Harry Reid's letter to James Comey accuses him of sitting on "explosive" evidence of ties between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.

Holy sh*t.
Harry Reid letter to Comey: you have explosive information about ties between Trump and the Russian govt pic.twitter.com/xJX45hzkpM

— Mark Elliott (@markmobility) October 30, 2016

Courtesy of CBS News: 

The pugilistic Reid, who plans to retire after finishing out this term in Congress, penned a blistering letter to Comey Sunday, accusing the FBI chief of holding back “explosive” information about Donald Trump’s close Russian ties while possibly violating the Hatch Act by reviving the Clinton email investigation. 

“Your actions in recent months have demonstrated a disturbing double standard for the treatment of sensitive information, with what appears to be a clear intent to aid one political party over another,” Reid wrote, adding that through Comey’s “partisan actions, you may have broken the law.” 

The Nevada Democrat went on to insinuate Comey’s violation of the Hatch Act, which prohibits “activity directed towards the success or failure” of a candidate by executive branch employees. 

“[Y]our highly selective approach to publicizing information, along with your timing, was intended for the success or failure of a partisan candidate or political group,” Reid wrote. 

Damn! You go get 'em Senator Reid!

If true that Comey has evidence of ties between Trump and Putin, ties that he has kept to himself, then it makes it much harder NOT to see him as a partisan operative.

And if that was not enough to make that case there is also his decision not to confirm the Russian hacks.

Courtesy of CNBC: 

FBI Director James Comey argued privately that it was too close to Election Day for the United States government to name Russia as meddling in the U.S. election and ultimately ensured that the FBI's name was not on the document that the U.S. government put out, a former FBI official tells CNBC.

In the end, the Department of Homeland Security and The Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued the statement on Oct. 7, saying "The U.S. intelligence community is confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of emails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations…These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election process." 

According to the former official, Comey agreed with the conclusion the intelligence community came to: "A foreign power was trying to undermine the election. He believed it to be true, but was against putting it out before the election." Comey's position, this official said, was "if it is said, it shouldn't come from the FBI, which as you'll recall it did not." 

That statement put out by the government, which  FBI Director James Comey refrained from participating with since it was so close to the election, came out on October 7th.

The letter that Comey sent to the Senators about the POSSIBILITY of emails on Huma Abedin's computer came out on October 28th, three weeks closer to election day.

You know if it walks like a partisan operative, and it talks like a partisan operative, well then you go ahead and draw your own conclusions.

Hey remember when we used to think of the Associated Press as a non-partisan news outlet?

AP exec editor says the news agency's tweet about Clinton Foundation story was "sloppy:" https://t.co/FxoBL5aBQH https://t.co/o4e2YxqLkf

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) August 28, 2016

So yeah this is an AP executive editor admitting that a story is misleading and refusing to alter it.

Here by the way is what the AP got wrong on that story: 

The AP analysis includes only 154 meetings. It excludes all meetings with domestic and foreign government officials — the people who a Secretary of State spends most of her time meeting.

Clinton actually participated in over 1700 meetings as secretary of state during that time period. That means, in truth, fewer than 5% of Clinton’s meetings as Secretary of State were with Clinton Foundation donors. (The AP’s story also does not allege that any of those meetings were improper.) 

Nevertheless, the AP refused to delete the tweet.

And here is the original tweet that the AP refuses to correct.

BREAKING: AP analysis: More than half those who met Clinton as Cabinet secretary gave money to Clinton Foundation.

— The Associated Press (@AP) August 23, 2016

Gee if I did not know any better I might think that the AP was trying to purposefully create a false narrative.

You know if this were the only recent transgression perhaps we could let this slide.

But it is not.

ICYMI, last night AP tweeted an electoral map. Left: map they put in tweet. Right: actual map in article. pic.twitter.com/ZquB4LbNKS

— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) August 28, 2016

AP's idea of "balance" is to create a false map showing an exact tie, and tweet it both as clickbait and to show Trump as having a good shot

— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) August 28, 2016

Okay seriously I have used the AP quite frequently here on the blog, did something change or have they always been secretly working for the GOP?

