Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Republicans in disarray!

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Infrastructure week. at last.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

You cannot shame the shameless.

No one could have predicted…

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Second rate reporter says what?

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Crushing the Big Lie

Crushing the Big Lie

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In the thread downstairs, valued commenter dfh pointed out that talk radio group Cumulus Media gave its stable of wingnut “personalities” a choice: stop fomenting insurrection or GTFO. From The Post:

“We need to help induce national calm NOW,” Brian Philips, executive vice president of content for Cumulus, wrote in an internal memo, which was first reported by Inside Music Media. Cumulus and its program syndication arm, Westwood One, “will not tolerate any suggestion that the election has not ended. The election has been resolved and there are no alternate acceptable ‘paths.’ ”

The memo adds: “If you transgress this policy, you can expect to separate from the company immediately…”

The new policy is a stunning corporate clampdown on the kind of provocative and even inflammatory talk that has long driven the business model for Cumulus and other talk show broadcasters. And it came as Apple, Google and Amazon cut off essential business services to Parler, the pro-Trump social media network where users have promoted falsehoods about election fraud and praised the mob that assaulted the Capitol. Apple and Google removed the Parler app from the offerings for its smartphones, while Amazon suspended it from its Web-hosting services.

As dfh notes, that’s a big deal. The article says Cumulus employs some but not all of the loudest seditionists, including Levin, Bongino and Shapiro. I don’t think it covers Limbaugh, but with any luck, Limbaugh’s loud mouth — which has caused incalculable damage to this country — will be shut forever soon enough.

The Post characterizes the new Cumulus policy as an order for radio hosts to stop repeating the lie that Trump really won the election, but I think it stops short of that, at least in the quoted material. It communicates the less emphatic notion that the election is over and that Trump has no path to retaining the presidency. Close, but not good enough.

What needs to be metaphorically beaten into people’s heads is that Trump fucking LOST and is lying about it. Any equivocation on that point — any hint of ambiguity about that fact — is extremely dangerous.

I was impressed with the way Biden framed the origins of the insurrection as “the Big Lie” and how Democrats have taken it up since. That’s exactly what the entire non-insane portion of the country needs to wrap its collective mind around.

It did my heart good to see one of the liars who caused this mayhem screeching hysterically on Fox and Friends this morning in response to Parler being deplatformed:

Welcome home, chickens — roost wherever you like. Bongino is babbling about the First Amendment, but even if Google, Amazon, Cumulus Media, etc., were “the government,” they’d have a right to tell that motherfucker to stop yelling fire in a crowded theater. That’s what’s happening here.

The Big Lie needs to be crushed as the ridiculous falsehood that it is, or the myth Trump’s enablers created will fester like a new Lost Cause.

Reader Interactions

176Comments

  1. 1.

    dmsilev

    The article says Cumulous employs some but not all of the loudest seditionists, including Levin, Bongino and Shapiro. I don’t think it covers Limbaugh, but with any luck, Limbaugh’s loud mouth — which has caused incalculable damage to this country — will be shut forever soon enough.

    According to that Post article, it doesn’t cover Limbaugh. Some Cumulous stations distribute his crap, but he’s not an employee of the network. Still, as you say, that’s a problem with an expiration date (so to speak) on it.

  2. 2.

    Rand Careaga

    I’m getting the sense that various influential elements of the rentier class have started thinking “Shit, these goobers could break our sweet, sweet system.” Well, prodigal sons and all. We takes our allies of convenience, however transient the convergence of our interests, where we finds ’em.

  4. 4.

    PAM

    So, if Trump had his way with 230 and companies were going to be responsible for what users posted isn’t this exactly what would have happened?  That they would have had to suspend all these accounts in order to stay in business?  What am I missing here?

  5. 5.

    Baud

    @germy: I see that they finally convinced Trump to lower the flag to half mast. Yesterday, I think they were falsely justifying why they didn’t have to do that.

  6. 6.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Levin isn’t letting up, at leas as a Faux Noise contributor.  Cumulous should fire his ass now.

  7. 7.

    Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix

    I don’t pay enough attention to Fox but I think that’s their de-facto policy, same as Cumulus, right?  Biden won, with a thousand asterisks, plus a Rob Portman-like call for an election commission and reform, finding victims in the insurrectionists, etc.  So it’s a slight retrenchment.

  9. 9.

