MSNBC's Joy Reid apologizes for insensitive blog posts from the past, while also not taking full responsibility.

Courtesy Raw Story: 

Calling her comments “despicable and wrong,” Reid copped to writing some of the offense comments, but said she truly believed she did not write them all. 

“A community I support and deeply care about is hurting because of despicable and truly offensive posts being attributed to me,” the somber Reid began. “Many of you have seen the blog posts circulating online and social media. Many of them are homophobic and discriminatory and hateful. When a friend found them and sent them to me, I was stunned. Frankly I couldn’t imagine where they came from and whose voice that was.” 

“I spent a lot of time trying to make sense of the posts,” she continued. “I hired cyber security experts to see if somebody manipulated my words or former blog and the reality is they have not been able to prove it. But here’s what I do know: I generally do not believe I wrote those hateful things because they are completely alien to me, but I can definitely understand, based on things I have tweeted and I have written in the past, why some people don’t believe me. I’ve not been exempt from being dumb or cruel or hurtful to the very people I want to advocate for. I own that. I get it. And for that I am truly, truly story.”

I held off writing about this situation because to be honest I was not sure what to make of it.

The posts showing up on the internet, and being attributed to Reid, did not really fit my perception of her at all.

I am still not completely convinced that it was her.

Besides that I also went through something similar myself, after this blog gained a little infamy.

After the Splitsville story the Right Wing trolls went through my old posts forensically and found some that, taken out of context, did not paint a very flattering picture.

In my case most of the content was misrepresented, but there were a few things that I wrote, back when virtually NOBODY visited IM, that were truly impossible to completely defend.

They were the type of musings that one might jot down in a diary with the expectation that nobody would ever see them, but that is certainly not a mindset which translates well to the internet, where everything lives forever.

So that should serve as a lesson to us all, that we need to consider that the things we write on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and even the comment section of a blog, might one day be dredged up and used against us when we least expect it.

I think that Joy Reid is very admirable person, but there is a journey to arrive at the best version of ourselves, and sometimes those missteps along they way can trip us up even after we think we have already arrived. 

Natasha Bertrand ties it all together.

.@NATASHABERTRAND on the reported ties between Russia and #CambridgeAnalytica that she believes could "add an entirely new dimension to #Mueller's investigation" #AMJoy pic.twitter.com/clVKhyn2Eu

— AM Joy w/Joy Reid (@amjoyshow) March 18, 2018

This my friends, is evidence of collusion.

I think that Mueller probably has all that he needs to make Donald Trump eat these words. 

The Mueller probe should never have been started in that there was no collusion and there was no crime. It was based on fraudulent activities and a Fake Dossier paid for by Crooked Hillary and the DNC, and improperly used in FISA COURT for surveillance of my campaign. WITCH HUNT!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2018

Florida school shooting survivor reminds his critics that he and his peers will outlive them.

Courtesy of Share Blue:  

“The right is claiming that you are being led around by celebrities, by George Soros, by the left,” host Joy Reid said. “Your response?” 

“I’m so sorry for each and every one of them,” Hogg said, before turning to the camera and addressing his attackers directly. “It’s so sad to see how many of you have lost faith in America, because we certainly haven’t, and we’re never going to.” 

“You might as well stop now,” he added, “because we’re going to outlive you.”

Damn, that is kinda gangster.

But he's right.

These old white assholes can rant and rail about their gun rights until they are forced to lunge for their oxygen bottle, but when all is said and done they are in the last years of their lives, while these young people are at the very beginning of theirs.

The NRA is going to have a VERY hard time recruiting younger members after they engaged in this smear campaign against these brave millennials, and once their current members die out that will essentially be it.

However the movement started by these young people could grow into an organization which sees stricter gun control laws all across the country, or perhaps even an Australia like solution to our gun problems.

Joy Reid shuts down conservative guest who tries to trot our Clinton conspiracy theory in response to question about Trump's "sh*thole" comments.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

During a panel discussion on Trump’s comments about Haiti and African nations being “sh*tholes,” the AMJoy host turned first to conservative commentator Stephanie Hamill. 

“Stephanie, I will start with you. when you heard what Donald Trump said about Haiti, about the African countries, really talking about El Salvador and any other countries that are nonwhite, how did you feel when you heard those comments?” Reid asked. 