I'm not exactly sure how I missed this, but the Republican led House Intelligence Committee just concluded that the Obama administration is guilty of no wrongdoing during the Benghazi attack.

Courtesy of SF Gate:  

The House Intelligence Committee, led by Republicans, has concluded that there was no deliberate wrongdoing by the Obama administration in the 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans, said Rep. Mike Thompson of St. Helena, the second-ranking Democrat on the committee. 

The panel voted Thursday to declassify the report, the result of two years of investigation by the committee. U.S. intelligence agencies will have to approve making the report public. 

Thompson said the report "confirms that no one was deliberately misled, no military assets were withheld and no stand-down order (to U.S. forces) was given." 

That conflicts with accusations of administration wrongdoing voiced by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista (San Diego County), whose House Government Oversight and Reform Committee has held hearings on the Benghazi attack. 

Stevens, who grew up in Piedmont, and the other Americans died when Libyans attacked the consulate on Sept. 11, 2012. Among the Intelligence Committee's findings, according to Thompson: 

-- Intelligence agencies were "warned about an increased threat environment, but did not have specific tactical warning of an attack before it happened." 

-- "A mixed group of individuals, including those associated with al Qaeda, (Moammar) Khadafy loyalists and other Libyan militias, participated in the attack." 

-- "There was no 'stand-down order' given to American personnel attempting to offer assistance that evening, no illegal activity or illegal arms transfers occurring by U.S. personnel in Benghazi, and no American was left behind." 

-- The administration's process for developing "talking points" was "flawed, but the talking points reflected the conflicting intelligence assessments in the days immediately following the crisis."

Okay can the Republicans finally shut up about this non-scandal now?

Apparently not as the so-called Benghazi Select Committee, headed by Teabagger Trey Gowdy, is still moving forward and will call its first witnesses in September.

Does anybody remember exactly how long those witch hunts in Europe lasts before they finally realized that there were no such thing as witches?

Well this will probably last longer. 

Meet your GOP Benghazi Committee members. Update!

Benghazi Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy

Courtesy of TPM:  

They are: 

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), Chairman 

Rep. Susan Brooks (R-IN) 

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) 

Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS) 

Rep. Martha Roby (R-AL) 

Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) 

Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA)

Apparently this is out of the 206 House Republicans that were scrambling to be on the list.

As of right now the Democrats are not even sure that they want to participate in this lynch mob and in my opinion, they should ignore it so that the American public can see it for the partisan witch hunt that we all know it to be.

Update: By the way did anybody else notice who is NOT included in the above list?

That's right, Darrell Issa is now considered too damaged by his repeated failed inquiries into Benghazi to be considered a viable candidate to be included in this newest clown car.

Republican party of Arizona officially censures Senator John McCain for not being crazy enough to represent the state any more.

Courtesy of NPR:

The Arizona Republican Party formally censured Sen. John McCain on Saturday, citing a voting record they say is insufficiently conservative. 

The resolution to censure McCain was approved by a voice-vote during a meeting of state committee members in Tempe, state party spokesman Tim Sifert said. It needed signatures from at least 20 percent of state committee members to reach the floor for debate. Sifert said no further action was expected. 

According to the resolution, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee has campaigned as a conservative but has lent his support to issues "associated with liberal Democrats," such as immigration reform and funding the federal health care law. 

Several Republican county committees recently censured McCain. 

Timothy Schwartz, the Legislative District 30 Republican chairman who helped write the resolution, said the censure showed that McCain was losing support from his own party. 

"We would gladly embrace Sen. McCain if he stood behind us and represented us," Schwartz said.

Yeah if only John McCain would act like a lunatic and work to stop every bit of legislation introduced by the Obama administration, like the "good" Republican politicians do he could get a warm wet one from the lunatic fringe that now runs the Arizona  Republican party.

But hey, all its not lost. I happen to know of one batshit crazy ex-Governor who is now a resident of Arizona that would totally fit what the Arizona GOP is looking for.

