https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1418241007985078279.html

This long-delayed answer confirms how badly we were spun by Director Wray and the FBI in the Kavanaugh background investigation and hearing.

It confirms my suspicions that the “tip line” was not real and that FBI tip line procedures were not followed. There are FBI tip line procedures. They were not followed.

So when Wray said they followed procedures, he meant the “procedure” of doing whatever Trump White House Counsel told them to do. That’s misleading as hell.

I charged that the “tip line” was really a tip dump, with all the tips going straight into the dumpster without investigation. In fact it was a tip dump where all the tips went straight to White House Counsel without investigation. Same difference.

No wonder so many witnesses were so frustrated when they tried to bring evidence forward. I’ve heard tales that even FBI agents not in on the scam sent info to the “tip line.” That must feel like a burn.

Victims don’t always get redress, but their serious allegations deserve serious investigation, not a “tip line” garbage chute to a White House Counsel desperate to cover up the facts.

Texas sheriff who waged a foolish fight over 'F--k Trump' bumper sticker needs to walk away

Sheriff who appears to have targeted woman over bumper sticker has only himself to blame for the mess.

Karen Fonseca and her husband advertise their disapproval of the current president with a custom-made sticker on the back window of their pickup that pointedly reads "F--- Trump and f--- you for voting for him." Rude? Yes. Profane? Check.

Illegal? No, and you don't have to be a law scholar to know it. Yet Nehls, who claimed he was acting on vaguely specified "citizen complaints," posted a photo of the truck on his Facebook page, asking for information about who owned it -- and issuing a not-very-veiled threat that the driver might face arrest on charges of disorderly conduct.

Met with a swift outcry that the sticker, while clearly distasteful, does not violate the law, Nehls' department instead arrested and jailed Fonseca on an unrelated charge: a months-old outstanding warrant from another county, reportedly for using a false form of identification two years ago.

Nehls claimed his department "received information" about the outstanding warrant "as a result of the publicity" -- publicity which his own department generated through his ill-advised Facebook post. The explanation did little to dispel the appearance, at least, that the sheriff purposely targeted the 46-year-old mother of 12 over political differences and a tacky bumper sticker.

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Sen. Joe Manchin, key Democratic holdout on federal voting protections, coming to Texas for fundraiser hosted by several GOP donors

BY ABBY LIVINGSTON JULY 16, 2021


WASHINGTON - West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin — a key Democratic holdout over efforts to pass federal voting rights legislation — is expected to head to Texas on Friday for a fundraiser with a host committee that includes several wealthy Republican donors.

The fundraiser comes just a day after Manchin met with Texas House Democrats on Capitol Hill who are desperate for his support of the congressional efforts which could preempt the statewide GOP’s push to pass bills that would restrict voting access for Texans.

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The fundraiser will take place late Friday afternoon in the River Oaks area of Houston, one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Texas. An invitation obtained by The Texas Tribune encouraged donors to contribute $5,800 to Manchin’s reelection campaign and $5,000 to his leadership PAC. Organizers anticipate more than 150 people to attend, according to a source familiar with the event.

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“We basically are just getting some people together to show our support,” said Darren Blanton, a Republican donor who planned to attend the event.

Here’s an Idea for Liberals: Propaganda

After every election, Democrats seem to talk about how they failed to craft a clear message. So how about bombarding people with a new kind of campaign ad?


What does the Democratic Party stand for? What do voters think the Democratic Party stands for? How can Democrats communicate to voters that they actually do stand for things? These are vexing questions for Democratic politicians and the people who run their campaigns.

While Republicans in the age of Trump prefer not to dig too deep into their own failures in elected politics, relying instead on House districting and the very nature of the Senate to guarantee their political dominance, Democrats are continually looking for some strategy or message or type of candidate who can win reliably or defend marginal seats. After elections, they regularly ask why whatever they tried last time failed.

Two of these analyses have surfaced in the past week. On June 6, The New York Times reported on a 2020 postelection analysis produced for Democrats by “Third Way, a centrist think tank, and the Collective PAC and the Latino Victory Fund.” On June 8, NBC News covered a new strategy memo produced for the Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC, based on focus groups conducted by Lake Research Partners. These documents were both ostensibly created to help Democrats get elected, but they are also both really designed to absolve some people, and blame others, for Democratic failures, while arguing that success will come from doing what the groups paying for these reports wanted to do anyway.

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In the progressive view, conservative propaganda is something in the air that true swing voters (as opposed to dedicated conservatives) largely tune out. In the Third Way view, it is incumbent on Democrats (and, implicitly, Democratic supporters) to avoid doing or saying things that might provoke the bear. (Like, for example, calling to “defund the police.”) Neither side really asks how Democrats expect to perform a task that Republicans have mastered: actually reaching marginal voters with these messages at all.