since Trump, Kushner, and Pompeo are accessories to murder after the fact, Option 1 isn’t happening. And as much as Trump want to send Gulen to Turkey, we have this thing called Due Process, so Option 2 is out. That leaves Option 3. Trump will order the U.S. out of Syria to cover up his crimes.
COHEN, NEW YORK, AND THE OTHER LAWSUITS
- Jerry Falwell Jr. And A Young Pool Attendant Launched A Business That Sparked A Bitter Dispute
- Fed Rate Hikes May Have Already Cost Trump $5 Million a Year
- Democrats plan to request President Trump’s tax returns in 2019. Here’s how they’ll do it.
TRUMP THE RUSSIAN ASSET A.K.A. INDIVIDUAL-1
- As stocks drop, Trump fears he’s losing his best argument for reelection
- Why did Trump lift sanctions on companies of top Russian oligarch caught up in Mueller probe?
- Trump reportedly wants to fire the Fed chair, a move that could wreak havoc on the financial markets
- Exasperated over the market plunge, Trump asks advisers whether he can fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell
- Trump Discusses Firing Fed’s Powell After Latest Rate Hike, Sources Say
- Trump 2020 Adviser Appears to Demand Steele Dossier Answers from John McCain, Who Is Dead
- Trump Administration Sends 81-Year-Old Commerce Secretary to Address Conservative Youth Summit
- Trump Already Souring on Next Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney Over ‘Terrible Human Being’ Jibe, Says Report
- Trump always said he wouldn’t be predictable. The consequences are on display this week.
- Trump faces at least 17 separate investigations
- Trump is getting closer to a Cabinet full of yes-men
- Trump silent on Russian efforts to influence African Americans, millennials and other left-leaning groups
- Does Donald Trump Think that the War on Terror Is Over?
- Donald Trump, increasingly isolated and angry, is retreating to watch more TV than ever: Report
- Ex-White House ethics chief: ‘If you think this week was crazy, you haven’t seen anything yet’
TRAITOR TOTS
- We Found 95 New, Undisclosed Trump Appointees
- FBI chides GOP over push to publish sensitive interviews
- Bill Barr Just Argued Himself Out of a Job
- Democrats Criticize Barr Over Mueller Memo; Nomination Proceeds
- Epstein Allegedly Directed Second Woman to Have Sex with Harvard Prof. Dershowitz, Court Documents State | News | The Harvard Crimson
- Adam Parkhomenko: Folks keep wondering why Trump aides are sticking around. It’s very simple: They are the bottom of the barrel of political and policy operatives. Racist semi-literate gameshow host is the only way they were ever getting in the WH that wasn’t a public tour.
- Mnuchin says Trump told him he ‘never suggested firing’ Fed chairman
- Mulvaney: Trump “now realizes” he can’t fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell
- Rubio Received $1.5M In Campaign Donations From Russian Oligarch-Linked Firm
FIGHTING BACK
- SE Cupp: Something is rotten in Trump’s presidency
- The self-proclaimed party of ‘patriotism & strength’ is willing to shutdown the American government because they’re scared of being tweeted at by a bully who gets his marching orders from the hosts of Fox & Friends. – Rep Joe Kennedy III
- Comey mocks Trump: Staffers resigning on principle ‘must be confusing’
- Comey: Innocent people paying price for another Trump lie
- James Comey: FBI families will spend Christmas without a paycheck. This president promised Mexico would pay for the wall but innocent people are now paying the price for another lie. Our thoughts are with hardworking public servants and their families.
- James Comey: To a president without any external ethical framework, folks who resign on principle must be confusing.
- Conservative columnist predicts Trump’s collapse: ‘President is weak and getting weaker’
- Wealthy Republicans lose faith in Trump, as nearly 40% say they wouldn’t vote to re-elect him: CNBC survey
- Trump managed to annoy everyone in the GOP this week in a performance that doesn’t bode well for 2019 | The president can’t be expected to make everyone happy, but it takes an uncommonly inept performance to make no one happy.