Just make sure y'all have your shots up to date before you visit her house.

How conservatives destroyed journalistic integrity in America.

This is part of an excerpt from “Dollarocracy: How the Money and Media Election Complex is Destroying America” courtesy of Salon:

 One key factor that has altered campaign coverage comes from the corporate right in the form of “conservative” media. If there has been a vacuum created by the downsizing of newsrooms, conservative media have filled it with an insistent partisanship unseen in commercial news media for nearly a century. The conservative media program has been a cornerstone of the Dollarocracy’s — the big money and corporate media election complex — political program since at least Lewis Powell’s 1971 memo. Initially, the work was largely about criticizing the news media for being unfair to conservative Republicans and having a liberal Democratic bias. Although the actual research to support these claims was, to be generous, thin—one major book edited by Brent Bozell actually claimed corporations such as General Electric were “liberal” companies with an interest in anti-business journalism because they had made small donations to groups like the NAACP and the Audubon Society—the point was not to win academic arguments. The point of bashing the “liberal media,” as Republican National Committee chairman Rich Bond conceded in 1992, was to “work the refs” like a basketball coach does so that “maybe the ref will cut you a little slack” on the next play. 

The ultimate aim of Dollarocracy was, as James Brian McPherson put it, “to destroy the professionalism that has defined journalism since the mid-twentieth century.” The core problem was that professional journalism, to the extent it allowed editors and reporters some autonomy from the political and commercial values of owners, opened space for the legitimate presentation of news and perspectives beyond the range preferred by conservatives. That professional journalism basically conveyed the debates and consensus of official sources and remained steadfastly within the ideological range of the leadership of the two main political parties—it never was sympathetic to the political left—was of no concern. It still gave coverage to policy positions on issues such as unions, public education, civil rights, progressive taxation, social security, and the environment that were thoroughly mainstream but anathema to the right. Key to moving the political center of gravity to the right was getting the news media on the train, and that meant getting them to have a worldview more decidedly sympathetic to the needs of society’s owners. Newt Gingrich was blunt when he told media owners in 1995 that they needed to crack the whip on their newsrooms and have the news support the corporation’s politics. “Get your children to behave,” he demanded in a private meeting with media CEOs. 

In the late 1990s, Rupert Murdoch launched the Fox News cable channel, and because television is such a ubiquitous and powerful medium, that put right-wing news media in the center of the mainstream. Michael Wolff characterized Fox News as “the ultimate Murdoch product,” because it brought tabloid journalism to American television. What has been missed in the analysis of Fox News is the business model of tabloid journalism: dispense with actual reporting, which costs a lot of money to do well, and replace it with far less expensive pontificating that will attract audiences. For a tabloid news channel, that means the value added is a colorful partisan take on the news; otherwise the channel has no reason to attract viewers. Former CNN head Rick Kaplan told the story of how he was confronted by Time Warner executives in 1999 or 2000 who were dissatisfied with CNN’s profits despite what had been record revenues and a solid return. “But Fox News made just as much profit,” Kaplan was informed, “and did so with just half the revenues of CNN, because it does not carry so many reporters on its staff.” The message to Kaplan was clear: close bureaus and fire reporters, lots of them. In short, Fox News is the logical business product for an era where corporations deem journalism an unprofitable undertaking. 

Fox News and the conservative media sector (including the conservative blogosphere) provide a “self-protective enclave” for conservatives to cocoon themselves. Research demonstrates that the more a person consumes conservative media, the more likely she is to dismiss any news or arguments that contradict the conservative position as liberal propaganda and lies. Tom Frank argued that the point of conservative media is to facilitate a “deliberate cognitive withdrawal from the shared world” by their adherents. Conservative media also, to a remarkable extent, stay on message, and the message is largely that of the Republican Party; these media, at least Fox News and Limbaugh, seem to march in lockstep with the same talking points, the same issues, and even the same terminology deployed across the board. They apply the core principles of advertising and propaganda.

There of course never WAS a "Left wing media," only a media that presented all sides of an issue and did so factually, And since a fair exposure of the Right Wing agenda rarely looked appetizing to the American people that simply could not be allowed to continue.  

