All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!

[PaulBullion]

Also from that story:

In another episode Mueller has been probing, Trump's lawyers conceded for the first time that in July 2017, Trump "dictated" a statement to be released on behalf of his son Donald Trump Jr. about a meeting that the son had taken with a Russian lawyer during the campaign.

The Post first reported in July that the president had authored his son's statement, which misleadingly said the meeting was "primarily" about Russian adoptions. In fact, Donald Trump Jr. had accepted the meeting after being told the lawyer would provide dirt about Clinton.

In their letter, Trump's lawyers contended that the statement was "short but accurate," and a "private" matter to be hashed out between the president and the New York Times, which had requested the statement, rather than an issue for federal prosecutors.

Both Sarah Sanders Taylor Fortensky Huckabee had told a non-truth about that. Also, Trump's lawyers had gone on TV and repeatedly told alternate facts about that, claiming Trump had not dictated the low-truth content letter.

[Tendrin]

Eric Boehlert (MediaMatters) has tweeted a stunning fact- the NY Times fails to quote a single Congressional Democrat on any of the leading Trump news from one day. Seven current news topics and zero comments from Congressional Dems included. One wonders if they were even interviewed.

Remember when Democrats were in control of Congress or the White House? The excuse to ignore Democrats was ‘they’re in control’. Yet now Republicans are in total control and the Democrats still get ignored.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/201...-On-Trump-News

Effing NYT, man.

[Gray Lensman]

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/201...-On-Trump-News

Effing NYT, man.

But I keep hearing about how 'the media' is totally liberal!

Yeah, yeah, I know. That's just another lie.

[PaulBullion]

But I keep hearing about how 'the media' is totally liberal!

Yeah, yeah, I know. That's just another lie.

And I keep hearing how "the Democrats don't have a message."

Maybe it is time to shoot the messenger, after all.

[worstblogever]

If True, it's said to see how little things changed since the days when the media covered up for Nixon beating his wife so badly he put her in the hospital.

I wouldn't be surprised if Nixon had kicked Checkers.

S***, I just realized why I'm glad Trump has never had a pet.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2015, 2016, as well as 2017, “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day posted profiles of the current U.S. House Representative for West Virginia’s’ 2nd District, Alex Mooney, who we noted had carpetbagged his way across the Maryland border after serving for years as a state legislator, and waiting in vain for former U.S. House Rep. Roscoe Bartlett to retire, eventually just getting annoyed enough to move to West Virginia and try to run for office there. During his time as a Maryland state legislator, though, Mooney became synonymous with the issue of LGBT rights, and his extreme opposition to them. At one point during a 1999 debate on hate crime legislation, Mooney sarcastically asked if people who commit beastiality should also be protected under the law, and in 2008, during a debate on same sex marriage, went as far as to claim its legalization would lead to the gay community "oppressing" religious figures and they would be "coming for the children". Mooney also has pushed for legislation to allow the display of religious monuments in public buildings (which is a violation of the Establishment clause of the First Amendment that guarantees a separation of church and state), considers any compromise on immigration to be amnesty, and speaks publicly about "gun-grabbers and pro-abortion zealots" (because that's totally the direction things have trended the past six years or so in our country). In September of 2015, Mooney also took to the floor of the House to give a speech where he accused Planned Parenthood of harvesting “baby parts” based on lies from the Center for Medical Progress, so there’s that, as well.

Now, we’re going to go ahead and lead our further discussion of Alex Mooney by pointing out that on March 28th, 2018, Alex Mooney recycled an idea from the Ron Paul school of thought regarding the American economy… he wanted to go back to the gold standard, and actually introduced legislation to try to make it a reality. Now, if that doesn’t mean anything to you, it’s because the United States hasn’t used the gold standard in 1971. That’s right, we’re approaching fifty years since we were on the gold standard. And guess what? Some folks in the 1980s were whispering in Ronald Reagan’s ear about doing this, and guess what they determined? Doing that would cripple not just the American economy, but the global economy. Yet every now and then, some hard right goofball from the Libertarian wing of the GOP starts flogging that dead horse to see if it will come back to life, even though almost 100% of economists oppose doing it, and it’s thought of as part of the reason it was so hard for the United States to recover from the Great Depression..

