Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Infrastructure week. at last.

Let there be snark.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

John Fetterman: Too Manly for Pennsylvania.  Paid for by the Oz for Senator campaign.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

The willow is too close to the house.

“More of this”, i said to the dog.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Trumpschemes 2020 Open Thread: Normal Parscale Grandiosity, or Fear of A Breaking Story?

Trumpschemes 2020 Open Thread: Normal Parscale Grandiosity, or Fear of A Breaking Story?

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On the one hand, it’s extremely in character for Brad Parscale, drunk on his self-perceived “power” to announce that You guys don’t get to sit at our table so there!!!, should make an outsized fuss about the media outlet owned by a real billionaire who is now challenging Brad’s boss.

On the other hand, it’s extremely in character for Brad Parscale, strip mall PC specialist turned campaign ‘data expert’ by the grace of the GRU, to try and preempt a(nother) breaking-news investigation by a major media outlet that will (further) damage Parscale’s direct report. Per Politico:

News organizations reacted warily to the Trump campaign’s announcement Monday that it will no longer credential Bloomberg News reporters for campaign events in response to the outlet’s decision not to investigate its owner, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, or his Democratic rivals for president.

Trump Campaign manager Brad Parscale said the move, which Bloomberg News said would ensure equal footing for each Democratic candidate, indicated a bias against Trump because the outlet would continue to cover him critically while going easy on his Democratic rivals…

The move is reminiscent of the 2016 election, when the Trump team denied press credentials to numerous outlets, including POLITICO, The Washington Post, and BuzzFeed News, because of coverage the campaign considered biased or unfair.

The 2020 campaign’s policy may extend beyond Trump’s rallies, with Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican Party, announcing that the GOP will “no longer credential” Bloomberg representatives. It could also affect White House coverage, given that Bloomberg reporters regularly travel with the president to events as part of the White House pool…

Bloomberg News, a global news organization of 2,700 journalists and analysts, has long had a policy of not initiating investigations into the billionaire businessman, his family or his foundation, and announced last week it would extend that practice to his 2020 Democratic rivals, in the wake of Bloomberg’s entry into the race.

Bloomberg News will continue to investigate the Trump administration, though it plans to reassess its policy if Michael Bloomberg becomes the Democratic nominee…

Dean Baquet, executive editor of the New York Times, took issue with the move against Bloomberg News. “We condemn any action that keeps quality news media from reporting fairly and accurately on the presidency and the leadership of the country,” he said in a statement.

But Bloomberg’s policy of not covering its owner has also drawn criticism from journalists for departing from how news organizations typically handle such situations. The Washington Post, for one, doesn’t restrict reporters from digging into its billionaire owner, Amazon chief Jeff Bezos…

Reader Interactions

172Comments

  4. 4.

    NotMax

    Dean Baquet, executive editor of the New York Times, took issue with the move against Bloomberg News. “We condemn any action that keeps quality news media from reporting fairly and accurately on the presidency and the leadership of the country,” he said in a statement.

    Actions such as hiring Dean Baquet, then?

    //

  6. 6.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Baud:

    You assumed wrongly, Baud! As we speak Wikileaks has access to your deepest, darkest secrets. I should know; I leaked them using my crack hacker skillz!

  7. 7.

    NotMax

    @Baud

    Those tasked with doing so have each in turn opted to wander off to more fruitful endeavors, such as watching paint dry.

    ;)

  10. 10.

    Kay

    This Lisa Page interview. Ooof. It’s like a punch in the gut.

    It’s worse in there than we think it is:

     

    “It’s very painful to see to places like the FBI and the Department of Justice that represent so much of what is excellent about this country, not fulfilling the critical obligation that they have to speak truth to power,” she tells me. “The thing about the FBI that is so extraordinary is that it is made up of a group of men and women whose every instinct is to run toward the fight. It’s in the fiber of everybody there. It’s the lifeblood. So it’s particularly devastating to be betrayed by an organization I still care about so deeply. And it’s crushing to see the noble Justice Department, my Justice Department, the place I grew up in, feel like it’s abandoned its principles of truth and independence.”

    Read the whole thing. This country is in real trouble.

  11. 11.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @NotMax:

    What does it say about journalism that men like Baquet can become the executive editor of the NYT? Does that say anything about the NYT itself? Is modern journalism a product of the monocultures that develop when reporters come from the same backgrounds? Or have newspapers always been this bad to a degree

  12. 12.

