Donald Trump takes to Twitter to brag that all the best lawyers want to represent him in the Russia case. Wanna bet?

Many lawyers and top law firms want to represent me in the Russia case...don’t believe the Fake News narrative that it is hard to find a lawyer who wants to take this on. Fame & fortune will NEVER be turned down by a lawyer, though some are conflicted. Problem is that a new......

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 25, 2018

Yes, as we all know lawyers like nothing more than the fame and fortune they receive after losing a high profile case while representing a guilty client.

....lawyer or law firm will take months to get up to speed (if for no other reason than they can bill more), which is unfair to our great country - and I am very happy with my existing team. Besides, there was NO COLLUSION with Russia, except by Crooked Hillary and the Dems!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 25, 2018

Clearly this constant refrain of "No Collusion!" can only be defined as the rantings of a madman at this point.

As are his attempts to smear Hillary and the Democrats by claiming they were the ones who colluded with the Russians to undermine our democracy.

As for Trump's claims that "many lawyers and top law firms" want to represent him, that was proven false when he was turned down by famed lawyer Ted Olson, and a number of others recently.

It is also rendered false by the fact that he just lost lead attorney John Dowd, and the only replacement he could find was Fox News conspiracy theorist Joseph diGenova. (And now he won't even be on the team, because he has too many "conflicts.")

By the way if you want to really understand just how long Trump has been a Russian asset I suggest you pick up the new book "Russian Roulette"  by David Corn and Michael Isikoff.

After you read that you will understand just how compromised this president is, and just who is actually running our country.

Jessica Williams final segment for the Daily Show takes on the Bernie-bots who are now all in for Donald Trump.

That was a good segment that that last part got a little sappy.

In other news Politico is reporting that Bernie is still not quite ready to pack it in and call it day:  

Bernie Sanders is still spoiling for a convention fight. 

It seemed like Democrats could finally claim unity when no member of the Democratic National Committee's 15-person convention drafting committee voted against the draft of the policy platform draft during a meeting in St. Louis this past weekend: 13 members of the panel voted for the draft, one abstained and one missed the vote. But since then, Sanders-aligned members have teed off on the draft for not going far enough in key areas.

While both neutral national Democrats and Hillary Clinton-aligned Democrats on the DNC standing committees have hailed the draft document — which is headed to a full vote before the 187-member platform committee on July 8 and 9 in Orlando, Florida — as both satisfactory and historically progressive, Sanders supporters insist the draft remains unpalatable. Among the issues they've identified: the platform draft's treatment of Medicare expansion, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a carbon tax, and a ban on fracking. Sanders and his allies are vowing to fight for changes in Orlando — and all the way to the convention in Philadelphia, if necessary. 

This has led  David Corn of Mother Jones to ask the obvious question, "Can Bernie Sanders take yes for an answer?"

Have I already mentioned how fucking over all of this shit I am right now?

Okay now David Corn of Mother Jones says that we SHOULD take Donald Trump's candidacy seriously. I'm so confused.

As I'm sure most of you remember the Huffington Post wrote this piece saying that they did not think that Trump was a serious candidate and would from now on report on him as "Entertainment" instead of in their "Politics" section.

There were a number of news outlets that disagreed with that decision, and in fact some of you expressed similar opinions here in the IM comment section as well.

Now as it turns out David Corn of Mother Jones, who by the way one would expect to be among the first to mock Trump's candidacy, is agreeing with those dissenters: 

Trump has indeed turned an important event—a major political party selecting its presidential nominee—into a stretch Hummer-sized clown car. A Trump-dominated GOP contest does have the feel of a super-charged reality show, with political consumers (that is, the audience) on the edge of their seats, eagerly awaiting the next Trump tweet—Trweet™—blasting another foe or critic. ("Hey Pope Francis, you suck!") Trump is campaigning as a bombastic buffoon, playing to the crowd and inspiring love-hate viewing. Yet, I believe my dear comrades at HuffPo (and I hope they will link to this article) are wrong. 

It's not that Trump is truly a statesman who ought to be regarded as such. But he is a political phenomenon that tell us much about a significant slice of the American public: Republican voters. It is indeed a drop-dead serious matter that a large bloc of GOPers—perhaps a plurality, depending on which poll you prefer—would entrust this nation to Trump. And the fact that Trump's demagoguery is prevailing at this early stage of the Republican presidential race is a measure of how far the tea party shift in the party has gone—and how this ideological extremism has developed deep roots within the GOP.

Okay well that is a valid point. 

However personally I will NEVER be able to treat a Trump candidacy as anything other than a joke.

Of course at this point that is pretty much how I treat the entire Republican party.

