September 26, 2019

"It's Management Bedlam": Madness At Fox News As Trump Faces Impeachment

In public, Donald Trump’s allies are putting on a brave face, repeating talking points, mostly staying on message. But in private, there are few who believe that the allegations leveled by an intelligence agency whistle-blower that Trump abused American foreign policy to leverage Ukraine into investigating Joe Biden won’t result in considerable damage—if not the complete unraveling of his presidency. “I don’t see how they don’t impeach,” a former West Wing official told me today. “This could unwind very fast, and I mean in days,” a prominent Republican said.

Trump’s final bulwark is liable to be his first one: Fox News. Fox controls the flow of information—what facts are, whether allegations are to be believed—to huge swaths of his base. And Republican senators, who will ultimately decide whether the president remains in office, are in turn exquisitely sensitive to the opinions of Trump’s base. But even before the whistle-blower’s revelations, Fox was having something of a Trump identity crisis, and that bulwark has been wavering. In recent weeks, Trump has bashed Fox News on Twitter, taking particular issue lately with its polling, which, like other reputable polls, has shown the president under significant water. Meanwhile, Trump’s biggest booster seems to be having doubts of his own. This morning, Sean Hannity told friends the whistle-blower’s allegations are “really bad,” a person briefed on Hannity’s conversations told me. (Hannity did not respond to a request for comment). And according to four sources, Fox Corp CEO Lachlan Murdoch is already thinking about how to position the network for a post-Trump future. A person close to Lachlan told me that Fox News has been the highest rated cable network for seventeen years, and “the success has never depended on any one administration.” (A Fox Corp spokesperson declined to comment.)

Inside Fox News, tensions over Trump are becoming harder to contain as a long-running cold war between the network’s news and opinion sides turns hot. Fox has often taken a nothing-to-see-here approach to Trump scandals, but impeachment is a different animal. “It’s management bedlam,” a Fox staffer told me. “This massive thing happened, and no one knows how to cover it.” The schism was evident this week as a feud erupted between afternoon anchor Shepard Smith and prime-time host Tucker Carlson. It started Tuesday when Fox legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano told Smith on-air that Trump committed a “crime” by pressuring Ukraine’s president to get dirt on Biden. That night, Carlson brought on former Trump lawyer Joe diGenova, who called Napolitano a “fool” for claiming Trump broke the law. Yesterday, Smith lashed back, calling Carlson “repugnant” for not defending Napolitano on air. (Trump himself is said to turn off Fox at 3 p.m., when Shep Smith airs.) Seeking to quell the internecine strife before it carried into a third day, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott and president Jay Wallace communicated to Smith this morning to stop attacking Carlson, a person briefed on the conversation said. “They said if he does it again, he’s off the air,” the source said. (Fox News spokesperson Irena Briganti denied that management had any direct conversation with Smith)


https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/09/madness-at-fox-news-as-trump-faces-impeachment-lachlan-murdoch

September 25, 2019

Breaking per ABC Ukrainian government sources say Zelensky did feel pressured by Trump

BREAKING per
@ABC
: Sources from inside the Ukrainian government have spoken out to say that indeed President Zelensky DID feel pressure from Trump to investigate Biden after the phone call. He feared losing US support.


https://twitter.com/ItsMeCathi/status/1176929921312219137

September 22, 2019

Why is Narendra Modi giving a rally in a stadium in Houston, TX?

Why is he here? I know he excites the Republicans with his ethnic cleansing of Muslims but what's the point here?


https://twitter.com/BDUTT/status/1175830330848071681

Trump makes a reference to jointly fighting "radical Islamic terrorism" and gets a rousing applause. A message India will see as vindicating the approach to Pakistan #HowdyModi


https://twitter.com/ashoswai/status/1175822863535882241

Massive protest against Modi outside the stadium!
While Modi openly campaigning for Trump's re- election on the American soil. #AdiosModi #HowdyModi


https://twitter.com/MazMHussain/status/1175819484013191168

This is ironic since Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by a member of the RSS, which Modi has been a lifelong member of.

September 11, 2019

Looks like Dan Bishop's a fucking neo nazi

https://twitter.com/getongab/status/1171612145991258113


Congratulations to Gab investor Dan Bishop on your election to Congress! Looking forward to seeing many more Republicans and Democrats alike on the home of free speech online this election cycle



Gab is their home.

