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| Ginni Thomas, Groundswell member and wife of Supreme Court judge Clarence Thomas. |
Believing they are losing the messaging war with progressives, a group of prominent conservatives in Washington—including the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and journalists from Breitbart News and the Washington Examiner—has been meeting privately since early this year to concoct talking points, coordinate messaging, and hatch plans for "a 30 front war seeking to fundamentally transform the nation," according to documents obtained by Mother Jones.
Dubbed Groundswell, this coalition convenes weekly in the offices of Judicial Watch, the conservative legal watchdog group. During these hush-hush sessions and through a Google group, the members of Groundswell—including aides to congressional Republicans—cook up battle plans for their ongoing fights against the Obama administration, congressional Democrats, progressive outfits, and the Republican establishment and "clueless" GOP congressional leaders. They devise strategies for killing immigration reform, hyping the Benghazi controversy, and countering the impression that the GOP exploits racism. And the Groundswell gang is mounting a behind-the-scenes organized effort to eradicate the outsize influence of GOP über-strategist/pundit Karl Rove within Republican and conservative ranks. (For more on Groundswell's "two front war" against Rove—a major clash on the right—click here.)
One of the influential conservatives guiding the group is Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, a columnist for the Daily Caller and a tea party consultant and lobbyist. Other Groundswell members include John Bolton, the former UN ambassador; Frank Gaffney, the president of the Center for Security Policy; Ken Blackwell and Jerry Boykin of the Family Research Council; Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch; Gayle Trotter, a fellow at the Independent Women's Forum; Catherine Engelbrecht and Anita MonCrief of True the Vote; Allen West, the former GOP House member; Sue Myrick, also a former House GOPer; Diana Banister of the influential Shirley and Banister PR firm; and Max Pappas, a top aide to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
The individuals invited to Groundswell meetings reads like a "who's who" of WTF?
Among the conveners listed in an invitation to a May 8 meeting of Groundswell were Stephen Bannon, executive chairman of Breitbart News Network (And director of the Sarah Palin mythological biopic "The Undefeated.") ; Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent who resoundingly lost a Maryland Senate race last year (and is now running for a House seat); Leonard Leo, executive vice president of the Federalist Society; Sandy Rios, a Fox News contributor; Lori Roman, a former executive director of the American Legislative Exchange Council; and Austin Ruse, the head of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute. Conservative journalists and commentators participating in Groundswell have included Breitbart News reporters Matthew Boyle and Mike Flynn, Washington Examiner executive editor Mark Tapscott, and National Review contributor Michael James Barton.
These are the people who are helping to sabotage our government, undermine our President, and misinform the American people.
They are not trying to get their version of the truth out to the masses, they are purposefully manufacturing bullshit and then having it promoted by Fox News, Right Wing radio, and conservative news sites like Drudge. Oh, and let's not forget, Sarah Palin.
In short, they are the enemy.
"At its weekly meetings, the group aims to strengthen the right's messaging by crafting Twitter hashtags; plotting strategy on in-the-headlines issues such as voter ID, immigration reform, and the sequester; promoting politically useful scandals; and developing "action items."
ReplyDelete...and they accuse us of being paranoid...
If the spouse of any other member of the Supreme Court was actively engaged if politics, I would suggest that should be grounds for impeachment, the only way to remove one of those justices from a life time appointment. When they take the oath of office to serve on the Supreme Court, they are supposed to put all politics aside. They are supposed to recuse themselves from any case where they might have an interest. Scalia didn't remove himself form his hunting buddy, Dick Cheney's case to keep his official visits with the oil executives secret. (They were kept secret). Ginny lobbies for the drug industry. She is a political operative. And, Thomas' decisions are always political.
ReplyDeleteAnd Scalia's son represented the GOP interests in the 2008 decision that led to 8 years of George W. Bush as president. Roberts out and out lied during his confirmation hearings. Remember how he was really neither conservative nor liberal. What rot. And Clarence Thomas is despicable, an insult to his race, and not smart enough for the job to boot. Both Scalia and Thomas are constantly appearing before far right groups and are very cozy with the Koch Brothers and their ilk. None of these guys are what I always imagined Supreme Court justices to be like. They have sullied the Court's reputation irremediably.
