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You are here: Home / Politics / America / The Need to Speak With One Voice: Strategic Communication and Message Discipline Going Into the 2020 Election Cycle

The Need to Speak With One Voice: Strategic Communication and Message Discipline Going Into the 2020 Election Cycle

by Adam L Silverman|  May 31, 20195:14 pm| 189 Comments

This post is in: America, Domestic Politics, Election 2016, Election 2020, Foreign Affairs, Impeachment, Open Threads, Politics, Trump-Russia

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One of the major frustrations for a lot of people now, as well as a seemingly lively source of discussion in the comments over the past couple of days, is why the Democrats and the center left to left of center organizations that support them cannot seem to get on the same page with their strategic messaging. And why are the Republicans and the conservative movement that supports it able to do so. The latter question is much easier to answer: the Republican Party, Republicans in elected and appointed positions, and the leaders and members of the conservative movement that support them, coordinate their messaging, produce uniform talking points, distribute them, use them, and then have them reinforced by Fox News, Sinclair Broadcasting’s local affiliates through mandated editorials, conservative/right wing talk radio, and conservative print, social, and digital media. And all of this is amplified by Russian military intelligence, as well as other states such as Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and others who all have their own strategic objectives regarding the US and its policies.

All of this coordination and amplification are the result of Republicans, the conservative movement that supports them, the conservative organizations that do as well, and the conservative news, opinion, social, and digital media ecosystem largely speaking to white Christians. Mostly older, usually suburban to rural, and broadly evangelical, though their social and religious conservative coalition also includes traditionalist Catholics, Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox Jews, and members of the Church of Latter Day Saints*. And this coordination and amplification produces results like this:

average Republican Cathy Garnaat:

‘I was surprised to hear there was anything negative in Mueller report at all about Trump…I’ve mainly listened to conservative news and I hadn’t heard anything negative about that report and Trump has been exonerated’ pic.twitter.com/KJ9JeDIsXD

— ?????? ???? (@TheBaxterBean) May 30, 2019

Here’s the transcript:

The Democrats, the center left to left of center organizations that support them, or, in some cases, work against them for not being pure enough, and the broad center to center left to liberal to progressive to left of center multi-ethnic, multi-religious, more urban, but also suburban, and some rural, multi-generational coalition that makes up the Democratic Party have a much harder time coordinating messaging. Some of that, of course, is evident in the previous sentence. It is hard to coordinate across so many different groups and their interests. The Republican Party has reduced itself to the representatives of a very narrow portion of Americans and, as a result, only has to message to that narrow portion of Americans. The Democratic Party is, for better or for worse, trying to represent not just everyone else, but also the narrow portion that is the Republican Party despite being hated and despised by Republicans. That makes developing a unified message, coordinating it across all potential communicators, and then enforcing message discipline much, much, much harder. It is further complicated by institutional and systemic issues that the Democrats cannot control, such as journalists who cover politics embracing bothsiderism and the view from nowhere because they think it will get Republicans and conservatives to stop abusing them. It won’t. All it does is make them the refs who are constantly being worked. And they succumb to their abusers every time. To the point that they preemptively abuse themselves.

Another complication right now, especially in regard to Special Counsel Mueller’s findings and what to do about them, is that there are just too many voices. I cannot prove it, as I’m not privy to her strategy, but my take on Speaker Pelosi’s response to the Special Counsel’s report and how to proceed is because she recognizes that she will only get one chance to use what Bob Mueller brought to light, if she acts prematurely, if the course of action is not completely effective, then she’s simply left the President, as a political creature, wounded, but enraged. She also, unfortunately, has to manage the half a dozen committee chairs most involved with ongoing inquiries into these and related matters pertaining to the Russian interference in the 2016 elections; the President’s, his family’s, his business’s, his campaign’s, his administration’s, and other Republican elected and appointed officials’ financial and other connections and relations with Russians connected to Putin and his government; the President’s, his family’s, and his business’s finances, and related criminal and/or constitutional violations. That’s a lot of stuff going on, a lot of information coming to light, a lot of people trying to communicate that information. And it results in a lot of noise drowning out the signal.

If I was advising Speaker Pelosi, I would recommend a slightly different approach. Specifically that she should appoint a Select Committee for the review of the Special Counsel’s findings and related matters. This would allow the House Democratic Caucus to speak with one voice – that of the select committee’s chairman or chairwoman. And have one singular coordinating point for the development and dissemination of relevant information. This wouldn’t be the immediate opening of impeachment, but, rather, the opening of a select committee specifically intended to look into all of these matters holistically to determine if the House should proceed to impeachment. The existing committee investigations should still continue, but their purposes would be to feed the necessary information into the select committee. It would create a singular source point, a singular point of activity, and a singular point of contact for the Democratic majority’s inquiry to determine if the House should proceed to impeachment. This makes more strategic communication sense than having to watch a half a dozen different committees work as the focus would be on the select committee and its work.

While this won’t solve the larger problem of too many messages, too many voices, and too little coordination of them, which is the curse that arises from the blessing that is the broad and deep coalition that makes up the Democratic Party, it will resolve them for the inquiries into Russia’s ongoing undeclared war against the United States, Russia’s active measures campaign as part of that war to help elect the President, and the President’s, his administration’s, his family’s, his business’s, his campaign’s, and into the GOP’s own entanglements with Russia as it prosecutes its undeclared war against the United States. Pursuing this course of action would focus the attention on the select committee and make it easier for Americans to follow what is happening in the investigation and harder for the journalists focusing on politics to get distracted by shiny objects. Which, in turn, would actually make it easier for Speaker Pelosi to move to impeachment should the Democratic majority in the House determine it should do so.

Open thread!

* As I’ve written here before, if these folks ever get their way – the establishment of a white, Christian herrenvolk democracy – the evangelicals will first turn on the traditionalist Catholics, Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox Jews, and members of the Church of Latter Day Saints they’ve convinced to sign on and once they’ve purged these groups and their members, the evangelicals will turn on each other over their own, intra-evangelical theological and dogmatic disputes. Sort of a domestic Thirty Years War.

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Reader Interactions

189Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    May 31, 2019 at 5:19 pm

    if these folks ever get their way – the establishment of a white, Christian herrenvolk democracy – the evangelicals will first turn on the traditionalist Catholics, Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox Jews, and members of the Church of Latter Day Saints they’ve convinced to sign on and once they’ve purged these groups and their members, the evangelicals will turn on each other over their own, intra-evangelical theological and dogmatic disputes.

    Even knowing this, those latter groups would still remain in the alliance against us liberals.

    It’s a helluva drug.

  2. 2.

    TenguPhule

    May 31, 2019 at 5:21 pm

    In short, by trying to cater to everyone, the Democratic communications end up pleasing nobody.

  3. 3.

    TenguPhule

    May 31, 2019 at 5:22 pm

    @Baud:

    It’s a helluva drug.

    Pretty sure its gone beyond drugs to self-reinforcing hypnosis at this point.

  4. 4.

    Annie

    May 31, 2019 at 5:24 pm

    It won’t only be T**** who will be enraged if we blow our one chance. His followers will be, too.

  5. 5.

    Cheryl Rofer

    May 31, 2019 at 5:24 pm

    It seems to me that the lack of a totally uniform message is not necessarily a negative for Democrats. There must be a number of messages to reach out to the various constituencies.

    There should be a broad, overarching message, something like “Democrats are for the people – for fair taxation, opportunity for all, and other good things.” I think I’ve seen some of this from Elizabeth Warren in particular. But then there should be messages that touch particular demographics – different emphasis, same direction.

    And I just like to see a variety of people and ideas, but maybe that’s just me. The Solidarnosc logo, with its different letters jostling together, carrying a flag, always seemed to me to represent that kind of variety working together.

  6. 6.

    zhena gogolia

    May 31, 2019 at 5:30 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    The Solidarnosc logo, with its different letters jostling together, carrying a flag, always seemed to me to represent that kind of variety working together.

    I have one of those buttons from back in the day. I should start wearing it again.

  7. 7.

    rikyrah

    May 31, 2019 at 5:39 pm

    Phucking Demons ?? ?

