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. 

What the hell happened to Ed Schultz?

Courtesy of the Daily Beast:  

Speaking this week in a National Review podcast, hosted by Jamie Weinstein and published Friday, the TV host refused to criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin for his troubling human-rights record, instead declaring that Putin is “viewed as a progressive Democrat” by the Russian people. 

When confronted with his own past comments acknowledging Putin had a “nasty human rights record,” Schultz focused on the “tremendous friction” between the U.S. and Russia, and claimed that his previous remarks about Putin “might have been overboard.” 

“Does he have a nasty human rights record?” Weinstein pressed further. “I think the United States has a nasty human-rights record,” Schultz replied. 

“I do think that every super power on the globe has a very poor record on human rights.” 

While his former home MSNBC has hit ratings gold—due, in part, to its extensive coverage of the ongoing probe into Russian ties to the Trump campaign—the famously bombastic progressive Schultz has gone in the opposite direction since departing the network in 2015. 

As The New Republic noted in 2017, since joining Russia’s state-owned television network, Schultz has repeatedly praised Trump’s political acumen while downplaying accusations of Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Schultz also brushed off Russia's annexation of Crimea, and defended Vladimir Putin as working to improve Russia.

Yeah, apparently by robbing the country blind, and subjugating it's people.

True confession time, Ed Schultz was NEVER among my favorite MSNBC hosts.

In fact I typically skipped his show, and when I was invited to meet him when he came up here I said I couldn't cause I was washing my hair.

But still I thought that he had some integrity, with his whole defend the middle class shtick.

But now that looks like it was all bullshit.

Hey I understand having to make a living (I've done some shit to make money that we are not going to discuss here.), but to completely sell out like this is pathetic.

At least when Keith Olbermann left MSNBC he managed to maintain his ideological credibility. 

Rachel Maddow is killing it.

Courtesy of Forbes:  

In March, The Rachel Maddow Show finished as the highest-rated show in cable news, with an average total audience of 3.058 million viewers--the show's best-ever performance in the 9 p.m. ET hour. FNC's Hannity was second, with 3.000 million viewers. Maddow also won among viewers 25-54, the demographic most valued by advertisers, finishing March with an average audience of 671,000 compared to Hannity's 616,000. CNN finished a distant third in the hour, with 382,000 viewers 25-54. 

MSNBC has been experiencing a dramatic rise in ratings, finishing the first quarter of 2018 as the only cable news network to grow compared to Q1 2017: MSNBC ratings were up 30%, while both Fox News and CNN experienced declines. 

In March, MSNBC's programming in prime time, daytime and total day all broke records for the network. The network's prime-time lineup averaged 2.398 million total viewers, finishing as the No. 2 network across all of cable TV. While Fox News continued its run as the top-rated network in cable news, MSNBC's prime lineup was up 8% from 2017, while both Fox (down 18 percent) and CNN (down 16 percent) were off year-over-year. 

The March ratings results suggest Fox News' unrivaled status as the dominant force in cable news may be facing one of the strongest challenges in years.

I know that people are starting to turn away from cable news, and looking for alternative information sources, but for my money MSNBC is consistently the highest quality news that you can get via television.

Their reporting is top notch, they have tons of contributors from the world of print journalism, and they deliver the facts in a straightforward manner.

Sure they lean left, but then typically so do the facts.

And Rachel Maddow is clearly the shining jewel in the MSNBC crown.

Even if I think I know a story that I have been reporting on all day, she will almost always add a different dimension to it, and dredge up facts that had not yet been reported.

By the way she also terrifies those on the Right, who constantly attack her, and Donald Trump, who takes great pains not to.

And the list...just...keeps...on...growing.

This never gets old. (via @maddow) pic.twitter.com/W31wrX49It

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) March 7, 2018

Seriously there are administrations that last the entire eight years and never see this level of turnover.

But remember, according to Trump "Everybody wants to work in the White House."

Ha ha ha ha ha!

Here is that crazy interview that MSNBC's Katy Tur had with former campaign aide Sam Nunberg. Update!

Courtesy of NBC News: 

Sam Nunberg, a former Donald Trump campaign aide, plans to defy a subpoena from special counsel Robert Mueller requesting campaign documents related to the Russia investigation, saying Monday that it would be "really funny" if he were arrested. 

