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babylonsister
babylonsister's Journal
babylonsister's Journal
March 5, 2022
Trump Feared Only What He Himself Had To Lose With 'Murderous' Election Move: Witness
Trump seriously considered replacing the acting attorney general with a supporter who had a plan to try to throw out 2020 election results.
Mary Papenfuss
03/05/2022 12:02am EST
Donald Trump reportedly wasn’t concerned about pulling what was described to him as a national political “murder-suicide” move by upending the 2020 presidential election. What he wanted to know was if he had anything to lose, former Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue told the House select committee investigating the U.S. Capitol riot.
Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Justice Department officials met with Trump in the Oval Office and railed against a post-election plan from Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark, a Trump supporter who was also in the meeting. Clark wanted to distribute letters to state legislatures falsely saying that the election may have been stolen and urging them to reconsider their certified election results, according to Donoghue’s account of the conversation.
The startling account was included in the committee’s response Thursday to a lawsuit from Trump’s “coup memo” lawyer John Eastman, who is seeking to withhold documents from the committee.
Trump seemed unfazed by the warning and was worried only about himself, according to Donoghue. He was seriously considering replacing then-Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen with Clark so Clark could carry out his plan. Rosen had recently replaced William Barr, who had resigned as attorney general amid his own dispute with Trump over the election results.
more...
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/what-do-i-have-to-lose-trump-murder-suicide-jan-6_n_6222bb53e4b04a0545d69eb6
Trump Feared Only What He Himself Had To Lose With 'Murderous' Election Move: Witness
Trump Feared Only What He Himself Had To Lose With 'Murderous' Election Move: Witness
Trump seriously considered replacing the acting attorney general with a supporter who had a plan to try to throw out 2020 election results.
Mary Papenfuss
03/05/2022 12:02am EST
Donald Trump reportedly wasn’t concerned about pulling what was described to him as a national political “murder-suicide” move by upending the 2020 presidential election. What he wanted to know was if he had anything to lose, former Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue told the House select committee investigating the U.S. Capitol riot.
Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Justice Department officials met with Trump in the Oval Office and railed against a post-election plan from Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark, a Trump supporter who was also in the meeting. Clark wanted to distribute letters to state legislatures falsely saying that the election may have been stolen and urging them to reconsider their certified election results, according to Donoghue’s account of the conversation.
“That letter that this guy [Clark] wants to send — that letter is a murder-suicide pact,” Cipollone told Trump, according to a transcript of Donoghue’s interview with the Jan. 6 committee. “It’s going to damage everyone who touches it. And we should have nothing to do with that letter.”
The startling account was included in the committee’s response Thursday to a lawsuit from Trump’s “coup memo” lawyer John Eastman, who is seeking to withhold documents from the committee.
Trump seemed unfazed by the warning and was worried only about himself, according to Donoghue. He was seriously considering replacing then-Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen with Clark so Clark could carry out his plan. Rosen had recently replaced William Barr, who had resigned as attorney general amid his own dispute with Trump over the election results.
more...
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/what-do-i-have-to-lose-trump-murder-suicide-jan-6_n_6222bb53e4b04a0545d69eb6
March 5, 2022
When the press trusted Trump’s war intel — but not Biden’s
Not a great look
Eric Boehlert
The Biden administration got it right.
The unfolding Ukraine crisis has been a clear victory for U.S. intelligence. The decision to rapidly declassify secret intelligence effectively blunted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plans to use disinformation and lies as instruments of war. It also helped President Joe Biden bolster NATO allies during the run-up to the invasion.
What’s curious is that weeks ago the Beltway press angrily brayed at the White House, suggesting they were cooking up wild claims about Russia and not producing the intelligence to back up the allegations. Yet just years earlier, the same press corps raised no such concerns when the Trump White House engaged in baseless claims about a cooked-up foreign policy crisis.
The idea that journalists should always question authority, especially when the issue is war, remains a sound and important one. The question is, why did journalists aggressively press Biden officials about war intel but give the Trump team a total pass? Why does the D.C. press have two different standards when dealing with Democratic and Republican administrations?
snip//
It makes no sense for the press to hold the Biden White House to a higher intel standard than the Trump one. Especially when the GOP lied about everything.
Eric Boehlert: When the press trusted Trump's war intel -- but not Biden's
https://pressrun.media/p/when-the-press-trusted-trumps-warWhen the press trusted Trump’s war intel — but not Biden’s
Not a great look
Eric Boehlert
The Biden administration got it right.