    Hannah Dreier (@hannahdreier) Tweeted:
    Immigration officials in the deep south are classifying all asylum seekers as dangers to the community, and making them plead their cases from jail. In New Orleans, the number of asylum seekers denied bail jumped from 25% to 98.5% in the past two years. https://t.co/ywUiVnLeqs https://twitter.com/hannahdreier/status/1134486124309753857?s=17

  8. 8.

    rikyrah

    May 31, 2019 at 5:42 pm

    Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) Tweeted:
    Biden has had almost no public schedule, Sanders has done a total of *1* time taking questions from reporters rather than set interviews and speeches, Buttigieg has been praised for how he weaves around answers, etc, but Harris is the one who can’t escape being called “cautious” https://t.co/X6AvDRWAQ2 https://twitter.com/IsaacDovere/status/1134459134068310017?s=17

  9. 9.

    MomSense

    May 31, 2019 at 5:50 pm

    @rikyrah:

    It’s making me crazy.

  10. 10.

    Adam L Silverman

    May 31, 2019 at 5:53 pm

    @Baud: Yep. Something about rivers in Egypt comes to mind.

  11. 11.

    Adam L Silverman

    May 31, 2019 at 5:55 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: I have no issue with multiple messages directed at multiple constituencies/audiences. But they have to be within a coordinated strategic comm strategy.

  12. 12.

    Kay

    May 31, 2019 at 5:55 pm

    If I was advising Speaker Pelosi, I would recommend a slightly different approach. Specifically that she should appoint a Select Committee for the review of the Special Counsel’s findings and related matters. This would allow the House Democratic Caucus to speak with one voice – that of the select committee’s chairman or chairwoman.

    This is a good idea, Adam.

  13. 13.

    Duane

    May 31, 2019 at 5:59 pm

    FTFNYT for giving conservatives a huge opening to attack Maddow and others. “Too liberal for the Times.”
    With allies like this we’ll all be dead. FYFNYT.

  14. 14.

    jl

    May 31, 2019 at 5:59 pm

    I wonder if impeachment proceedings against some Trumpster flunkies who are pretty clearly breaking the law right now would be some good strong messaging. IANAL, but I believe cabinet secretaries can be impeached, tried and removed from office.

    From looking at joshtpm tweets today, looks like Barr has lied, misdirected, dissembled and contradicted himself on the Mueller report enough that he officially, by law, owes Congress a written explanation of his odd and inconsistent behavior. So Barr is a good candidate.

    Then there is Mnuchin defying the law on releasing Trump tax returns to Congress, Ross lying about the citizenship question on the census and the Trumspter cover-up, and somebody needs to explain all the kids dying because of Trump’s intentionally created mess in response to a bogus emergency (he or she will surely not explain).

  15. 15.

    Mary G

    May 31, 2019 at 6:00 pm

    That seems like a good idea – a pre-impeachment committee. It’s critical that the chair be somebody who is good on TV and deliver pithy sound bites rather than long convoluted answers. Ted Lieu comes to mind.

    Adam, do you know anything about the new State Department panel Pompeo is setting up to explore “natural rights” that might overrule laws? Seems like they are trying to Christianize America and it scares me.

  16. 16.

    Frankensteinbeck

    May 31, 2019 at 6:01 pm

    I would like to add one element. Democrats care about policy. We want things to work. We have consistent goals. Our values are at least mostly what we say they are, and can be admitted in public without fear of being shamed as a racist. As a result, we can’t sign on to a centralized message, because we often won’t agree with it. Republicans don’t give a fuck about anything except white supremacy, with a side order of plutocracy because white supremacy inevitably leads to Cleek’s Law. You can tell them to say they toast is the greatest thing ever today and toast is the worst thing ever tomorrow, where you can’t do that with Democrats.

  17. 17.

    Kay

    May 31, 2019 at 6:02 pm

    I went to a Dem “regional” meeting the other night- it’s the “region” where Democrats don’t win :)

    Anyway- one woman there had gone to the D dinner where Pelosi spoke and she was impressed that Pelosi stayed for the other speakers. Often it’s like this big speaker first and then the big shot disappears immediately after. It’s funny what people notice.

  18. 18.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    May 31, 2019 at 6:03 pm

    @Baud: OT: No fancy pants Android camera for me, didn’t win the auction.

  19. 19.

    jl

    May 31, 2019 at 6:03 pm

    @rikyrah: The corporate media will favor the most ‘fluid’ candidate who says the least and weaves the most, particularly regarding policy and corporate power. For better or worse, for whatever reason, I think Buttigieg is the candidate on top of that list now. Beto was doing well too, but he has far less traction in the polls.

    I’ve read Harris was favored by most establishment DNC insiders, corporate and individual but funder types, but like Klobuchar, she might be too straightforward and firm on policy for corporate media to be comfortable with her anymore. And maybe people are noticing her very progressive voting record.

  20. 20.

    zhena gogolia

    May 31, 2019 at 6:05 pm

    @Duane:

    The NYT is not an ally. Never has been. That said, it is shocking. I guess I can still be shocked. Still reeling over Barr’s “Everyone dies” comment.

  21. 21.

    Adam L Silverman

    May 31, 2019 at 6:05 pm

    @Mary G: Only the same stuff you know. It’ll be based on the incorrect and inaccurate interpretation of the Aristotelian concept, that was then incorporated into Catholicism, and has been reinterpreted in a really whacked out manner by Evangelicals. And bought into by some Orthodox Jews (Ben Shapiro), despite Judaism having no concept of natural rights and being largely incompatible with it. This is clearly a Pompeo and Pence initiative.

  22. 22.

    Adam L Silverman

    May 31, 2019 at 6:05 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    You can tell them to say they toast is the greatest thing ever today and toast is the worst thing ever tomorrow, where you can’t do that with Democrats.

    Fuck croissants!

    That is all.

  23. 23.

    Jim Bales

    May 31, 2019 at 6:06 pm

    @Kay: What Kay said!

  24. 24.

    Adam L Silverman

    May 31, 2019 at 6:07 pm

    @Kay: Thank you. @Jim Bales: And thank you.

  25. 25.

    Brachiator

    May 31, 2019 at 6:09 pm

    Republicans are not particularly focused, intelligent or strong. They depend on brute force and a willingness to lie about anything to defend themselves and to further their agenda. However, they do know how to appeal to the fears and worst instincts of their supporters.

    I have reservations about the idea of uniform messages and narratives because too often this is based on the false assumption that your supporters are dummies who need to be manipulated.

    I don’t have a perfect solution. For now, the GOP has won the hearts and minds of their base, even though this will not work out well.

    This has recently been reinforced by a work situation where I am watching a former colleague stubbornly insist on committing professional suicide against all counseling and advice.

  26. 26.

    debbie

    May 31, 2019 at 6:09 pm

    the evangelicals will first turn on the traditionalist Catholics, Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox Jews

    What, they don’t care about rapturing anymore?

  27. 27.

    wvng

    May 31, 2019 at 6:10 pm

    @jl: people seem to assume that some how the House can impeach people other than the President and somehow the Senate will vote to convict. In what world would that hapoen?

  28. 28.

    Cheryl Rofer

    May 31, 2019 at 6:11 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Yes. Getting the investigations more coordinated, as you suggest, would be helpful.

  29. 29.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    May 31, 2019 at 6:11 pm

    A select committee is indeed a very fine idea. One thing about Trump is in 2016 his message was not in any way coordinated with the party but broke through anyway. He’s proof that there are fissures that can be exploited, although since then the party has re-coordinated itself around him.

    Still can’t believe how easy it was for literally everyone except a few conservative pundits to give up entirely on all those vital conservative principles. I mean they’ve always been hypocrites but have at least some semblance of shame.

  30. 30.

    debbie

    May 31, 2019 at 6:12 pm

    @Kay:

    And one would have access to read the unredacted report, please.

  31. 31.

    Cheryl Rofer

    May 31, 2019 at 6:12 pm

    @Kay: We had one federal-level candidate show up at a Democratic Party meeting a few weeks ago and then duck out after 10 minutes or so of the program, which was planned to last only an hour. It was not well-received.

  32. 32.

    Adam L Silverman

    May 31, 2019 at 6:17 pm

    @debbie: Has nothing to do with the rapture or pre or post millennial dispensationalism. It has everything to do with establishing Christianity as the basis for all law in the US and interpreting the Constitution within that context. The Evangelicals will not agree to include traditionalist Catholic, Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox Judaic, or Mormon perspectives into this theocratic herrevolk democracy. So they’ll purge them as they’ll have outlived their usefulness as useful idiots. Once that happens, the Evangelicals will turn on the Charismatics and the Fundamentalists and the Fundamentalists will turn on the Evangelicals and the Charismatics to purge their “unorthodox” and unacceptable interpretations. Then they’ll turn on themselves in ever increasing attempts to create the perfect, pure form of Christian government.