September 1, 2019

WSJ has name of shooter

https://www.wsj.com/articles/odessa-mayor-says-shooting-death-toll-has-risen-to-seven-11567349836


Seth Ator ,36 years old. I don't have a subscription so couldn't read past that.

August 13, 2019

Stacey Abrams to launch voter protection program in battleground states ahead of the 2020 election

Stacey Abrams is taking her voting rights crusade national, with a program to provide technical and financial assistance to help Democrats in key states strengthen their voter protection operations ahead of next year’s general election.

The initiative, called Fair Fight 2020, takes its name from the organization that the Georgia Democrat founded last year after narrowly losing her bid to become the nation’s first black female governor. Abrams is set to announce the program Tuesday during a speech at the convention of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades in Las Vegas.

Abrams, 45, who for the past several months has said she was considering a bid for president, will instead focus on helping Democratic Party leaders and activists in 20 states to immediately begin building systems to make sure their voters have minimal problems casting ballots and that those ballots are counted.

The effort, expected to cost between $4 million and $5 million, will target 20 states, most of them battlegrounds in the Midwest and Southeast, and three states with gubernatorial elections this year: Kentucky, Louisiana and Mississippi.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/08/13/stacey-abrams-launch-voter-protection-program-battleground-states-ahead-election/

August 13, 2019

2C: BEYOND THE LIMIT Extreme climate change has arrived in America

LAKE HOPATCONG, N.J. — Before climate change thawed the winters of New Jersey, this lake hosted boisterous wintertime carnivals. As many as 15,000 skaters took part, and automobile owners would drive onto the thick ice. Thousands watched as local hockey clubs battled one another and the Skate Sailing Association of America held competitions, including one in 1926 that featured 21 iceboats on blades that sailed over a three-mile course.

In those days before widespread refrigeration, workers flocked here to harvest ice. They would carve blocks as much as two feet thick, float them to giant ice houses, sprinkle them with sawdust and load them onto rail cars bound for ice boxes in New York City and beyond.

"These winters do not exist anymore," says Marty Kane, a lawyer and head of the Lake Hopatcong Foundation.

That’s because a century of climbing temperatures has changed the character of the Garden State. The massive ice industry and skate sailing association are but black-and-white photographs at the local museum. And even the hardy souls who still try to take part in ice fishing contests here have had to cancel 11 of the past dozen competitions for fear of straying onto perilously thin ice and tumbling into the frigid water.

New Jersey may seem an unlikely place to measure climate change, but it is one of the fastest-warming states in the nation. Its average temperature has climbed by close to 2 degrees Celsius since 1895 — double the average for the Lower 48 states.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/national/climate-environment/climate-change-america/



Insulated trains, such as this ice car from around 1910, brought the ice from New Jersey to New York City.

August 10, 2019

If this doesn't make you sick then you're the problem

https://twitter.com/Eleven_Films/status/1160068967517450240

August 9, 2019

Pope Francis again warns against nationalism, says recent speeches sound like 'Hitler in 1934'

Pope Francis called for a united Europe in an interview published by Italian daily La Stampa on Friday, saying recent political rhetoric has echoed that of Nazi Germany.

“I am concerned because we hear speeches that resemble those of Hitler in 1934,” he said. “ 'Us first. We … We … ’ These are frightening thoughts.”

It is not the first time the pontiff has made such remarks, but his comments published Friday came as Italy’s populist government appeared to be on the verge of collapse.

On Thursday, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, the most powerful politician in Italy, called for parliament to be dissolved and asked President Sergio Mattarella to order snap elections that could make Italy’s government lean even further right.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/08/09/pope-francis-again-warns-against-nationalism-says-recent-speeches-sound-like-hitler/

August 9, 2019

Armed man detained outside ElPaso migrant community center says he's coming to Portland for RW rally

An armed man detained and released Wednesday by police in El Paso -- after witnesses say he displayed a knife and threatened people outside a migrant community center -- said he plans to be in downtown Portland next weekend for a right-wing rally.

Thomas Bartram on Thursday told NBC News he would be leaving Texas to head north for an Aug. 17 demonstration organized by members of the Proud Boys and other right-wing groups. Members of antifa and other left-wing groups have said they plan to hold counter-demonstrations, and Portland city officials, including the mayor and police chief, have warned participants who plan to engage in violence not to attend.





https://twitter.com/Oregonian/status/1159893193372110848/photo/1



Check out the guy's truck. Why do these assholes always put Trump's head on the Rock's body?