“Joy, we didn’t actually hear him say those words,” Hamill began only to have Reid clarify, “When you read them.” 

“When I read them, yeah, and this is the biggest fake news story of the week,” Hamill replied. “It’s interesting to sit back and watch people are so angry about what that the president didn’t say, and they are more angry than they are at the Clinton’s for getting rich off the poor Haitians with the Clinton Foundation.” 

As the panel expressed shock at Hamill bringing up the Clinton’s, Hamill pressed on. 

“You can ask Klaus Eberwein, the former Haitian government official that has all the dirt on the Clinton Foundation– oh, wait, you can’t ask him because he mysteriously committed suicide the day he was supposed to testify,” Hamill blurted 

“What are you talking about?” asked conservative Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin. “This is nuts.” 

“Did you get talking points before you came here from the RNC or the White House?” host Reid cut in. “It’s interesting that yesterday Mark Burns, who was the surrogate we had on on the Trump side yesterday, tried to roll out the same Clinton stuff? Did you get talking points before you came here?” 

“Joy, I didn’t get talking points,” Hamill shot back, attempting to get back to her story. 

Host Reid then cut her off with a warning. 

“I don’t know you, Stephanie, but let me explain this to you: this is not Fox News and we are not going to play the game of rolling out crazy conspiracy theories in answers to my questions and take us off track,” Reid lectured. “So I am going to put you pause for the minute, I’m going to put you to the side because they are more familiar with the way that we do things here.”

Oh yeah, she definitely got some talking points.

Joy Reid is rapidly becoming one of my favorite hosts on MSNBC.

Not only is she always well informed on the issues she presents on her show, but she simply does not tolerate any Right Wing bullshit.

Pretty soon the trolls may have to move away from criticizing Rachel Maddow's hand gestures and focus on some mannerism of Joy Reid's instead.

Expert on authoritarian regimes suggests that Donald Trump might be using Russian hacked emails to blackmail Republican politicians.

Courtesy of Raw Story: 

“The RNC was hacked,” Kendzior said. “We don’t know what happened with those e-mails. We know that Lindsey Graham’s personal e-mails were also hacked and we know that Trump has a long track record of blackmailing and threatening those who he sees as his political opponents. That goes back throughout his entire career.”

Kendzior reminded Reid that many Republicans benefitted in 2016 from millions of dollars of dark money donated by Kremlin-aligned Russian nationals living in the U.S. and that Graham is one of those politicians.

“I think what concerns me most is that they seem afraid,” she said of the Republicans gathered to heap compliments on Trump this week. “They seem unable to stand up for themselves. They lack all dignity.” 

“Trump has berated them, he has insulted them,” Kendzior said. “He’s often gone after their wives and their family members, saying terrible things and yet they prostrate themselves to him. What kind of leader are you? What kind of man are you?”

Let me start off by saying that in almost any other circumstance I would file allegations like this under "bullshit."

But these are not any other circumstances.

Donald Trump appears for all the world like a Mafioso.

And let's face it using hacked emails to control your subordinates is exactly the kind of tactic that a mob boss would use to maintain control and to keep associates under his heel.

There is no proof for this, but I am open to hearing what anybody else comes up with to explain Trump's ability to totally subjugate the entire GOP.

And keep in mind that they are not simply bending to his will, they are genuflecting at his feet.

Just a reminder that you do not want to bring that unsubstantiated Hillary Clinton finger pointing to the AM Joy Show.

Have you ever seen Wolf Blitzer do this? Brian Williams? pic.twitter.com/qqBxg3EDir

— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) October 29, 2017

Joy Reid clearly does not suffer fools lightly, and she fact slapped this woman into virtual incoherence.

This whole Uranium One bullshit has been a transparent attempt to distract from these indictments from the get go.

Joy Reid has just made it to my must watch list.

MSNBC host Joy Reid's epic rant to the Bernie Sanders supporters is certainly something worth sharing.

I am 100 percent OVER the self-pity, conspiracy theorizing, moaning and foot stomping demands of Sanders bitter enders. Like, DONE.

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) September 9, 2017

Your candidate fought hard in the primary, in which the Democratic Party allowed him to compete WITHOUT becoming a Democrat.

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) September 9, 2017

Registered Democrats, including people so Democraty they WORKED FOR THE DNC didn't like it and shocker - PREFERRED THAT THE DEMOCRAT WIN.

