It's Thanksgiving so you know what that means.

I used to think that someday this would get old, but so far...nope still works for me.

Happy Thanksgiving IMers!

Grand jury issues subpoenas for associates of former National Security Adviser Micheal Flynn, Donald Trump reported to be screaming at his TV sets.

Courtesy of CNN: 

Federal prosecutors have issued grand jury subpoenas to associates of former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn seeking business records, as part of the ongoing probe of Russian meddling in last year's election, according to people familiar with the matter. CNN learned of the subpoenas hours before President Donald Trump fired FBI director James Comey. 

The subpoenas represent the first sign of a significant escalation of activity in the FBI's broader investigation begun last July into possible ties between Trump campaign associates and Russia. 

The subpoenas issued in recent weeks by the US Attorney's Office in Alexandria, Virginia, were received by associates who worked with Flynn on contracts after he was forced out as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency in 2014, according to the people familiar with the investigation.

CNN learned of the subpoenas "hours before" Trump fired Comey?

Could that be the actual reason WHY Comey was kicked to the curb?

You may remember that I posted that Keith Olbermann video on Saturday where he suggested that there was a grand jury already in place.

We received some blow back on that but it appears that he was on the money.

In other news Donald Trump is currently losing his shit.

Courtesy of The Independent: 

Donald Trump was so frustrated by the ongoing investigation into his administration's links with Russia he would sometimes scream at television when news concerning it came on, according to one of his advisers. 

The US President has been growing increasingly enraged at his inability to control the probe exploring allegations of collusion between the Kremlin and his presidential campaign, two advisers told Politico. 

According to the unidentified staff members, Mr Trump repeatedly asked aides why the allegations would not disappear and demanded they defend him publicly. 

It looks like Trump is heading for that breakdown that we all predicted right after the election. 

Keith Olbermann makes a strong case that there is at least one grand jury hearing testimony about the Trump campaign's collusion with Russia.

Courtesy of Raw Story: 

Keith Olbermann on Friday set aside his usual “hyperbole” to lay out new developments in the FBI’s ongoing investigation into possible collusion between Donald Trump’s campaign and Russian operatives—including that a grand jury may have been convened on the matter. 

Olbermann began his latest installment of GQ’s “The Resistance” by pointing out there is “strong reason to believe there is a grand jury sitting in the Eastern district of Virginia right now. hearing evidence about the connections between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and the Russians.” 

Olbermann said this was all-but “confirmed when FBI Director James Comey” testified before the Senate Judiciary committee,” revealing that the FBI is “coordinating” with “two sets of prosecutors,” including the U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia.

I have been working really hard not to get out over my skis on this Russian investigation thing.

As you all know there are lot of folks, particularly on Twitter, who are reporting that there is all sorts of evidence which suggests that many of Trump's associates, and even Trump himself, are headed to prison.

However I do not want to report anything that is not backed up by known facts.

In this video I thought that Olbermann made a compelling case for the existence of at least one grand jury.

If true this is a HUGE step forward in the investigation of what happened between the Trump campaign and the Russians during the 2016 election cycle.

This along with what I just posted earlier today about the Senate investigation is giving me some real hope about the outcome of these investigations.

Keith Olbermann reports on a blog post of Louise Mensch asserting that the FBI has taped evidence of Trump colluding with the Russians.

NEW: Have the Brits already nailed Trump? On tape? Offering to trade policy changes to Putin for election fixing? pic.twitter.com/ywNs84QIKo

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) April 18, 2017

Here is the assertion as written on Patribotics by Louise Mensch: 

Sources with links to the intelligence community say it is believed that Carter Page went to Moscow in early July carrying with him a pre-recorded tape of Donald Trump offering to change American policy if he were to be elected, to make it more favorable to Putin. In exchange, Page was authorized directly by Trump to request the help of the Russian government in hacking the election.

The post goes into far more detail and refers to previous posts to provide context, but that first paragraph right there is quite jaw dropping.

Now to be honest though I have been following Mensch on Twitter for quite awhile now I have hesitated to directly quote her or link to her posts because, well to be honest, because I was not certain of her trustworthiness as a reporter of facts.

In my defense many of the claims that Mensch makes are explosive, and would completely change the narrative about Trump's interaction with Russia.

However they are also often supported by anonymous sources, and though Mensch WAS the first person to report on the FISA court order, I remain somewhat skeptical that she has sources telling her things that the sources for the New York Times and Washington Post are keeping to themselves.

