Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
babylonsister
babylonsister's Journal
babylonsister's Journal
January 11, 2021
GOP Lawmaker Mocked Arrests of Capitol Rioters
January 10, 2021 at 5:01 pm EST By Taegan Goddard
GOP Lawmaker Mocked Arrests of Capitol Rioters
https://politicalwire.com/2021/01/10/gop-lawmaker-mocked-arrests-of-capitol-rioters/GOP Lawmaker Mocked Arrests of Capitol Rioters
January 10, 2021 at 5:01 pm EST By Taegan Goddard
“Just over an hour after light was shined on a pair of weekend tweets made by freshman Rep. Barry Moore (R-AL) about last week’s U.S. Capitol attack, the Alabama Republican deleted his personal Twitter account on Sunday afternoon,” Jamie Dupree reports.
Wrote Moore: “Wow we have more arrests for stealing a podium on January 6th than we do for stealing an election on November 3rd!”
Wrote Moore: “Wow we have more arrests for stealing a podium on January 6th than we do for stealing an election on November 3rd!”
January 10, 2021
Toomey Says Trump Has Descended Into 'Madness'
Gee, ya think?
https://politicalwire.com/2021/01/10/toomey-says-trump-has-descended-into-madness/
Toomey Says Trump Has Descended Into ‘Madness’
January 10, 2021 at 10:59 am EST By Taegan Goddard
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) said President Trump has “descended into a level of madness” since the November election — drawing a distinction between his previous support of the president and his anger over the deadly riots of Trump supporters who descended on Capitol Hill last week, Politico reports.
Said Toomey: “I don’t think there’s any doubt at all, there’s none in my mind, that the president’s behavior after the election was wildly different than his behavior before. He descended into a level of madness and engaged in activity that was absolutely unthinkable and unforgivable.”
Toomey also called on Trump to resign.
Said Toomey: “I don’t think there’s any doubt at all, there’s none in my mind, that the president’s behavior after the election was wildly different than his behavior before. He descended into a level of madness and engaged in activity that was absolutely unthinkable and unforgivable.”
Toomey also called on Trump to resign.
January 10, 2021
1/09/21 1:20pm
Epic Elie Mystal: Apply The Laws We Already Have To White People! 'Tastes Just Like Chicken!'
Merrick Garland's DOJ doesn't need new laws to properly focus on domestic terrorism. Just prosecute white people with the ones we already have!
By NewsHound Ellen
Elie Mystal, justice correspondent for The Nation, threw down the gauntlet for Biden’s designated attorney general, Merrick Garland.
Mystal praised some of Biden’s other picks for the DOJ. But he also called for greater enforcement of the current laws against domestic terrorism, especially right-wing terrorism or white nationalist terrorism.
Epic Elie Mystal: Apply The Laws We Already Have To White People! 'Tastes Just Like Chicken!'
https://crooksandliars.com/2021/01/Epic-Elie-Mystal-Apply-Law-White-People-Tastes-Like-Chicken1/09/21 1:20pm
Epic Elie Mystal: Apply The Laws We Already Have To White People! 'Tastes Just Like Chicken!'
Merrick Garland's DOJ doesn't need new laws to properly focus on domestic terrorism. Just prosecute white people with the ones we already have!
By NewsHound Ellen
Elie Mystal, justice correspondent for The Nation, threw down the gauntlet for Biden’s designated attorney general, Merrick Garland.
MYSTAL: There are four attorney generals in history who gave a damn about Black lives and about Black justice. Bobby Kennedy, Janet Reno, Eric Holder, Loretta Lynch. That's the list. Edwin Meese was not out here trying to ride or die for Black lives, alright? So, what we have is the department that historically has failed in its mission and simply trying to go back to that failure is not enough, right? I think Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch did good jobs. I think Janet Reno did a good job. But we can do better than even what they were able to accomplish. There are a number of things through executive order, through consent decrees, through an entirely different level of holding police accountable that can be done through the DOJ. And I just hope Garland is up to the task. His record doesn’t necessarily suggest that he is.
The New York Times, when he was nominated to the Supreme Court, The New York TImes did an analysis. In 10 of 14 cases where police criminality or misconduct were on the line. Merrick Garland sided with law enforcement, in 10 of those 14 cases, while he was a district court judge. That's not great, alright? So maybe he’s evolved. Maybe he's ready to reach a higher level. People do change and improve. But that's what Merrick Garland has to do: change and improve. And bring the DOJ to a new level of justice and fairness.