- Trump Is a ‘Terrible CEO’ and his ‘Decomposing’ Presidency is Running America ‘Into the Ground,’ Republican CNN Host Says
- ‘Unfit’: Trump’s wild Washington week spurs increase in 25th Amendment talk
- Bernstein: More Republicans beginning to believe Trump ‘unfit to be the president’
- Celebrities And Lawmakers Flood Twitter With #TrumpResign Tweets
- Corker responds to Trump tweet: ‘Alert the daycare staff’
- GOP already whispering about Donald Trump
- Longtime politics writer says Trump is ‘certainly the worst president’ in his lifetime
- Maggie Haberman: ‘Disgusted’ Republicans Now Privately Admitting They Regret Supporting Trump
- NBC’s Brokaw compares Trump to Captain Queeg: ‘Time for all hands to be on deck’
- Opinion | Trump’s absurdity has cast a pall over the holidays — and the future
- Rep. Ted Lieu Slams Trump: ‘We Are Not Going To Build This Stupid Vanity Wall’
- Republican senator Bob Corker fires back at Trump: “#AlertTheDaycareStaff”
- The president isn’t too important to be indicted
- Yes, the Constitution Allows Indictment of the President
RIGHT WING TERRORISM & WHITE NATIONALISM
- Colin Moynihan: THREAD: A new video contradicts claims by Gavin McInnes and others about what started the violence by his group, the Proud Boys, after his talk at the Metropolitan Republican Club in New York City on Oct. 12.
- Meet Stephen Miller, the 32-year-old White House adviser who convinced Trump to start separating migrant children from their parents at the border
- “Both Sides” of an Argument Doesn’t Include Hate Speech
- Man who harassed black student online must deliver ‘sincere’ apology, renounce white supremacy
- Ref with racist history forces HS wrestler to cut off dreadlocks before match
SCOTUS & COURTS
- Supreme Court denies Trump administration request to immediately enforce new asylum rules
- Supreme Court rejects Trump plea to enforce asylum ban
- Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had surgery for two malignant nodules in her left lung, a Supreme Court spokeswoman said
- Justice Alito, you owe President Obama an apology
- Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Undergoes Surgery For Lung Cancer
- Meghan McCain blasts Bill O’Reilly for ‘ghoulish’ tweet about Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s health
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg Voted From Hospital To Block Trump Asylum Restrictions
- Court says Justice Ginsburg up and working after surgery
- From her hospital bed, Ruth Bader Ginsburg casts decisive vote on immigrants seeking asylum
- Gary Grumbach: NBC News has learned Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg voted FROM HER HOSPITAL BED to refuse to let the government enforce Pres. Trump’s proposed restriction on asylum. The court voted 5-4 to leave a lower court ruling in place that blocks enforcement of the crackdown. @PeteWilliamsNBC
#METOO & WOMEN’S RIGHTS
- Violence Against Women Act expires with government shutdown
- William Shatner Likens #MeToo Movement to French Revolution If Not Policed
- Why Americans Are Still Grappling With Christine Blasey Ford’s Legacy
IMMIGRATION
- Supreme Court denies Trump administration request to immediately enforce new asylum rules
- Supreme Court rejects Trump plea to enforce asylum ban
- Trump warns of a ‘very long’ government shutdown if Democrats oppose bill that includes border wall money
- Trump Warns of Very Long Shutdown if Democrats Vote No on Wall
- In Immigrant Children’s Shelters, Sexual Assault Cases Are Open and Shut
- From her hospital bed, Ruth Bader Ginsburg casts decisive vote on immigrants seeking asylum
- Hundreds of migrant families arrive at remote border crossings, overwhelming U.S. agents
- Kaz Weida: Hey. Late night Twitter? A terrible thought just occurred to me. Those thousands of migrant kids being detained by this administration in camps like Tornillo… what are they doing for Christmas? Will they get to snuggle their mama? Will they get presents or stockings?
- Meet Stephen Miller, the 32-year-old White House adviser who convinced Trump to start separating migrant children from their parents at the border
- New census data reinforces how central immigration is to population growth in the U.S.
- Trump administration is holding record number of migrant youths
- Senator Jeff Merkley: When @realDonaldTrump and House Republicans hyperventilate about how important this $5 billion is, remember that the administration has only spent SIX PERCENT of the border security funding from the last two years.