Veteran's group accuses Bill O'Reilly of "stealing valor" and calling for him to be taken off the air. Also David Corn responds to Billo's rant against his Mother Jones article.

Courtesy of Media Matters:

VoteVets, a leading progressive veterans advocacy group, is calling on Fox News to take Bill O'Reilly off the air following revelations from Mother Jones that the Fox News host may have repeatedly misrepresented his experiences reporting on the 1982 Falklands War. 

"NBC acted completely appropriately in taking Brian Williams off the air and looking into claims he's made over the years. Fox News has to do the same thing," Jon Soltz, chairman of VoteVets.org, a 400,000-member organization that advocates for vets and military families, said in a statement. "The issue, for me, isn't that Fox has been caught off guard, and didn't realize O'Reilly was telling possibly false tales. That I can accept. It's what do they do about it now? That will tell us a lot about how seriously they take their news organization." 

 "Men and women have fought, died, been wounded, and scarred by war. There are many journalists who actually were in the crossfire, who died, trying to bring the story to the American people," Soltz added. "What Bill O'Reilly has done is steal their valor, and it is wrong." 

Soltz, a combat veteran of the Iraq War, said O'Reilly's misleading efforts are also an insult to veteran war correspondents.

"It makes it seem like anyone can head on over to a war zone," he said via email. "But honestly it is more insulting to the war reporters who never bragged about their war experience, but just kept their head down and did their job. Some of them died doing that job. In my mind, those reporters were heroes."

Nicely put.

However since VoteVets is a progressive group they are undoubtedly classified as not REAL veterans, much like non-Fox News viewers are classified as not REAL Americans.

Still you have to know that this will get under O'Reilly's paper thin skin and drive him out of his little tiny pea sized mind.

Speaking of getting under his skin, yesterday David Corn responded point by point (Much like I did yesterday.) to O'Reilly's Talking Points Memo rant last night:

O'Reilly responded to the story by launching a slew of personal invective. He did not respond to the details of the story. Instead, he called me a "liar," a "left-wing assassin," and a "despicable guttersnipe." He said that I deserve "to be in the kill zone." (You can read one of my responses here.) And in his show-opening "Talking Points memo" monologue on Friday evening, he continued the name-calling. 

In a way, it's impossible to win a debate with O'Reilly because he is not bound by reality. In response to the article, he told Fox News' media reporter, Howard Kurtz, "Nobody was on the Falklands and I never said I was on the island, ever." Yet our article included video of O'Reilly saying in 2013, "I was in a situation one time, in a war zone in Argentina, in the Falklands, where my photographer got run down and then hit his head and was bleeding from the ear on the concrete. And the army was chasing us." Note the words "war zone" and "in the Falklands." 

If you read the article, and I suggest that you do, you will see that Corn addresses virtually all of O'Reilly's claims that the Mother Jones article was a hit piece, and once again points out the many discrepancies with O'Reilly's version of events around the Falkland war reporting, and the actual news reports that emerged from there during that time.

I have to admit that I kind of thought this story would really only be interesting for one or two days, but with O'Reilly's over the top attacks against Corn and his obvious inability to let anything go, this might actually become as big of a story as the Brian Williams Iraq exaggerations.

Here let me get the popcorn started.

Here is Bill O'Reilly's entire "Talking Points Memo" for tonight. Dedicated exclusively to denying the Mother Jones article about his Falkland war exaggerations and attacking liberals. Update!

Courtesy of Fox Nation:

Hi, I'm Bill O'Reilly ... thanks for watching us tonight ... more proof the American media is corrupt. 

That is the subject of this evening's Talking Points memo. 

This man ... 56-year-old David Corn ... who works for the far left magazine ... Mother Jones ... smeared me, your humble correspondent, yesterday ... saying I had fabricated some war reporting. 

(Humble?)

Mother Jones ... which has low circulation ... considered by many the bottom rung of journalism in America. 

however ... in this Internet age ... the defamation they put forth ... gets exposure. 

and so I have to deal with this garbage tonight. I’m sorry. 

basically David Corn ... a liar ... says that I exaggerated situations in the Falklands War ... and Salvadoran War. 

Here's the truth ... everything I’ve said about my reportorial career ... everything ... is true. 

33-years ago in June ... Argentina surrendered to Great Britain ... ending the Falklands War. 

I was covering the conflict from Argentina and Uruguay for CBS News. 

After learning of the surrender ... angry mobs in Buenos Aires ... stormed the presidential palace ... the Casa Rosada ... trying to overthrow the government of General Leopoldo Galtieri. 

I was there on the street ... with my camera crews. 

The violence was horrific. ... as Argentine soldiers ... fired into the crowd ... who were responding with violent acts of their own. 