    Anonymous At Work

    This is window-dressing and rehearsal for the possibility that Fox “News” will get kicked out of the White House should a Democrat win.  Preparation to get the media backing a legitimate member of the corps before a false friend gets the same (and justified) treatment.

  13. 13.

    Kay

    This is what it’s like for the President’s targets:

    Does it affect you in your normal day-to-day life?
    “I wish it didn’t,” she said. “I’m someone who’s always in my head anyway—so now otherwise normal interactions take on a different meaning. Like, when somebody makes eye contact with me on the Metro, I kind of wince, wondering if it’s because they recognize me, or are they just scanning the train like people do? It’s immediately a question of friend or foe? Or if I’m walking down the street or shopping and there’s somebody wearing Trump gear or a MAGA hat, I’ll walk the other way or try to put some distance between us because I’m not looking for conflict. Really, what I wanted most in this world is my life back.”

    In the United States. She spends every day in fear that the President is targeting her. She’s completely innocent of what he’s accused her of.

  15. 15.

    Mary G

    @Kay: The only bright spot is that women voters can relate and his already abysmal approval rating among them will drop even more. Almost every woman friend I’ve had has gone through this to some degree.

  16. 16.

    Kay

    @Mary G:

     

    It makes me ill. You know what he says at those rallies? “She wasn’t nice to me”. Fucking repulsive. She was like an ordinary higher level government lawyer just minding her own business. He’s stalking her.

  17. 17.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Baud:

    I assume Balloon Juice will not look to closely into my affairs

    You mean your “hiking the Appalachian trail”?

  18. 18.

    Procopius

    “Freedom of the press is for people who own a press.”

    We know that one way the media try to manipulate public opinion is by suppressing some news stories while endlessly repeating others (“… but her emails”). I’m surprised to see Bloomberg admitting it. They aren’t supposed to say it out loud.

  19. 19.

    Mike in NC

    Once again Fat Bastard demands to be treated “fairly” by investigating his critics but ignoring his ongoing crimes.

  20. 20.

    NotMax

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Short answer: the Peter Principle survives.

    Medium answer: perceived skill at generating clicks is not interchangeable with perceived skill at generating journalism.

    Long answer is far, far too lengthy and byzantine a journey for this space.

  21. 21.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Lol, as long as we’re talking about journalism, here’s an exchange from my Twitter stream earlier today.

  22. 22.

    Jay

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Or have newspapers always been this bad to a degree

    It has varied over the years by both the paper and the time frame. Eg. Vietnam War, 9/11, Iraq War. Universally horrendous media coverage except for a few until of course, they decided they were againit before they were forit.

    90+% of the media exists for the same reason it has always existed, to explain and excuse the actions of the rich and powerfull and create the illusion of justice and charity.

    Now of course, there is the added bonus that paper media has once again become a plaything of the Plutocrats while few of the unwashed can even afford a blog.

  23. 23.

    Kay

    I hate to be the nag, but in a perhaps impossible effort to uphold SOME standards can we also say that Bloomberg probably doesn’t get to use his own media company to cover the election he’s in?
    Just because the Trump Administration is as corrupt as shit and institutions are collapsing like lawn chairs in a stiff breeze, that doesn’t mean a different plutocrat gets to do whatever the fuck he wants? Does it? If so I’ll roll that in. If this is the new bottom. It’s negative numbers. This is -14, I think.

  25. 25.

    Martin

    I think this is a misread. Bloomberg can’t have it both ways. He can’t own a media outlet and then in any way try and proclaim that outlet is unbiased, no matter what policy he lays down. That’s not a defense of Trump or the WH, but you can choose to be a public official or you can choose to be a billionaire, but you can’t in good faith be both. He should divest himself of Bloomberg, including the name of the publication, or stop pretending that he’s anything other than its owner. This is bullshit. The rest of the Democratic field should say the same. Bloomberg Media is nothing but an in-kind contribution to the Bloomberg campaign and there’s no avoiding that.

  26. 26.

    Baud

    @Martin:

    There’s nothing that prevents him from doing both except voters, and he’s not going to be competitive for the nomination, so the voters aren’t really relevant.

  27. 27.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Kay:

    I hate to be the nag, but in a perhaps impossible effort to uphold SOME standards can we also say that Bloomberg probably doesn’t get to use his own media company to cover the election he’s in? 

    Oh look.  It’s one of the poors with an idea.  What’s next – not being able to oversee as SoS a state governor’s race that you yourself are running in? :)

  28. 28.