    Betty Cracker

    @Rand Careaga: Yep. And on that note, thanks PGA! That’s gonna leave a big ol’ divot in Trump’s fragile ego.

    Hmmm. I wonder if this explains the recent flurry of Medals of Freedom to golfers? Maybe Trump caught wind of the PGA’s displeasure with being associated with his toxic brand and was trying to forestall that decision? If so, it didn’t work…

  10. 10.

    patrick II

    I want to say good for Cumulus — but it’s hard. Those hosts live on lies. It is intrinsic to them reaching their large audience. Normally the result of such a move would be a Parler equivalent radio network would get some new radio hosts.  I don’t know how much exclusive clout Cumulus has, or if any other radio network has the nationwide reach of Cumulus that they could move to with their lies and let them keep a large share of their audience. If Cumulus is going to do it, now would be the time.

    Have them tell the truth about Climate Change while they are at it.

    The country really can’t go on like this.  A country living in a truthless fantasy is exactly the same as an insane person and reality will just catch-up and destroy us.

  11. 11.

    Starfish

    The concept of the “big lie” was coined by Hitler in Mein Kampf, a lie so big that no one could believe it. He used it to blame the Jews for stuff.

    The quote in the “big lie” entry under Hitler’s psychological profile is eerie.

  12. 12.

    Butch

    Perhaps because my master’s degree focused on the First Amendment, but it gets tiring to point out repeatedly that the First Amendment does not guarantee you a platform.

  13. 13.

    dmsilev

    @Betty Cracker: Yeah, Twitter and golf seem to be about the only things that bring pleasure to Trump. Now both have rejected him.

    By the way, we need a post on the pity party that Third Lady threw for herself. (link to statement). She’s the real victim here, dontchaknow?

  16. 16.

    Betty Cracker

    @Starfish: Yep, and Biden alluded to its Nazi history, which sent every wingnut into an ear-splitting snit. Given his bipartisan bona fides, I was surprised — and pleased! — that he went there.

  18. 18.

    SFAW

    @dmsilev:

    Yeah, Twitter and golf seem to be about the only things that bring pleasure to Trump. Now both have rejected him.

    Ivanka could make it a trifecta.

  19. 19.

    Brachiator

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Levin isn’t letting up, at least as a Faux Noise contributor.  Cumulous should fire his ass now.

    Yep. Some of these people were cynical radio personalities jumping on a hot political bandwagon. But Levin and others may be nut jobs who are disconnected from reality. You just have to fire these people. Conspiracy is all they have.

    Some “moderate” radio personalities in the Los Angeles talkradio market (Clear Channel/iheart stations) have tried to more definitively “admit” that Trump won. The more honest personalities admit on air that hate mail has increased. A core of their audience can’t be bothered with the truth.

  20. 20.

    Punchy

    As I said below, lying is THE intergral part of their hours-long broadcasts.  They cannot fill the timeslot with truths — their audience wont have it.  New lies each day is the only way they get 3+ hours of material.

    If they actually enforce this, these talkers will either comply and have 4 people listening, or continue on and get shitcanned.   Either result is fine with me.

  22. 22.

    dmsilev

    Cassandra, I mean Hillary, speaks. Listen:

    Trump should be impeached. But that alone won’t remove white supremacy from America.

    Wednesday’s attack on the Capitol was the tragically predictable result of white-supremacist grievances fueled by President Trump. But his departure from office, whether immediately or on Jan. 20, will not solve the deeper problems exposed by this episode. What happened is cause for grief and outrage. It should not be cause for shock. What were too often passed off as the rantings of an unfortunate but temporary figure in public life are, in reality, part of something much bigger. That is the challenge that confronts us all.
    […]
    Trump ran for president on a vision of America where whiteness is valued at the expense of everything else. In the White House, he gave white supremacists, members of the extreme right and conspiracy theorists their most powerful platforms, even claiming that there were “very fine people” among the torch-wielding militia members who converged on Charlottesville in 2017.
    By the time he lost in 2020, he had whipped a dangerous element of our country into a frenzy. His supporters began planning their insurrection, making plans to march on the Capitol and “stop the steal.” Members of Congress, including Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), encouraged them, in Brooks’s words, to “start taking down names and kicking ass.” Trump left no doubt about his wishes, in the lead-up to Jan. 6 and with his incendiary words before his mob descended.