"The president's right, it's a witch hunt," Nunberg told MSNBC's Katy's Tur. 

"I'm not going to cooperate when they want me to come into a grand jury for them to insinuate that (former Trump adviser) Roger Stone was colluding with (Wikileaks founder) Julian Assange," he added.

Nunberg, who has already been interviewed by Mueller's office, called the idea that Trump or his campaign colluded with Russia the "biggest joke," but he suggested — without any evidence — that Mueller may have something on the president. 

"I think they may," said Nunberg, who served briefly as a campaign adviser. "I think that he (Trump) may have done something during the election. But I don't know that for sure." He didn't provide any details.

I like how at one point he says that Trump did nothing wrong, and then only minutes later suggests that Trump "may have done something during the election."

My favorite part of this exchange is at the end when it seems that Nunberg suddenly realizes that he may have screwed himself and asks Katy Tur what she thinks Mueller might do to him for not complying with the subpoena.

I think I know exactly Mueller might do, and I am certain that Sam Nunberg is going to regret his defiance.

Here was something interesting that former US Attorney Preet Bharara tweeted right after this segment aired.

Even if you have someone's emails from other parties to them or from the service provider, you ask for them anyway. Among other things you learn a lot when people selectively disclose.

— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) March 5, 2018

I think is more than likely.

So all Nunberg is accomplishing here is putting a bullseye on this back and alerting the Mueller team that he may have something to hide.

Before I close this post I just want to say that I thought Katy Tur did an EXCELLENT job of conducting this interview and got Nunberg to divulge things that I am certain his lawyer would have wrestled him to the ground to keep him from saying.

Nunberg jumped from this interview to CNN, and that interview paled in comparison to this one with Katy Tur.

And that is why for me MSNBC is the best cable news program on the air today.

Update: Later Nunberg showed up on MSNBC again this time on Ari Melber's show.

Nunberg is getting legal advice from MSNBC guests. @mayawiley point blank told him he should testify... pic.twitter.com/YBTVBHCdZJ

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) March 5, 2018

There were three lawyers there, and ALL of them told him he needed to cooperate, and genuinely seemed worried for him.

Update 2: And now this.

Nunberg tells me he'll probably cooperate with Mueller in the end. He just doesn't want to make it easy. He thinks it isn't fair that they are asking for his personal communications. As of 8pm he says he had not talked to his lawyer.

— Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) March 6, 2018

Okay, I don't know about anybody else, but I'm a little dizzy.

Did NRA spokes-psycho Dana Loesch just threaten to kill supporters of better gun control? Cause it certainly sounds that way.

“To every lying member of the media, to every Hollywood phony, to the role model athletes who use their free speech to alter and undermine what our flag represents…Your Time is running out. The clock starts now."
–@DLoesch #Oscars90 pic.twitter.com/SDVjeTxyfB

— NRATV (@NRATV) March 4, 2018

Seriously, WTF was that?

She calls out journalists, celebrities, and late night talk show hosts, and then name checks half of the MSNBC lineup before stating that their "time is running out?"

How is that NOT considered a direct threat on their lives?

You may notice that the NRA Twitter account included the hashtag Oscars90.

Which caused one Twitter user to point out that Loesch is a failed wannabe actress.

Fun Fact: Dana is a failed sitcom wanna be actress.https://t.co/39FMqFbVdK pic.twitter.com/1DUTa6JJVF

— AlwaysAFedcase (@ChristinLuvsSno) March 4, 2018

Perhaps Loesch is not a crazed aamosexual calling for the murder of her critics, and instead is simply a failed actress, calling for the murder of her critics.

(H/T to Raw Story.)

Did you see former Green Party candidate Jill Stein essentially lose her shit on MSNBC yesterday?

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

Speaking with MSNBC’s Alex Witt, the two-time nominee at times shouted over the host, after deflecting questions about Russian involvement in her campaign, saying she knew of only one post on her Facebook page out of “trillions” posted on the social media site. 

As Witt attempted to ask the candidate if she was aware of Russian’s helping her campaign, Stein talked over the host, complaining that they should be discussing the “$6 billion dollars” in free advertising the networks gave to then-candidate Donald Trump. 