So I will present this here as a public service and invite your to hear what Olbermann says, and read Mensch's post, and then reach your own conclusions as to their validity.

Keith Olbermann lists the 50 craziest things done by Donald Trump since his inauguration.

I swear even five of these would be enough to destroy the career of any other politician.

Keith Olbermann explains to Trump supporters that their leader is insane.

Really can't disagree with any of this.

Keith Olbermann on Real Time last night. "We were invaded."

 "The point of a war, other than to gain territory, is to put the guy you want in charge of somebody elses' country. And we're now only debating, after the article in the New York Times yesterday, how much the Russians decided our election."

That for me said it all.

It was great having Real Time back on last night, it has been sorely missed.

And you did not get a chance to watch it you are in luck, because the whole show has been uploaded, by HBO mind you, onto YouTube.

Enjoy.

Keith Olbermann asks the one question I think we would all like to hear the answer to.

Trump still hasn't answered the Impeachable question. Did he or his gang coordinate with Russia during the campaign? pic.twitter.com/aC9yDR8Zds

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) January 18, 2017

I think if the press really wants to be taken seriously in their job that this question should be posed to Trump every time they get the opportunity.

Though to be honest I think we all already know the answer.

Keith Olbermann uses Donald Trump's own tweets to show that Russia will be his undoing.

Yeah you really don't need to rely on unverified reports or poorly sourced articles to demonstrate Trump's unsavory relationship with Russia, he tells you all about it in his tweets.

Keith Olbermann's newest video for The Resistance. Update!

NEW VIDEO: His claims about the Russians hacking our election: What Did Trump Know And When Did He Stop Knowing It? pic.twitter.com/PXxDLTsRzw

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) January 4, 2017

I have heard a couple of you calling on me to lead an underground movement of sorts to oppose Donald Trump and to obtain and disseminate information that will hopefully undermine his presidency and sabotage his plans for the country.

Okay, I'm on board.

But I cannot do it alone.

Remember I am a solo gig all the way up here in Alaska so I need comrades in arms. Others who are just as fed up with what is happening as I am. Others who have resources that I do not.

One of those others must certainly be Keith Olbermann, who, to his credit, has been banging the drum for opposition against Donald Trump since even before the election.

I dearly love Rachel Maddow, and have great respect for some of the hosts on MSNBC, CNN, and other news outlets, but THEY are hampered by the corporations they work for and the need for advertising dollars.

Keith Olbermann is free to say just about anything he wants to about Donald Trump, the state of the country, and what we need to do to fight back against tyranny.

So as far as I can tell he may be the perfect front man for this resistance.

He was a hero of mine during the Bush years and he may be the very hero we need during these trying times as well. 

So with that piece in place, let's start recruiting others to join with us in opposing Donald Trump, and hopefully with enough help we can work to minimize the damage that he will surely do before wrenching back control and putting it into more competent hands.

Viva la Resistance!

Update: Well it looks as if I may have underestimated Rachel Maddow.

She had one of the authors of "The Indivisible, A Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda." She essentially advertised what was in the guide while also promoting the fact that it has inspired numerous groups around the country.

I have received that link a number of times, and read what it says. But now it looks as if it has actually inspired a following, and is becoming the blueprint for the resistance movement.

Now we're cooking with gas.

The closer we get to the Trump inauguration the more I feel that Keith Olbermann is accurately channeling my outrage.

As I mentioned recently, I once thought that Olbermann was a little over the top with his anti-Trump tirades.

However the more we learn about how Trump "won" this election, and the closer we get to D-Day (Which is what I call the Trump inauguration.), the more I start to feel that there IS no level of outrage that is too severe for what we are witnessing.

And my other takeaway is that Keith Olbermann needs a wider audience, and that some cable network needs to provide him a venue for this outrage which he is channeling on our behalf.

Keith Olbermann puts to rest any question as to whether Russia hacked America in order to put Trump into the White House.

Do you still doubt Russia helped decide our election? Listen to the story of the "government-backed attackers" pic.twitter.com/f1Dyqrnyoh

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) December 1, 2016

I have to admit I was a little hesitant to embrace this new Olbermann and his one man resistance movement, but he is growing on me.

Again.

As if to underline the very points that Keith makes in that diatribe, here is Vladimir Putin talking about how anxious he is to begin working with our new president: 

Putin said Russia is looking forward to mending ties with the US after president-elect Donald Trump takes office in January. 