The unfolding Ukraine crisis has been a clear victory for U.S. intelligence. The decision to rapidly declassify secret intelligence effectively blunted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plans to use disinformation and lies as instruments of war. It also helped President Joe Biden bolster NATO allies during the run-up to the invasion.
What’s curious is that weeks ago the Beltway press angrily brayed at the White House, suggesting they were cooking up wild claims about Russia and not producing the intelligence to back up the allegations. Yet just years earlier, the same press corps raised no such concerns when the Trump White House engaged in baseless claims about a cooked-up foreign policy crisis.
The idea that journalists should always question authority, especially when the issue is war, remains a sound and important one. The question is, why did journalists aggressively press Biden officials about war intel but give the Trump team a total pass? Why does the D.C. press have two different standards when dealing with Democratic and Republican administrations?
snip//
It makes no sense for the press to hold the Biden White House to a higher intel standard than the Trump one. Especially when the GOP lied about everything.
March 4, 2022
https://www.politicususa.com/2022/03/04/republicans-are-at-each-others-throats-as-rick-scott-goes-after-mitch-mcconnell.html
Posted on Fri, Mar 4th, 2022 by Jason Easley
Republicans Are At Each Other’s Throats As Rick Scott Goes After Mitch McConnell
The Rick Scott and Mitch McConnell feud took another turn as Scott went after McConnell for not wanting to raise taxes on half of the American people.
Rick Scott is running the Senate Republican campaign arm for 2022, and he released a plan that would raise taxes on millions upon millions of Americans, and Mitch McConnell shot it down by saying, “We will not have as part of our agenda a bill that raises taxes on half the American people and sunsets Social Security and Medicare within five years. That will not be part of the Republican Senate Majority agenda. We will focus instead on what the American people are concerned about: inflation, energy, defense, the border and crime.”
Mitch McConnell is correct. Senate Republicans will get slaughtered if they run on raising taxes on half of the American people while ending Medicare and Social Security.
Rick Scott’s plan is a great way to make sure that Democrats keep the Senate majority.
The underlying issue is that Republicans have no unity. Rick Scott and Mitch McConnell are fighting over the Republican agenda. In roughly eight months, voters will be going to the polls, and Republicans can’t even agree on raising or lowering taxes.
COVID is fading as an issue, the economy is growing, and if Republicans keep fighting with each other, Democrats could keep control of Congress.
Republicans Are At Each Other's Throats As Rick Scott Goes After Mitch McConnell
https://www.politicususa.com/2022/03/04/republicans-are-at-each-others-throats-as-rick-scott-goes-after-mitch-mcconnell.html
Posted on Fri, Mar 4th, 2022 by Jason Easley
Republicans Are At Each Other’s Throats As Rick Scott Goes After Mitch McConnell
The Rick Scott and Mitch McConnell feud took another turn as Scott went after McConnell for not wanting to raise taxes on half of the American people.
Rick Scott is running the Senate Republican campaign arm for 2022, and he released a plan that would raise taxes on millions upon millions of Americans, and Mitch McConnell shot it down by saying, “We will not have as part of our agenda a bill that raises taxes on half the American people and sunsets Social Security and Medicare within five years. That will not be part of the Republican Senate Majority agenda. We will focus instead on what the American people are concerned about: inflation, energy, defense, the border and crime.”
Rick Scott responded with an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, “So, I went out and made a statement that got me in trouble. I said that all Americans need to have some skin in the game. Even if it is just a few bucks, everyone needs to know what it is like to pay some taxes. It hit a nerve. Part of the deception is achieved by disconnecting so many Americans from taxation. It’s a genius political move. And it is bankrupting us…There will be many more attacks on me and this plan from careerists in Washington, who personally profit while ruining this country. Bring it on. The American people are fed up, and they will show that at the ballot box this November.”
Mitch McConnell is correct. Senate Republicans will get slaughtered if they run on raising taxes on half of the American people while ending Medicare and Social Security.
Rick Scott’s plan is a great way to make sure that Democrats keep the Senate majority.
The underlying issue is that Republicans have no unity. Rick Scott and Mitch McConnell are fighting over the Republican agenda. In roughly eight months, voters will be going to the polls, and Republicans can’t even agree on raising or lowering taxes.
