The media coverage of the flap/scandal/whatever surrounding Hillary Clinton’s emails is embarrassing. If you’ve been living under a rock, it has come out that Hillary Clinton, while serving as Secretary of State, used a private email server to send and receive emails, thus (arguably) violating a rule set forth by the National Archives (not a law, as in a criminal law, but … Read More
3rd Highest Ranking Republican Admits Speaking At White Supremacist Group Conference
A rather auspicious start for the GOP’s attempt to re-brand itself and make itself appealing to minorities: Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), the House majority whip, acknowledged Monday that he spoke at a gathering hosted by white-supremacist leaders while serving as a state representative in 2002, thrusting a racial controversy into House Republican ranks days before the party assumes control of … Read More
Aide Blows Christie Scandal Wide Open
A major bombshell has just dropped in the Bridgegate scandal. David Wildstein, Governor Chris Christie’s appointee to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, has publicly claimed that Governor Christie knew about the improper and illegal lane closures on the George Washington Bridge. In a letter Wildstein not only relays that Governor Christie knew about the lane closures … Read More
Bridgegate
I was willing to give Governor Christie the benefit of the doubt that it was a rogue staffer who was responsible for the closing of lanes on the GW bridge on 9/11/13, and that he (and the rest of his staff) knew nothing about it. But a photo published earlier this week in the Wall Street Journal along with new revelations … Read More
Quote Of The Day
“We have to get something out of this. And I don’t know what that even is.” - Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., on the GOP’s shutdown strategy. via Washington Examiner
About those WWII Vets
When I consider the behavior of the right over the past 48 hours, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. First, they force the shutdown. And try to blame Democrats. When that doesn't work, they say that the shutdown is no big deal, because – hey, there are still air traffic controllers and all. They say this despite the … Read More
Remember This Quote When Republicans Try To Blame Obama In A Few Days
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) on impending shutdown: "We've very excited. It's exactly what we wanted, and we got it."
Smackdown Video Of The IRS “Scandel”
The smackdown video above was released Wednesday by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. Message: What IRS scandal? Not that the failure of Republicans, particularly Rep. Darrell Issa of California and the puppets in the right-wing media noise machine, will ever shut up about this no matter what is learned about the reality. We've had months of "investigations" and allegations that … Read More
XKeyscore: Greenwald Hypes The Scare
Yesterday, in The Guardian, Glenn Greenwald (the journalistic associate of NSA-leaker Edward Snowden) revealed another big reveal. This time it was something called XKeyscore, a top secret National Security Agency program allows analysts to search with no prior authorization through vast databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals, according to document leaked by Snowden. Boom! … Read More
IRS Didn’t Single Out Tea Party Groups
Ooops: The Internal Revenue Service’s screening of groups seeking tax-exempt status was broader and lasted longer than has been previously disclosed, the new head of the agency said Monday. An internal IRS document obtained by The Associated Press said that besides “tea party,” lists used by screeners to pick groups for close examination also included the terms “Israel,” ”Progressive” and … Read More
Meanwhile, Back At The IRS Scandal…
The GOP line is quickly unraveling: A self-described conservative Republican who is a manager in the Internal Revenue Service office that targeted tea party groups told investigators that he, not the White House, set the review in motion, the top Democrat on the House watchdog committee said Sunday. Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., released a partial transcript of the House Committee … Read More
Bullshit Indeed
I'm not even going to try to summarize. Or even copy and paste sections. Kevin Drum at Mother Jones nails it, starting from the headline: And Josh Marshal adds: The standards of most institutional right wing journalism are just so appallingly bad that their stories simply aren't credible. (I'd note that Lake works at either nonpartisan or slightly-progressive leaning pub.) … Read More
This May Be My Favorite News Story Of The Week
Fox News does a segment asking "Where was National Security Advisor Tom Donilon on the night of the Benghazi attacks?", and during most of the segment, they run a picture of the Obama and advisors on that very night, and right in the middle of the picture is… wait for it…. Tom Donilon. This is a Wonkette must-read, but this … Read More
The Washington Examiner’s New Crazy Benghazi Theory
Actually, the article below only appeared briefly in the "respectable" conservative newspaper, and then it was purged (with no explanation) from its site. But I screengrabbed it: Now, THAT'S a Benghazi scandal!!
Observation on the IRS “Scandal”
I'm too lazy to back with up with links, but it seems to me that the GOP should just give up trying to implcate Obama in the IRS targetting "scandal". Last week, they tried to make the argument that Obama told the IRS to target for scrutiny certain right-wing organizations. Unfortunately, there was nothing to back that up, and it … Read More