    Jay

    @Cheryl Rofer:

     

    and it’s not rocket science. Anti-corruption protests were/are bringing massive pressure on the Lebanese Government. Pro-corruption groups like Sawdi Arabia, the UAE and the USA had to bring some counter pressure to the table.

  29. 29.

    Anonymous At Work

    @Kay: That would involve people doing more than pretend he can win and/or solve their daddy-issues (hi, Maureen!) before people could think to ask Bloomberg about divesting properly before this can become a thing.

    Remember, the national media tend to laziness and rehashing press releases.  So, no need to think about this topic.

  30. 30.

    trnc

    @Kay: I hate to be the nag, but in a perhaps impossible effort to uphold SOME standards can we also say that Bloomberg probably doesn’t get to use his own media company to cover the election he’s in?

    I heartily concur. Mike Bs newsie is not a terribly sympathetic victim here.

  31. 31.

    Martin

    @Baud: I take that, but if Rupert Murdoch were running for President and could wield his media empire in the service of his campaign, we’d all be calling bullshit 24/7. We shouldn’t be criticizing efforts to push back against that.

    Now, that’s almost certainly giving the WH too much credit here, but the result is the same. I don’t see how this is any different than foreign officials bribing the president through his hotels. Who the fuck is going to turn down an interview request from Bloomberg Media if Mike wins the nomination? I know he won’t, but still, we shouldn’t tolerate even the appearance of this kind of shit.

  32. 32.

    Kay

    @mrmoshpotato:

     

    It’s one of the poors with an idea

     

    lol

    Back in the olden days of ….2009 it would have been considered bad form to have the media operation you own cover the election you’re in. But now I guess it’s not specifically covered by a federal criminal statute so is therefore FINE.

  35. 35.

    jl

    @Baud:

    ” I assume Balloon Juice will not look to closely into my affairs. ”

    Maybe not. But you can’t shut down the local media petty crime beat. Dumpster fires, disorderly conduct and other trivial mayhem will get the same coverage.

     

    Social revolutionaries and world historical visionaries have always had a tough road to travel.

  37. 37.

    Yarrow

    This should be interesting.

    The SDNY and FBI investigators are making their way through what one prosecutor called a "voluminous" amount of evidence in the Lev Parnas-Igor Fruman case — around 9 gigabytes' worth. The material includes electronic devices, phone records & bank records. https://t.co/snsXAFqajo— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) December 2, 2019

  38. 38.

    jl

    @Martin: So, is there a solution? Bloomberg put his company into a blind trust for duration of campaign? Eliminate Bloomberg investigations and coverage of all presidential politics, including anything involving Trump, including his criminal behavior?   I don’t know the answer.

     

    I have to hope the Bloomberg candidacy is very short lived, so we don’t have to worry about this kind of nonsense.

  39. 39.

    lamh36

    Evening BJ!

     

    I GOT A 98 ON MY LAST FINAL EXAM!!!!! So I might actually end the semester with 2 A’s and a B! I don’t quite understand how 2 of my teachers plan to calculate final grades, but if it’s how I suspect, then 2 A’s and 1 B it is!!!!! I should know for sure by the end of next week.
    Final exams end on the 12th (I don’t any to take…yay!) and grades are due to the registrar’s office by the 17th, but I’m hoping my last 2 teachers at least informs us of our grades before submitting them to the registars

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7b21043c121f6f87706c8f748ec5f0d866ac63fa244935d10700c5a08df72c03.gi

     

    ETA: To be clear, Grades are

    Still not official until it’s in the system.

    Out of my 3 classes, only 1 teacher has already said, the grade we see on the online learning systme WILL BE our final grade.

    The other two were a bit more wishy washy, but I did email both and ask that they please inform us of our final letter grade BEFORE submitting it.

    We’ll see if they do

  42. 42.

    jl

    @Martin:  “No, it is specifically covered by a federal criminal statute, but nobody is willing to enforce it.”

     

    You’re referring to federal campaign finance law? If not, tell me more, please.

  43. 43.

    Kay

    @Martin:

     

    Of course it’s an in-kind contribution! If it isn’t, nothing is. But campaign finance laws were really the first to go- those are considered “technicalities” now. Don’t bother the plutocrats with your LAWS, Martin. They’re moving at the speed of bidness.