COVID is fading as an issue, the economy is growing, and if Republicans keep fighting with each other, Democrats could keep control of Congress.
March 4, 2022
Using only a phone, Zelenskiy is trading in that most human of qualities: hope
Gaby Hinsliff
In Ukraine, horror is mingled with stories of inspiration – and every night that Kyiv holds out feels like a miracle
Fri 4 Mar 2022 03.00 EST
Last modified on Fri 4 Mar 2022 09.16 EST
Wake up, roll over, check the phone for news from Kyiv. It’s becoming a habit now, a strange new morning routine, and not just for journalists whose working days have long dawned like this. Millions are now following this war in real time on social media, immersed in it more intimately and personally than ever before. If the advent of 24-hour rolling TV news brought audiences at home closer to faraway conflicts, subtly changing our understanding of them, then smartphones have put war right into the palms of our hands. Doomscrolling is becoming an addiction, although doom seems the wrong word for a conflict where horror mingles with so many stories of hope and inspiration; stories with the shimmering qualities of modern myths, viral and unforgettable, if not always instantly verifiable, and often helpfully translated into English.
The young Ukrainian sapper said to have heroically blown himself up along with the bridge he was charged with destroying in order to slow the Russian advance. The villagers filmed courageously standing in front of tanks. The female MPs posting pictures of themselves training to use rifles, and the soldiers of Snake Island greeting demands for their surrender with the now famous response: “Russian warship, go fuck yourself.” (Like a new No pasarán, that slogan is everywhere; splashed on T-shirts sold in aid of Ukrainian charities, even iced on cookies sold by a Texas bakery.) And then there is the tale of how President Volodymyr Zelenskiy supposedly rebuffed an American offer to whisk him to safety with the words “I need ammunition, not a ride.” War has transformed a former comic actor once mocked for his hamminess into an iconic leader for the times whose powerfully emotive short videos posted from beneath his bombed capital seem made for sharing: a real-life Scheherazade, telling captivating tales to the world in the hope of keeping his countrymen alive for one more night.
To talk of stories sounds frivolous, when war crimes are almost certainly now unfolding. But the bleaker the news from the front, as Russian troops begin encircling cities and shelling civilians into submission, the more they matter. Hopelessness makes the rest of the world look away because it’s all too much to take, or else share well-meaning posts about how it’s fine to switch off the news if it makes you sad and do some yoga instead. Hope, on the other hand, keeps people emotionally invested, both at home and abroad; energises us to give to charities, pressure governments to act and big companies to disinvest, and sturdily accept the sacrifices now looming as prices of gas, oil, wheat and raw materials soar. Polling for ITV last week found a resolute 68% of Britons agreeing the government should impose whatever economic sanctions are effective, even if that raises energy prices, although feelings may change when bills start hitting doormats. But strategic communications (to give stories their technical name) perhaps matter most if, as the foreign secretary insists, Nato member states are digging in for the long haul.
snip//
If this war had been scripted in Hollywood then it would end just as the mayor of Lviv suggested, with oligarchs’ mansions in London being seized and used to house Ukrainian refugees, although only until those refugees could triumphantly return home. But in real life nobody yet has a convincing narrative for how Vladimir Putin can be stopped, given Nato countries’ understandable reluctance to use force against a leader threatening nuclear Armageddon. Diplomatic hopes seem pinned on China helping to broker some kind of peace, though that would mean yet another tectonic shift in global alliances, with unpredictable consequences. And meanwhile that murderous convoy inches closer every day to Ukraine’s capital, evoking grim memories of how Russian siege tactics ended in Grozny and Aleppo.
But every day that Zelenskiy evades assassination, every night Kyiv can hold out, feels like a miracle now. That’s why we can’t stop ourselves compulsively checking for news. Just one more night. Just one more story. Just one more hopeful morning.