My video of the combat ... led the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather that evening. 

(Dan Rather? Wasn't that the nightly news guy whose career Right Wing blogs and Fox News helped to destroy back in 2004? Anybody noticing a pattern?)

and later on ... I filed a report ... that ran nationwide. 

That's what happened. 

I never said I was on the Falkland Islands ... as Corn purports ... I said I covered the Falklands War ... which I did. 

(I beg to differ: In a 2004 column about US soldiers fighting in Iraq, O'Reilly noted, "Having survived a combat situation in Argentina during the Falklands war, I know that life-and-death decisions are made in a flash." Sounds like he is describing being caught in a fire fight to me.)

Now ... in what I consider to be a miracle ... I found this CBS internal memo from 33 years ago ... praising my coverage that day. 

The cable was sent to the CBS bureau chief in Buenos Aires ... by the news desk here in New York City: 

"Doyle, O'Reilly didn't have the time last night but would like to say many thanks for the riot piece last night. WCBS-TV and WCAU-TV both took the entire piece, instead of stripping it for pix. They called to say thanks for a fine piece.” 

"Thanks again. Your piece made the late feed, a winner last night." 

Want more? ... here it is: 

Shortly after my crew and I ... escaped grave danger on the streets of Buenos Aires ... I wrote to CBS News boss Ed Joyce ... praising the crew’s bravery. 

I have the letter: "The crews were great … the riot had been very bad, we were gassed, shot at, and I had the best vantage point in which to report the story." 

(So a memo that he himself, sent to his bosses, is proof of that he is not lying about an incident that no other news crew reported ever happened?  Here is how the Mother Jones described that discrepancy: O'Reilly's account of the protest in Buenos Aires is at odds with news reports from the time—including the report from his own bureau. The CBS Evening News that night aired about a minute of video of the protest, apparently including some of the footage that O'Reilly and his camera team had obtained. It showed angry Argentines yelling and denouncing the junta that had lost the war. The only act of violence in the spot was a man throwing a punch against the car of a Canadian news crew. On the segment, Schieffer reported, "There were arrests throughout the day. The police threatened to use tear gas at one point. Several North American television crews were jostled…An ABC camera team's car was stoned before the crew escaped." The CBS report said nothing about people being killed. It does not match O'Reilly's dramatic characterization of the event in his book; the video on the broadcast did not depict "major violence up close and personal.")

So we have rock solid proof ... that David Corn ... smeared me ... and some websites that picked up his defamation ... did as well. 

(No, no we don't have proof of anything of the sort.)

Now ... I had to spend hours last night ... on the phone with various reporters ... and crawling around my basement covered with dust to find documents from 33 years ago. Again, it was a miracle I found them. 

(Again does ANYBODY believe that O'Reilly is the one who did the crawling? I think he has people for that.)

all because an irresponsible ... guttersnipe ... a far left zealot ... who has attacked Fox News many times before ... spit this stuff out on the net. 

and you know what? ... nothing is going to happen to David Corn. 

Mother Jones and the far left websites ...couldn't care less about the truth. 

They are in business to injure. This is a political hit job. 

At this point ... TV coverage has been scant, but CNN tried to exploit the situation because a guy over there named Brian Stelter ... is another far left zealot ... masquerading as a journalist. CNN can do a lot better than this guy. 

(So to be clear EVERY journalist who reported on this is a "far left zealot." Now that is some fair and balanced reporting.)

Real journalists ... knew this story was B-S from the jump. 

They knew Corn was trying to take the Brian Williams situation ... and wrap it around my neck ... for ideological reasons ... because he has a history of attacking Fox News. 

(Every responsible journalist SHOULD have a history of attacking Fox News in my opinion.)

In addition ... Corn actually wrote that I hammered Brian Williams ... when everyone knows ... I went out of my way on Kimmel and the Factor ... to be compassionate to the man. 

Corn must think the folks ... are as dumb ... as he is. 

The whole scandal ... reminds me of another guy who got completely away with it. 

That man is Al Franken ... who years ago ... accused me of faking my working class upbringing. 

(What is the hell does Al Franken have to do with this story?)

He actually said in public many times ... I was not raised in Levittown ... he ran around telling that to the media ... who gleefully printed his words. 

The despicable Franken ... perhaps the biggest liar I have ever known ... wouldn't even retract it when I produced this: 

The deed to my parent's house ... it says Levittown, Al 

... but you, a dishonest smear merchant ... wouldn't retract your false story. 

And I'm sure Corn won't either. 

and what happened to Al Franken? 

He was elected a senator from Minnesota. 

And that's the memo ...