  44. 44.

    lamh36

    @ConnieSchultz

    I don’t believe that “dueling GOP spouses” act on Twitter is real, and I wish all you smart people would stop promoting it. My affection for you is boundless, but my patience is reaching its fiery end. I can’t always be a cheery Muppet.

    13K
    2:30 PM – Dec 2, 2019 · Kent, OH

  45. 45.

    Kay

    @lamh36:

     

    I don’t really believe it either but then I find it hard to believe they would go to all that trouble for such stupid bullshit, and I’m torn again. It’s like a full time job, this act!

  46. 46.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud:

    I assume Balloon Juice will not look to closely into my affairs.

    When Baud does it, it is not illegal.

  49. 49.

    Yarrow

    @lamh36:  Ain’t that the truth. Their “act” is nothing but fake. They want one of them still standing no matter which way this ends up.

  51. 51.

    Jay

    @jl:

     

    none of Bloomberg Media has ever been a “reliable source”. Instead, everything they have ever published has been a “buyer beware”, YMMV,

     

    the “solution” in theory would be for  Bloomberg Media to cover Bloomberg as they would any other politician, but that ain’t gonna happen.

  52. 52.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    JFC, my parents basically just said that because Bloomberg was elected three times as Mayor of New York City, that means he must know what he’s talking about/is a serious candidate. They’re not supporters mind you

  53. 53.

    Yarrow

    @Kay:  It’s livelihood insurance. They make their bank by being Republican pundits and advisers and pollsters and so forth. They need their marks to believe them that they really are on their side, no matter which way all this ends up. If it ends up with Trump then Kellyanne is in their good graces. If it’s NeverTrump then George has that side locked down. Their protecting themselves. It’s not “trouble,” it’s their job.

  57. 57.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Martin: Well, he can fuck up Australia all he wants.  (No, I’m not serious about abandoning our Australian allies like that.)

  58. 58.

    Kay

    @Yarrow:

    I actually have more contempt for the “oh, I’m in agony!” Republicans than the Trump crooks. How did they think this was going to turn out? There were warning signs. Many. Many.

  60. 60.

    Jay

    @lamh36:

     

    the most electable Democratic cantidate in 2020 will be the one that wins the nomination.

     

    ”Electability” is no more than punditocracy bs entrail reading.

  61. 61.

    Kay

    @Yarrow:

     

    The Tea Party didn’t tip them off? What about the Birthers? They literally elected the leader of the birthers.  “oh, my GOD what has happened to my party!?”

  62. 62.

    lamh36

    Looks like those Bloomberg campaign hit pieces on Kamala Harris may have backfired.  Not only do you see more voices, who were once silend about it, actually standing up and talking about the news coverage surrounding her candidacy, and comparing it to how others are covers.  I mean have we had ONE article before or after about the way Beto’s campaign fell apart? Yang, Stoyer, Booker and Amy K are polling at or lower than Harris, and we have yet to see the nubmer of hit pieces against any of them that you’ve see against Harrs, not to mention the articles trying to push her out of the race entirely…

     

    But it appears that the Harris camp had one of their best end of fundraising month ever.  Enough so, that they sent out email to contributers Sunday saying they had raised enough to be able to “invest” in puttint the viral campaign ad they released pre-Nov debate, on the air in Iowa.

     

    The “anti-Trump” one here:

     

    https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris/status/1197243216132804608

  64. 64.

    mrmoshpotato

    @lamh36: Oh I haven’t believed that Kelly Anne Conjob vs Kelly Anne Conjob’s husband spat for a looooong time.  No way in hell he sticks around if he really thinks the Russthuglicans are so vile.

  71. 71.

    Yarrow

    @Kay: It’s an act, at least with George Conway. They don’t believe what they’re saying but they believe they need to say it so Trumpers and Never Trumpers have one of them to love.

    I do think there are some Never Trumpers who have had the scales fall from their eyes. Our esteemed bloglord once was a Republican so we know it’s possible for people to change. It’s just pretty clear that the Conways are an act.

  74. 74.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Yarrow:

    Nothing in particular. They’ve made the assumption, without knowing much about him, that because he was elected mayor three times, he must have been popular, which must mean he was a good leader. Kind of a meaningless metric of success when used in isolation

     

    It all started after I asked them what they thought of a guy (referring to Bloomberg) who names the media company he owns after himself.

    I’m surprised, honestly. While my parents work a lot, my father tries to keep politically aware.

  77. 77.

    lamh36

    @Bakari_Sellers

    This is actually a really dope flex by Bernie.