The New York Times, when he was nominated to the Supreme Court, The New York TImes did an analysis. In 10 of 14 cases where police criminality or misconduct were on the line. Merrick Garland sided with law enforcement, in 10 of those 14 cases, while he was a district court judge. That's not great, alright? So maybe he’s evolved. Maybe he's ready to reach a higher level. People do change and improve. But that's what Merrick Garland has to do: change and improve. And bring the DOJ to a new level of justice and fairness.
Mystal praised some of Biden’s other picks for the DOJ. But he also called for greater enforcement of the current laws against domestic terrorism, especially right-wing terrorism or white nationalist terrorism.
MYSTAL: Domestic terrorism is our number one threat but I just want to add we do not need new laws to deal with it, alright? We do not need new federal legislation, we do not need a new surveillance state.
Insurrection is already a crime, alright? Conspiracy to commit crimes are already crimes. Felony murder is already a crime. What we need to do is not have a new surveillance state commission. What we need is to take the laws we already have and apply them to white people, for like once. Let's try it. Tastes just like chicken. But take the laws we've got and apply them to white people and see what happens because I think that's the way forward, not with new laws and new regimes and new surveillance.
This is how we make change and improvement: by keeping up the pressure on elected officials. Especially when we’re about to have a new administration that’s inclined to listen.
Insurrection is already a crime, alright? Conspiracy to commit crimes are already crimes. Felony murder is already a crime. What we need to do is not have a new surveillance state commission. What we need is to take the laws we already have and apply them to white people, for like once. Let's try it. Tastes just like chicken. But take the laws we've got and apply them to white people and see what happens because I think that's the way forward, not with new laws and new regimes and new surveillance.
This is how we make change and improvement: by keeping up the pressure on elected officials. Especially when we’re about to have a new administration that’s inclined to listen.
January 10, 2021
McCarthy and Scalise face internal dissension after Capitol riot
Some GOP House members are grumbling privately that their top two leaders badly mishandled this week's traumatic events on Capitol Hill.
By MELANIE ZANONA and OLIVIA BEAVERS
01/09/2021 07:00 AM EST
Updated: 01/09/2021 10:06 AM EST
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise are facing backlash from their Republican colleagues for standing by President Donald Trump after he incited a violent mob to storm the Capitol this week, fueling a bitter divide in the GOP conference at a perilous moment for the party.
As lawmakers have started to fully digest the deadly turn of events that unfolded Wednesday, a cohort of House Republicans have begun to direct their outrage and frustration at their own leaders, according to interviews with nearly two dozen GOP members and aides. Privately, they say McCarthy and Scalise failed to show leadership in a time of crisis and should have done more to call out Trump for his role in the riots that left five people dead.
Of the top three GOP leaders in the House, only Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney has directly condemned Trump’s dangerous rhetoric and behavior. Cheney also vocally opposed the effort to object to the election results when Congress certified them on Jan. 6.
While no one is calling on McCarthy or Scalise to step aside from their posts — they were, afterall, just unanimously elected to serve another term in leadership — tensions are undoubtedly running high inside the conference.
more...
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/09/mccarthy-scalise-backlash-capitol-riot-456777
McCarthy and Scalise face internal dissension after Capitol riot
McCarthy and Scalise face internal dissension after Capitol riot
Some GOP House members are grumbling privately that their top two leaders badly mishandled this week's traumatic events on Capitol Hill.
By MELANIE ZANONA and OLIVIA BEAVERS
01/09/2021 07:00 AM EST
Updated: 01/09/2021 10:06 AM EST
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise are facing backlash from their Republican colleagues for standing by President Donald Trump after he incited a violent mob to storm the Capitol this week, fueling a bitter divide in the GOP conference at a perilous moment for the party.
As lawmakers have started to fully digest the deadly turn of events that unfolded Wednesday, a cohort of House Republicans have begun to direct their outrage and frustration at their own leaders, according to interviews with nearly two dozen GOP members and aides. Privately, they say McCarthy and Scalise failed to show leadership in a time of crisis and should have done more to call out Trump for his role in the riots that left five people dead.
Of the top three GOP leaders in the House, only Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney has directly condemned Trump’s dangerous rhetoric and behavior. Cheney also vocally opposed the effort to object to the election results when Congress certified them on Jan. 6.
While no one is calling on McCarthy or Scalise to step aside from their posts — they were, afterall, just unanimously elected to serve another term in leadership — tensions are undoubtedly running high inside the conference.