    So how do we move forward as a country? What does it say about us that so many were complicit, while those who sounded the alarm were dismissed as hysterical?

    […]

    Removing Trump from office is essential, and I believe he should be impeached. Members of Congress who joined him in subverting our democracy should resign, and those who conspired with the domestic terrorists should be expelled immediately. But that alone won’t remove white supremacy and extremism from America. There are changes elected leaders should pursue immediately, including advocating new criminal laws at the state and federal levels that hold white supremacists accountable and tracking the activities of extremists such as those who breached the Capitol. Twitter and other companies made the right decision to stop Trump from using their platforms, but they will have to do more to stop the spread of violent speech and conspiracy theories.
    The Biden administration will need to address this crisis in all its complexity and breadth, including holding technology platforms accountable, prosecuting all who broke our laws, and making public more intelligence and analysis about domestic terrorism.
    Despite the horror of what we saw happen, in the weeks and months ahead the news cycle will move on. We owe it to ourselves not to do the same. We have the strength, the ability and — yes — the imagination to confront what happened and ensure that nothing like it ever happens again. That’s what real patriotism looks like.

  24. 24.

    jc

    Trump rushed to reassure his base that he “loves” them — for being the easiest marks in history, the most reliably dupe-able folks ever (but don’t hold your breath waiting for a pardon).

    And those horrible liberals want to ruin it all by telling you the truth. They must be stopped.

  25. 25.

    germy

    Off topic, but this is fucking insane:

    The @nycHealthy site has a multi-step verification process just to set up an account, and then a six-step process to set up an appointment.

    Along the way, there are as many as 51 questions or fields, in addition to uploading images of your insurance card.

    — Scott M. Stringer (@NYCComptroller) January 11, 2021

  26. 26.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Baud: Oh, then I can see why the Social Media companies are so enthusiastic about banning Trump, they know Trump wants to destroy them

  27. 27.

    Elizabelle

    You guys:  Cumulus does not have an “O” in it.

    WRT Limbaugh:  I was sad that he still lives, but I now hope he lives to see all the filth and big lies he foisted upon the American public disproved.  I’d like to see him sued.  Lose that misbegotten presidential medal.

    As should Devin Nunes and Jim Jordan.  Filthy traitors, every single one of them.

  30. 30.

    Nicole

    I’m glad, but plenty of listeners are going to blame the Deep State or the government or whatever crazy justification they can come up with to continue to tell themselves Trump won and it’s not their fault.  I’m seeing it on FB (via friends of friends).  There is no way to reason; they have drunk gallons of the Flavor Aid and I don’t think they can come back.

    Gads, even the way the guy phrased it in the memo: “The election has been resolved and there are no alternate acceptable ‘paths.” Dude, the phrase you’re looking for is “Trump LOST the election.”  He can’t even say it; he says, “resolved,” which is as mealy-mouthed a way to say “Trump lost a free and fair election” as I can imagine.

    I think we really need a Fairness Doctrine back.  Though I don’t know how that would apply to talk radio, which is and will continue to be an issue, even in a post- Rush world.

  31. 31.

    Baud

    @MattF: House Democrats are Americans.

     

    Also, that tweet indicates the timing on when to send it to the Senate has not been decided.

  32. 32.

    Another Scott

    Things are moving quickly. But there’s still a lot we don’t know.

    Interesting. Sund blames the Pentagon and is backed up by Bowser’s chief of staff. pic.twitter.com/ZYJsPDTa4k

    — southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) January 11, 2021

    nycsouthpaw has several tweets on the topic.

    We have to remember that “fog of war” is always present. We won’t know what really did and didn’t happen for a while.

    Also, early reporting is often wrong.

    I’m reminded of a former colleague who served on a DC grand jury and was there when a rather infamous case was in the news. He said the reporting got many important facts wrong…

    This coup attempt must be investigated thoroughly and all leads pursued. It will take time.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  37. 37.

    Mike in NC

    We had an appliance repairman stop by an hour ago to work on our clothes dryer. I didn’t even notice until he was heading out the door that he was wearing a white ballcap that said “Make America Great Again”.

    Hopefully he made our clothes dryer OK again.

  40. 40.

    RandomMonster

    Reports keep saying Trump may give remarks today but plans “have not been finalized”, and foolish me keeps hoping that they can’t be finalized because he’s being strong-armed behind the scenes to resign. I should know better than to wish.