  33. 33.

    jl

    May 31, 2019 at 6:18 pm

    @wvng: I think at some point, Trumpster executive branch behavior becomes so outrageous and lawless that it is dangerous not to at least try to hold them accountable, even if conviction currently seems unlikely. I think that issue needs to be seriously debated. Just shrugging our shoulders and telling ourselves it can’t happen isn’t good enough.

    Impeaching someone who might have a very slim chance of conviction in the Senate is a big step, but at some point, may need to take it. Especially if you can start with some very bad acting lawless criminal flunkies in the cabinet.

  34. 34.

    Adam L Silverman

    May 31, 2019 at 6:19 pm

    @wvng: The House can impeach any executive or judicial branch official it wants. The trial for conviction is in the Senate. The House does not need the Senate’s approval. And a strategy of only doing things if the Senate agrees means that the Speaker of the House works for the Majority Leader of the Senate.

  35. 35.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    May 31, 2019 at 6:22 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Splitters!

  36. 36.

    Cheryl Rofer

    May 31, 2019 at 6:23 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Except we’re not gonna let that happen.

    Totally correct sequence, following historical precedents. But this is our country too.

  37. 37.

    chris

    May 31, 2019 at 6:24 pm

    @Mary G: Natural law? A panel headed by one of the founders of NOM… At a loss for words right now. Fuck Pompeo.

  38. 38.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    May 31, 2019 at 6:25 pm

    @jl: I agree.

  39. 39.

    Duane

    May 31, 2019 at 6:26 pm

    @zhena gogolia: Adam talked about the obvious coordination of RW treachery. It’s like TFNYT asked if they could help.

  40. 40.

    debbie

    May 31, 2019 at 6:26 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    And you think Israel will not have issues with that? I can’t imagine these Christian Talibanists would intentionally want to alienate the country with Jerusalem in it.

  41. 41.

    debbie

    May 31, 2019 at 6:27 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    A minority is not going to control this entire country.

  42. 42.

    HinTN

    May 31, 2019 at 6:28 pm

    @rikyrah:

    Harris is the one who can’t escape being called “cautious”

    They’re scared shitless of her.

  43. 43.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    May 31, 2019 at 6:29 pm

    @debbie: It’s called the End Times. Israel is a means to the end.

  44. 44.

    Steve in the ATL

    May 31, 2019 at 6:29 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: a snake in every hand!

  45. 45.

    Adam L Silverman

    May 31, 2019 at 6:29 pm

    @Cheryl Rofer: I’m not endorsing it, I’m just describing what would happen if they ever got what they wished for. Not that they really understand what they’re actually wishing for. Which is, of course, a big part of the problem.

  46. 46.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    May 31, 2019 at 6:31 pm

    @Steve in the ATL: aka, golf in Floriduh.

  47. 47.

    Adam L Silverman

    May 31, 2019 at 6:33 pm

    @debbie: Bibi will not. His constituency in the US are the Christian Zionists. His strategy for dealing with diasporan Jews, especially American ones, is to either leverage them to make aliyah and move to Israel to alleviate his demographic problem or to leave them to fend for themselves because he, like the Orthodox, Ultra-Orthodox, and Ultra, Ultra, Ultra-Orthodox Jews he’s partnered with and enabled, don’t consider them to be real Jews if they’re not politically and socially conservative and religious devout to ultra-devout. To be honest they don’t even consider the Israeli Jews who are secular to less devout and who are also center to center left to left of center to really be Jews either, they just can’t really figure out how to say that.

  48. 48.

    grubert

    May 31, 2019 at 6:34 pm

    I think a good deal of the problem is that people inaccurately view the “right” and the “left” as two roughly symmetrical sides. A better model, IMO, is a circle, like a castle perhaps, where the people inside are conservative, fearful, and stay close to each other for safety and strength.

    The liberals are the ones outside, courageously going in their own various directions in an attempt at progress, but not close to each other or cohesive.

  49. 49.

    Adam L Silverman

    May 31, 2019 at 6:34 pm

    @debbie: A minority within a majority has always controlled this country since its establishment. Now that they’re a minority within a minority they’re not going to give up without a nasty fight.

  50. 50.

    trollhattan

    May 31, 2019 at 6:43 pm

    Because of course he does.

    Donald Trump has said Boris Johnson would be an “excellent” choice for the Conservative Party leadership.

    In an interview with the Sun ahead of his visit to the UK, Mr Trump said: “I think Boris would do a very good job.” The US president said other candidates had sought his endorsement, adding: “I could help anybody.”

    It comes as Home Secretary Sajid Javid is the latest contender to say he is prepared to leave the EU with no deal.

    Writing in the Daily Mail, Mr Javid ruled out holding another referendum, an early general election or revoking Article 50 to end the Brexit process. As the UK braces for Mr Trump’s visit with a multi-million-pound security operation, Mr Trump said he had been paying close attention to the Tory leadership contest, which will decide the UK’s next prime minister.

    He said: “I actually have studied it very hard. I know the different players. But I think Boris would do a very good job. I think he would be excellent. I like him. I have always liked him. “I don’t know that he is going to be chosen but I think he is a very good guy, a very talented person.”

    The US president declined to reveal names, but said that “other people” have asked him for endorsements and added: “I could help anybody if I endorse them.”

  51. 51.

    debbie

    May 31, 2019 at 6:45 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I remember in the early or mid-1980s when the NYC Jewish community got all huffy because Israeli Rabbis (don’t remember the name of the group/institution) decreed that American Jews weren’t real Jews. I think it was the threat of donations drying up that got them to back off. The Rabbis still believe it, they just know not to say it out loud.

  52. 52.

    Cheryl Rofer

    May 31, 2019 at 6:45 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: I know you’re not endorsing it. I’m just registering that jackals won’t let that happen.

  53. 53.

    Jay

    May 31, 2019 at 6:48 pm

    Some good news, Italy’s evicting Bannon,

    https://qz.com/1632565/italy-to-evict-steve-bannon-from-his-far-right-training-academy/

    Bad news, Trump’s giving F-35 secrets to Putin,

    https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/trump-approves-key-turkish-offer-s-400s

  54. 54.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 31, 2019 at 6:49 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: English muffins (although we both know they were invented in India)?

  55. 55.

    Sandia Blanca

    May 31, 2019 at 6:51 pm

    Adam, count me in as another vote for your Select Committee idea. If I recall, you are not on Twitter, but those of us who are could start a coordinated tweet campaign to some of those good prospects (Ted Lieu, Adam Schiff, other).

  56. 56.

    VOR

    May 31, 2019 at 6:59 pm

    @Baud: Still remember in 2012 when my local Roman Catholic priest praised LDS Bishop Mitt Romney in his homily. IMHO coordinated by the local Diocese.

  57. 57.

    Frankensteinbeck

    May 31, 2019 at 7:00 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    His constituency in the US are the Christian Zionists.

    It’s much bigger than that. Bibi’s constituency includes everyone who hates Muslims more than they hate Jews. Traditionally, American bigots have seen Israel as our proxy in the war against Islam, and Bibi’s tenure has turned that up to 11. To criticize Israel for brutality now is to not merely oppose white power, it is to explicitly oppose white power because it is white power.

  58. 58.

    OGLiberal

    May 31, 2019 at 7:02 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: As far as I can tell, Bibi is not religious at all, he’s a demagogue and power hungry corrupt jerk who just uses ultra-religious Jews, Christians and Saudi/Emirate rich folks – and their prejudices/racism/own power hungry goals – to prop him up and get what he wants – which is basically remain in power. (and make the money associated with that) Kind of like our President, who couldn’t give two shits about anything religious. Oh, and he’s probably a racist…again, like our President.

    And the women highlighted in the clip above would probably “definitely” vote for Trump even if he, as he’s noted, shot somebody on 5th Avenue…because brown people are getting undeserved free shit that only she should get.

  59. 59.

    chris

    May 31, 2019 at 7:04 pm

    Today’s shooting: possible 11 dead in Virginia Beach.

  60. 60.

    Steve in the ATL

    May 31, 2019 at 7:04 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Bibi’s constituency includes everyone who hates Muslims more than they hate Jews.

    Why do they care? Neither Jews nor Muslims are allowed in the good country clubs!

  61. 61.