“There’s a little bit of anger, but a lot of disappointment,” one GOP member said in an interview. “And what you saw on display with Steve and Kevin was, eh, we’re just gonna continue on with the narrative of the right and they did not catch the moment. That’s troublesome.”
more...
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/09/mccarthy-scalise-backlash-capitol-riot-456777
January 9, 2021
Eric Alterman on Holding Trump Enablers Accountable
BY Eric Alterman | January 8, 2021
I’ve been forced to write about Donald Trump an awful lot during the past five years and the problem I always face when writing in a limited space, like this one, is which of his countless horrific qualities to focus on. The same thing happens when I need to address the consequences of the policies of his administration. There are so many terrible ones, so many victims and so many enablers. I always found myself asking, “Who deserves a thousand words today?”
Not today. I don’t dispute the genuine horror, outrage and sadness genuinely patriotic people feel at seeing the desecration of one of the most potent symbols of American democracy. I share those feelings. But another part of me is glad about it. Finally, Trumpism has clarified itself. It’s not about “economic insecurity.” It’s not about globalization. It’s not about being “forgotten,” “disdained by elites,” or “fear of the future.” It’s just about hatred: hatred of anyone and anything who is not a white, Christian, right-wing, American-born American. Any other attempt to defend or explain Trump’s appeal is a lie and a dangerous one at that because it’s a lie that perpetuates all the other lies that have allowed him and his minions to conduct a rampage against America and all that it stands for; the same rampage that finally found its physical manifestation in the insurrectional riot we saw on Wednesday.
snip//
The obvious question for which there is just as obviously no clear answer yet is, “Are we too far gone to save ourselves?” As posed by the punditocracy, it takes some form of, “How much of the Republican Party will remain in thrall to this guy that we now all suddenly discovered is a dangerous lunatic?” This question is always followed by references to rhetorical flamethrowers, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley and the total of 179 lawmakers who, even after what they saw on Wednesday, still refused to recognize the rightful president-elect of the United States. (This is coupled with a running count of which rats are jumping from their sinking ship. ) But the Congressional Republican Party is just the head of an extremely pugnacious and poisonous snake. The reptilian structure it grows out of has strangled so many of institutions that make democracy possible and infected so many of the people who shape and influence it, one has a hard time imagining where we will find the resources to nurse the body politic back even to a semblance of good health.
One thing is for certain, however: we have no choice but to try. There is no “moving on” or “looking to the future” without first facing the truth. And that means legally holding responsible everyone who helped to create the criminal syndicate that took over our government and morally, everyone who supported it. They were not just “playing politics,” this time around. They were toying with treason. And that’s just how they need to be treated if we are to restore a semblance of functional democracy to our system and personal honor to our politics.
Eric Alterman on Holding Trump Enablers Accountable
https://billmoyers.com/story/hold-all-trump-allies-accountable/Eric Alterman on Holding Trump Enablers Accountable
BY Eric Alterman | January 8, 2021
I’ve been forced to write about Donald Trump an awful lot during the past five years and the problem I always face when writing in a limited space, like this one, is which of his countless horrific qualities to focus on. The same thing happens when I need to address the consequences of the policies of his administration. There are so many terrible ones, so many victims and so many enablers. I always found myself asking, “Who deserves a thousand words today?”
Not today. I don’t dispute the genuine horror, outrage and sadness genuinely patriotic people feel at seeing the desecration of one of the most potent symbols of American democracy. I share those feelings. But another part of me is glad about it. Finally, Trumpism has clarified itself. It’s not about “economic insecurity.” It’s not about globalization. It’s not about being “forgotten,” “disdained by elites,” or “fear of the future.” It’s just about hatred: hatred of anyone and anything who is not a white, Christian, right-wing, American-born American. Any other attempt to defend or explain Trump’s appeal is a lie and a dangerous one at that because it’s a lie that perpetuates all the other lies that have allowed him and his minions to conduct a rampage against America and all that it stands for; the same rampage that finally found its physical manifestation in the insurrectional riot we saw on Wednesday.
snip//
The obvious question for which there is just as obviously no clear answer yet is, “Are we too far gone to save ourselves?” As posed by the punditocracy, it takes some form of, “How much of the Republican Party will remain in thrall to this guy that we now all suddenly discovered is a dangerous lunatic?” This question is always followed by references to rhetorical flamethrowers, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley and the total of 179 lawmakers who, even after what they saw on Wednesday, still refused to recognize the rightful president-elect of the United States. (This is coupled with a running count of which rats are jumping from their sinking ship. ) But the Congressional Republican Party is just the head of an extremely pugnacious and poisonous snake. The reptilian structure it grows out of has strangled so many of institutions that make democracy possible and infected so many of the people who shape and influence it, one has a hard time imagining where we will find the resources to nurse the body politic back even to a semblance of good health.