DeleteBeaglemom
Ginni Thomas' presence screams conflict of interest for Clarence. Unless they have a very unusual political marriage, you know how he's going to vote on issues.
ReplyDeleteI just threw up in my mouth. Thanks for sharing, I had no idea.
ReplyDeleteSomehow it seems treasonous for the wife of a Supreme Court Justice to be in this group of radicals.I now understand the constant stupid attacks on Obama. It's a shell game to deflect from their awful plans for this country.
ReplyDelete...strengthen the right's messaging by crafting Twitter hashtags ? Serious? It has come to that ?
ReplyDeleteOT Surely there is a broken law in here somewhere. We just have to find it. Stay tuned for more details as this story develops.
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/07/26/more-evidence-to-suggest-zimmerman-rescue-was-staged/ ZIMMERMAN ALLEGED RESCUE AT CRASH SCENE
Ginny Thomas is a nasty piece of work. I guess you'd have to be to marry the man she did.
ReplyDeleteGroundswell is not the enemy
ReplyDeleteThe Kenyan Muslim Socialist is
Take back our country
Anonymous1:31 PM
DeleteYou are the enemy you treasonous piece of shit! Fuck off and die!
I'll assume you are being sarcastic.
DeleteWell look at old Uncle Remus and his cow. He is so happy to be in the club, that he just voted to overturn the Voting Rights Act. Proof positive, that it takes a Tea Party to raise an Idiot.
ReplyDeleteAm I the only one who considers her activities to be a possible conflict of interest? She's married to a justice of the supreme court for christ's sake. She should be involved in charity work, not a head honcho of the tea baggers.
ReplyDelete(I use the term 'justice of the supreme court' loosely in Clarence Thomas' case)
They are going to take over, by hook or by crook, they will not stop. How can a Supreme Court judge have anything to do with this legally?
ReplyDeleteThis should be a SCREAMING message to us all to get our asses out and VOTE in 2014, and be knowledgeable about the candidates that will be running.
ReplyDeleteIf all the people that went out and voted in 2012 were to go out and vote in 2014, they wouldn't have a prayer. But with all these Voter ID scams and schemes, and voter suppression tactics, it's even MORE important to vote, vote, vote and help anyone who wants to vote and can't get there to vote.
If they need help getting a proper ID, help them, even if it means paying for it for them, just think of that as a contribution to the sanity of the future, because these people are planning nothing but constriction and depression for this country, in every level, in every way that will hit each and every one of us where it hurts, and they are rabidly intent on doing so.
This article needs to be posted far and wide, so people are alert to these tactics and they can red flag them when they show up.
And finally, HOW THE FUCK does the wife of a Supreme Court Justice get to act is such a treasonous and partisan fashion and not be called out for it, in outrage? Something really STINKS about this.
That's a whole lotta hate in one place.
ReplyDeleteCan we take the doors of this group's meeting place and weld them shut? With that one single act, we could move this country forward about a decade and get an enormous amount of work accomplished that would actually help real people who are NOT members of the 1%.
How about dropping a drone on it.
DeleteThat works for me.
Fuck Groundswell.
One Paragraph Sums Up What Edward Snowden Can Expect From His Life In Russia
ReplyDeleteJulia Ioffe, senior editor at The New Republic, wrote a post about Edward Snowden's circumstances — reportedly sitting in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport while he prepares to live and work in Russia.
She gives a blunt assessment of the fate that lies in front of the 30-year-old American.
From The New Republic (emphasis ours):
'The reality that lies before Snowden, however, is not that of a Petersburg slum or a cherry orchard. More likely, he will be given an apartment somewhere in the endless, soulless highrises with filthy stairwells that spread like fields around Moscow's periphery. He will live there for five years before he will be given citizenship. He'll likely be getting constant visits from the SVR (the Russian NSA) to mine the knowledge he carries in his brain.'
That last sentence there is key: The 10,000 classified NSA files Snowden stashed all over the world are highly encrypted, so the data is most likely safe (for now) even if a foreign intelligence service acquired it.