“No, we were not aware,” Stein exclaimed. “Let me say we were aware of other kinds of interference. For example, we know that $6 billion in free air time was given to Donald Trump by the big networks. Six billion, this was twice as much as Hillary Clinton’s campaign and four times as much as Bernie Sanders’ campaign and way more than the independent candidates.” 

“But it is not Russian interference, and I am proud to say that we had you on our broadcast several times and I had you on in person,” Witt reminded the former candidate. 

“Donald Trump, he was damn good, that was the word — he was damn good for the networks even though he was not good for America.,” Stein pressed on, ignoring Witt. “The point I am making here, Alex, is we don’t want to miss the forest here through the trees. Yes, there was Russia interference but there was compelling interference going on by way of media and the DNC. Did the DNC did not rig the primaries?”

No they didn't.

And that conspiracy theory has already been debunked multiple times. 

You know I could almost understand people supporting Bernie Sanders, I mean he seemed reasonable and intelligent.

But Jill Stein is a fucking lunatic.

Third party candidates, and protest votes, are a waste of time, and I hope after what we saw in 2016 that simple fact is now universally understood.

We are in war here, and standing on the sidelines, or backing a loser candidate to "make a point," is a luxury that we simply do not have.

Joe Biden comes right out and says that he thinks Donald Trump is being controlled by Vladimir Putin.

(The pertinent portions starts at the 5:25 mark.)

Courtesy of Addicting Info: 

As everyone else avoids directly addressing what is going on with Donald Trump and Russia, former Vice President Joe Biden just doesn’t seem to feel the need to mince words. 

MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell asked Biden on Thursday why Trump was “so reluctant to take on Vladimir Putin” — and she got an answer she probably was not expecting. 

“Look, you know, I want to give every American, including the president, the benefit of the doubt, but I can’t fathom any reason other than he is concerned of what Putin might say or do, or what information he may or may not have,” Biden said, adding that the Trump administration was not making a sufficient effort to prevent Russia from again interfering in our elections. 

“But look, unrelated to the whole issue of whether or not there’s collusion, separate and apart from all that, it’s necessary for us to stem this problem,” he told Mitchell. “It’s necessary for us to corral the Russians.”

Leave it to Joe "This is a big fucking deal" Biden to come right out and say what so many of us know to be true.

Yes, Donald Trump is an asset for the Kremlin.

And EVERY American, without regard to party affiliation or ideology, should be demanding that he be removed from office.

I would also add that any American NOT calling for that is essentially a traitor to their country, and that includes every Republican in Washington working to undermine the FBI or to obstruct the Mueller investigation. 

You KNOW this is true.

When the memo comes out ...

one cable news network will treat it like the Bible

one will have memo supporters yelling at memo critics

one will have Rachel @maddow telling you the truth

— Lawrence O'Donnell (@Lawrence) February 2, 2018

Devin Nunes will not say if he worked with the White House on his "secret memo." I think we know what that means.

Courtesy of the Daily Beast:  

The Republican chairman of the House intelligence committee refused to answer when a colleague asked him if he had coordinated his incendiary surveillance memo with the White House, The Daily Beast has learned. 

During Monday’s contentious closed-door committee meeting, Rep. Mike Quigley, a Democrat, asked Nunes point-blank if his staffers had been talking with the White House as they compiled a four-page memo alleging FBI and Justice Department abuses over surveillance of President Trump’s allies in the Russia probe. 

According to sources familiar with the exchange, Nunes made a few comments that didn’t answer the question before finally responding, “I’m not answering.”

Well actually that sort of IS an answer, isn't it?

In the meantime even Trump's own FBI Director has come out against releasing this memo.

Courtesy of Bloomberg: 

FBI Director Christopher Wray told the White House he opposes the release of a controversial, classified GOP memo alleging bias at the FBI and Justice Department because it contains inaccurate information and paints a false narrative, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Wray was actually one of the few people  allowed to read the memo, so he knows what he is talking about. 

However that is not going to stop Trump:  

President Donald Trump was overheard Tuesday night telling a Republican lawmaker that he was “100 percent” planning to release the memo, which was written by staffers on the House Intelligence Committee and is aimed at raising questions about the validity of the investigation into possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia, now led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

It should also be noted that reports are that Nunes himself has actually not read the classified documents that were used to write the memo, so he really does not know what the negative effect might be.