One thing is for certain, however: we have no choice but to try. There is no “moving on” or “looking to the future” without first facing the truth. And that means legally holding responsible everyone who helped to create the criminal syndicate that took over our government and morally, everyone who supported it. They were not just “playing politics,” this time around. They were toying with treason. And that’s just how they need to be treated if we are to restore a semblance of functional democracy to our system and personal honor to our politics.
January 9, 2021
Donald Trump is the accelerant
A comprehensive timeline of Trump encouraging hate groups and political violence.
By Fabiola Cineas Updated Jan 9, 2021, 11:04am EST
snip//
Trump’s messaging on January 6 is precisely in line with how he’s historically addressed violence on the part of hate groups and his supporters: He emboldens it.
As far back as 2015, Trump has been connected to documented acts of violence, with perpetrators claiming that he was even their inspiration. In fact, dozens of people enacted violence in Trump’s name in the years before the Capitol attack, according to a 2020 report from ABC News.
In 2016, a white man told officers “Donald Trump will fix them” while being arrested for threatening his Black neighbors with a knife. That same year, a Florida man threatened to burn down a house next to his because a Muslim family purchased it, claiming that Trump’s Muslim ban made it a reason for “concern.” Then there are the more widely known examples, like Cesar Sayoc, who mailed 16 inoperative pipe bombs to Democratic leaders and referred to Trump as a “surrogate father”; and the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, in 2019 that left 23 dead, where the shooter’s manifesto parroted Trump’s rhetoric about immigrants.
In some cases, Trump denounces the violence, but he often walks back such statements, returning to a message of hate and harm. In August, he defended a teenage supporter who shot three people at a Black Lives Matter protest. And at the first presidential debate of the 2020 election, President Donald Trump shocked many viewers when he was given an opportunity to condemn white supremacists but declined. In October, he equivocated on condemnation of the domestic terrorists who allegedly planned to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, after Trump had stoked outrage over the state’s pandemic safety measures. He criticized Whitmer when the kidnapping plot was revealed and fished for compliments.
Trump has continually refused to recognize what’s at the core of this violence: hate nurtured under a tense national climate that he has helped cultivate.
Trump’s campaign rallies have always been incubation grounds for violence, the sites where Trump spewed hate speech that encouraged physical harm against dissenters. And as president, he has used his platform to encourage violence against American citizens, whether through the police and National Guard or militia groups — unless those citizens are his supporters.
more...
https://www.vox.com/21506029/trump-violence-tweets-racist-hate-speech
Donald Trump is the accelerant
Donald Trump is the accelerant
A comprehensive timeline of Trump encouraging hate groups and political violence.
By Fabiola Cineas Updated Jan 9, 2021, 11:04am EST
snip//
Trump’s messaging on January 6 is precisely in line with how he’s historically addressed violence on the part of hate groups and his supporters: He emboldens it.
As far back as 2015, Trump has been connected to documented acts of violence, with perpetrators claiming that he was even their inspiration. In fact, dozens of people enacted violence in Trump’s name in the years before the Capitol attack, according to a 2020 report from ABC News.
In 2016, a white man told officers “Donald Trump will fix them” while being arrested for threatening his Black neighbors with a knife. That same year, a Florida man threatened to burn down a house next to his because a Muslim family purchased it, claiming that Trump’s Muslim ban made it a reason for “concern.” Then there are the more widely known examples, like Cesar Sayoc, who mailed 16 inoperative pipe bombs to Democratic leaders and referred to Trump as a “surrogate father”; and the mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, in 2019 that left 23 dead, where the shooter’s manifesto parroted Trump’s rhetoric about immigrants.
In some cases, Trump denounces the violence, but he often walks back such statements, returning to a message of hate and harm. In August, he defended a teenage supporter who shot three people at a Black Lives Matter protest. And at the first presidential debate of the 2020 election, President Donald Trump shocked many viewers when he was given an opportunity to condemn white supremacists but declined. In October, he equivocated on condemnation of the domestic terrorists who allegedly planned to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, after Trump had stoked outrage over the state’s pandemic safety measures. He criticized Whitmer when the kidnapping plot was revealed and fished for compliments.