    Bakari Sellers added,

    Annie Grayer – “

    More

    NEW: met with Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred at Major League Baseball headquarters today to discuss MLB’s proposed plan to eliminate Minor League Baseball in 42 communities, which Sanders has been against. Full statement from Sanders on the meeting below:”

     

    https://twitter.com/Bakari_Sellers/status/1201667847807782916

  78. 78.

    laura

    @lamh36: Your academic achievements are awesome – as is your travel game and your support of Senator Harris.

    Big ups in all regards Lamh36.

  79. 79.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Amir Khalid:

    It says only that big media is owned by, or at least beholden to, big money. That owners use what they own to benefit themselves. But you already knew this.

    As it ever was. This myth of some sort of impartial, objective media needs to die. “Remember the Maine!”

  80. 80.

    jl

    @Jay: You make good points. Bloomberg could also formalize agreements to surrender editorial control of his publications for the duration of his run, and make them public. And establish a committee to referee compliance, and a public and transparent system so its performance could be monitored. But I don’t know how much Bloomberg meddles in editorial side, or if he can even and ever imagine not meddling

  81. 81.

    lamh36

    @Yarrow: next semester is my last.  3 classes, graduation in May.

     

    Not sure if I care enough about the ceremony though…never been my thing. Just happy to get te degree and bounce

  84. 84.

    Gin & Tonic

    @chris: Ukraine has tens — perhaps hundreds — of thousands of elected officials, at every level from President to town council. If every one of them agreed on the time of day, it would be a major accomplishment.

  85. 85.

    Martin

    @jl: Yes, sell off Bloomberg or don’t run for President.

    I don’t know when we all bought into the notion that you could do whatever the fuck you wanted without having to make any kind of sacrifice. There’s no Constitutional guarantee that you can run for President without any inconvenience. This is the same kind of mindset that says you have a right to be a Jehovahs Witness phlebotomist and then refuse to do any aspect of your job for religious reasons.

    There are choices we have to make. If you want to perform surgery, you need to go to medical school. That’s just a thing that needs to happen. If you want to run for President you need to address issues like in-kind contributions and emoluments. That’s not on the electorate to fix, it’s on YOU to address. “Could someone please figure out a way for me to not break the law” is not an acceptable attitude. If your job is to accept money for foreigners you can’t keep that job and be president. You just can’t. You have to choose. I’m sorry if that’s hard for people, but fuck, we can’t have every good thing on earth heaped on us without having to do anything in return.

  86. 86.

    Martin

    @lamh36: That’s cool. I like ELAC. Every campus should have building numbers that are like 30 feet high so you can fucking see them from a distance. I appreciate that kind of effort for their guests.

  87. 87.

    chris

    @Gin & Tonic: Indeed, and they all conspired to get Hillary elected so they’re just as bad and maybe worse than the Russians. So says the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

  90. 90.

    NotMax

    *grumble gumble*

    Had to scrounge up proper attire and drive to the post office to mail out an envelope because the postal person apparently ignored the raised flag on the mailbox and drove right on by.

    /micro mini rant

  93. 93.

    Martin

    @NotMax: You have a postal dress code there? Pretty sure more than a few San Franciscans have dropped off their mail completely in the buff, as is their want.

  96. 96.

    Gin & Tonic

    @chris: Since this is a full-service blog, here’s exclusive video of Ukrainian elected officials agreeing on something.

     

    As I’ve said, it’s no particular secret that Petro Poroshenko favored HRC in 2016. If someone had half a brain or an equivalent degree of curiosity, they might ask “why?” Why would Ukraine’s President, knowing that Paul Fucking Manafort was chosen to be a candidate’s campaign manager, prefer the opponent?

  99. 99.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Baud:

    LOL, fuck him. Xi thought that by rolling out the red carpet he could manipulate Trump too but quickly found out that Trump is a narcisstic idiot that only looks out for himself and his idea of a ‘deal’ is, “what’s mine is mine and yours is mine.”

  101. 101.

    Yarrow

    Attorney General William P. Barr has told associates he disagrees with the Justice Department’s inspector general on one of the key findings in an upcoming report — that the FBI had enough information in July 2016 to justify launching an investigation into members of the Trump campaign, according to people familiar with the matter.