Of course he might not even really care.

Which leads us to this exchange: 

On Tuesday’s edition of Morning Joe, political analyst John Heilemann asked a question of Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) that he readily admitted “under almost any other circumstances would be ridiculous and absurd, but under these circumstances I think is actually warranted.” 

“Is it possible that the Republican chairman of the House Intel Committee has been compromised by the Russians?” Heilemann inquired. “Is it possible that we actually have a Russian agent running the House Intel Committee on the Republican side?”

Murphy replied by saying: “I hope that’s not the case and I certainly have no information to suggest that it is.” 

Notably, he did not call the notion “ridiculous” or “absurd.” Instead, Murphy suggested that Nunes was “instinctually” acting to protect President Trump. 

“Doesn’t his behavior speak of that though?” Heilemann pressed on. “I’m not the first person who’s raised this. He’s behaving like someone who’s compromised and there are people in the intelligence community and others with great expertise in this area who look at him and say, ‘That guy’s been compromised.’”

I am trying not to go all "Alex Jones" here but I am beginning to wonder if there are not a number of Republicans who have been compromised by the Russians.

 I'm just saying.

New York Magazine writer Rebecca Traister says that the media and the politicians do not yet understand the historical significance of the women's marches.

Courtesy of Crooks and Liars:  

New York Magazine writer Rebecca Traister, in a discussion with Chris Hayes and organizer Linda Sarsour, asked why the women's marches got so little media coverage. 

"What do you want me to tell the crazy women talking about justice? They ignored us again but they will not ignore us at the ballot box," Sarsour said. 

"This is right. This is symptomatic, the marches and the activism is not taken seriously. Why?" Traister asked. 

"They are women's marches. We know last year single biggest one-day demonstration in this country's history, we heard how afterwards, it was okay but just a march, it's performance, fun, people get together and wear their cute hats, whatever. No one seems to have connected, still, a year later when there is a spontaneous demonstration almost the same size in some places like Chicago, bigger, without a centralized organization drawing everybody. 

"I didn't know about the marches," she said. "I write about women and politics. I didn't know there would be women's marches until January and they were massive. They don't just have cute marches with the hats with the fact it's women clogging congressional phone lines and doing town halls, who have been organizing on the grassroots activist level around state and local office races around the country who have been winning in New Jersey, in Virginia and who are running in unprecedented numbers for the House, for the Senate and primarying Democrats from the left. 

"And apparently, the media's failure to take this seriously as a political movement and not as some social weekend thing that women do once a year, has led Senate Democrats to think it's not a serious political movement," she said.

I have been saying for awhile that women are changing things, and that the #MeToo movement and these female driven rallies are going to be significant.

But I have to admit that even I may not have recognized just how important of this will be to the future of this nation.

Women have clearly found their voice, and they are no longer asking men for permission to join the conversation. They are already having a conversation to which men better pay attention.

Rachel Maddow did an incredible job of explaining the bombshells contained in the testimony of Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson before the House Intelligence Committee.

Here are a few more highlights from other news outlets.

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

Glenn Simpson, co-founder of the firm behind the infamous dossier on President Donald Trump’s potential connections to Russia, told Congress that he believes the Russian government has “infiltrated” the National Rifle Association. 

“It appears the Russians, you know, infiltrated the NRA,” Fusion GPS co-founder Simpson said while testifying before the House Intelligence Committee on Nov. 14. His testimony was part of a federal investigation into potential links between the Kremlin and Trump’s 2016 campaign associates. 

“And there is more than one explanation for why,” he added. “But I would say, broadly speaking, it appears that the Russian operation was designed to infiltrate conservative organizations. ... They seem to have made a very concerted effort to get in with the NRA.”

New: Glenn Simpson said the Kremlin used the release of the dossier as a justification for a purge - arrests and killings https://t.co/0U9f2a489B

— Betsy Woodruff (@woodruffbets) January 18, 2018

SHOT: A Russian gangster ran a high-stakes gambling ring out of Trump Tower, per Fusion GPS cofounder Glenn Simpson.