Using only a phone, Zelenskiy is trading in that most human of qualities: hope
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/04/phone-volodymyr-zelenskiy-hope-ukraine-kyivUsing only a phone, Zelenskiy is trading in that most human of qualities: hope
Gaby Hinsliff
In Ukraine, horror is mingled with stories of inspiration – and every night that Kyiv holds out feels like a miracle
Fri 4 Mar 2022 03.00 EST
Last modified on Fri 4 Mar 2022 09.16 EST
Wake up, roll over, check the phone for news from Kyiv. It’s becoming a habit now, a strange new morning routine, and not just for journalists whose working days have long dawned like this. Millions are now following this war in real time on social media, immersed in it more intimately and personally than ever before. If the advent of 24-hour rolling TV news brought audiences at home closer to faraway conflicts, subtly changing our understanding of them, then smartphones have put war right into the palms of our hands. Doomscrolling is becoming an addiction, although doom seems the wrong word for a conflict where horror mingles with so many stories of hope and inspiration; stories with the shimmering qualities of modern myths, viral and unforgettable, if not always instantly verifiable, and often helpfully translated into English.
The young Ukrainian sapper said to have heroically blown himself up along with the bridge he was charged with destroying in order to slow the Russian advance. The villagers filmed courageously standing in front of tanks. The female MPs posting pictures of themselves training to use rifles, and the soldiers of Snake Island greeting demands for their surrender with the now famous response: “Russian warship, go fuck yourself.” (Like a new No pasarán, that slogan is everywhere; splashed on T-shirts sold in aid of Ukrainian charities, even iced on cookies sold by a Texas bakery.) And then there is the tale of how President Volodymyr Zelenskiy supposedly rebuffed an American offer to whisk him to safety with the words “I need ammunition, not a ride.” War has transformed a former comic actor once mocked for his hamminess into an iconic leader for the times whose powerfully emotive short videos posted from beneath his bombed capital seem made for sharing: a real-life Scheherazade, telling captivating tales to the world in the hope of keeping his countrymen alive for one more night.
To talk of stories sounds frivolous, when war crimes are almost certainly now unfolding. But the bleaker the news from the front, as Russian troops begin encircling cities and shelling civilians into submission, the more they matter. Hopelessness makes the rest of the world look away because it’s all too much to take, or else share well-meaning posts about how it’s fine to switch off the news if it makes you sad and do some yoga instead. Hope, on the other hand, keeps people emotionally invested, both at home and abroad; energises us to give to charities, pressure governments to act and big companies to disinvest, and sturdily accept the sacrifices now looming as prices of gas, oil, wheat and raw materials soar. Polling for ITV last week found a resolute 68% of Britons agreeing the government should impose whatever economic sanctions are effective, even if that raises energy prices, although feelings may change when bills start hitting doormats. But strategic communications (to give stories their technical name) perhaps matter most if, as the foreign secretary insists, Nato member states are digging in for the long haul.
snip//
If this war had been scripted in Hollywood then it would end just as the mayor of Lviv suggested, with oligarchs’ mansions in London being seized and used to house Ukrainian refugees, although only until those refugees could triumphantly return home. But in real life nobody yet has a convincing narrative for how Vladimir Putin can be stopped, given Nato countries’ understandable reluctance to use force against a leader threatening nuclear Armageddon. Diplomatic hopes seem pinned on China helping to broker some kind of peace, though that would mean yet another tectonic shift in global alliances, with unpredictable consequences. And meanwhile that murderous convoy inches closer every day to Ukraine’s capital, evoking grim memories of how Russian siege tactics ended in Grozny and Aleppo.
But every day that Zelenskiy evades assassination, every night Kyiv can hold out, feels like a miracle now. That’s why we can’t stop ourselves compulsively checking for news. Just one more night. Just one more story. Just one more hopeful morning.
March 4, 2022
Tennessee hearing on book bans goes completely sideways
Walter Einenkel
Daily Kos Staff
Thursday March 03, 2022 · 3:21 PM EST
The book banning brigades, astro-turfed by big GOP donors and organized by activist groups with folksy names that are headed by Koch-funded right-wing think tanks, have stretched out across the country attacking schools and libraries. The hope is to whitewash literature in the hopes of immunizing generations of young conservatives from questioning the problems that conservative parents and elected officials refuse to try and solve. There’s also the general political ideology of implementing a conservative Christian theocracy into power in our country.
In Tennessee, a group of concerned folks including former Saturday Night Live cast member Victoria Jackson spoke at a hearing in support of HB 1944, a bill that would ban “obscene material” that “is harmful to minors” from “public school premises.” The bill’s architects are trying to attack school libraries. The fact that there are already so-called “obscenity” laws that regulate public libraries from offering up pornographic magazines and such seems not to matter to these folks, because what they really want is to redefine the word “obscenity” to mean anything they would rather pretend didn’t exist, or wish their powerless God could actually eradicate—like the LGBTQ+ community and Black folks.