    The Justice Department’s inspector general, Michael Horowitz, is due to release his long-awaited findings in a week, but behind the scenes at the Justice Department, disagreement has surfaced about one of Horowitz’s central conclusions on the origins of the Russia investigation. The discord could be the prelude to a major fissure within federal law enforcement on the controversial question of investigating a presidential campaign.

    WaPo link.

  103. 103.

    lamh36

    @Yarrow: yes.  I’d like to get into low level lab management and eventually upper level management.

     

    my current employer is a national/international laboratory corp…probably the biggest if not one of the biggest in the US.  I’d like to stay with them and move up.  If not, I’d like to at least leave hospital laborotary behind and instead work in the reference laboratoy environment.  Where you’d have to deal with less hospital/physician politics/god complexes

  105. 105.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Yarrow:

    The discord could be the prelude to a major fissure within federal law enforcement on the controversial question of investigating a presidential campaign.

    The NY FBI field office comes to mind

  107. 107.

    Kay

    A South Florida businessman accused of secretly working with clients of President Donald Trump’s personal attorney to funnel illegal foreign cash to U.S. political campaigns pleaded not guilty to a felony conspiracy charge Thursday during a brief court appearance in federal court in Manhattan.
    David Correia, 44, denied allegations that he and three associates took hundreds of thousands of dollars from a foreign investor with “Russian roots” and doled it out to state and federal candidates and political committees.
    Andrey Kukushkin, 46, also pleaded not guilty to one conspiracy charge.

    Most corrupt administration ever. It’s not even close. On the day Guiliani enters prison I will cheer.

  108. 108.

    chris

    @Gin & Tonic: I’m aware, except for a few loons and grifters the whole world preferred Hillary. I am more interested in what the honorable (spit) senator had to say about the terrible dreadful awful Ukrainian conspiracy to elect Hillary and be mean to the shitgibbon. To that end I posted the first tweet of a thread on the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee spouting Russian disinfo.

     

    PS: That video is awesome! Old school politics at its best.

  111. 111.

    Jay

    The article also surfaces some of the details regarding what appears to be very serious violations of the Privacy Act by DOJ officials. Strzok is currently suing DOJ for Privacy Act violations related to the release of text messages. pic.twitter.com/zHAwAklObc— Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) December 2, 2019

  116. 116.

    Jay

    NEW: The GOP-controlled Senate Intel Committee investigated & cleared Ukraine of an election interference campaign in 2016. Testimony from Ali Chalupa was useless, sources said, & Republicans didn’t follow up/request more witnesses related to the issue. https://t.co/jlEdc8tCYf— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) December 2, 2019

    One day black, next day white, up is down, down is up, believing in 8 impossible before breakfast,………

    Your Deplorable voter,…….

  119. 119.

    lamh36

    @Yarrow: yes!  It’s a Masters in HCM so actually being trained to be in upper manangement in any part of the healthcare industry.

     

    But Clinical Microbiology is my first love, and I’d love to stay in the clinical lab, just not a hosptial lab.

     

    Also too, opens us opportunities for State/Federal employment, where I can get paid more just by virtue of having a Masters degree, and still reap some of the benefits of working for State or Federal (i.e. no holidays/weekend, nights…etc)

     

    Though, my dream job has always been CDC.  I was actually soo close to working for CDC pre-2016, verbal offer for a job and everything, but my lack of a graduate degree requirement made them unable to extend a formal job offer…

  121. 121.

    Steve in the ATL

    @lamh36:

     

    eventually upper level management

    Be careful—you’ll get called a management stooge on this blog! But I’ll help you bust the unions at your employer when you make it to a corner office.

  123. 123.

    frosty

    @lamh36: Oh, do the ceremony. You have friends and family, right? The walk across the stage isn’t for you, it’s for them.

     

    I’ll add my congratulations too. And I’ve enjoyed reading about your travels. It’s good that you’re getting on the (figurative) road when you can.

  125. 125.

    CarolPW

    @lamh36: Major congratulations! I worked in a state ag lab doing pesticide analysis, much of which was routine, but we got enough other stuff from police, homeowners, doctors and health departments in the area thought to involve pesticides that it kept it really interesting.

     

    Anywhere from a county health department to the CDC mean a wealth of potential lab/management opportunities. My favorite mix was a management level that offered the ability to get my hands into some of the more interesting stuff. Hope you find the mix that works for you!

  127. 127.

    lamh36

    @Steve in the ATL: funny enough, we don’t have a union.  The governing body for my profession, the ASCP wasn’t even created for us.  We used to be governed by a seperate laboratory association, but it got ate by the ASCP.