    Steve in the ATL

    May 31, 2019 at 7:06 pm

    @trollhattan: always wrong man is wrong again—story at 11

  62. 62.

    jl

    May 31, 2019 at 7:07 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:
    ” pre or post millennial dispensationalism ”

    Whoah, when those two factions of End Times-ism go at each other over what ‘natural law’ says about Constitutional interpretation, it will be vicious.
    I forget which is which. But the current dominent fundie sect wants the world ending Armageddon and mass death first, the 1000 year reign of earthly paradise later, but only for the chosen ones. I think that’s how it works. Been a long time since I studied all the versions.

    So, probably the softies who want their Godly paradise first are weak sissies, are outnumbered, and will fold like a cheap card table in a hurricane.

  63. 63.

    trollhattan

    May 31, 2019 at 7:09 pm

    @Jay:

    Bad news, Trump’s giving F-35 secrets to Putin,

    Uhh, say what, now?

    While I’m sure our doods would love to fiddle with a super-advanced SAM system this is not much of a tradeoff vs. our trillion-dollar fancypants advanced fighter.

  64. 64.

    trollhattan

    May 31, 2019 at 7:11 pm

    @chris:
    Cripes.

    Police said the suspect, a long-term and current employee at Virginia Beach Municipal Center, where the shooting occurred, fired “indiscriminately”. The gunman, whose identity has not yet been released, also died, police said. A police officer was among the wounded.

  65. 65.

    Frankensteinbeck

    May 31, 2019 at 7:11 pm

    @OGLiberal:

    As far as I can tell, Bibi is not religious at all

    My observation has been that Bibi is a sadistic racist bent on genocide. You’re correct on everything else, but he does have some principles. They’re merely evil. Much like Trump, really.

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Why do they care?

    I know you’re joking, but because it gives them a tingle to know that scary brown people are being murdered.

  66. 66.

    jl

    May 31, 2019 at 7:13 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: I’ve read that there are ultra-ultra orthodox Jews who consider Israel an ungodly evil blasphemous and illegitimate state because the Messiah hasn’t (demonstrably to their satisfaction) arrived yet. I guess they don’t accept Netanyahu as feasible candidate or substitute.

    Anyway, what about them? Are they not ‘real’ Jews either?

    it would help if Judaism as a whole could pick up on that excommunication deal. Other religions can fix a lot of disputes with that gimmick.

  67. 67.

    cynthia ackerman

    May 31, 2019 at 7:13 pm

    OT — Shorter John Dowd:

    “Donald thinks very highly of Mr. Flynn’s kneecaps. It’d be a shame if anything were to happen to them.

    “Cough.”

  68. 68.

    Another Scott

    May 31, 2019 at 7:14 pm

    @chris: 11 confirmed dead, plus the shooter. At least 6 injured.

    https://www.gunviolencearchive.org/incident/1410442

    Another deadly day in the USA. :-(

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  69. 69.

    Mike in NC

    May 31, 2019 at 7:15 pm

    Today’s mass shooting: 11 dead in Virginia Beach. I was stationed there 35 years ago and buying a gun was like buying a six pack of beer.

  70. 70.

    chris

    May 31, 2019 at 7:21 pm

    @Another Scott:

    Another deadly day in the USA.

    Just another… day.

  71. 71.

    Yutsano

    May 31, 2019 at 7:22 pm

    @Mike in NC: I have a friend there. I’m not sure if that’s where he works or not. Trying to reach out. Will keep y’all updated.

  72. 72.

    trollhattan

    May 31, 2019 at 7:22 pm

    @Mike in NC:
    I’m guessing you got a decent discount on both when bundled.

    Workplace shootings are damn personal.

  73. 73.

    piratedan

    May 31, 2019 at 7:23 pm

    well part of the problem with the messaging is this….

    The GOP owns their messengers, hell, their messengers are helping to frame the fucking message itself.

    The Dems don’t have messengers like the GOP does, the Dems generally do not get their talking points from the media, they come from inside the party by those running for office that allow them a temporary platform or from holding a position of authority like a committee chair or the leader of the House itself. The Media can influence the Democrats (and often are responsible for our frustration with the message because of the way that they’ve already framed the questions to corrupt how you see the answers, the GOP, doesn’t have that issue.

    I know that I trot this out all the time, but its damned difficult to reach people if you do not have access to them and if the vast majority of what you have to say is running against DECADES of fucking sandbagging that is going on by what questions are asked and how they are being presented. It’s my main source of frustration watching someone like Chuckles Todd go out there and pollute the conversation by NOT asking what needs to be asked and HOW it needs to be asked. So we’re reduced to wondering what in the hell did I do wasting the last 15 minutes of my life watching this fucking both sides kabuki performance.

    For fucks sake, we know that the both the Trump Campaign AND the GOP worked with a foreign country to interfere with our last Presidential election, why in the hell isn’t THIS STORY in and of itself, not at the top of every news organization byline until those answers that can be shared have been shared.

    It’s not hard to do, all they have to do is pretend its an equivalent story to the contents of what was in HRC’s e-mail server and we should be at the appropriate level of stridency.

  74. 74.

    Dan B

    May 31, 2019 at 7:24 pm

    Thanks for this post. The typical discussion about strategic communication devolves into “talking points” and other methods to construct a mirror image to the GOP / FOX. We need some elements but not just good slogans. Regilar conferences on progressive communication coordination could be valuable. At this point there are hundreds of groups trying to get their very important message about their constituents hopes and needs front and center. It adds up to an ineffective tribalism. The only available tactic is guerilla warfare.

    A little historical background is the success of the Powell Memorandom. It was a plan hatched as the GOP crumbled after Watergate. Are liberals and progressives, or people who love democracy, cognizant of being in a crisis? Yes. But are they ready to work closely together or surrender some autonomy for common purposes?

    BTW the Special Committee is an excellent idea! Another possible head is my Rep Pramila Jayapal. But we may need someone more lawyerly.

  75. 75.

    Amir Khalid

    May 31, 2019 at 7:25 pm

    @trollhattan:
    Trump isn’t President of Britain. It’s highly inappropriate for him to state a preference for Conservative party leader. Even if his preference wasn’t the hopelessly unfit BoJo.

  76. 76.

    Jay

    May 31, 2019 at 7:25 pm

    @trollhattan:

    In order for a Turkish F-35 to safely and effectively operate in Turkish airspace with a S-400 missile/radar/sensor/command system, both systems will need to be fully networked and live data linked with each other.

    And just as the US has full remote data/sensor access to all allies (except Israel) F-35’s, Russia has full remote data/sensor access to all S-400 systems.

  77. 77.

    TenguPhule

    May 31, 2019 at 7:26 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Fuck croissants!

    Buttery snails.

  78. 78.

    TenguPhule

    May 31, 2019 at 7:27 pm

    @Jay:

    Bad news, Trump’s giving F-35 secrets to Putin,

    Wonderful. Putin can spend billions trying to counter a fighter that has trouble getting off of the ground.

  79. 79.

    debbie

    May 31, 2019 at 7:29 pm

    @Steve in the ATL:

    Neither Jews nor Muslims are allowed in the good country clubs!

    Maybe down where you live that’s still true. While there was only one club where my family could belong when I was growing up, around here, they’re open to anyone now (if they can afford the dues). My youngest brother has joined a club that was adamantly against Jews even being brought as guests when I was a kid. I’ve wondered what my parents would think of my brother’s action, considering how they had been treated.

  80. 80.

    wvng

    May 31, 2019 at 7:29 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: I agree, but then no one should say “impeach and remove” because that won’t happen in the current circumstances.

  81. 81.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    May 31, 2019 at 7:29 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: I grew up in England and apart from a stint in Hong Kong for two years lived there for 31 years. I had never seen, heard or even knew what an English Muffin was. We have Baps, or Barm Cakes, or Crumpets. Muffins are someone elses invention (like fortune cookies I suppose)

  82. 82.

    TenguPhule

    May 31, 2019 at 7:31 pm

    @Brachiator:

    Republicans are not particularly focused

    I beg to differ. Tax cuts, abortion, pissing off liberals, abusing non-whites. They are fucking lasers there.

  83. 83.

    TenguPhule

    May 31, 2019 at 7:33 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    Trump isn’t President of Britain.

    Yet.

  84. 84.

    Amir Khalid

    May 31, 2019 at 7:33 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Hey, what you do with your pastries is your business and yours alone.

  85. 85.

    lamh36

    May 31, 2019 at 7:33 pm

    @rikyrah: it’s fuqn’ ridiculous

    @KyungLahCNN
    Follow Follow @KyungLahCNN

    Answer: yes. For perspective, @KamalaHarris averages one reporter gaggle per trip I’ve been on with her. It’s typical she stops and takes questions from nearly all reporters there.https://twitter.com/KyungLahCNN/status/1134470425986027523

  86. 86.