So to sum things up we are asked whether we believe Bill O'Reilly of Fox News, or David Corn and Senator Al Franken. 

Boy that's a tough one. 

It should be noted that Fox News tried to sue Franken for using their "Fair and Balanced" trademark, and lost. And tried to stop the publication of the book, and lost.

Update: I just now watched O'Reilly deliver the diatribe that I wrote about above.

Afterward he had Bernie Goldberg and Geraldo Rivera on to back him up.

At one point he mentioned that he was extremely lucky to have a cable news show where he could talk about this publicly, unlike many other people who have to suffer attacks from the media without the opportunity to refute them or tell their side of the story.

Oddly I found myself agreeing with him on that.

In fact back in 2009 when HE went after me personally on his show and accused me of being a "nutcase" and of making things up about the Palin divorce, and then took old blog posts out of context in order to misrepresent me, I would have loved to have had a more public platform to defend myself.

Point in fact is that this is the kind of thing that O'Reilly, and the rest of Fox News have been doing for years.

Only unlike David Corn, who used O'Reilly's own words against him, THEY simply make things up out of whole cloth in order to destroy anybody who dares speak out against them or a public figure who they support.

But when the tables are turned, who Nelly, do they get upset.

Open thread for MSNBC's "Hubris: Selling of the Iraq War" hosted by Rachel Maddow.

Here is just one except courtesy of Mother Jones:  

One chilling moment in the film comes in an interview with retired General Anthony Zinni, a former commander in chief of US Central Command. In August 2002, the Bush-Cheney administration opened its propaganda campaign for war with a Cheney speech at the annual Veterans of Foreign Wars convention. The veep made a stark declaration: "There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us." No doubt, he proclaimed, Saddam was arming himself with WMD in preparation for attacking the United States. 

Zinni was sitting on the stage during the speech, and in the documentary he recalls his reaction: 

It was a shock. It was a total shock. I couldn't believe the vice president was saying this, you know? In doing work with the CIA on Iraq WMD, through all the briefings I heard at Langley, I never saw one piece of credible evidence that there was an ongoing program. And that's when I began to believe they're getting serious about this. They wanna go into Iraq. 

That Zinni quote should almost end the debate on whether the Bush-Cheney administration purposefully guided the nation into war with misinformation and disinformation. 

But there's more. So much more.

As I am sure many of you know David Corn, of Mother Jones, wrote the book that this documentary is based on with fellow journalist Michael Isikoff. It is definitely going to be "must see TV" for those of us who were railing against this war from the very beginning, and will hopefully provide an incentive for journalists to revisit this issue and perhaps, fingers crossed here, somebody will actually have to answer for why this country was lied into a war, and why so many thousands of our military members were sent to their deaths under false pretenses.

As you can probably tell I am already amped up to see this and if you are as well feel free to leave your impressions here.

Lawrence O'Donnell addresses Mitt Romney's investments in a fetus disposal company.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This is not the only place where the story is showing up.

New York magazine, the Atlantic Wire, and the Examiner are also hot on the trail.

If this continues to receive attention from news outlets it could prove to be a very difficult stumbling block for Mittens to overcome.

Personally I waiting to see Mitt's reaction the first time a reporter gets the opportunity to ask him about this. The guy has NO poker face.

David Corn, journalist and Washington Bureau chief for Mother Jones, has written a fascinating book on President Obama.

You can read a portion of Chapter Ten, which reveals just how involved the President was in Seal Team Six's operation to get Bin Laden, by clicking here.

Female "Occupy Wall Street" protestors maced by New York City police. WTF?

Apparently the women are part of a group of protestors called Occupy Back Wall Street:

The Occupy Wall Street protests have taken place since last weekend, when hundreds of people descended upon the Financial District. So far, the protests have been non-violent. "We're not here to make life more difficult. 

We're here to help empower you to take on the real enemy, which is the greedy corporate hedgefunders and bankers on Wall Street that are making life more difficult for everybody here," a protester named Justin told CBS. 

Twitter accounts from OccupyWallStNYC have reported problems, but police have not confirmed anything. "More than 50 ppl arrested, at least 5 women maced in the face #nypd #usdor," the group tweeted. 

The group also retweeted, "Tensions reportedly escalate as videos of protestors being pinned and surrounded by police emerge on Sept 24." 

"We're seeing an absolute erosion of our civil rights," 23-year-old Patrick Bruner told the New York Daily News.

Here is what David Corn, of Mother Jones, tweeted about the incident:

If Tea Partiers were pepper-sprayed by police while peacefully protesting an Obama event, what do you think the reaction would be? 

Yeah, no shit! No matter how you slice it, this is fucked up.