As Sharon Edwards, president of the Tennessee Library Association, attempted to explain to the subcommittee during the hearing, "If the intent behind HB 1944 is to keep obscenity out of the hands of minors, then our current Tennessee code and the sound professional judgment of our school libraries and school boards are already doing this.” The testimony supporting the bill is bananas cocoa puffs ridiculous and the fact that the lawmakers listening to this tripe voted 7-3 in favor of advancing the bill out of a House subcommittee is a sad statement about that subcommittee.
more...
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/3/3/2083651/-Tennessee-hearing-on-book-bans-goes-completely-sideways?detail=emailLL
Tennessee hearing on book bans goes completely sideways
Tennessee hearing on book bans goes completely sideways
Walter Einenkel
Daily Kos Staff
Thursday March 03, 2022 · 3:21 PM EST
The book banning brigades, astro-turfed by big GOP donors and organized by activist groups with folksy names that are headed by Koch-funded right-wing think tanks, have stretched out across the country attacking schools and libraries. The hope is to whitewash literature in the hopes of immunizing generations of young conservatives from questioning the problems that conservative parents and elected officials refuse to try and solve. There’s also the general political ideology of implementing a conservative Christian theocracy into power in our country.
In Tennessee, a group of concerned folks including former Saturday Night Live cast member Victoria Jackson spoke at a hearing in support of HB 1944, a bill that would ban “obscene material” that “is harmful to minors” from “public school premises.” The bill’s architects are trying to attack school libraries. The fact that there are already so-called “obscenity” laws that regulate public libraries from offering up pornographic magazines and such seems not to matter to these folks, because what they really want is to redefine the word “obscenity” to mean anything they would rather pretend didn’t exist, or wish their powerless God could actually eradicate—like the LGBTQ+ community and Black folks.
As Sharon Edwards, president of the Tennessee Library Association, attempted to explain to the subcommittee during the hearing, "If the intent behind HB 1944 is to keep obscenity out of the hands of minors, then our current Tennessee code and the sound professional judgment of our school libraries and school boards are already doing this.” The testimony supporting the bill is bananas cocoa puffs ridiculous and the fact that the lawmakers listening to this tripe voted 7-3 in favor of advancing the bill out of a House subcommittee is a sad statement about that subcommittee.
more...
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/3/3/2083651/-Tennessee-hearing-on-book-bans-goes-completely-sideways?detail=emailLL
March 4, 2022
The Improbable Rise and Endless Heroism of Volodymir Zelensky
The Improbable Rise and Endless Heroism of Volodymir Zelensky
How the comedian turned Ukrainian president gained control of something no army can wrest away: the narrative.
By Michael Idov
February 27, 2022
As I write this, Volodymyr Zelensky, the most improbable national leader in the world, just might be the world’s most popular. By now everyone knows his life story’s surreal outline: a comedian who rose to fame with a portrayal of a president becomes the real thing, then transcends it.
The erstwhile Ukrainian voice of Paddington Bear, the star of a dozen shitty comedies and one decent one, he first stared down Trump over their “perfect” phone call—if you recall, 45 tried making aid to Ukraine conditional on a “small favor,” i.e. a sham investigation into the Bidens, and got impeached for his troubles—and is now staring down Putin on the streets of his besieged capital.
A huge part of Zelensky’s global resonance is that he seems to fit a type everyone knows the world over, because, thanks to millennia of persecution, the type exists the world over: a Jewish wiseacre. The idea of one of those (of us, I should say), becoming a wartime icon is in itself a perfect Jewish joke. It’s Woody Allen in Bananas, it’s Dustin Hoffman in Ishtar, it’s Ben Stiller in Tropic Thunder. Except in real life. Risking real death.
snip//
Zelensky’s landslide 2019 victory against the incumbent Petro Poroshenko seemed like the wildest plot twist imaginable. In fact, things could have been crazier still: Running alongside him in the same election was one of Ukraine’s best rock singers, Slava Vakarchuk of the band Okean Elzy, who unlike Zelensky never performed in Russian. Vakarchuk was not just a plausible candidate but the first choice for a large swath of progressive youth, who viewed Zelensky’s feel-good centrism as a barely acceptable Plan B. The fear was—ironically—that he would get too cozy with Russia.
snip//
Two days later, Russia invaded.