But Snowden's head is not encrypted. He is an NSA-trained hacker who "carefully read" 10,000 classified NSA files and knows his way around NSA interviews, and then managed to land in the hands of Russian intelligence.
Snowden started both a national and global conversation about NSA spying practices.
But then, after staying in Hong Kong for a month, he flew to the place that would value his expertise more than any other country. (The reasons for his travel path are still unclear.)
"There's little evidence from historical records that [Snowden] has anything good to look forward to," Peter Savodnik, a journalist and author of the book, "The Interloper: Lee Harvey Oswald Inside the Soviet Union" told NPR. "Essentially, nobody from the U.S. who has defected to Russia has gone on to think that's a smart decision."
One thing is becoming obvious: If Mother Russia is able to start mining the knowledge in Snowden's brain, then she will have a field day.
http://www.businessinsider.com/what-snowden-can-during-life-in-russia-2013-7
This guy is such utter SCUM. He's a traitor to the country that gave him everything he had, and he sold out to this end. Fucking clueless fool. And the price that innocent people will pay because of his assbackward thinking is dire.
I find it highly unlikely he carefully read 10,000 files. He wasn't there long enough. As for his being a traitor, I'm not so sure. He has done us a great favor by letting us know the extent of NSA's snooping. I haven't seen that he released any actual data. It seems it was more descriptions of the activities of the NSA. I could be wrong about that. His being in Russia is not a good thing.
DeleteElizabeth 44
I certainly think that Snowden is a traitor. And I don't think that he did what he did for any noble reasons. He wanted his ten minutes of fame and then someone would make a movie about him and he'd be a superhero. And, if he caused great embarrassment to the White House or to the country, well, he wouldn't care. His buddy Glenn Greenwald would be so proud of him. The reality is that he's caused a lot of chaos. And now, if Russia is what he wants, let him have it. I don't think that the real Russia has changed much since the old days of Communist rule. But, since he didn't even finish high school, he probably doesn't know anything about Russia's "good old days."
DeleteBeaglemom
Speaking of the enemy skank said this in her high school Facebook post:
ReplyDeleteI’ll be on Greta’s "On the Record" tonight talking about Obama’s "phony scandals" claim. The Democrat Party’s leadership is obviously a lost cause, but take note that the GOP’s out of touch hierarchy is disappointingly not doing the job of calling Obama out and holding the media’s feet to fire, and consequently Obama gets away with claiming that these very serious government scandals are "phony." They have the mic, but they selfishly don’t use it to call out corruption and incompetence. They’d rather be "liked" by the media. This is a business to them, not a cause. Of course, ten second soundbites aren’t conducive to explaining all of this, but I’ll try.
- Sarah Palin
Awe is the skank complaining that she only gets a few seconds on fox? Well that may be because no one gives a rats azz about a used up and idiotic unwashed skank and what she has to say!!!!
Friday night on Greta again? Roger has her tethered tighter than she ever was before!! Baawwwaaahh!
Oh SHIT! Have you seen the sneak preview video of Baldy?? You have to see this shit!
DeleteShe's snarling...spitting....growling and acting like she has RABIES! She looks and acts totally DERANGED! I LOVE IT!! LOL!!
Here's the link....
http://foxnewsinsider.com/2013/07/26/sarah-palin-we-weren%E2%80%99t-allowed-tell-truth-about-obama-2008-campaign-and-now-we-have
'Redneck white-board...the back of a manila envelope...'
Deleteshe has lost it!
People will only tune in to see what shade of a rat has moved into the bed head knot she wears with such pride. Is there any chance she'll change her shirt?
DeleteYeah Gina and she is such a used up barely a has been that roger sticks her on Greta on a Friday night. Notice how she has to bring up the 2008 campaign to remind everyone that she thought she was somebody!! And that wink when she says she was vp on the ticket-wtf with that? She is so dillusional that she thinks she really was running for president!
DeleteI can't wait to see the remaining 20 seconds just to find out what Greta kept trying to say while the skank prattled on and on with her idiotic drug filled rumblings.
Oh and nice hair- not!