     

    There had been some talk of unionizing so we’d have a lobbyting body like the nurses do, especially since about 70% of medical diagnosis is due to laboratory testing and results (so we is important!), but nothing has come of the initial talks years ago

  128. 128.

    J R in WV

    @lamh36:

     

    Congratulations on the test score, 98 is pretty sweet, esp in a technical course path. And two As and a B is a pretty good set of semester grades for a lady who has been to Paris during the semester, also, too!!

     

    We are also supporters of Senator Harris in the primary election season. I’m glad the “obits” being run in the MSM seem to be very premature, and will continue to support the Senator as long as she stays in the race. I suspect her AKA sorority sisters will be a big help in South Carolina and across the south.

     

    Best of luck in your graduate college career, keep up the good work.

  129. 129.

    frosty

    @lamh36: Where you’d have to deal with less hospital/physician politics/god complexes

    Yes, this seems like a perfectly reasonable career goal!

  130. 130.

    lamh36

    @frosty: Meh…I actually already have 2 Bachelors degrees…my family were like another one…LOL.

     

    They don’t get the point of a grad degree, in fact, knowing them they probably thought I alreay had one…LOL.

     

    So I might get me a couple of cap and gown pics, but the actual stage walk…IDK…depends on if it’s mandatory or not!

  135. 135.

    lamh36

    @frosty: you have no idea…it really is the worse thing about it.  What I mean is…depending on the hospital, you can have a culture where the doctor is god.  Meaning if they ask for it you do it, even if the specimen submitted it subpar.  That sort of mentality is what leads to increased healthcare cost due to uncessary/duplicat testing, or over use of high leve antibiotics creating super bugs, or just having to run a test on a specimen that hasn’t been properly labelled, isn’t the optimal speicment for the test ordered, or having different protocols for different physcians or the SAME test.

     

    It’s ridiculous…

     

    Reference lab facilities do not answer to doctors, they run the test they run and if you don’t send in the correct specimen, they do not run it.  Doesn’t matter if you are some bigwig in the hospital…they have a protocol, they follow it and they don’t change it to fit the exacting and sometimes ridiculous demands of some doctors on an ego trip…who thinks they absolutely know better.

     

    Ugh…don’t even get me started.

  137. 137.

    lamh36

    @debbie: yes…I will.  I’ve taken all my exams and final classes were before Thanksgiving for the 3 coursed I took.

     

    Spring semester classed don’t start until Jan 13!

  144. 144.

    Jay

    Perfekt calls to Krâyn Chief! A wondrous calls! Palantir glows and Sméagol smiles at the Chief! Chief smiles back and says, “Wow! We feels no squeezy pressures! No Squid Roe Pow! Thankses Sméagol!” Beauuuutiful calls! Why can’t they seeeees! Wicked! Unfairs! Witch King Hunts!— Gollum J. Trump (@realGollumTrump) November 4, 2019

  148. 148.

    Jay

    John Brown was hanged for treason by the Commonwealth of Virginia on December 2, 1859. Brown’s last words:“I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land can never be purged away but with blood." pic.twitter.com/GFQYUw2arQ— Christopher Petrella (@CFPetrella) December 2, 2019

  149. 149.

    karen marie

    Are we going to start a pool on when and for what Parscale is criminally charged?  Reviewing Trump’s past campaign managers, few (if any) have escaped committing criminal acts either before or during their tenure.

     

    It’s also good to occasionally review contemporaneous reports of past events.  The media – across the board – was pretty clear in 2016, when Manafort resigned as Trump’s campaign chair, that he was working for “pro-Russian political elements in Ukraine.”

     

    “The revelations about the Ukrainian involvement put the consultant in a position where he was overshadowing the campaign and choking its ability to deliver its message.”

  152. 152.

    Martin

    @Jay: That Manafort is in prison might lead one to conclude that the suspicions about Manafort might have been valid?

  154. 154.

    Bill Arnold

    @Kay:

    This Lisa Page interview. Ooof. It’s like a punch in the gut.

    Very worth reading.
    If I could trade e.g. a MAGA wingnut reading a piece of my choice and me reading a vomitware piece of their choice, this might be the one.

  156. 156.

    FelonyGovt

    @lamh36: Congratulations on your accomplishments! Sounds like the whole field will be open to you at any level you want to reach. I hope you get the chance to pursue what you really love (without doctor god-trips).