- Trump border wall row puts 380,000 employees on unpaid leave over Christmas
- Trump invokes Ronald Reagan in call for border wall funding — but Reagan actually supported an open border
- Austin couple builds controversial nativity scene with baby Jesus in ICE cage
- Trump says he knows tech ‘better than anyone’ in bizarre tweet defending border wall: ‘It’s like the wheel’
- Trump Thinks His Border-Wall Bravado Can Hide His Pullout From the ISIS Fight
- Trump Tells Republicans to Go ‘Nuclear’ for Border Wall, GOP Tells Crazy Old Man to Go Sit Down
- What Ronald Reagan actually said about border security — according to history, not President Trump
- ‘I had no idea how beautiful the border is’: Beto O’Rourke solicits photos of habitats at risk from Trump’s wall
- ‘We don’t have to yell’: Wolf Blitzer tells Stephen Miller to ‘calm down’ during border-wall interview
- A boy separated from his mom at the border faces his first Christmas without her
- A girl in Mexico attached her Christmas list to a balloon. A man across the border found it.
- Mick Mulvaney in 2015: Trump’s views on border wall ‘simplistic,’ ‘absurd and almost childish’
- Most Diverse Butterfly Center in the U.S. to be Bulldozed for Trump’s Border Wall
- Ocasio-Cortez: If US Has $5.7 Billion for Trump’s Border Wall, What About Education, Healthcare, and Green Jobs?
- Oklahoma Church Erects Fence Around Nativity Scene to Protest Trump Border Policies
- Opinion | Newt Gingrich and Donald Graham: Fund the wall and save the dreamers
- Alyssa Milano: Jakelin Maquin, 7 years old. Mariee Juarez, 1 year old. Roxsana Hernandez, 33 years old. Claudia Gonzalez, 20 years old. They died as refugees in US custody. They deserve justice. #DefundHate #JusticeForJakelin
- Trump, Republican senators meet to thrash out wall-funding dilemma
GoFundMe, GoFuckYourself
- Checks sent to border wall GoFundMe will be picked up in Castle Rock by unnamed “business associates” of Florida fundraiser
- The man behind a GoFundMe campaign that has raised $11 million to build Trump’s wall also ran a conspiracy-theory page that got kicked off Facebook
- Caroline Orr: The URL for the GoFundMe page for Trump’s wall is trending so high among accounts linked to Russian influence operations that the domain itself (GoFundMe) is now the 2nd most popular domain being shared within this network, per @SecureDemocracy’s Hamilton 68 dashboard.
#NEVERAGAIN
- Guns are the second leading killer of kids, after cars
- Shannon Watts: Nearly twice as many US kids died from gun injuries in 2016 as died from cancer and their gun fatality rate is 36 times higher than in other developed nations, a University of Michigan study found. Between 2013 and 2016, there was a 28% increase in the rate of firearm deaths.
- Months after a fatal police shooting, a young officer turns his gun on himself
- Laura Ingraham taunted David Hogg over college rejections. He just said he got into Harvard.
FIXING THE INTERNET
- Facebook suspends five accounts, including that of a social media researcher, for misleading tactics in Alabama election
- Comcast Swindled Customers With Rate Hikes, Bogus Equipment Charges, Lawsuit Claims
- Someone is trying to take entire countries offline and cybersecurity experts say ‘it’s a matter of time because it’s really easy’
THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE
- Why I’m Suing Max Blumenthal and Benjamin Norton – Sulome Anderson – Medium
- John Schindler: This is an important move to protect journalists — and everybody — who’s threatened by lies and disinformation spewed by Putin, Assad & Company. Those threats are a lot more than “just” tweets. Best wishes to Sulome here, and thanks for stepping up.
- Time magazine sent a clear message to Donald Trump with its ‘Person of the Year’
- President Trump has made 7,546 false or misleading claims over 700 days
- Molly McKew: 2018: Ron Paul is on my television screen because apparently the media learned nothing, NOTHING about not amplifying useful idiots on the Russian payroll.