She has gone from sarah to scarah to haira?
Baawwwaaahh-she is such a loser someone needs to find a new word for what a loser she is.
The cray cray is all over that fugly man face!!
Sarah running for President: debate between Sarah and Hillary. Hillary comes on the stage, takes one look at Sarah and start laughing hysterically.
DeleteElizabeth 44
To Anon at 5:01 pm. But then the media would accuse Hillary Clinton of being hysterical (only a word used with regard to women, of course) and declare Sarah Palin the winner even before she had a chance to spew forth any word salad.
DeleteBeaglemom
Beer-loving NASCAR fans are in for quite the surprise when they enter the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400 this weekend.
ReplyDeleteA pro-marijuana legalization ad — laced with anti-beer and alcohol messaging — will play 72 times over three days on a huge screen by the race's entrance gates, which marks a first in sports history.
...But the Marijuana Policy Project, which made the ad, thinks that its messaging is necessary.
"We think it's critical that the public recognize that marijuana is objectively less harmful than alcohol," spokesperson Mason Tvert told USA Today.
The ad notes that marijuana results in "no calories," "no hangovers," and "no violence" — showing a man and woman cuddling as they wash dishes together.
http://www.businessinsider.com/this-anti-beer-pro-marijuana-ad-will-run-during-a-nascar-race-2013-7
The most ethically troubling name on that list is Gini Thomas, wife of Supreme Court justice Clarence "pube hairs" Thomas.
ReplyDeleteShe is waaay too reminiscent of Angela Lansbury's character in "The Manchurian Candidate."
ReplyDelete"Why don't you pass the time by playing a little solitaire ... Clarence?"
They sure are!
ReplyDeleteThe degree to which metadata can be manipulated, if left in the wrong hands, is likely beyond the imagination of most people unfamiliar with the world of privacy. The case of Malte Spitz – a German Green party politician who painstakingly retrieved 6 months of his phone data from a telecoms giant – serves as an instructive example. After successfully getting the data, he provided it to Zeit Online with the goal of showing everyone the possibilities of metadata. Spitz’s geolocation data was then combined with other information freely available about him over the Internet. The result? 35,830 pieces of data that allow you to track his travels across Germany, see what time he went to sleep and woke up, and much more. See it for yourself.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.zeit.de/datenschutz/malte-spitz-data-retention
They all should be arrested and investigated under their own Patriot Act as traitors to this country beginning with Mrs. Clarence Thomas and Ken Blackwell. Never forget that Blackwell was the Sup of Elections when he stole the electionb in Ohio for Shrubbie's second term. This man should be in jail and not out there further trying to corrupt justice and this democracy.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, their little subterranean subterfuge is missing the mark badly and they really shouldn't be wasting their time. The Middle Class of this country is waking up and realizing that they are all rigging the game of life against them. Soon these frauds will be seen for what they truly are. I am incredulous that Ginny Thomas doesn't have more personal dignity since she's the wife of a Supreme Court Justice than to take down her husband's reputation even further.
ReplyDeleteAs I look at the list of members of this illustrious group of conspirators against this country, it appears to me that they are all pathetic "has beens" and no longer even relevent members of society. The young people (new voters) are laughing their asses off at these old douchbags!
ReplyDeleteLike Palin who's going to be on her BFF tonight.
DeleteHas-Been!
Ben-Ghazi! Obama! Scandal.
I'm beginning to think the dems ARE using sp for votes but the time has come to shut this shit down!
Take out the garbage!
Boehner: Thomas:Palin: Koch all of 'em any of them!
I'm damn sick of this shit!
I firmly believe that the name of this organization was misspelled. Groundswell is incorrect. It should be spelled Groundswill.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Ginny has a conflict of interest because she is married to a Supreme Court Justice, I think the SJC should be impeached for HIS conflict of interest. There is no way he does not support his wife's political interests. The two of them are no longer even hiding her activities that I find totally offensive. They must be confident that they are basically untouchable.
ReplyDeleteWhile the young/new voters are laughing their asses off at these old douchbags, one of the most powerful douchbag is in an extremely powerful position at this particular point in history.