"We are ready for cooperation with the new American administration," he said. 

"It's important to normalise and develop our bilateral ties on an equal and mutually beneficial basis. We share responsibility for ensuring global security and stability and strengthening the non-proliferation regime."

Well of course looking forward to "mending ties" now that he has his puppet in place and knows that any deals he reaches with America will benefit Russia far more than they will benefit America.

Do any of you remember those old spy movies where the government head was replaced with a guy who had been trained by an enemy state to secretly take over and undermine their country?

Remember how we used to think that was far fetched and a little ridiculous?

Those were the days weren't they?

No matter how upset you are at the prospect of a Trump presidency I doubt you are as upset as Keith Olbermann.

Trump's newest crazy tweets aren't a diversion. They're confirmation he is insane and must not assume office pic.twitter.com/QxAbPnPCKy

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) November 29, 2016

So here's the thing, I am almost entirely in agreement with Olbermann on this rant. I also think that Trump is unhinged and mentally unfit to be the president.

However I am not quite as agitated as Olbermann is, which makes me kind of wonder is he perhaps a little TOO over caffeinated on this topic, or am I perhaps not freaked out enough?

What do you guys think?

You might want to say good-bye to some of your favorite MSNBC shows.

Here is a letter from the president of MSNBC Phil Griffin courtesy of Mediaite: 

Team, 

I’m writing to share a number of changes we’re making as we build a new daytime lineup with the best live, breaking news coverage on television. 

As of this Friday, “The Cycle,” “Now with Alex Wagner” and “The Ed Show” will air their final shows. 

Alex Wagner will stay with MSNBC and play a key role in our political coverage as we head into the 2016 election. And Ari Melber will continue in his role as Chief Legal Correspondent. But we will be parting ways with some friends – Ed Schultz, Krystal Ball, Abby Huntsman and Toure will be leaving MSNBC. Please join me in thanking them for their numerous contributions over the past several years, and in wishing them great success. 

Beginning in a few weeks, Chuck Todd will bring his unmatched brand of political insight and analysis back to MSNBC with a daily one-hour program. That show will air weekdays at 5pm. 

I know you read press reports last week speculating about these changes. I hope you can understand that we were not able to confirm at that point because we had not yet finalized many of the decisions I’m sharing with you today, and we hadn’t yet spoken directly with the people involved. 

In the coming weeks, as we complete our plans to create a new look and flow for our dayside programming, our 3pm to 6pm hours will begin the pivot towards live, breaking news coverage – with interim hosts from among our very talented ranks. And then, in September, we’ll unveil a 9am to 5pm schedule driven by dynamic coverage of breaking news events that are shaping the day. 

Change can be hard. There’s no doubt it’s been a difficult time, but we have exciting opportunities ahead. 

Phil

Okay somebody needs to explain to me why Alex Wagner loses her spot but Al Sharpton retains his?

I mean I don't have anything against Sharpton, except of course for his constant mispronunciations and intermittent speech patterns, but Wagner is the far superior host.

As for The Cycle, I am surprised that crappy thing is still on the air, though I really do like Krystal Ball. (And if you are going for eye candy alone it is kind of hard to beat Abby Huntsman.)

However the truly disturbing part of this memo is the announcement that the despicable Chuck Todd is returning to the MSNBC lineup. His hosting of MTP has completely changed my Sunday morning TV watching routine, and  I am far from happy to see his return to my favorite cable news network.

If Phil Griffin wants to get serious about saving this network he needs to swallow his pride and hire Keith Olbermann back. And while he's at it does Martin Bashir still need a job?

Boy wouldn't that piss off the conservatives?

The hypocrisy, it burns.

This was posted on Palin's Facebook page earlier today.

The idea that a group of people, who literally started their own news channel so that they could be protected from facts that do not meet their ideology, think that it is liberals who do not entertain other points of view is so ridiculous that I don't know if laughter or pity is the appropriate response.

 After all it is not the fault of liberals that facts tend to have a liberal bias.

And let's not forget that this is from the Facebook page of Sarah Palin, a woman who gets all of her points of view from whichever hand is shoved up the back of her shirt and working the  string attached to her mouth hinge.

The only thing that would shock liberals about this ignorant Right Wing bomb thrower would be watching her stand in front of a real reporter, and answering actual questions without having to read them off of a teleprompter, off her hand, or from cue cards flashed to her by RAM from the crowd.

P.S. By the way isn't it nice to see that Keith Olbermann is still getting under their skin after all this time?