    Mike in NC

    May 31, 2019 at 7:34 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Pretty much everything Fat Bastard does could be called highly inappropriate.

  87. 87.

    lamh36

    May 31, 2019 at 7:35 pm

    David Axelrod has been a disappointment for years now ever since he signed on with CNN as an analyst. He sold his soul, and now I barely even consider him part of the great legacy of PBO.

    “timid”…FUQ David Axelrod

    @hookjan
    Follow Follow @hookjan
    More
    David Axelrod on Kamala Harris: “What we’ve learned so far is that she’s great at asking questions but timid at answering them. She’s going to have to correct that to navigate this process.”

  88. 88.

    Amir Khalid

    May 31, 2019 at 7:36 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt:
    Just like the Swiss have never heard of a Swiss roll.

  89. 89.

    oatler.

    May 31, 2019 at 7:37 pm

    Roky Erickson RIP

  90. 90.

    Mary G

    May 31, 2019 at 7:39 pm

    @lamh36: He’s gone total both-sider and looks for things to knock Democrats for. I guess he gets more money,but loses his soul.

  91. 91.

    Jay

    May 31, 2019 at 7:43 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    The US/NATO has gone all in on the F-35 and will, based on the costs and complexity of past programs and the F-35, will be relying on it for the next 50 years.

  92. 92.

    Amir Khalid

    May 31, 2019 at 7:45 pm

    @lamh36:
    Ax is almost certainly looking for a gig with a campaign he sees as a contender. I would consider what he says in that context.

  93. 93.

    Brachiator

    May 31, 2019 at 7:45 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    Trump isn’t President of Britain. It’s highly inappropriate for him to state a preference for Conservative party leader. Even if his preference wasn’t the hopelessly unfit BoJo

    Trump pretty much specializes in the highly inappropriate.

    I expect to see him tongue kissing Nigel Farage sometime during this trip.

  94. 94.

    Southern Goth

    May 31, 2019 at 7:48 pm

    @lamh36:

    If she never asked questions, but always had an answer she would be a Republican.

  95. 95.

    Martin

    May 31, 2019 at 7:48 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Well, interference in the elections of a foreign government has served him well. If it’s good for the goose…

  96. 96.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 31, 2019 at 7:49 pm

    @chris:

    Today’s shooting: possible 11 dead in Virginia Beach.

    I was in VB just a few weeks ago, visiting my baby brother (who lives and performs and teaches there).

    Honestly, haven’t heard or seen a word of news coverage of this. I guess 11 people killed by gunfire is just ho-hum normal now, right?

  97. 97.

    TenguPhule

    May 31, 2019 at 7:52 pm

    @Jay:

    and will, based on the costs and complexity of past programs and the F-35, will be relying on it for the next 50 years.

    In Fifty years they may finally figure out how to keep one in the air long enough to be of use.

  98. 98.

    Waynski

    May 31, 2019 at 7:53 pm

    OT – MSNBC has cut into Tweety for wall-to-wall coverage of the mass shooting in VA Beach. I really wish they wouldn’t cover it this way. It encourages more and no one’s going to do anything about gun control – period. It’s no longer national news – let the local news handle it.

    It’s the equivalent of national news covering local car accidents. They happen all the time, the auto lobby won’t allow stricter safety standards, everyone knows this and shrugs. Mention the shooting happened, tell the audience you’ll update them as facts become available, back to regular programming. It’s like they’re making a big deal out of the rising and setting of the sun. Thank God Deadwood starts in 7 minutes.

  99. 99.

    Adam L Silverman

    May 31, 2019 at 7:58 pm

    @debbie: They made the same decree a couple of years ago. Bibi promised to have it reversed. Then he dropped it because he needed the Ultra-Orthodox and the Haredim to maintain his governing coalition.

  100. 100.

    Brachiator

    May 31, 2019 at 8:01 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    Just like the Swiss have never heard of a Swiss roll

    And the Jells have never heard of a Jelly Roll.

  101. 101.

    Steve in the ATL

    May 31, 2019 at 8:01 pm

    @debbie: I’ve got some stories. Won’t post them, but if we ever meet in person….

  102. 102.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    May 31, 2019 at 8:02 pm

    Trump in his interview with the Sun (nasty rag) called Meghan Markle (The Duchess of Sussex) “nasty”. I should imagine that there are a lot of moves right now to rescind the State Visit to the UK. The Queen loves Meghan, and this is the kind of shit up with which she will not put. Theresa May is going to get one very pissed off phone call tomorrow.

  103. 103.

    JGabriel

    May 31, 2019 at 8:02 pm

    BBC via trollhattan:

    … Mr Trump said he had been paying close attention to the Tory leadership contest, which will decide the UK’s next prime minister.

    He said: “I actually have studied it very hard.”

    Translation: I told people “Shut up, I wanna listen,” when they discussed it on Fox News.

  104. 104.

    Mary G

    May 31, 2019 at 8:03 pm

    WaPo has some details longtime municipal employee shot up a public works building. He was killed on a shootout with the police.

  105. 105.

    Mary G

    May 31, 2019 at 8:04 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt: Good.

  106. 106.

    Raven Onthill

    May 31, 2019 at 8:05 pm

    I think a select committee is an excellent idea. Shall we propose it to our representatives?

    My general take on this is that there are three major political factions: fascists, who are mostly Republicans, conservatives, who form the right wing of the Democratic Party, and liberals, who form the left wing of the Democratic Party. The Democratic leadership is conservative and the liberals are restless; if there were no Republican Party I think the Democrats would by now have split in two.

    As to what happens if the white, Christian herrenvolk democracy is established, it will be even more Mexicans and Muslims, and then Jews.

  107. 107.

    chris

    May 31, 2019 at 8:08 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: https://massshootingtracker.org/

  108. 108.

    JGabriel

    May 31, 2019 at 8:09 pm

    Adam L Silverman @ Top:

    If I was advising Speaker Pelosi, I would recommend a slightly different approach. Specifically that she should appoint a Select Committee for the review of the Special Counsel’s findings and related matters.

    I’ve lost track of how many other commenters have chimed in to support this idea, but count me among them, Adam.

    Hopefully someone who has Pelosi’s ear will pass it on.

  109. 109.

    Raven Onthill

    May 31, 2019 at 8:10 pm

    Why don’t we all pass it on? I have a conservative Democratic rep. Those of us who have Democratic representatives, why don’t we all call them?

  110. 110.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 31, 2019 at 8:13 pm

    @chris:

    Thanks for this. I am genuinely appreciative (albeit horrified) that there is such a site, and in fact i’ve bookmarked it for future-god-forbid reference.

    [Plaintively] Whatever happened to “ignorance is bliss”?

  111. 111.

    NotMax

    May 31, 2019 at 8:13 pm

    @JGabriel

    “The guy has a Russian-sounding first name – that’s all I need to know!” //

  112. 112.

    Brachiator

    May 31, 2019 at 8:14 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    In Fifty years they may finally figure out how to keep one in the air long enough to be of use

    Is the aircraft really that unreliable?

  113. 113.

    Baud

    May 31, 2019 at 8:14 pm

    @lamh36:

    Axelrod has been a major disappointment post-Obama.

  114. 114.

    JGabriel

    May 31, 2019 at 8:16 pm

    Tierney Sneed @ TPM:

    Schiff Wants The Intel Community To Keep Him In The Loop On Barr’s Digging

    … In letters to the heads of the CIA, FBI, the National Security Agency and the Office of Director of National Intelligence, Schiff expressed concerns that Barr was seeking to “politicize” the intelligence community (IC), and could make “inappropriate and misleading disclosures of classified information and IC sources and methods for political ends.”

    He is requesting that the agencies provide for the committee a briefing on what they’ve heard about the Barr’s review so far, that they turn over to the committee any materials they provide Barr, and that they inform the committee of moves by Barr to declassify those materials as well as any objections the agencies have to the declassification.

  115. 115.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 31, 2019 at 8:16 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    Trump in his interview with the Sun (nasty rag) called Meghan Markle (The Duchess of Sussex) “nasty”.

    Just fuck him. We all know what that means. Some dog whistles are fucking klaxons.

    That vile, racist piece of shit. He is beyond horrid.

  116. 116.

    NotMax

    May 31, 2019 at 8:18 pm

    @Brachiator

    If, as the4 saying goes, a camel is horse designed by a committee, the F-35 is a plane designed by a fustercluck of camels.