And, looking to the rest of Mooney’s voting record this term… let’s just say there’s plenty of extremism in there:

• March 16th, 2017: Alex Mooney votes for HR 1181, which would allow veterans deemed mentally incompetent to continue to own firearms, and not have them taken away without a judge's written order. We feel safer already.
• May 4th, 2017: Mooney votes for the House GOP's healthcare plan, that would kick roughly 24 million people off their health insurance plans, allow up to 28,000 more people to die a year, give $50,000 in tax breaks to millionaires, and would eliminate coverage for pre-existing conditions which would include such medical conditions as pregnancy (current or past), post-partum depression, or prior sexual assault. Oh, and a provision in the bill would make sure that Mooney would be allowed to keep his healthcare plan as it exists under the ACA, which would be repealed for the rest of the country. He and his Republican compatriots threw themselves a beer bash to celebrate taking away healthcare from millions and then gloated about it with Donald Trump at a White House press conference, as well.
• June 8th, 2017: Alex Mooney votes for HR 10, the GOP’s attempt to repeal Dodd-Frank financial reform, because what the country really needs is to allow the big banks to make the same mistakes that imploded the economy only a decade earlier.
• September 8th, 2017: Rep. Mooney chooses to be one of 90 Republicans in Congress who votes against disaster relief for Hurricane Harvey.
• October 3rd, 2017: Mooney votes for HR 36, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, that would try to create an unconstitutional ban abortion at 20 weeks (even though medical science tells us fetuses do not have the capability to feel pain until 29 weeks).
• December 19th, 2017: Alex Mooney votes for HR 1, the GOP’s $1.7 trillion tax cut to benefit the wealthiest Americans and corporations permanently that coincidentally also removes the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate and kicks 13 million people off their health insurance.
• February 18th, 2018: Mooney and his fellow Republicans decide that poor big businesses are suffering too much at the hands of the Americans with Disabilities Act too much, and votes for HR 620, which would strip most of the civil rights protections guaranteed by it.

Alex Mooney’s opponent in this red-state bastion in November is Talley Sergeant, a rather savvy former political aide to Hillary Clinton, who will almost certainly be attacked for having any association whatsoever to anything having to do with the former First Lady and Secretary of State in a place where they are all too happy to chant “LOCK HER UP!” when Donald Trump’s self-esteem gets too low and he needs idiots to worship him. It is the most left-leaning district in West Virginia, according to the Cook Partisan Voting Index, but then again, that ends up being a +17 Republican lean. It will take a hell of a misstep from Mooney’s campaign for Sergeant to pull it off, though.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Black doctor and family attacked in Florida luxury resort pool — called ‘black b*tches’ and ‘n*ggers’

I would've loved it if one of those cows suddenly had a heart attack and that doctor gave her mouth to mouth ressucustation. That would've made for delicious irony.

====================

U.N. Expert: America’s Poor Becoming More destitute Under Trump

The United States has the highest youth poverty rate among industrialized countries. And, chances are, most of those poor are in red states won by Trump.

**********

Giuliani Says Russia Probe Subpoena Would Start Legal Battle: Report

“If Mueller tries to subpoena us, we’re going to court.” For the umpteenth time, why go through all these histrionics if Trump is innocent? And why doesn't the media pose that very question to Ghouliani and Trump's minions?

**********

Jared Kushner’s Father Rips Ethics Watchdogs As ‘Jerks’ Who Can’t Get A ‘Real Job’

“All they want to do is assure that poor, not successful people go into government.” What a moronic comment from a moron who's son is only in government because of flat out nepotism thanks to his wife being the president's daughter.

**********

Renowned Economist Jeffrey Sachs Rips Trump As A Gibbering, ‘Delusional’ Threat

He calls for removal of the president using the 25th Amendment. Sadly, complicit, cowardly and craven Republicans in Congress won't listen to those calls.

**********

‘Roseanne’ Shouldn’t Have Been Revived To Begin With, Says Michelle Wolf

Comedian Michelle Wolf doesn’t think we should be cheering ABC for their decision to cancel “Roseanne” this week, because, she says, the show shouldn’t have been revived in the first place.

[Mister Mets]

I keep looking for rock bottom but I’m beginning to feel this is a bottomless pit. I go to the comment section expecting to see people both left and right condemning this. Instead I see a bunch of losers arguing over whether this monster is liberal or conservative? How much of a fanatic do you have to be to see this situation and instantly think to politize it?

When someone is openly running for Congress as a pedophile, the average person probably doesn't see a need to condemn him, because there's no one on this freak's side.

What's astonishing also is that Peurto Rico's governor was even unaware of the number of deaths because he says there will be Hell to Pay if some of his staff was withholding information. This is still a developing story and CNN for one has had reporters there trying to get reliable information

But yes, the TV outlets should give the story more air time but there's still more to it if the governor thinks shenanigans is going on even within his own staff. The newspapers at least don't have air time and commercials to worry about so you can find more online about it or in print.

The official death reports in Puerto Rico were based on coroner's report, and were known to be low because of the impossibility of maintaining functional facilities and accurate records during a disaster.

This story's a difficult one to report because it's an estimate, subject to mistakes (people polled might not provide accurate information, might not know if someone's death was due to the hurricane, and might provide overlapping information) and it contradicts greatly with other measures. There was another study which suggested an increase of 1400 deaths after the hurricane, just by looking at the number of people who died in that time and measuring that against the average.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/n...601-story.html

But I keep hearing about how 'the media' is totally liberal!

Yeah, yeah, I know. That's just another lie.