The rabid partisanship which is currently ripping our nation asunder can be traced back to the initial conversation between Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch that ultimately resulted in the birth of Fox News.

Benedict Arnold had NOTHING on those two.

John Boehner on the IRS targeting Tea Party groups for additional scrutiny: "My question isn't about who's going to resign, my question's about who's going to jail." I'm sorry, those who refuse to pursue criminal charges for 9/11 say what?

"This should make those Teabagging assholes happy."

Courtesy of First Read:  

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, stoked conservative ire toward the Obama administration on Wednesday in the wake of an IRS inspector general report chastising agency employees for subjecting conservative and Tea Party groups to additional scrutiny. 

"My question isn't about who's going to resign," Boehner said at a weekly press conference on Capitol Hill. "My question's about who's going to jail." 

While the IRS report suggested that the employees' actions were not prompted by any outside influence, Republicans have nonetheless seized on the controversy, and openly suggested that the administration was deliberately targeting conservatives through the IRS.

"Who's going to jail?" JAIL?

Whether or not these IRS employees used poor judgement or not in choosing who they focused on for requesting tax exempt status, and I personally think they did not, what they were doing was still legal and well within their job description.

They did NOT break any laws! (By the way they ALSO targeted some liberal groups, even denying one the 501 status. You just don't see liberals getting their panties in a wad over it.)

And John Boehner, the man who sat on his ass silently while the previous administration lied us into war and buried his head in the sand while they conducted criminal activities that should have seen virtually the entire bunch of them behind bars, KNOWS that!

This partisan bullshit is completely out of control!

The IRS report has already said that there was NO outside influence and the President has reported that he is assigning Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to make sure that the people who demonstrated bias are punished for doing so.

However there is no way these people are going to jail, and Boehner saying that they should is inexcusable partisan grandstanding by somebody who should know better.

While all around the country being a Republican is falling out of favor, in Alaska they add one more.

Courtesy of KTUU:

West Anchorage Representative Lindsey Holmes announced Saturday that she changed her party registration from Democrat to Republican and has also joined the House Majority Caucus and will have a seat on the House Finance Committee. 

In a news release, Rep. Holmes said “I’ve enjoyed a close working relationship with the Majority for many years and have found that we share a common vision for Alaska.” 

“We have a large caucus with people representing every corner of the state, and with that diversity we often have different views and opinions on how we should approach the challenges facing Alaska,” House Majority Leader Lance Pruitt, R-Anchorage, said.

Okay so usually this might not seem like the biggest deal in the world, except that right now the Republicans control both the State Senate and  the House, and of course also have Governor Parnell in place in the executive position.

That gives the GOP almost carte blanche to do whatever they damn well please, and since Joe Miller's pals managed their coup of the Republican party it looks like the inmates are in charge of the nut house.

By the way there is also some very troubling talk of Senator Mark Begich switching parties as well. I very much hope that is not true, but if it is then I really worry for the future of this great state.

Only a day after the anniversary of the Tucson shooting, true to form, Sarah Palin plays the victim while using one of her children as a shield against criticism. Update!

Courtesy of Lunatic from Lake Lucille's Facebook page:  

Ben Shapiro has a great new book out called “Bullies: How The Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America.” Ben’s premise about the left’s silencing tactics is absolutely correct. Obviously I’ve witnessed the left’s bullying behavior up close and personal when it’s been directed at those so close to me. And, of course, I’ve seen how nasty it can be for other conservatives as well. You know, there’s something especially ugly about the way the left goes after children of conservatives. I still find it highly ironic that the supposedly “tolerant” left has done nothing but bully, demonize, and judge my daughter Bristol for making the right decision to keep her baby and work so very hard as a single mom to care and provide for him. I don’t know of any conservative “war on women,” but I sure have seen the left’s war on conservative women! 

Please read Ben’s book and consider his advice about how we must stand up and push back twice as hard against this bullying. We must not allow ourselves to be frightened into silence. Yes, it’s hard to “keep on keeping on” when being pushed around – but like Ronald Reagan said: when we stiffen our spines, those around us can stiffen theirs, too! Press in, press on. Don’t retreat, friends!