  117. 117.

    Jay

    May 31, 2019 at 8:19 pm

    “As for the nonsense of ‘alternative arrangements’, this has been discussed ad nauseam on this blog and elsewhere but an excellent new piece this week by Sam Lowe of the Centre for European Reform provides a measured summary. Yet a belief in this nonsense is now hard-baked into Tory thinking on Brexit, found not just amongst the Ultras but generally more pragmatic politicians such as Damian Green and Nicky Morgan.

    Any half-way honest candidate for the Tory leadership would admit these obvious facts now. But of course then they would not be elected. So instead they will be forced to face them later. Thus we are set for exactly the same dynamic as characterised May’s premiership. In order to manage the internal disputes of the Tory Party, the government pursues impossible fantasises. The EU has no need to manage the Tory Party and exposes the fantasies as just that. Cue more outrage about how unreasonable the EU are being.”

    http://chrisgreybrexitblog.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-brexit-aporia.html?m=1

  118. 118.

    Raven Onthill

    May 31, 2019 at 8:20 pm

    And I have submitted Dr. Silverman’s proposal to my Representative. Let’s get this idea out there!

  119. 119.

    Baud

    May 31, 2019 at 8:21 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    up with which she will not put. 

    Nice.

    I hope Harry clocks Trump. Sovereign immunity.

  120. 120.

    JGabriel

    May 31, 2019 at 8:24 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    That vile, racist piece of shit. He is beyond horrid.

    Trump is contemptible beyond the limits of English language to express.

    One would probably need to speak Cthulu to find language capable of expressing the depth of Trump’s contemptibleness.

  121. 121.

    plato

    May 31, 2019 at 8:24 pm

    One voice = One color = White noise

  122. 122.

    Jay

    May 31, 2019 at 8:25 pm

    @Brachiator:

    It’s the Boeing 737 MAX of fighter aircraft on steroids.

    It’s massively behind schedule, massively over budget, massively maintence reliant, horribly expensive to operate, has hundreds of flaws from software, through structural to helmets,

    But it’s also too big to kill and the US/NATO have bet the farm on it. 3,100 are scheduled to be produced.

  123. 123.

    JGabriel

    May 31, 2019 at 8:30 pm

    Jay:

    But it’s also too big to kill and the US/NATO have bet the farm on it. 3,100 are scheduled to be produced.

    And now the Putin government will know all about its capabilities, and it’s exploitable flaws.

    Which will probably makes it worthless in both battle and stealth.

  124. 124.

    plato

    May 31, 2019 at 8:34 pm

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is considering legally challenging Trump's plan to impose tariffs on all Mexican goods."These tariffs will be paid by American families and businesses without doing a thing to solve the very real problems at the border."https://t.co/jWBEKrMrw0— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 31, 2019

    When you sleep with the pig ….

  125. 125.

    lamh36

    May 31, 2019 at 8:34 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt: smh…and folks wanted to be mad at Meghan cause she wasn’t gonna attend the state visit shit w/Chump

    Fuq him. I guess Harry will still have to go? He’s a good one, cause I’d be damned If I could look that fuq’er in the face and smiled at him after calling my spouse “nasty”.

    I saw the bit where they claimed he tried to make amends but saying he imagined she make a good royal though…

  126. 126.

    Adam L Silverman

    May 31, 2019 at 8:35 pm

    @jl: Nope, he’s co-opted them by giving them benefits and ministries to control in the state they believe isn’t real.

  127. 127.

    debbie

    May 31, 2019 at 8:35 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Googling around tells me he called her nasty because back in 2016, she said he was divisive.

    I don’t think his comment was couched in racism; he’s called Pelosi and other women nasty. I think this was his misogyny showing.

  128. 128.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 31, 2019 at 8:38 pm

    @Baud:

    I hope Harry clocks Trump.

    I wish a motherfucker would….

    Seriously, I would pay good cash money to see that.

  129. 129.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 31, 2019 at 8:39 pm

    @lamh36:

    I saw the bit where they claimed he tried to make amends but saying he imagined she make a good royal though…

    Praising with faint damns.

  130. 130.

    Jay

    May 31, 2019 at 8:40 pm

    @JGabriel:

    Because of design flaws, strategic flaws, tactical flaws and program management flaws, it was never going to match in real world performance, the sales pitch,

    And Needy Amin’s deal with Turkey not only renders it useless against Russia, but will result in greatly improved Russian sensors, data links, missiles and aircraft.

    It will still be useful for bombing brown people with no airforce.

  131. 131.

    Adam L Silverman

    May 31, 2019 at 8:40 pm

    @Brachiator: And the Misses have never heard of a Swiss Miss.

  132. 132.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 31, 2019 at 8:40 pm

    @debbie:

    I don’t think his comment was couched in racism; he’s called Pelosi and other women nasty. I think this was his misogyny showing.

    Por qué etc.

  133. 133.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 31, 2019 at 8:43 pm

    @JGabriel:

    One would probably need to speak Cthulu

    “Oh, stewardess….”

  134. 134.

    Kristine

    May 31, 2019 at 8:44 pm

    I was reading the site on my phone (iOS current) when it was hijacked by a porn site. Yea. These hijacks only happen on phone and iPad, not laptop, so I guess I’ll have to stick the laptop reading for the foreseeable future.

  135. 135.

    Doug R

    May 31, 2019 at 8:46 pm

    Pelosi herself said in the Jimmy Kimmel interview that there’s a school of thought that once you’ve brought him up on charges and the Senate acquits him, you can’t bring him up on charges when he leaves.
    She also said impeachment is inevitable.

  136. 136.

    Adam L Silverman

    May 31, 2019 at 8:46 pm

    @Kristine: I just let Cole know.

  137. 137.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 31, 2019 at 8:47 pm

    @Kristine:

    I had that again, twice in quick succession, about 45 minutes ago. Made a comment to that effect, but comment disappeared. Happened earlier today to me and apparently several other commenters.

    ETA: Adam, if you could please also let JGC know about my all-too-close encounter, it would be much appreciated!

  138. 138.

    Adam L Silverman

    May 31, 2019 at 8:50 pm

    @Doug R: Impeachment in the House and conviction in the Senate is not a criminal matter and doesn’t create a double jeopardy issue.

  139. 139.

    chris

    May 31, 2019 at 8:50 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: You’re welcome. I suggest you check the site once a week so you don’t forget to hound your MOCs on gun control.

  140. 140.

    Adam L Silverman

    May 31, 2019 at 8:51 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: I just let him know.

  141. 141.

    rikyrah

    May 31, 2019 at 8:55 pm

    @Sandia Blanca:
    Someone who isn’t already a Chairman.
    Someone good on TV and on social media
    Someone not here for the bullshyt
    I agree with others:
    Ted Lieu ?? ?

  142. 142.

    Another Scott

    May 31, 2019 at 8:55 pm

    @Kristine: A WordPress flaw is being exploited.

    ArsTechnica:

    Hackers have been actively exploiting a recently patched vulnerability in some websites that causes the sites to redirect to malicious sites or display misleading popups, security researchers warned on Wednesday.

    The vulnerability was fixed two weeks ago in WP Live Chat Support, a plugin for the WordPress content management system that has 50,000 active installations. The persistent cross-site scripting vulnerability allows attackers to inject malicious JavaScript into sites that use the plugin, which provides an interface for visitors to have live chats with site representatives.

    Researchers from security firm Zscaler’s ThreatLabZ say attackers are exploiting the vulnerability to cause sites using unpatched versions of WP Live Chat Support to redirect to malicious sites or to display unwanted popups. While the attacks aren’t widespread, there have been enough of them to raise concern.

    “Cybercriminals actively look for new vulnerabilities in popular content management systems such as WordPress and Drupal, as well as popular plugins that are found in many websites,” Zscaler’s Prakhar Shrotriya wrote in a post. “An unpatched vulnerability in either the CMS or associated plugins provides an entry point for attackers to compromise the website by injecting malicious code and impacting the unsuspecting users visiting these sites.”

    The vulnerability lets anyone visiting the site update the plugin settings by calling an unprotected “admin_init hook” and injecting malicious JavaScript anywhere the Live Chat Support icon appears. The attacks observed by Zscaler use the injected script to send a request to hxxps://blackawardago[.]com to execute the main script. Visitors are then redirected to multiple URLs that push unwanted popup ads, fake error messages, and requests to let certain sites send browser notifications.