Suddenly, the right gestures were not just welcome but essential. Mere hours into the war, it was blindingly obvious that, while the Russians might overpower Ukraine militarily, the Ukrainians had grabbed firm control over something no army could wrest away: the narrative. In other words, they achieved unsurpassable meme superiority. The phrase “Put some seeds in your pockets” barely requires explanation any more. Random dudes interrupting live broadcasts become viral stars. The Ukrainian brand of defiant, fatalistic, healthily filthy humor, harkening back to the shtetl and to the Cossacks both, has taken over the world. There seems to be a straight line from the Zaporozhians’ mythical 1676 reply to the Turkish sultan (“By land and by sea we will battle with thee. Fuck thy mother”) to “Russian warship, go fuck yourself.” And at the top of it all stands Zelensky himself. No man has gone from joke to legend faster.
more...
https://www.gq.com/story/improbable-rise-endless-heroism-volodymyr-zelensky?utm_source=pocket-newtab
March 4, 2022
https://www.politicususa.com/2022/03/03/looking-at-you-tucker-carlson-national-association-of-broadcasters-calls-for-halt-to-russia-affiliated-programming.html
Posted on Thu, Mar 3rd, 2022 by Jason Easley
National Association Of Broadcasters Calls For Halt To Russia Affiliated Programming
The National Association of Broadcasters has called for all broadcasters to cease airing any Russian affiliated or programming from Russian agents.
The National Association of Broadcasters issued a statement:
Russia Disinformation Is Being Broadcast On Conservative Media
Tucker Carlson is the biggest pro-Russia propagandist on Fox News, but Newsmax might have more pro-Russia segments than Fox News. It is not a First Amendment issue. Any broadcaster is free to criticize the government’s response to the invasion of Ukraine.
The broadcasters were addressing programming that is either produced by the Russian government or has ties to the Russian government and its assets.
Depending on if one views Trump as a Russian asset, the description could theoretically include the Fox News primetime lineup.
It is not a coincidence that the pro-Russia views being broadcast in the United States are coming from conservative media, and American broadcasters should not be helping Putin spread his disinformation about the invasion of Ukraine.
National Association Of Broadcasters Calls For Halt To Russia Affiliated Programming
https://www.politicususa.com/2022/03/03/looking-at-you-tucker-carlson-national-association-of-broadcasters-calls-for-halt-to-russia-affiliated-programming.html
Posted on Thu, Mar 3rd, 2022 by Jason Easley
National Association Of Broadcasters Calls For Halt To Russia Affiliated Programming
The National Association of Broadcasters has called for all broadcasters to cease airing any Russian affiliated or programming from Russian agents.
The National Association of Broadcasters issued a statement:
The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is a fierce defender of the First Amendment and the critical importance of the ability to freely express views, both popular and unpopular. While the First Amendment protects freedom of speech, however, it does not prevent private actors from exercising sound, moral judgment.
To that end, given the unprovoked aggression exhibited by Russia against the free and sovereign people of Ukraine, NAB calls on broadcasters to cease carrying any state-sponsored programming with ties to the Russian government or its agents. While we know that airings of such programs are extremely limited, we believe that our nation must stand fully united against misinformation and for freedom and democracy across the globe.
To that end, given the unprovoked aggression exhibited by Russia against the free and sovereign people of Ukraine, NAB calls on broadcasters to cease carrying any state-sponsored programming with ties to the Russian government or its agents. While we know that airings of such programs are extremely limited, we believe that our nation must stand fully united against misinformation and for freedom and democracy across the globe.
Russia Disinformation Is Being Broadcast On Conservative Media
Tucker Carlson is the biggest pro-Russia propagandist on Fox News, but Newsmax might have more pro-Russia segments than Fox News. It is not a First Amendment issue. Any broadcaster is free to criticize the government’s response to the invasion of Ukraine.
The broadcasters were addressing programming that is either produced by the Russian government or has ties to the Russian government and its assets.
Depending on if one views Trump as a Russian asset, the description could theoretically include the Fox News primetime lineup.
It is not a coincidence that the pro-Russia views being broadcast in the United States are coming from conservative media, and American broadcasters should not be helping Putin spread his disinformation about the invasion of Ukraine.