 - Sarah Palin

First off I have to say that the VERY idea that Sarah Palin, a well established bully in Wasilla and on the media, would use her equally vicious daughter to play the victim of similar behaviors is a level of hypocrisy that is almost jaw dropping.

And then to identify the Left as the bullies in this hyper politicized world we now live in is the ultimate hypocrisy saturated cherry on top of her batshit crazy fudge sundae.

The idea that the Left in this country could even COMPETE with the conservatives in this arena would be laughable if their tactics had not proven to be so harmful to our citizens.

After all which side of the ideological aisle outed the CIA wife of one of their critics in order to punish them for revealing that the war they were dragging the country toward was based on lies?

Which party came up with a color coded system to keep Americans frightened while sending its young people off to die in unnecessary wars?

Which fringe part of that same party now holds their politicians hostage to an untenable conservative anti-tax litmus test with threats of a primary challenge if they refuse to play ball with them?

Bullying? The liberals are light years behind the conservatives when it comes to intimidation techniques and Middle school name calling.

Of course equally disgusting is that the Grizzled Mama put this post out yesterday only the day AFTER the Tucson massacre, where thirteen people were shot and six died, and after which Sarah Palin came out in a video playing (You guessed it!) the victim and claiming there was a "blood libel" against her.

After over a week of silence apparently Palin could not let this terrible anniversary pass without reminding people that the true victims in this country are she and her family.

Of course it is probably anti-climatic at this point to reveal that the author of this book, which Palin is so effusively pimping was written by a Breitbart "news" editor Ben Shapiro. (He also wrote such delightfully non-partisan books as "Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth" and "Porn Generation: How Social Liberalism Is Corrupting Our Future.")

You remember the founder of Breitbart News, Andrew Breitbart, don't you?

And if you do of course you know he was an EXPERT on bullying tactics. So who better, than one of his editors, to write a slanted book on bullying in politics that unfairly vilifies the Left, and who better, than the queen of conservative hypocrisy, to endorse that book?

P.S. You know I almost missed this cry for attention from Klondike Kardashian, you would think she would want to get on television to hawk this book and get her rapidly dwindling fan base talking about her again. Oh wait......

Update: Okay well this just took a turn for the surreal.

Here is a clip of Ben Shapiro, the guy whose book Palin is pretending to hawk while of course using her daughter to play the victim, identifying Palin supporters as bullies who will aggressively go after ANYBODY who dares to criticize her or suggest she is not running for president.

Oh this is TOO good!

Okay well that seems a little uncalled for, don't you think?

Nice to see that SOMEBODY is approaching this whole partisan political thing with a little class.

Well anyhow, good night my fellow bed wet'n, booger eat'n, liberal moronic leeches. See you in the morning.

And make sure to get plenty of sleep, because clearly we have to stay sharp as we are up against some incredible intellects on the other side of the political divide.

Yep, regular Mensa members.

What does it say about the direction of your party, when its most deified representative could not run for office and win today?

Ronald Reagan.

Worship him? Yes!

Vote for him? Not so much.

For those who have not seen it here is your President literally in a den of wolves taking questions from Republicans.

Just watch how Obama handles this group.

He is standing before the politicians who have done nothing but insult him, lie about his policies, and absolutely refuse to help him to pass the legislation that Americans elected him to pass. And yet he remains calm, cool, and still seems to respect their point of view.

I have to say, if this had been me, my speech would have been one long stream of expletives, possibly followed by a fistfight. The Republicans have done NOTHING but attempt to sabotage this administration, and the fact that our President can stand before them and treat them like they are in fact adults is a testament to his patience and character.

He is a far better man than I.

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

Update: I was listening to this again, and I think the MOST important observation that Obama makes is around the 37:44 mark. Even if you don't have time to listen to the whole thing, listen to THAT portion. Obama says somethng very intelligent, very revelatory, and something that news programs should broadcast far and wide.