Trump has continually refused to recognize what’s at the core of this violence: hate nurtured under a tense national climate that he has helped cultivate.
Trump’s campaign rallies have always been incubation grounds for violence, the sites where Trump spewed hate speech that encouraged physical harm against dissenters. And as president, he has used his platform to encourage violence against American citizens, whether through the police and National Guard or militia groups — unless those citizens are his supporters.
more...
https://www.vox.com/21506029/trump-violence-tweets-racist-hate-speech
January 9, 2021
Trump signs executive order to protect monuments
By Grace Segers
June 27, 2020 / 9:13 AM / CBS News
snip//
"Individuals and organizations have the right to peacefully advocate for either the removal or the construction of any monument. But no individual or group has the right to damage, deface, or remove any monument by use of force," the order says.
It says "anarchists and left-wing extremists have sought to advance a fringe ideology that paints the United States of America as fundamentally unjust and have sought to impose that ideology on Americans through violence and mob intimidation."
The order also says "it is the policy of the United States to prosecute to the fullest extent permitted under Federal law, and as appropriate, any person or any entity that destroys, damages, vandalizes, or desecrates a monument, memorial, or statue within the United States or otherwise vandalizes government property."
The order calls for law enforcement to "prosecute to the fullest extent" anyone who "participates in efforts to incite violence or other illegal activity in connection with the riots and acts of vandalism."
Federal law authorizes a penalty of up to a decade in prison for the "willful injury" of federal property.
more...
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-executive-order-protect-monuments/
Oh, the irony...
Trump signs executive order to protect monuments
By Grace Segers
June 27, 2020 / 9:13 AM / CBS News
snip//
"Individuals and organizations have the right to peacefully advocate for either the removal or the construction of any monument. But no individual or group has the right to damage, deface, or remove any monument by use of force," the order says.
It says "anarchists and left-wing extremists have sought to advance a fringe ideology that paints the United States of America as fundamentally unjust and have sought to impose that ideology on Americans through violence and mob intimidation."
The order also says "it is the policy of the United States to prosecute to the fullest extent permitted under Federal law, and as appropriate, any person or any entity that destroys, damages, vandalizes, or desecrates a monument, memorial, or statue within the United States or otherwise vandalizes government property."
The order calls for law enforcement to "prosecute to the fullest extent" anyone who "participates in efforts to incite violence or other illegal activity in connection with the riots and acts of vandalism."
Federal law authorizes a penalty of up to a decade in prison for the "willful injury" of federal property.
"It is the policy of the United States, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, to withhold Federal support tied to public spaces from State and local governments that have failed to protect public monuments, memorials, and statues from destruction or vandalism," the order continues.
more...
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-executive-order-protect-monuments/
January 9, 2021
Then she pounced. Here’s the shot.
And the chaser:
Brava!
CNN Host Shreds 'Propagandist, Liar, Parasite' Tucker Carlson's Racist Insurrection Denialism
Video at link-she is terrific!!
https://crooksandliars.com/2021/01/brianna-keilar-shreds-tucker-carlson-s
1/08/21 2:52pm
CNN Host Shreds 'Propagandist, Liar, Parasite' Tucker Carlson’s Racist Insurrection Denialism
Brianna Keilar smashed to smithereens Tucker Carlson’s refusal to admit that the MAGA sedition riot at the Capitol was anything more than a “political protest that got out of hand.”
By NewsHound Ellen
Unable to defend the MAGAites and their cult leader Donald Trump, Carlson has tried to deflect by making the critics and the media the real villains.
CARLSON: What happened yesterday, they're telling us, wasn't simply that a political protest got out of hand after the president recklessly encouraged it. That is in fact what happened, but it's not what they're saying. Instead, they're calling it domestic terrorism. CNN describes it as an insurrection. Today, CNN unveiled a Soviet-style enemies list to make it a little easier to find all those Trump supporters and then destroy them.
Keilar quoted from Merriam-Webster and aired video (“since this guy pretends not to understand big words”) to show that yes, indeed, the armed takeover of the Capitol this week was an insurrection and sedition, “incited by the president calling his supporters to action.”