March 3, 2022
The Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
3/03/2022
Putin's U.S. Stooges Must Be Called Out
snip//
Of course, it was with the rise of Putin's pissy poodle Donald Trump (who really was once president of the United States, believe it or not) that nutzoid right-wingers could let their tricolor flag fly. By 2016, 37% of Republicans viewed Putin "favorably," a rise from 10% in 2014, with only 14% viewing him "very unfavorably," down from 51% two years before. 47% viewed him "somewhat or very unfavorably," so not even half of the polled Republicans. Trump chose Putin pal Rex Tillerson for his Secretary of State and batshit Russia lover Michael Flynn for national security adviser, and Trump vigorously rode Putin's jock for all four years of his tragicomedy of a presidency.
And now? Fuck, up until last Thursday, Putin's stooges were proliferating throughout the United States, climaxing in the deranged chant of his name at the Nazi rally called the America First Political Action Conference last weekend. Republicans recently polled said they viewed Putin better than they viewed President Biden. And while we can expect the right-wing media vulture cocks like Tucker Carlson, who always looks like he is trying to figure out where to bury the child's body, to get all high snorting uncut tyranny, it's more alarming that fringe fucks who are elected to Congress, like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, and others, give aid and comfort to the increasing numbers of Republicans who want a Putin-like government here, with Donald Trump in charge. That's the same Donald Trump who, since the invasion of Ukraine, has called Putin "smart," "genius," and "savvy," while calling NATO and the United States "dumb."
As the war gets more brutal, anyone who ever enabled this shit needs to be called out. George Stephanopoulos made Sen. Tom Cotton, who always looks like he's afraid he's going to get a call from Tucker Carlson for help burying the child's body, very uncomfortable by asking him to condemn Trump's sloppy blow job. That should be the same with every goddamn Republican. Do you agree with Trump on Putin? Do you condemn what he said? Is Trump full of shit or are you?
Because this is the kind of time where silence equals acquiescence, which, ironically enough, is what Putin had hoped would happen with Ukraine. Instead, we see the power of resistance to shift the narrative. As Russia uses banned weapons and talks about public executions, the US media can aid the resistance or give comfort to the domestic enemies.
The Rude Pundit: Putin's U.S. Stooges Must Be Called Out
https://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2022/03/putins-us-stooges-must-be-called-out.htmlThe Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
3/03/2022
Putin's U.S. Stooges Must Be Called Out
snip//
Of course, it was with the rise of Putin's pissy poodle Donald Trump (who really was once president of the United States, believe it or not) that nutzoid right-wingers could let their tricolor flag fly. By 2016, 37% of Republicans viewed Putin "favorably," a rise from 10% in 2014, with only 14% viewing him "very unfavorably," down from 51% two years before. 47% viewed him "somewhat or very unfavorably," so not even half of the polled Republicans. Trump chose Putin pal Rex Tillerson for his Secretary of State and batshit Russia lover Michael Flynn for national security adviser, and Trump vigorously rode Putin's jock for all four years of his tragicomedy of a presidency.
And now? Fuck, up until last Thursday, Putin's stooges were proliferating throughout the United States, climaxing in the deranged chant of his name at the Nazi rally called the America First Political Action Conference last weekend. Republicans recently polled said they viewed Putin better than they viewed President Biden. And while we can expect the right-wing media vulture cocks like Tucker Carlson, who always looks like he is trying to figure out where to bury the child's body, to get all high snorting uncut tyranny, it's more alarming that fringe fucks who are elected to Congress, like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, and others, give aid and comfort to the increasing numbers of Republicans who want a Putin-like government here, with Donald Trump in charge. That's the same Donald Trump who, since the invasion of Ukraine, has called Putin "smart," "genius," and "savvy," while calling NATO and the United States "dumb."
As the war gets more brutal, anyone who ever enabled this shit needs to be called out. George Stephanopoulos made Sen. Tom Cotton, who always looks like he's afraid he's going to get a call from Tucker Carlson for help burying the child's body, very uncomfortable by asking him to condemn Trump's sloppy blow job. That should be the same with every goddamn Republican. Do you agree with Trump on Putin? Do you condemn what he said? Is Trump full of shit or are you?
Because this is the kind of time where silence equals acquiescence, which, ironically enough, is what Putin had hoped would happen with Ukraine. Instead, we see the power of resistance to shift the narrative. As Russia uses banned weapons and talks about public executions, the US media can aid the resistance or give comfort to the domestic enemies.