And don't you miss this? "That woman is an idiot."

A few interesting, and some very troubling, tidbits from the new unauthorized Roger Ailes biography.

Quotes from "The Loudest Voice in the Room" courtesy of The Daily Beast:

Roger Ailes admired Adolph Hitler's propagandist:

Ailes was “a big fan” of Leni Riefenstahl, Hitler’s notorious favorite filmmaker—not for her Nazi ideology but for her cinematic talent as a propagandist. “Ailes was especially taken by Riefenstahl’s use of camera angles.”

Why am I not surprised by that?

Joe McGinniss once suggested that Ailes get therapy. He didn't:

As a theatrical producer, Ailes backed an environmental musical, Mother Earth, and cast his girlfriend, Kelly Garrett, in the lead even though she couldn’t dance. The show closed shortly after it opened. Ailes had better success staging Lanford Wilson’s Hot l Baltimore, a play about destitute social outcasts. Yet he confided to McGinniss, by then a close friend: “I’m walking around, and I feel just all this anger. I can’t figure out where it’s coming from.” He resisted McGinniss’s suggestion that he get therapy.

As many of us have long suspected Ailes may have had something to do with the firing of Keith Olbermann at MSNBC:  

In the summer of 2007, enraged by MSNBC host Keith Olbermann’s constant attacks on Fox News, Ailes reached NBC chief Jeff Zucker on his cell phone. If Olbermann didn’t stop, he warned, Ailes would tell the New York Post “to go after Zucker.” 

Olberamann remained on Countdown until 2011, however he was also suspended once in 2010 for giving political donations to candidates without first getting approval of management. I believe that, and his ultimate firing, were due in no small part by pressure from Ailes and Fox News.

And finally, Roger Ailes always thought Sarah Palin was an idiot, and Fox producers seemed to dislike her and her husband as well: 

Ailes thought Sarah Palin was “an idiot,” but paid her a million dollars a year and built a home studio for her in Wasilla, Alaska. Before her appearances, she regularly carped at husband Todd, who handled the camera. Fox News producers nicknamed the Palins “The Bitch” and “The Eskimo.”

Okay as an Alaskan I take some offense at the second label, but certainly cannot argue with the first. 

I have to imagine that Ailes must have imagined that Palin had some heretofore undiscovered talent for broadcasting before he committed to building her that studio in Wasilla.

Clearly he was wrong about that.

Her only talent is teasing men into believing she is willing to provide a service that she is woefully unprepared, or unwilling, to provide.

I have class today and tomorrow but I am going to purchase this book at my earliest convenience, since it seems to be just chock full of things that Roger Ailes desperately wants to keep hidden from the public.

A blast from the past. Why Sarah Palin knows all about "death panels," and why she is throwing stones from the most fragile of glass houses.

It is at times like this that I REALLY miss Keith!

I found it interesting that Shannyn was absolutely correct that Sarah Palin does not "register guilt" whihc now, four years later, is beyond debate. Shannyn was also correct that Palin would never allow HER massive screw ups keep her from attacking the perceived, and sometimes manufactured, screw ups of the President. 

Here is was Politicususa had to say about this back in 2009:

In the case of Sarah Palin’s accusation against Obama, I guess I’m gonna have to go with all three (stupid, lying, and lazy), with a strong emphasis on #2, because during her administration, the state so mismanaged Medicaid that over 250 people died waiting for the program. Hundreds more did not receive treatment. Over eight lawsuits were filed against the state division, bringing the attention of the state auditors, who notified Alaskan officials on June 26 that the entire program was being shut down due to mismanagement. In fact, the Supreme court ruled last year that the state had improperly cut off or reduced services to more than 1,000 needy people. 

“State programs intended to help disabled and elderly Alaskans with daily life — taking a bath, eating dinner, getting to the bathroom — are so poorly managed, the state cannot assure the health and well-being of the people they are supposed to serve, a new federal review found. 

The situation is so bad the federal government has forbidden the state to sign up new people until the state makes necessary improvements. 

No other state in the nation is under such a moratorium, according to a spokeswoman for the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. 

In the meantime, frail and vulnerable Alaskans who desperately need the help are struggling. One elderly woman is stuck in a nursing home, for lack of care at home. Another woman, suffering from chronic pain and fatigue, said she’s so weak, she often can’t even pop dinner into the microwave. 

The moratorium is expected to last four or five months. State officials estimate about 1,000 Alaskans will be affected. 