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) September 9, 2017

They snarked at your candidate in catty emails ... they scheduled debates at off times (though if you have a revolution, can they hide it?)

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) September 9, 2017

And in the end, more people voted for the candidate EVERY SENTIENT BEING BELIEVED WOULD BE THE 2016 NOMINEE SINCE BIBLICAL TIMES.

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) September 9, 2017

When you lose a primary, it hurts. I bet when you lose a general, to Donald freaking Trump, after the media savages you over stupid emails,

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) September 9, 2017

your opponent half heartedly backs you but only after you hand over day one of your convention and beg, and RUSSIA RUNS A FULL OPP ON YOU,

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) September 9, 2017

I'll bet that hurts just a wee bit more. Especially when you lose by 77,500 votes in 3 states & a lady who dined with Putin gets twice that.

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) September 9, 2017

So if you don't mind, I'm going to reserve my pity for all the people of color, immigrants, LGBT folks and climate change believers who

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) September 9, 2017

lost real things in this past election. As for you of the diehard revolution, godspeed. Good luck. But we're done interacting.

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) September 9, 2017

Unfollow me, throw your phone on the ground and stomp on it, unsubscribe from cable to spite me, I honestly don't have the energy to care.

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) September 9, 2017

And pro tip? Don't call me "dear." We're not cool like that.

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) September 9, 2017

I have to say that I pretty much agree with everything that Joy said here.

In fact I think it links up well with my post from yesterday.

Once again I will say that it is time to move forward.

But not forward to some internal revolution that tears the Democratic party apart in the search for progressive purity, but forward to a realization that we are all stronger together, and that the enemy we face is only made stronger by our lack of cohesion.

MSNBC is now the number one cable news channel. Deal with it!

Courtesy of Variety: 

MSNBC ranked as the number one network across all of cable in total viewers for the first time in its history, according to Nielsen data. 

For Wednesday, Aug. 16, MSNBC averaged 1.52 million viewers for the total day across all of cable, edging out second place Fox News, who averaged 1.5 million. CNN ranked fourth among all cable networks for the day with 1.13 million total viewers. Nickelodeon was third with 1.17 million. However, in the key adults 25-54 demographic, CNN was number one among the cable news networks for the total day, averaging 381,000 viewers in that measure. Fox News was second in the demo for total day with 353,000 viewers, and MSNBC was third with 343,000. 

In primetime, MSNBC was also first in total viewers among the cable news networks with 2.61 million viewers. Fox News was second with 2.4 million. CNN was third with 1.59 million. In the key demo for primetime, MSNBC was first with 613,000. Fox News narrowly outpaced CNN for second place with 560,000, with CNN averaging 557,000. 

Across all of broadcast in primetime, Wednesday’s episodes of “The Rachel Maddow Show” and “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” were among the top 10 shows of the night in total viewers, with Maddow averaging 3.25 million viewers at 9 p.m. and O’Donnell averaging 2.54 million at 10. They were both the highest-rated and most-watched cable news programs in their respective time slots, with Maddow also nabbing 778,00 viewers in the key demo and O’Donnell nabbing 597,000.

This has been my go to cable news channel since 2004 so I am glad to see they are finally getting the recognition they deserve. 

Rachel Maddow still remains my all time favorite, but I am loving me some Joy Reid. Katy Tur, and Lawrence O'Donnell as well.

Stephen Colbert earns #FireColbert hashtag on Twitter after daring to mock Donald Trump.

🔥🔥🔥Genius! Thanks to #FireColbert it will be watched by many more 👍 pic.twitter.com/FxjcGHCO6F

— ⚓️Kevin Patrick (@vinkell) May 3, 2017

That brilliant bit of truth telling, did not go over well with the Trumpians.

#FireColbert
Sponsors@ProcterGamble 800-742-6253@Ford 800-392-3673@Pfizer 800-879-3477@Bayer 800-800-4793
Send an email AND make a call. pic.twitter.com/bwKiU6Ag6a

— Philip Schuyler (@FiveRights) May 3, 2017

There is a fine line between comedy and just plane insults..#FireColbert #stephencolbert

— Frederic Aboujaoude (@frederic_aj) May 3, 2017

Need to send a message to all sponsors to #FireColbert or lose business. That's the only way the left will listen. Follow the money.