CHASER: Trump was with that Russian gangster in the VIP section at the 2013 Miss Universe pageant (along with other "Kremlin biggies"). pic.twitter.com/zoa9OA60yk

— Caroline O. (@RVAwonk) January 18, 2018

The marriage of Ivanka and Jared was largely a business deal, Fusion GPS's Simpson suggests (page 86) https://t.co/hQZ0UbsNih pic.twitter.com/HyCx7xJNLR

— David S. Joachim (@davidjoachim) January 18, 2018

Simpson, looking at a Kushner project, realized that the EB-5 VISA scam could be a way for foreign intel services to GET SPIES INTO AMERICA DISCREETLY. pic.twitter.com/RkbU2ubOIz

— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) January 18, 2018

It should be noted that I visited Fox News yesterday and they are STILL claiming all of this a Democratic hoax designed to undermine the Trump presidency.

For the anti-Maddow troll that always seems to show up here,  I should warn you that yes Rachel moves her hands a lot, she uses big words that may prove confusing, and yes she is still a lesbian.

(H/T to Raw Story.)

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.

Michael Wolff's new book also reveals how Donald Trump tries to trick the wives of his friends into sleeping with him.

From Fire and Fury, here's Trump on his friends' wives --> pic.twitter.com/9imNBaSqm1

— Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) January 3, 2018

Courtesy of Raw Story:

Donald Trump had an intricate plan of deception to bed the wives of his friends, according to yet another bombshell revelation from Michael Wolff’s new book Fire and Fury. 

MSNBC obtained a copy of the book and NBC News’ former embedded reporter with the Trump campaign, Katy Tur, tweeted a highlighted section. 

“Trump liked to say that one of the things that made life worth living was getting your friends’ wives into bed,” the starred paragraph begins. 

“In pursuing a friend’s wife, he would try to persuade the wife that her husband was perhaps not what she thought. Then he’d have his secretary ask the friend into his office; once the friend arrived, Trump would engage in what was, for him, more or less constant sexual banter. Do you still like having sex with your wife? How often? You must have had a better f*ck than your wife? Tell me about it. I have girls coming in from Los Angeles at three o’clock. We can go upstairs and have a great time. I promise … And all the while, Trump would have his friend’s wife on the speakerphone, listening in,” the book reported.

Congratulations Republicans this is now the leader of your party. 

Here is a GOP Congressman suggesting that the FBI and State Department should be purged of agents who are part of the "deep state."

WATCH: GOP Rep. Francis Rooney calls for 'purge' of FBI, accuses some in the agency of being a part of the 'deep state' pic.twitter.com/kkJTBPFeui

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) December 26, 2017

"Deep State" by  the way is right up there with the "Illuminati" and "Gay Mafia" as fantastical imaginary shadow organizations which conspiracy theorists claim are working the levers of power behind the scenes.

This is the kind of lunacy espoused by Alex Jones and Right Wing talk radio hosts.

To see an actual member of Congress using this kind of language is flatly terrifying.

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.

NBC confirms that it paid off former assistant producer after she brought a sexual harassment complaint against Chris Matthews.

Courtesy of Fox News: 

The website, citing two sources, reported that NBC paid the woman $40,000 to settle her claim against Matthews in 1999. An NBC spokesperson told The Daily Caller the network paid a smaller, unspecified amount as part of a severance package. 

The woman complained to executives that Matthews, now 71, had made inappropriate comments to her and made inappropriate jokes about her to others. 

An MSNBC spokesman told The Daily Caller that Matthews had been slapped with a formal reprimand at the time the woman made her complaint. The website reported that the network decided that the complaints were "inappropriate and juvenile," but were not intended as propositions.

There is no way that this should be unexpected to people who watch Hardball. 

Matthews' often uncomfortable remarks toward female guests has been prominently on display for decades.

Even as a male viewer of the program, I have been creeped out by Tweety more than a few times.

However let's keep in mind that according to this story Matthews was NOT trying to sleep with these women nor using his power to bully them. At least as far as we know right now.

And that should puts him in a separate category than the Roy Moore's or Donald Trump's of this world.

I still think he is going to lose his job however.

Petty Donald Trump makes Romney niece change name in order to get work.

Courtesy of WaPo:

Before Ronna Romney McDaniel took over as Republican National Committee chairwoman earlier this year, President Trump had a request: Would she be willing to stop using her middle name publicly? 