But what’s especially despicable about Carlson’s whitewash of the MAGA insurrection is how it compares to his demonization of Black Lives Matter protests. Keilar brought receipts:
CARLSON: It’s BLM and antifa, crazed ideologues, grifters, criminals, antisocial thugs with no stake in society, nothing better to do than to hurt people and destroy things.
These are not protests. This is not about George Floyd. This is not about systemic racism, whatever that is. America is not a racist country. They flood the streets with angry young people who break things and they hurt anyone who gets in the way. When they want something, they take it.
…
They’re the armed militia of the Democratic party. They’re working to overthrow our system of government. They're trying to put themselves in power. That's all obvious now.
These are not protests. This is not about George Floyd. This is not about systemic racism, whatever that is. America is not a racist country. They flood the streets with angry young people who break things and they hurt anyone who gets in the way. When they want something, they take it.
…
They’re the armed militia of the Democratic party. They’re working to overthrow our system of government. They're trying to put themselves in power. That's all obvious now.
Then she pounced. Here’s the shot.
KEILAR: Tucker Carlson rolls his eyes at the idea of systemic racism, at white privilege, but perhaps he should roll those eyes on over to a mirror. It's entirely fantastical to think that crowds of Black or Brown Americans would have been treated as the mostly white insurrectionists at the Capitol were on Wednesday. He doesn’t treat them equally.
Yes, looting is criminal behavior punishable under the law. But what we saw on Tuesday is so much more than that. And saying otherwise is false equivalence. To liken the siege on the Capitol to the violence and property damage during the summer of Black Lives Matter is to ignore that this is the United States Capitol, the seat of government, at a moment in time when the vice president is presiding over a joint session of Congress, both the House and Senate present, as they were in the process of making Joe Biden's victory in the presidential election, a fair election, official.
This isn't a Target store. This isn't a statue. This is the Capitol, supposedly one of the most secure buildings on earth.
…
Since he needs things explained to him in pictures, here is one. An insurrectionist parading a Confederate flag through the Capitol, the inaugural appearance there of this symbol of the American states that tried to secede from this nation under the mantle of slavery, based on the belief that Black people were inferior to white people and it was God's will to enslave them.
Yes, looting is criminal behavior punishable under the law. But what we saw on Tuesday is so much more than that. And saying otherwise is false equivalence. To liken the siege on the Capitol to the violence and property damage during the summer of Black Lives Matter is to ignore that this is the United States Capitol, the seat of government, at a moment in time when the vice president is presiding over a joint session of Congress, both the House and Senate present, as they were in the process of making Joe Biden's victory in the presidential election, a fair election, official.
This isn't a Target store. This isn't a statue. This is the Capitol, supposedly one of the most secure buildings on earth.
…
Since he needs things explained to him in pictures, here is one. An insurrectionist parading a Confederate flag through the Capitol, the inaugural appearance there of this symbol of the American states that tried to secede from this nation under the mantle of slavery, based on the belief that Black people were inferior to white people and it was God's will to enslave them.
And the chaser:
KEILAR: When Tucker Carlson was arguing against the renaming of military bases named after Confederate generals and against the tearing down of Confederate statues, he said, quote, a country is the sum total of its history, good and bad. He said, quote, eliminating the past leaves us unable to say who we are. Well, he's trying to eliminate the present and he is spoon-feeding it to millions of hungry viewers who tune into his show. Healthy societies do not destroy their own history, he said last summer, but what he didn't cop to is that he is part of the illness, a propagandist, a liar, a parasite.
Brava!
January 9, 2021
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Staffers: Bosses Edited Our Reporting to Be More Pro-Trump
‘EMBARRASSING’
Reporters told The Daily Beast that the papers’ editors are “manipulating reality” on behalf of an ownership family that is rabidly Trumpist and believes the election was stolen.
Maxwell Tani, Media reporter
Updated Jan. 08, 2021 4:41PM ET / Published Jan. 08, 2021 12:16PM ET
Journalists at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and sister publication the Toledo Blade say the papers’ top bosses edited coverage of this week’s right-wing riot on Capitol Hill to appear more favorable to Donald Trump, reflecting ownership’s rabid support for the outgoing president.
In a news conference on Friday organized by the NewsGuild, the union representing staff at both outlets (as well as others like The New York Times and The Daily Beast), Blade reporters said their editors made specific changes to soften language about the outgoing president’s involvement in inciting Wednesday’s riots on the Capitol, which left five people dead, including one police officer.