- ‘This is tyranny of talk radio hosts, right?’: Limbaugh and Coulter blamed for Trump’s shutdown
- An Isolated Trump is Reportedly Watching More TV Than Ever and Often Starts His Day at 11
- Fox News Calls Out Trump for ‘Flipping a 180’ on Shutdown Blame
- A reporter’s dispatch from Trump country featured a ‘Mexicans Keep Out’ sign. But he made it all up.
- Der Spiegel to run 23-page special on reporter who faked stories
- ‘We don’t have to yell’: Wolf Blitzer tells Stephen Miller to ‘calm down’ during border-wall interview
- ‘Fox & Friends’ co-host Kilmeade: Trump just ‘refounded ISIS’ by pulling troops out of Syria
- Fox News’ Shepard Smith Stunned Trump Is Doing Vladimir Putin’s ‘Bidding’ On Syria | HuffPost
TRADE WAR AND ECONOMY
- U.S. stocks suffer worst week in a decade
- Dow suffers worst week since 2008 financial crisis
- It’s Been a Year Since Trump Enacted Sweeping Tax Cuts. Rich People Won. – The GOP said its tax bill would help the middle class. But the rich have reaped the biggest benefits.
- Trump reportedly wants to fire the Fed chair, a move that could wreak havoc on the financial markets
- Exasperated over the market plunge, Trump asks advisers whether he can fire Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell
- Trump’s food stamp cut will hit his single, white, male base the hardest
- The Shrinking Middle Class: The Current State of Affairs
- Paul Ryan’s Entire Career Was a Cash Grab for Billionaires
- GOP Rep. Justin Amash slams Trump over farm aid: ‘Republicans used to oppose bailouts’
- A recession is coming. Trump is going to make the recovery worse.
GOP: THE PARTY OF LINCOLN IS DEAD
- A Shutdown Would Be a Fitting End to the GOP Majority
- Then, GOP was quick to impeach. Now, not so much.
- Three Kansas Republicans switch parties in one week; more defections expected
- Republicans are responsible for the Trump fiasco
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
- Inglewood to destroy more than 100 police shooting records that could otherwise become public under new California law
- Women charged in ill-timed theft at Target store filled with cops
- She spent two years building a tiny house. Then thieves wheeled it away when she wasn’t watching.
- He was accused of killing a Portland teen. Feds believe the Saudis helped him escape
- He’s locked up for life after murdering his wife and children. So why do women send him love letters?
- A.G. Underwood Announces $68 Million Multistate Settlement With UBS AG (“UBS”) For Artificially Manipulating Interest Rates | New York State Attorney General
PRIESTS & RELIGION
- ‘Hand yourself over to human justice’: Pope Francis tells priests guilty of abuse that the church won’t shield them
- In major shift, lay Catholics are organizing to push bishops on reform. And sometimes priests join in.
- Jesus’ baptism site was a closed military zone for 50 years. That’s about to change.
ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE
- Indonesia ‘volcano tsunami’ kills hundreds
- Indonesia tsunami kills at least 222 after striking without warning
- U.S. Geological Survey Unable To Provide Indonesia Tsunami Data Due To Government Shutdown
- Woman who donated her body becomes world’s most detailed virtual cadaver
- Trump administration takes another step toward oil drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
- Jennie-O recalls more than 164,000 pounds of ground turkey in widening salmonella outbreak
CONGRESS
ELECTIONS
- The mostly unanswerable question: Which close races were won by dirty tricks?
- North Carolina Election Fraud Is A Crime. So Treat It That Way.
- North Carolina official had asked feds to act in voting case
- N.C. election officials sounded alarm about alleged election fraud to federal prosecutors in January 2017
- Obama Throws All His Weight Behind ‘Issue Of Singular Importance’
- Barack Obama Goes All In Politically to Fight Gerrymandering — The former president sees representative elections as the key to progress on global warming, gun control, and health care.
THINKING AHEAD
- Trump pans Beto 2020 talk: ‘I thought you were supposed to win before you run for president’
- Should I run for president? And please pour some eggnog.