Trump followed up by saying in a lighthearted way that McDaniel, the niece of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, could do what she wanted, according to two people familiar with the comments. But the change was soon plain for all to see. Though she had used her maiden name for years in Michigan, where her grandfather George W. Romney had been governor, McDaniel dropped “Romney” from most official party communications and has rarely used it since. 

The moment offers a window on Trump’s complicated and often tense relationship with the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, who has remained a frequent critic of the president and is considering a Senate campaign next year in Utah. The pair’s history stretches from Romney’s pained courtship of Trump’s endorsement in 2012 to Trump’s searing criticism of Romney in 2016, when he called his predecessor a “stone cold loser” who blew an easy chance to beat then-President Barack Obama. 

Those tensions were on display again this week, when White House aides scripted a trip to Utah with a single political goal in mind: to convince Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) to run for reelection and thwart Romney from mounting his own bid for the seat, according to a senior White House official involved in the preparations.

This guy simply never drops a grudge.

That's why he is still obsessed with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Hell I think his entire campaign was inspired by his desire to get back at then President Obama over those jokes he made during that 2011 White House Correspondents' Dinner.

And as for this suggesting to Romney McDaniel to change her name being "lighthearted," it was not lighthearted, it was a thinly veiled threat.

It was just like the "lighthearted" thinly veiled threat that he issued to James Comey about dropping the Flynn investigation.

Comey's refusal to comply cost him his job, should we actually believe that McDaniel would have this job if she did not knuckle under?

By the way have you noticed how Trump likes to surround himself with the female relatives of his vanquished foes?

I'm almost surprised that he has not offered Chelsea Clinton a job.

Oh that's right, she is far too intelligent to allow him to marginalize her and make her act like a brainless sycophant.

Conservative media has now launched an all out attack on Robert Mueller in order to undermine his investigation.

(Sorry for the abrupt ending, it was the only version I could find.)

Courtesy of CNN: 

What's President Trump hearing when he watches Fox News? 

He's hearing that special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation is "illegitimate and corrupt." That it's led by a "band of merry Trump-haters" who are trying to reverse the results of the election. And that it must be stopped. 

He's also hearing that the FBI is becoming "America's secret police," akin to the KGB in Russia, full of "sickness" and "corruption." 

These are all actual quotes from some of the president's favorite pro-Trump talk shows. 

The overarching message from "Fox & Friends" and "Hannity" is unmistakable: Mr. President, you're the victim of a "deep state" plot to take you down. Don't let it happen. 

Sean Hannity, the highest-rated host on Fox, has renewed his calls for Mueller to resign. And Fox's other pro-Trump shows reinforce this message on a daily basis. 

In recent weeks, there's been a big increase in reporting about Mueller's probe and how it could affect Trump's inner circle. At the same time, there's also been a sharp escalation in the anti-Mueller rhetoric coming from right wing media sources.

We have seen some of these attacks before, but now it appears that things are ramping up to a rather hysterical level.

In looking for more information about this I Googled "conservative attacks on Robert Mueller" and what I found makes these attacks from Fox News look like child's play.

Other conservative outlets are not even trying to appear reasonable, and some of what they are charging is so unhinged that it almost seems to be a parody of itself.

I think that it is beyond obvious that the Right Wing media is conditioning their listeners, Trump's base, to accept that the firing of Robert Mueller as not only reasonable, but necessary.

That is why Robert Mueller must be protected at all cost.

Donald Trump suggests there be a contest to determine who gets the "fake news" trophy, Rasmussen conducts a poll. Guess who won.

We should have a contest as to which of the Networks, plus CNN and not including Fox, is the most dishonest, corrupt and/or distorted in its political coverage of your favorite President (me). They are all bad. Winner to receive the FAKE NEWS TROPHY!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2017

Remember that?

Well after that Rasmussen decided to take up the gauntlet.

Courtesy of The Hill: 

A plurality of Americans in a new poll think that Fox News deserves the first "Fake News Trophy." 

A new poll from the conservative-leaning Rasmussen finds 40 percent of respondents think Fox News should get the Fake News Trophy, which was first suggested by President Trump earlier this week in a tweet. 

The second place winner, according to the poll, was CNN, which received 25 percent support. 

MSNBC followed CNN with 9 percent, and ABC, CBS and NCB each received less than 5 percent support for the Fake News Trophy.

I think the ONLY way you could not have seen this coming is if you only get your news from Fox.