According to Skebba, the paper could not refer to the rioters as “Trump supporters,” or “Trump protesters,” which reporters viewed as an editorial attempt to distance the president from the riots that followed an event in which he encouraged his fans to march to the Capitol and “fight” for him.
Staffers said that the paper’s managers also “inserted the qualifiers ‘a majority,’ ‘mostly,’ and ‘some’ in front of references to Trump supporters, both in wire copy, wire photos, and a story written by a Blade reporter”—an implication, staff said, that seemingly hinted at the right-wing conspiracy theory that the mob was infiltrated by left-wing political activists.
The edits, staffers at both papers said, stemmed from ownership’s zeal for Trump.
more...
https://www.thedailybeast.com/pittsburgh-post-gazette-and-toledo-blade-staffers-bosses-edited-our-reporting-to-be-pro-trump?ref=home
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Staffers: Bosses Edited Our Reporting to Be More Pro-Trump
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Staffers: Bosses Edited Our Reporting to Be More Pro-Trump
‘EMBARRASSING’
Reporters told The Daily Beast that the papers’ editors are “manipulating reality” on behalf of an ownership family that is rabidly Trumpist and believes the election was stolen.
Maxwell Tani, Media reporter
Updated Jan. 08, 2021 4:41PM ET / Published Jan. 08, 2021 12:16PM ET
Journalists at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and sister publication the Toledo Blade say the papers’ top bosses edited coverage of this week’s right-wing riot on Capitol Hill to appear more favorable to Donald Trump, reflecting ownership’s rabid support for the outgoing president.
“You have management manipulating reality, and it’s just so unbelievably unethical,” Jay Skebba, a reporter at the Blade, told The Daily Beast in an interview on Thursday evening. “To know that managers in the newsroom with decades of experience would ever allow something like that to happen is so embarrassing. I’ve worked here for seven years, today was the most upsetting.”
In a news conference on Friday organized by the NewsGuild, the union representing staff at both outlets (as well as others like The New York Times and The Daily Beast), Blade reporters said their editors made specific changes to soften language about the outgoing president’s involvement in inciting Wednesday’s riots on the Capitol, which left five people dead, including one police officer.
According to Skebba, the paper could not refer to the rioters as “Trump supporters,” or “Trump protesters,” which reporters viewed as an editorial attempt to distance the president from the riots that followed an event in which he encouraged his fans to march to the Capitol and “fight” for him.
Staffers said that the paper’s managers also “inserted the qualifiers ‘a majority,’ ‘mostly,’ and ‘some’ in front of references to Trump supporters, both in wire copy, wire photos, and a story written by a Blade reporter”—an implication, staff said, that seemingly hinted at the right-wing conspiracy theory that the mob was infiltrated by left-wing political activists.
The edits, staffers at both papers said, stemmed from ownership’s zeal for Trump.
more...
https://www.thedailybeast.com/pittsburgh-post-gazette-and-toledo-blade-staffers-bosses-edited-our-reporting-to-be-pro-trump?ref=home
January 9, 2021
The One Good Thing the MAGA Mobs Smashed? The Trump Kids’ Futures.
NO FUTURE
For a while, Ivanka and the failsons looked like the future of the GOP. That all changed Wednesday.
Molly Jong-Fast, Editor-At-Large
Updated Jan. 08, 2021 8:49PM ET / Published Jan. 08, 2021 7:26PM ET
On Nov. 8, 2016, Donald J. Trump made his children the future of the Republican Party. On Jan. 6, 2020, he took it away. As someone who has suckled at the teat of nepotism, I can attest that you’re only as famous or as popular as the parent who made you relevant in the first place. On Jan. 6, 2021 Trump went from “annoying but useful to the Republican Party” to “the thing that the Republican Party finally realizes is going to kill it.”
Sure, many of us knew Trump would kill the Republican Party like five years ago. But Republicans didn’t seem to realize it until armed Trump supporters overran the Capitol, killed a police officer, and had politicians hiding in their offices. Trump is over. Will he cause a full-out civil war? We honestly don’t know yet. But it’s too early to say we’ve escaped this whole fiasco.
snip//
We know the Republican Party is done with Trump and his failsons because of what the biggest opportunist in the Senate said on the day of the coup. Lindsey Graham, Mr. Whatever Way the Wind Is Blowing, who’s practically been Trump’s caddy for the last four years, pronounced he was done pretending to like Trump so that he could get reelected. “I hate it being this way. Oh my god I hate it...but today all I can say is count me out. Enough is enough. I tried to be helpful.”