    […]

    Here’s hoping the new version of the site doesn’t suffer from these particular flaws…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  143. 143.

    rikyrah

    May 31, 2019 at 8:56 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt:
    For real?
    For real?
    That muthaphucka ? ? ?

  144. 144.

    Amir Khalid

    May 31, 2019 at 8:57 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt:
    As a onetime journo and a Liverpool supporter, I already have two sets of reasons to despise The Sun. Now I have a third: their decision to print an interview with Trump, complete with his racist garbage.

  145. 145.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 31, 2019 at 9:00 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Ta ever so.

  146. 146.

    TenguPhule

    May 31, 2019 at 9:01 pm

    @Brachiator:

    Is the aircraft really that unreliable?

    Where do I even begin? They’re still trying to get the damn things to not be sudden death traps in the air.

  147. 147.

    Taobhan

    May 31, 2019 at 9:01 pm

    Adam, I think you’re absolutely correct about why Republicans have an easier path to unified messaging: their ecosystem and their much less diverse slice of the electorate. Messaging for the Democrats is always going to be more difficult because they represent a vastly more diverse chunk of the electorate. I think another factor, however, makes the Republicans (both the party and its supporters) much more desperate: they view the struggle as existential for them. They have to grab hold of the reins of power NOW and hold on as long as possible. They understand long-term demographic trends don’t favor them and need to cement into place as much control over the government and country as they can. They have a fear that if they ever lose their control, they’ll never regain it again. To me, it explains why Mitch McConnell is trying to stack the courts with conservatives and why they tolerate a POTUS who clearly an authoritarian. Democracy itself (and its outcomes) are an existential threat to them. If they have to tear apart our democratic form of government and replace it with a dictatorship, they will do that without hesitation. It’s a life-or-death struggle for them. We need to be as desperate as they are if we’re to hang on to our country.

  148. 148.

    Jeffro

    May 31, 2019 at 9:01 pm

    I think it’s about to come out that Flynn was working for – as in directly taking orders from – the Russians, and that trumpov/Pence/Manafort knew, and didn’t care

  149. 149.

    lamh36

    May 31, 2019 at 9:02 pm

    @yashar
    2h2 hours ago
    More
    In an interview with Jared Kushner, @jonathanvswan brings up Saudi Crown Prince MBS and says

    1. He orders the murder of a WaPo journalist

    2. Kidnaps the Lebanese Prime Minister

    3. He indiscriminately bombs civilians in Yemen

    Then he asks, “What do you see in this guy?”

    https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1134594272060198912

    @yashar
    2h2 hours ago
    More
    2. Premieres this Sunday on HBO at 6 PM.

    @jonathanvswan’s interview with Kushner is very intense I’m told.

  150. 150.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 31, 2019 at 9:02 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Just happened again. That’s (I think) five times today. Really nasty.

  151. 151.

    Adam L Silverman

    May 31, 2019 at 9:04 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: All part of the bespoke Balloon Juice experience we try to create for each and every reader.

  152. 152.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 31, 2019 at 9:07 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Don’t think I’m not grateful, because I’m not!

  153. 153.

    NotMax

    May 31, 2019 at 9:07 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne

    Disable javascript for a happier life.

  154. 154.

    plato

    May 31, 2019 at 9:07 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Lucky stiffs?

  155. 155.

    chris

    May 31, 2019 at 9:07 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Adblocker time. I like uBlock Origin.

  156. 156.

    MomSense

    May 31, 2019 at 9:08 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    It’s been happening to me too. Let’s just say that’s one close up photo I could do without.

  157. 157.

    Amir Khalid

    May 31, 2019 at 9:09 pm

    @TenguPhule:
    That is an exaggeration, surely.

  158. 158.

    Adam L Silverman

    May 31, 2019 at 9:10 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Tracking. I’ve let both Cole and Alain know. Cole responded immediately with:

    what the fresh fuck

    Which, given you’re being redirected to a porn site, is on point.

  159. 159.

    Gin & Tonic

    May 31, 2019 at 9:11 pm

    I’m getting those very aggressive pop-ups too; it’s only on Safari on my phone. Makes this site completely unusable on a phone.See you folks later, that’s bullshit I just have no interest in dealing with.

  160. 160.

    Adam L Silverman

    May 31, 2019 at 9:11 pm

    @Another Scott: I just checked with Alain and we don’t have that plug in, as it would have had to have been added, which would have broken everything else that’s (read in James Doohan’s voice) barely holding the site together.

  161. 161.

    Adam L Silverman

    May 31, 2019 at 9:12 pm

    @plato: Or something like that…

  162. 162.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 31, 2019 at 9:12 pm

    @Jeffro:

    I think it’s about to come out that Flynn was working for – as in directly taking orders from – the Russians, and that trumpov/Pence/Manafort knew, and didn’t care

    Emphasis mine. This is key, I think. It is beyond me why Pence seems to have flown pretty much under the radar for the past 2-1/2 years.

  163. 163.

    Plato

    May 31, 2019 at 9:14 pm

    I use CM browser in my android phone. Zero ads or pop ups.

  164. 164.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 31, 2019 at 9:14 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    And just like THAT it happened again. This is really untenable.

  165. 165.

    Baud

    May 31, 2019 at 9:15 pm

    I thought it was just the BJ After Dark upgrade.

  166. 166.

    Baud

    May 31, 2019 at 9:16 pm

    @Plato:

    Yep. Mobile Android with ad blocking and it’s only wholesome family fun for me.

  167. 167.

    Plato

    May 31, 2019 at 9:19 pm

    Duckduckgo is also a slim android browser with very good ad block, but its customization is sucky.

  168. 168.

    Another Scott

    May 31, 2019 at 9:21 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: FYWP is broken.

    Comment at Ars from 2 hours ago:

    It really doesn’t seem to be all that newsworthy that 47 random WordPress websites were exploited here due to a vulnerability that had already been fixed, especially when you are a couple of weeks behind when it appears to be that the hackers started to exploit this plugin.

    What seems more newsworthy would be what else was going on when this started being targeted by hackers, as they were targeting four other plugins as well. Three of those had unfixed vulnerabilities at the time that appeared to be of interest of hackers. We were able to help get one of them fixed, but a couple of weeks later two of them still haven’t been updated to fix the vulnerabilities that it looks like the hackers might have been targeting in them:

    https://www.pluginvulnerabilities.com/2 … -edit-for/
    https://www.pluginvulnerabilities.com/2 … title-for/

    Those plugins have 20,000+ and 10,000+ installs respectively, so that seems like something more worthy of coverage. It would be a great help to the WordPress community if you cover the refusal of the WordPress team to work with others to make sure that vulnerabilities that are likely to be exploited get fixed even if the developer isn’t fixing them. We have offered to do most of the work needed to fix those, but they have so far shown no interest despite that seeming like an easy way to avoid a lot of websites being hacked.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  169. 169.

    TenguPhule

    May 31, 2019 at 9:21 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    That is an exaggeration, surely.

    I wish that was true. Its a textbook example of why its a bad idea to try and design a plane by committee.

  170. 170.

    Jay

    May 31, 2019 at 9:22 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    The O2 system ( same as in the Raptor) fails often.

    https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/real-f-35-problem-needs-fixing-56952

  171. 171.

    TenguPhule

    May 31, 2019 at 9:22 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    Category I deficiencies “may cause death, severe injury, or severe occupational illness; may cause loss or major damage to a weapon system; critically restricts the combat readiness capabilities of the using organization; or result in a production line stoppage.”

    A recent Government Accountability Office report found that, as of January 2018, the F-35 program still had 111 of these.

  172. 172.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    May 31, 2019 at 9:23 pm

    @Another Scott:

    FYWP is broken.

    I’ll alert the media.

  173. 173.

    J R in WV

    May 31, 2019 at 9:24 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    …To be honest they don’t even consider the Israeli Jews who are secular to less devout and who are also center to center left to left of center to really be Jews either, they just can’t really figure out how to say that.

    I find it kind of astonishing that the ultra-orthodox Jews in Israel have total disrespect for the Jews who are willing to participate in military defense of the nation of Israel.

    I mean, those ultra-Ordhodox Jews would be the first to be eliminated should there be a war lost by Israel, yet they totally do not believe the members of the Israeli military are Jews, at all. Who does that? So strange to me.

    But I’m not religious in terms they would understand, at all. So why would I be expected to understand those weird RWNJs…?

  174. 174.