March 3, 2022
The Reality of War Is Dawning Across Russia
March 3, 2022 at 7:26 am EST By Taegan Goddard
The Reality of War Is Dawning Across Russia
https://politicalwire.com/2022/03/03/the-reality-of-war-is-dawning-across-russia/The Reality of War Is Dawning Across Russia
March 3, 2022 at 7:26 am EST By Taegan Goddard
New York Times: “On Wednesday, the Russian Defense Ministry for the first time announced a death toll for Russian servicemen in the conflict. While casualty figures in wartime are notoriously unreliable — and Ukraine has put the total of Russian dead in the thousands — the 498 Moscow acknowledged in the seven days of fighting is the largest in any of its military operations since the war in Chechnya, which marked the beginning of President Vladimir Putin’s tenure in 1999.”
“Russians who long avoided engaging with politics are now realizing that their country is fighting a deadly conflict, even as the Kremlin gets ever more aggressive in trying to shape the narrative. Its slow-motion crackdown on freedoms has become a whirlwind of repression of late, as the last vestiges of a free press faced extinction.”
“Russians who long avoided engaging with politics are now realizing that their country is fighting a deadly conflict, even as the Kremlin gets ever more aggressive in trying to shape the narrative. Its slow-motion crackdown on freedoms has become a whirlwind of repression of late, as the last vestiges of a free press faced extinction.”
March 3, 2022
Posted on Wed, Mar 2nd, 2022 by Jason Easley
Russia Tried To Sell Their Oil And Nobody Bought It
Russia tried for the third consecutive time to sell its oil, and even with a discount, nobody bought it.
Bloomberg Energy and Commodities columnist Javier Blas tweeted:
There are reports of Russian tankers arriving at ports and making deliveries, but those are deliveries of pre-invasion contracts that were already paid for before Putin’s war against Ukraine.
Russia has no buyers for 2-4 million barrels a day of oil:
Oil and natural gas are the Russian economy. If most of the world stops buying its oil, the Russian economy will completely collapse. The Russians have admitted that the sanctions are hurting them, but what is happening in the energy market isn’t government sanctions but free-market self-sanctioning.
Buyers are exercising their free-market power not to fund Putin’s war and the murder of Ukrainians.
It is difficult to see a scenario where the Russian energy sector collapses, and the country can keep the invasion of Ukraine going.
The clock is ticking, and with each passing moment that Ukraine can keep control of its country, the more difficult it becomes for Russia to avoid catastrophic economic damage from the invasion.
Putin never counted on the fact that most of the world would decide that they want no part of funding his war.
Russia Tried To Sell Their Oil And Nobody Bought It
https://www.politicususa.com/2022/03/02/russia-tried-to-sell-their-oil-and-nobody-bought-it.htmlPosted on Wed, Mar 2nd, 2022 by Jason Easley
Russia Tried To Sell Their Oil And Nobody Bought It
Russia tried for the third consecutive time to sell its oil, and even with a discount, nobody bought it.
Bloomberg Energy and Commodities columnist Javier Blas tweeted:
There are reports of Russian tankers arriving at ports and making deliveries, but those are deliveries of pre-invasion contracts that were already paid for before Putin’s war against Ukraine.
Russia has no buyers for 2-4 million barrels a day of oil:
UPDATED: Oil traders say that Russia does NOT have right now buyers for >2m b/d of its oil exports (crude and products), and that could increase to 4m b/d or even more soon due to **self-sanctioning** (Russia exports ~8m b/d of crude and products) #OOTT https://t.co/QQLIaMuHPn
— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) March 2, 2022
— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) March 2, 2022
Oil and natural gas are the Russian economy. If most of the world stops buying its oil, the Russian economy will completely collapse. The Russians have admitted that the sanctions are hurting them, but what is happening in the energy market isn’t government sanctions but free-market self-sanctioning.
Buyers are exercising their free-market power not to fund Putin’s war and the murder of Ukrainians.
It is difficult to see a scenario where the Russian energy sector collapses, and the country can keep the invasion of Ukraine going.
The clock is ticking, and with each passing moment that Ukraine can keep control of its country, the more difficult it becomes for Russia to avoid catastrophic economic damage from the invasion.
Putin never counted on the fact that most of the world would decide that they want no part of funding his war.
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