Emily Jane Fox wrote that a longtime friend of Ivanka told her, “It feels like everyone on the Upper East Side is texting me today. Suddenly they all want to join the Resistance.” That same friend told me on the phone, “I think it’s been a very slow process. I think when she came out against abortion that was the moment when people realized that she would do anything to get ahead.” This friend also told me, “In two weeks, MBS is going to be texting Hunter Biden. No one gives a shit about Jared Kushner anymore.”
The friend continued that people are sort of panicking: “a lot of Jared & Ivanka friends are either posting political things on their account for the first time or they are frantically Hearting other people’s posts.” And she added that in her mind at least, “There’s an unwritten list, from people that went to Camp David were papped with them at the Hess wedding or accepted their invitation to get a private tour if the White House for those people too little, too late seems like an understatement.”
Trump may still be able to command his millions of white supremacists and Confederate fetishizers. But change is in the air, and as we know from the last four years of Republicans losing the House and the Senate, Trumpism isn’t transferable. Trumpism doesn’t scale. Will Ivanaka be able to win a primary against little Marco? Theoretically. Junior might be able to win Matt Gaetz’s Florida House seat, but he’s not going to be able ride Daddy’s racism to the White House now or ever, and I for one am pretty fucking glad of that.
The One Good Thing the MAGA Mobs Smashed? The Trump Kids' Futures.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/after-capitol-riot-trump-officials-rush-to-keep-him-from-sparking-another-conflictat-home-or-abroad?ref=scrollThe One Good Thing the MAGA Mobs Smashed? The Trump Kids’ Futures.
NO FUTURE
For a while, Ivanka and the failsons looked like the future of the GOP. That all changed Wednesday.
Molly Jong-Fast, Editor-At-Large
Updated Jan. 08, 2021 8:49PM ET / Published Jan. 08, 2021 7:26PM ET
On Nov. 8, 2016, Donald J. Trump made his children the future of the Republican Party. On Jan. 6, 2020, he took it away. As someone who has suckled at the teat of nepotism, I can attest that you’re only as famous or as popular as the parent who made you relevant in the first place. On Jan. 6, 2021 Trump went from “annoying but useful to the Republican Party” to “the thing that the Republican Party finally realizes is going to kill it.”
Sure, many of us knew Trump would kill the Republican Party like five years ago. But Republicans didn’t seem to realize it until armed Trump supporters overran the Capitol, killed a police officer, and had politicians hiding in their offices. Trump is over. Will he cause a full-out civil war? We honestly don’t know yet. But it’s too early to say we’ve escaped this whole fiasco.
snip//
We know the Republican Party is done with Trump and his failsons because of what the biggest opportunist in the Senate said on the day of the coup. Lindsey Graham, Mr. Whatever Way the Wind Is Blowing, who’s practically been Trump’s caddy for the last four years, pronounced he was done pretending to like Trump so that he could get reelected. “I hate it being this way. Oh my god I hate it...but today all I can say is count me out. Enough is enough. I tried to be helpful.”
Emily Jane Fox wrote that a longtime friend of Ivanka told her, “It feels like everyone on the Upper East Side is texting me today. Suddenly they all want to join the Resistance.” That same friend told me on the phone, “I think it’s been a very slow process. I think when she came out against abortion that was the moment when people realized that she would do anything to get ahead.” This friend also told me, “In two weeks, MBS is going to be texting Hunter Biden. No one gives a shit about Jared Kushner anymore.”
The friend continued that people are sort of panicking: “a lot of Jared & Ivanka friends are either posting political things on their account for the first time or they are frantically Hearting other people’s posts.” And she added that in her mind at least, “There’s an unwritten list, from people that went to Camp David were papped with them at the Hess wedding or accepted their invitation to get a private tour if the White House for those people too little, too late seems like an understatement.”
Trump may still be able to command his millions of white supremacists and Confederate fetishizers. But change is in the air, and as we know from the last four years of Republicans losing the House and the Senate, Trumpism isn’t transferable. Trumpism doesn’t scale. Will Ivanaka be able to win a primary against little Marco? Theoretically. Junior might be able to win Matt Gaetz’s Florida House seat, but he’s not going to be able ride Daddy’s racism to the White House now or ever, and I for one am pretty fucking glad of that.
Profile Information
Gender: FemaleHometown: NY
Home country: US
Current location: Florida
Member since: Mon Sep 6, 2004, 09:54 PM
Number of posts: 171,105