IN OTHER NEWS…
- The absurd allure of the Sharper Image, the uncle-gift emporium for uncles you barely know
- Julie Nixon married David Eisenhower 50 years ago — and refused a White House ceremony
- How did old people become political enemies of the young?
- Adam McKay went from Ron Burgundy to Dick Cheney, and it actually makes perfect sense
- A complete guide to Instant Pots and other multicookers
- A father and his sons cut wood to fill 80 trucks. Then they brought it to homes that needed heat.
RUMOR MILL
- 911corlebra777: Interesting, the Azeri’s from the Azerbaijan Trump Hotel deal (rumored to have a Iranian Republican Guard money laundering component to it) ,are linked to Trump’s business’s in Turkey
- Countercheckist: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right… let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds.” — A Lincoln As more supporters flee, do not mock or chastise them. Welcome their dissent. Defeating tRUmp = #1 priority.
- Tea Pain: Tea Pain promised he’d never lie to you. This was clearly the worst week in America since Trump took office, but there will be more far worse than this one before Trump is removed from office. Rest assured that America is stronger than Donald Trump and we will prevail.
- Countercheckist: Guess what, @realDonaldtRUmp? FedGov shutdown doesn’t include DOJ/OSC…
- The Truth Behind This Bomb That Took Down Pan Am 103 Over Lockerbie Remains a 30-Year Mystery
- Tea Pain: Trumpers, if you have a glimmer of intelligence or a shred of conscience, you know the end of the Trump presidency is near. It’s time to get on the right side of history. Don’t let your family and friends remember you as the one that sided with a traitor.
- Countercheckist: Just throwing this out there… Mattis/Yates 2020
- Tea Pain: Putin must have called Trump last Monday and told him he wasn’t destroyin’ America fast enough.
- Countercheckist: Time for your monthly reminder: it’s too late to shut down OSC’s investigation. Far too late. Once indictments exist, it’s game over. And there are indictments. A lot of them, too.
- Ming: Breaking: Trump adds pony to wall demands.
- Lincoln’s Bible: I have studied countless mob convictions. Read the court docs. Etc. Etc. Want to know the one thing that brought each and every mobster down..? (cont) An overreach. (by a centimeter or a mile. doesn’t matter. the overreach is the death nail)
- Eric Garland: Every media assclown trying to equate Mattis with Trump is a tool for enemy propaganda. You think Trump positioned nuclear capable bombers and A-10 tank killers near Russian and Chinese capitals on his own? You’re a moron. Delete your career. frauds or foreign agents. And you’re endangering democracy with propaganda.
- Ming: Public trust must be restored. corruption/white color crime is just as important as violent crime, more so in the larger natsec picture.
- Louise Mensch: Donald @RealDonaldTrump, @jaredkushner was taped with Qatar demanding a bribe. He’s going down no matter what you do. So are you and so is Ivanka. You signed off your own fate by giving in to ISIS and Russia. Prepare for your worst nightmare. I mean it Donald. If maybe Ivanka would have got off lightly, not any more. You just put her, Jared, Eric and Don Jr on the justice target deck along with you and you sped it up. No mercy. Seek none, you will receive none. #FVEY
That’s it for the last few days. This post is very light on the explanations and editorializing because, quite frankly, I’m running out of time. I’m posting this on Christmas Eve, and I have about 6 hours of cleaning to do in about 2 hours. It’s not impossible, it’s just a pain in the ass.
I’ll be back in a couple days. I’ll cover the Christmas holiday and Boxing Day on one post. I’ll also try to get a couple essays done this week.
Happy Holidays everyone.
To those who Christmas is your thing, Merry Christmas. If you prefer to celebrate the Winter Solstice, Hanukkah, Ramadan, Saturnalia, Mithras, Yule, Kwanza, Diwali, or Sir Isaac Newton’s Birthday, then enjoy your thing.
Yes, I know that Ramadan moves based off of the Lunar calendar and is currently in the Summer and Diwali is in October. Screw it, I’m putting them in the list in case I missed anyone.
Thank you, and have a good one.
“Without Journalists, it’s just propaganda.”
– Katy Tur
None of this is Normal 