A particularly alarming finding concerns deaths of adults in the programs. In one 2 1/2 year stretch, 227 adults already getting services died while waiting for a nurse to reassess their needs. Another 27 died waiting for their initial assessment, to see if they qualified for help… 

The programs cost about $250 million this year, with the federal government currently paying 61 percent of the bill.”

We knew Palin was the TRUE overseer of death panels back in 2009, and before conservatives start jumping on the Palin death panel bandwagon perhaps we should remind them of that fact.

You may, or may not, be a fan of Christopher Hitchens, but he , unlike other journalists, had the courage to undergo waterboarding to determine if it was indeed torture. It was.

This video is from 2008, when Hitch decided to undergo water-boarding to determine if it was torture.

You may perhaps remember that in 2009, Sean Hannity said that HE was willing to be water-boarded for charity, but despite an offer from Keith Olbermann to pay $1,000.00 a minute to his named charity if he went through with it, Hannity simply did not have the guts.

"For every second you last, a thousand dollars -- live or on tape, provided other networks' cameras are there. A thousand dollars a second, Sean, because this is no game. This is serious stuff. Put your money where your mouth is, and your nose. Oh, and I'll double it when you admit you feared for your life, when you admit the horrible truth -- waterboarding, the symbol of the last administration, is torture."

After seeing how quickly Hitch succumbed to panic during his waterboarding, imagine how it must have felt for the so-called "Mastermind of 9-11," Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, to undergo that same process 183 times.

Somehow I think he would have admitted to just about anything.

Joe McGinniss and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week!

Courtesy of Joe's blog:

I must have committed a truly egregious crime in order to turn MSNBC hosts into clones of those at Fox News. 

What do they have in common? 

Fear of Sarah Palin. 

Even though she holds no office, nor ever will again, MSM cowers in anticipation of her lash. 

And they don’t like being told they didn’t do their job in 2008 and haven’t done it since, having made no effort to see the grotesque face that lies behind the snazzy mask. 

I got behind the mask. I did find the real Sarah Palin. 

But it’s a whole lot easier to try to kill the messenger than it is to read the message.

(Read more by clicking the link at the top.)

During a conversation I had with Joe pretty early in his research, he said that he did not want me to blog about talking to him or coming to his house until after he left.

I told him I completely understood because once the Palin-bots realized that we were talking they would essentially use me, and my now damaged reputation, to bludgeon him into submission.

Joe said that he did not care about that, and that he had been through worse, but he did not want to give them any hints as to who he was talking to.

Of course part of this conversation was BEFORE Palin realized he was renting the house next door and unleashed the "Hounds of Hell" in his direction.

THAT was something he had NEVER experienced before.

But Joe's a tough old bird.  He handled it pretty well I thought.

But today Joe is taking a terrible beating, and yes some of those blows (due to the leaked e-mail) are being delivered using me as a bludgeon.  Of course even before they knew about me, they had already labeled Joe a stalker and "creepy," so they already had a quiver full of verbal slings and arrows to use against him.

For all of you who have often asked why MORE people don't speak out about the Palins, I think that you are having those questions answered at this very moment.

Daring the "Wrath of Palin" is not for the faint of heart. Nor is it for those who are concerned about their reputations, their livelihoods, or their families.

But dammit, SOMEBODY has to do it!  Thankfully Joe has taken up that challenge, but he is now getting hit from all sides, and needs support.

Please do what you can to reach out to some of these people who have written Joe off, like Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, and others at MSNBC and CNN.  Let them know that we expected more from THEM.

After all we already have Fox News to attack him on Palin's behalf.

Look I was born to be a fighter.  I got kicked out of Sunday School at age five for busting the kid in the chops who dared to sit next to my girlfriend, and was fighting grown men in the ring before I even hit puberty.

I don't sweat the Palins. But if we really expect others to feel safe enough to venture out and tell their stories we have to support those who have gone before.

In other words if we want to know the truth we have to help protect those working to expose that truth.

Sometimes Joe misses the point and says that bloggers, and their commenters, don't make a real difference.  Well we know that is not true, so let's remind him of why Sarah Palin and her sycophants spend so much time on this blog. (It ain't just because of the pretty blue color you know?)

Let's go out there and make that difference!

P.S. For those who missed it yesterday, here is the full transcript of Joe's Q and A over at FDL.

Keith Olbermann's "Worst Persons in the World" includes Michele Bachmann and the Pima County Republicans.