    Another Scott

    May 31, 2019 at 9:24 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: It’s clearly the same exploit. More than one FYWP plugin must be affected, and B-J is especially vulnerable because the code is so old.

    See the comment from the ArsTechnica thread at #168.

    I suspect the only solution at the moment is for users to turn off Javascript and/or run an adblocker.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  175. 175.

    Mary G

    May 31, 2019 at 9:25 pm

    Trigger warning. House Democrats put out one of the photos the DHS IG took at the extremely overcrowded border patrol station:

    Earlier this month, @DHSOIG made surprise visits to a @CBP Border Patrol facility in El Paso.Here's what they found: 750-900 migrants being held in a space meant for maximum 125. pic.twitter.com/0aLXSmc57G— House Homeland Security Committee (@HomelandDems) May 31, 2019

  176. 176.

    Jay

    May 31, 2019 at 9:26 pm

    @TenguPhule:

    It’s also a textbook example of why you don’t try to use one platform for three different mission sets.

  177. 177.

    MomSense

    May 31, 2019 at 9:37 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    I remember the vile things he said about Diana.

  178. 178.

    Adam L Silverman

    May 31, 2019 at 9:37 pm

    @J R in WV: Don’t get me started.

  179. 179.

    Omnes Omnibus

    May 31, 2019 at 9:41 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: I reported it through the bad ads email earlier today. Alain said he was going to refund some of my membership fees for the time I was unable to access the blog.

  180. 180.

    Adam L Silverman

    May 31, 2019 at 9:55 pm

    I just heard from Alain, he’s working on the fix right now and expects it’ll be done in about 5 minutes!

  181. 181.

    Kristine

    May 31, 2019 at 9:56 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Same here–Safari on my iPhone.

  182. 182.

    J R in WV

    May 31, 2019 at 10:01 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    “Don’t get me started.”

    Sorry! RWNJs seem to be everywhere today…

  183. 183.

    Bill Arnold

    May 31, 2019 at 10:25 pm

    Specifically that she should appoint a Select Committee for the review of the Special Counsel’s findings and related matters. This would allow the House Democratic Caucus to speak with one voice – that of the select committee’s chairman or chairwoman. And have one singular coordinating point for the development and dissemination of relevant information. This wouldn’t be the immediate opening of impeachment, but, rather, the opening of a select committee specifically intended to look into all of these matters holistically to determine if the House should proceed to impeachment. The existing committee investigations should still continue, but their purposes would be to feed the necessary information into the select committee.

    Late to the party. This seems necessary; not seeing any obvious and effective alternative.
    —
    Only vaguely related, but adorable!
    Rolling Thunder chief predicts biker descent on DC if Dems impeach Trump (Steven Nelson, May 31, 2019)

  184. 184.

    Bill Arnold

    May 31, 2019 at 10:31 pm

    Also interesting:
    The adorable, hilarious and maybe tragic way the Federalist papers addressed impeachment (Eric Black, May 31, 2019)

    One last quote from Federalist No. 65, quite relevant to the immediate post-Mueller moment. Mueller was a special prosecutor, working under special appointment to the Justice Department for the purpose of investigating possible crimes in connection with the Russian invasion of the 2016 election. (Crimes, not “treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors,” which is the rather mysterious language in the Constitution describing impeachable conduct.) In the same essay, Hamilton/Publius asserts clearly that impeachable offenses are not exactly the same as prosecutable criminal offenses. Speaking of the impeachment power, Publius wrote:

    The subjects of its jurisdiction are those offenses which proceed from the misconduct of public men, or, in other words, from the abuse or violation of some public trust.

  185. 185.

    burritoboy

    June 1, 2019 at 1:46 am

    “I find it kind of astonishing that the ultra-orthodox Jews in Israel have total disrespect for the Jews who are willing to participate in military defense of the nation of Israel.

    I mean, those ultra-Ordhodox Jews would be the first to be eliminated should there be a war lost by Israel, yet they totally do not believe the members of the Israeli military are Jews, at all.”

    Let me try to explain: in the early nineteenth century, most European Jews lived in small rural villages within a large region that had previously been the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This state was destroyed by three empires – the Holy Roman Empire (later becoming the Austro-Hungarian Empire), the Prussian Empire (later becoming Germany) and the Russian Empire. In particular, the Russian Empire was massively oppressive to Jews, whereas the previous Commonwealth was comparatively mild. Most European Jews had ended up in this region because most European states exiled their entire Jewish populations (France, England, Spain and many other states had forbidden any Jews to reside within their borders.) Many of the exiles had ended up in Poland and then within the Russian Empire.

    Most Jews lived in small villages where they formed separate enclaves where people relied on Judaism simply to have the will to survive. There had been a charismatic “revival” of certain mystic traditions of Judaism in the 18th and early 19th century, a movement which is now called Hassidism.

    By the middle of the nineteenth century, this was the problem of Judaism worldwide – a large percentage of all Jews lived in great poverty and were oppressed by a brutal Russian Empire, which Empire was both strongly officially anti-Semitic and even encouraged terrorist campaigns against these Jewish communities.

    This was a difficult situation, because these small enclaves had created a revival of Judaism. These communities were isolated and turned inward, which made their devotion to Jewish law fairly exemplary. (They didn’t have much else to do, either.) So many Jews opposed moving away, because they wanted to maintain that level of communal religious observance. Other Jews advocated moving to more enlightened countries such as the USA, the UK or Germany. Still other Jews became Zionists, who wished to move to what is now Israel and to eventually form some kind of entity there. These Zionists tended to be strongly socialist, and thus to reject the established religious mores of traditional European Judaism.

    So, within Judaism in Europe, there were three groups who strongly opposed each other: Zionists, traditional Orthodox Jewish sects and those who advocated for assimilation (i.e. moving to the big cities or to the Americas), who each had a completely different solution to the problem. Each of these three main groupings fairly quickly developed their own religious traditions which were mutually antagonistic as well.

    Israel was mostly the project of the Zionists, so the traditional Orthodox sects mostly considered the early kibbutzes and other Zionist projects before the Holocaust as abominations. Further, while only a minority of Jews in Israel before 1948 were true-believer socialist and communist Zionists, the socialists and communists were, for decades after 1948, the vastly predominant leading groups in the formal politics of Israel.

  186. 186.

    low-tech cyclist

    June 1, 2019 at 8:17 am

    If I was advising Speaker Pelosi, I would recommend a slightly different approach. Specifically that she should appoint a Select Committee for the review of the Special Counsel’s findings and related matters. This would allow the House Democratic Caucus to speak with one voice – that of the select committee’s chairman or chairwoman. And have one singular coordinating point for the development and dissemination of relevant information. This wouldn’t be the immediate opening of impeachment, but, rather, the opening of a select committee specifically intended to look into all of these matters holistically to determine if the House should proceed to impeachment.

    In other words, it would be an impeachment inquiry (defined as an inquiry into whether the President has committed impeachable offenses, per the 1974 impeachment inquiry authorization), without being called an impeachment inquiry.

    I’d be fine with that.

    I doubt that’s what Pelosi wants, because if she did, she would be noncommittal on impeachment, rather than actively discouraging it as she has.

    But if she did, or could at least be persuaded that that’s her best line of retreat at this point, that would be great. Whatever this inquiry is called, it needs to start, because it needs to be allowed time to do its work without being rushed. And I’m sure the Dems would largely agree that the impeachment process shouldn’t take place in the middle of next year’s elections.

  187. 187.

    Tehanu

    June 1, 2019 at 7:12 pm

    I realize I’m late to this thread, but Heywood J. at Hammer of the Blogs says more or less the same thing more concisely:

  188. 188.

    Procopius

    June 1, 2019 at 7:57 pm

    @Baud: I hope I’m not going off-topic with this, but I saw a recommendation recently that I want to promote. We need to reframe the view of anti-abortion laws. They are an attempt to remove women’s rights, yes, but they basically an establishment of religion. Yes, they are attempts to take control of women’s bodies, because that is a part of the religion they are trying to establish. What is described in this footnote is exactly what will happen if any religious sect becomes established. The question of when the soul enters the body is an old scholastic question, an argument for theology, not science. It’s religious. Pass it on.

  189. 189.

    Procopius

    June 1, 2019 at 8:12 pm

    @debbie:

    What, they don’t care about rapturing anymore?

    I think they would deport all the Jews to Israel. If I understand the prophecy, all the Jews have to return to Israel, and they are not volunteering to do that. I think the prophecy also says allof them must then convert to Christianity, but apparently the Fundies conveniently skip over that part.

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