  159. 159.

    mad citizen

    Read some of the John Brown twitter stream.  Too lazy to look up and to old to remember this history, but wondering where the “treason” part of his crime came in?  I always thought treason meant you were consorting with some enemy of our nation, one we are at war with.  At least that’s what I recall from looking up the federal statute awhile back.

     

    Also, was taken aback the other day when I saw a yellow Virgina license plate with the “Don’t Tread on Me” snake, etc.  here in the midwest.  Apparently 5 states sell them and they’ve been around several years.  Too bad that symbol got adopted by the RWNJ types.

  163. 163.

    NotMax

    @mad citizen

    It was not a federal charge or trial, it was a charge (and conviction) brought by and in the state of Virginia.

    A bit more info, plus some other cases of note, here.

  165. 165.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @mad citizen: @NotMax:  Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.

     

    Art. III, Section 3.  Armed rebellion would probably count as levying war.  But as NotMax said Brown wasn’t convicted on federal charges in federal court.

  166. 166.

    Marcopolo

    So apparently if you have a website using the .org registry you should be concerned about what happened last week:

     
    Internet world despairs as non-profit .org sold for $$$$ to private equity firm, price caps axed

    At the end of last week, the Internet Society (ISOC) announced that it has sold the rights to the .org registry for an undisclosed sum to a private equity company called Ethos Capital. The deal is set to complete in the first quarter of next year.

    The decision shocked the internet industry, not least because the .org registry has always been operated on a non-profit basis and has actively marketed itself as such. The suffix “org” on an internet address – and there are over 10 million of them – has become synonymous with non-profit organizations.

    However, overnight and without warning that situation changed when the registry was sold to a for-profit company. The organization that operates the .org registry, PIR – which stands for Public Interest Registry – has confirmed it will discard the non-profit status it has held since 2003 as a result of the sale.

    Also

     

    More recent decisions by ICANN also had a significant bearing on the decision to sell the .org registry. At the end of June this year, in a controversial decision made despite significant and vocal opposition, ICANN decided to lift price caps on .org domains for the next 10 years, paving the way for unlimited price increases on the 10 million .org domain names. That decision massively increased the value of the .org registry from millions to potentially billions of dollars.

    At the time, ICANN justified the decision by saying it was bringing the contract in line with the many new extensions that have been added to the internet in recent years. And this week, ICANN’s chairman Maarten Botterman told The Register in a statement that:

    “The renewal agreement for .org removed the price cap and includes pricing provisions that are consistent with the base form registry agreement that is published and has been in public view for some time, essentially removing the role of ICANN in pricing restraints, where possible.”

    Anyways if you or anyone you know has a presence on the .org registry the recommendation is to lock down the current registration price for the next decade in order to avoid expected large increases in prices.

  168. 168.

    Bill Arnold

    @Jay:
    That Natasha Bertrand piece is acceptable (well, to me) as partial corporate atonement for the 2017 Vogel politico piece. Link, just for completeness.
    Senate panel look into Ukraine interference comes up short – Some Republican senators recently questioned whether Kyiv tried to sabotage Donald Trump’s campaign in 2016. But the GOP-led Intelligence Committee looked into the theory, and found scant evidence to support it. (NATASHA BERTRAND, 12/02/2019)

  169. 169.

    mad citizen

    @NotMax: Thanks, good reading!  So it can also be levying war against the U.S., which I can see with John Brown, but not with Mary Surratt.  She conspired to kill Lincoln, but how is that war against the U.S.?  Must be in the fine print

     

    Updated: Oh yeah, I forgot the conspiracy was to take out all the senior administration/U.S. officials, so yes, “treasonous conspiracy” it was.

  171. 171.

    Jay

    Once you’ve been to Cambodia, you’ll never stop wanting to beat Henry Kissinger to death with your bare hands. You will never again be able to open a newspaper and read about that treacherous, prevaricating, murderous scumbag sitting down for a nice chat with Charlie Rose or attending some black-tie affair for a new glossy magazine without choking. Witness what Henry did in Cambodia – the fruits of his genius for statesmanship – and you will never understand why he’s not sitting in the dock at The Hague next to Milošević. While Henry continues to nibble nori rolls & remaki at A-list parties, Cambodia, the neutral nation he secretly and illegally bombed, invaded, undermined, and then threw to the dogs, is still trying to raise itself up on its one remaining leg.

    Anthony Bourdain, A Cooks Tour, 2001.

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