— Lisa Benoist (@lisabenoist1959) May 3, 2017

However, as you might imagine, this has inspired those on the Left to openly mock the effort.

Now the little right wing mushrooms want to #FireColbert because he made fun of the Troll King. Waaaa! It'll go as well as #BoycottHamilton.

— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) May 3, 2017

#FireColbert is the new #BoycottRogueOne. I'm sure it will be equally successful.

— Joy Reid (@JoyAnnReid) May 3, 2017

#FireColbert WELL, HE JUST "SAYS IT LIKE IT IS"
Isn't that the platform that got President cheeto into office? #GiveColbertARaise

— Tif🕊️ (@PDXtif) May 3, 2017

I see #FireColbert is trending. I wonder if he'll suffer the same horrible fate that Starbucks and Hamilton suffered after their boycotts 😂

— Francis Maxwell (@francismmaxwell) May 3, 2017

Personally I think that any late night comedian who inspires this kind of anger from Trump supporters, is doing a hell of a job.

Just watch how quickly his ratings start going up. 

Wikileaks threatens MSNBC that their lawyers will start watching their programs if they report on the ties between Russia, Donald Trump, and those leaked e-mails.

@JoyAnnReid You are pushing a discredited conspiracy theory. There is no affinity, whatsoever. Our lawyers will monitor your program.

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) July 24, 2016

Courtesy of Mediaiate:

WikiLeaks, the site that dumped the DNC email leak a few days ago, warned MSNBC’s Joy Reid yesterday after she teased a discussion on her show about the “affinity” between Donald Trump, Russia, and WikiLeak. 

The emails were reportedly breached by hackers connected to the Russian government, which has led to talk that maybe Russia is doing this to help Donald Trump, who has said things that Putin might find attractive in an American president. (There’s also the fact that the only part of the GOP platform his team amended was the anti-Putin part.)

This led to Rachel Maddow tweeting this in response:

"our lawyers will monitor your program"? seriously? and will you lurk in the alley, too? https://t.co/Jw09jrkP5K

— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) July 24, 2016

Personally I'm not sure how offering to increase MSNBC's viewership is supposed to intimidate them, as I am fairly sure that they want EVERYBODY to tune into their programs.

And to be fair to MSNBC they are certainly not the first ones to made the connection between Russia hacking the DNC and these leaked e-mails from Wikileaks.

Courtesy of CNN:

Hillary Clinton's campaign manager is alleging that Russian hackers are leaking Democratic National Committee emails critical of Bernie Sanders in an effort to help Donald Trump win the election in November. 

 It comes on the heels of "changes to the Republican platform to make it more pro-Russian," Robby Mook told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union" Sunday. 

"I don't think it's coincidental that these emails were released on the eve of our convention here, and I think that's disturbing," he said. 

The DNC has previously had its files hacked by an individual named "Guccifer 2.0" that may have had ties to the Russians. 

Hackers stole opposition research on Donald Trump from the DNC's servers in mid-June. Two separate Russian intelligence-linked cyberattack groups were both in the DNC's networks.

Got to admit, that is a pretty interesting coincidence.

And at least one news agency has essentially referred to Trump as a Russian operative running for President:

The Republican nominee for president, Donald J. Trump, has chosen this week to unmask himself as a de facto agent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, a KGB-trained dictator who seeks to rebuild the Soviet empire by undermining the free nations of Europe, marginalizing NATO, and ending America’s reign as the world’s sole superpower.

While another claims that Trump is in bed with Vladimir Putin politically and owes the Russians millions of dollars:

Over the last year there has been a recurrent refrain about the seeming bromance between Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. More seriously, but relatedly, many believe Trump is an admirer and would-be emulator of Putin's increasingly autocratic and illiberal rule. But there's quite a bit more to the story. At a minimum, Trump appears to have a deep financial dependence on Russian money from persons close to Putin. And this is matched to a conspicuous solicitousness to Russian foreign policy interests where they come into conflict with US policies which go back decades through administrations of both parties. There is also something between a non-trivial and a substantial amount of evidence suggesting Putin-backed financial support for Trump or a non-tacit alliance between the two men.

You know what, I think I will join the lawyers for Wikileaks in watching Joy Reid's program.

Sounds like it might be very informative.