You hear about the media being liberal because they generally are.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...-media-bubble/

Well before Trump, four times as many journalists identify themselves as Democrats than as Republicans.

Journalists who donated money to candidates favored Democrats to Republicans ten to one.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/19113485/n...cians-quietly/

Surveys of whether journalists preferred or voted for the Democratic nominee or the Republican nominee for the President typically show the Democrat with several times more support than the Republican

https://archive.mrc.org/biasbasics/biasbasics3.asp

[Tendrin]

You hear about the media being liberal because they generally are.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...-media-bubble/

Well before Trump, four times as many journalists identify themselves as Democrats than as Republicans.

Journalists who donated money to candidates favored Democrats to Republicans ten to one.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/19113485/n...cians-quietly/

Surveys of whether journalists preferred or voted for the Democratic nominee or the Republican nominee for the President typically show the Democrat with several times more support than the Republican

https://archive.mrc.org/biasbasics/biasbasics3.asp

Sigh. Here we go again. Yes, individual journalist can be and often are varying stripes of 'Liberal', but there are things that effect the 'media' that exist well outside individual reporter's response to polls. You're smart enough to know this, Mets. The idea of the monolithic liberal media is a stupid myth that's been used by the GOP effectively for years now and people like you keep repeating 'well, journalists like democrats!' to deflect from the way that the media has been worked and has worked for /decades/ now.

And yes, they helped give us Trump and you keep repeating the ridiculous assertions that helped get us here.

[Jack Dracula]

You know what? A lot of that money would have "trickled up" to them anyway. Give poor people money and they will buy more stuff that is produced in the factories rich people own.

There's the risk that some of the Poors might put some of that money in a bank instead of spending it. Can't have that.

[PaulBullion]

Sigh. Here we go again. Yes, individual journalist can be and often are varying stripes of 'Liberal', but there are things that effect the 'media' that exist well outside individual reporter's response to polls. You're smart enough to know this, Mets. The idea of the monolithic liberal media is a stupid myth that's been used by the GOP effectively for years now and people like you keep repeating 'well, journalists like democrats!' to deflect from the way that the media has been worked and has worked for /decades/ now.

And yes, they helped give us Trump and you keep repeating the ridiculous assertions that helped get us here.

Personally I think it is unfair to accuse Mets of being dumb. I think he knows when he is lying. "Devious" might be a better word.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

The media is liberal if your view is Fox News is what the standard for conservative should be. If that's your barometer, then most media will be considered liberal. Which is the problem. We have one blatantly biased network that branded itself as the counterweight and completely sells itself out and is devoid of integrity. The branding worked for the target audience and now if you aren't Fox News you have a liberal bias.

But Trump really should have squashed the whole "the media is liberal". They gave Trump billions of dollars of free publicity even though the Clinton campaign was screaming about it being a huge advantage.

[worstblogever]

"The media is liberal!" they say.

It's like you thought we weren't paying attention to Sinclair's bulls*** propaganda campaign. I mean, Fox News is a given, but there's been quite the move by right-wingers to buy their press coverage the past several years. If they don't fund a fringe media endeavor from the ground up like The Blaze, InfoWars, or Newsmax, they're buying up as many little stations as they can. Then you have tabloid executives like TMZ and the Enquirer running "catch and kill" endeavors for negative Trump stories like it's going out of style.

Try and not gaslight so hard, guys. You might break your lanterns.

[Tami]

"The media is liberal!" they say.

It's like you thought we weren't paying attention to Sinclair's bulls*** propaganda campaign. I mean, Fox News is a given, but there's been quite the move by right-wingers to buy their press coverage the past several years. If they don't fund a fringe media endeavor from the ground up like The Blaze, InfoWars, or Newsmax, they're buying up as many little stations as they can. Then you have tabloid executives like TMZ and the Enquirer running "catch and kill" endeavors for negative Trump stories like it's going out of style.

Try and not gaslight so hard, guys. You might break your lanterns.

Looking to pull together a list, but I see a lot of Conservatives on MSNBC and CNN. Many of them are not 'Trump's Talking Heads' like Rudy Guillianai, but are independently minded Conservatives who are able to speak both good and bad about what is going on in Washington.

I have no problem listening to Conservatives on news media, as long as I have the sense that they are making an honest analysis of whatever topic is being discussed. Instead of spouting off nonsense or the Trump Line, like good little broken robots.

[PaulBullion]

Looking to pull together a list, but I see a lot of Conservatives on MSNBC and CNN. Many of them are not 'Trump's Talking Heads' like Rudy Guillianai, but are independently minded Conservatives who are able to speak both good and bad about what is going on in Washington.

I have no problem listening to Conservatives on news media, as long as I have the sense that they are making an honest analysis of whatever topic is being discussed. Instead of spouting off nonsense or the Trump Line, like good little broken robots.

The odd thing is that there seems to be a larger number of journalists who donate to Democrats - but they're more at a local level, or just less amplified and less influential. Because the money is on the right, not the left.