  41. 41.

    sdhays

    @dmsilev: It’s worth noting, but I don’t think we need a thread on it. I’m at the point where she’s “Melania who?”. She’s the least consequential spouse of the President in probably the history of the republic.

    She doesn’t warrant attention, unless she’s getting indicted. Regarding what she says, I don’t really care, do u?

  43. 43.

    Jerzy Russian

    I noticed on that Fox “News” graphic that Tim Tebow is “coming up”.  Coming up to do what?

  44. 44.

    germy

    @Mike in NC:

    If he’s anything like the MAGATs I’ve inadvertently hired, the dryer will work for a few days, and then die.  Did he insist you make his check payable to his own name, rather than a business name?  Or did he insist on cash?  That’s been my experience with these CHUDs.

  45. 45.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    As dfh notes, that’s a big deal.

    Yes, it’s clearly a big deal.  A few years ago, Talkers magazine published a list of radio hosts ranked by audience size and Mark Levin came in 3rd place, behind only Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.  I suspect these rankings haven’t changed in the past few years.

    Of the three, I’m most familiar with Levin and he is a foaming at the mouth certifiable lunatic.  During the 2016 primary season, he supported Ted Cruz but once Trump clinched the nomination he became one of his most deranged and delusional advocates.

  48. 48.

    Betty Cracker

    @germy: Looks like an attempt to start a third party, to which I can only say, God speed, and make sure to compete at every level of government!

  49. 49.

    stinger

    @stinger: Well, that was quick. They replaced the House sergeant-at-arms, introduced a resolution to ask Pence to activate the 25th Amendment, some a-hole objected, and they recessed until tomorrow at 9.

  50. 50.

    SFAW

    @MattF:

    House Democrats have the votes to impeach.

    And the Rethugs (except for the Coup-Coup Caucus, i.e., the 140 or so who pledged to vote against certifying) will also sign on, any minute now …..

  51. 51.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @dmsilev:

    She’s the real victim here, dontchaknow?

    I look forward to Jan 20th when Melania Shit for Brains will become completely irrelevant.

  52. 52.

    Ian

    they’d have a right to tell that motherfucker to stop yelling fire in a crowded theater.

    Thats Schenck Vs United States.  1919-1969.  No longer case law.  Brandenburd vs Ohio 1969- updated free speech standards.  Essentially, now they have to prove you were deliberatly trying to hurt someone when you shoot fire in a crowded theater.  Much better legal standard.

    Schenck was a socialist newsman who called for peaceful non disobediant opposition to the draft in WW1.  Not exactly fire in a theater

     

    *Shout** not shoot

  53. 53.

    Spanky

    @Omnes Omnibus: It’s become clear to me that Joe’s M.O. is to be all bipartisan when talking with the media, but his actions show that he’s much (pleasantly!) further left than his soundbites make him sound.

  54. 54.

    Mike in NC

    @Villago Delenda Est:  I recently saw some documentary that showed that of all the scumbags at FOX News, Mark Levin was the one who mostly shaped Fat Bastard’s brand of right-wing politics and paranoia.

  55. 55.

    SFAW

    @sdhays:

    She’s the least consequential spouse of the President in probably the history of the republic.

    Outside of Mrs. Buchanan, that is.

  56. 56.

    Elizabelle

    @Starfish:

    The quote in the “big lie” entry under Hitler’s psychological profile is eerie.

    Hi Starfish.  Could you put up a link?  I can use the google fu if you don’t.  Thanks.

  60. 60.

    Jeffro

    J-Rubs dropping truth bombs all over the place: Republicans Responsible for Sedition Now Want “Unity”

    Hell.

    No.

    (and speaking of the ‘Big Lie’…)

    Even now, the seditionists in Congress cannot denounce a president whose actions threatened the livesof their co-workers and staff. Neither they nor the Republican Senate ringleaders Hawley and Cruz express any remorse for spreading the Big Lie that the election was stolen and continuing to seek to overthrow the elected government. Their demand that we not respond to sedition is madness, and if we accept this rubbish, we have lost our moral bearings.

    Here’s hoping Congress can find the guts to throw out the seditionists!

  61. 61.

    Captain C

    @germy: This looks like a bot or a spoof (no checkmark, few followers); otherwise I’d say Rudy’s actively trying to get arrested and put away for life.  Perhaps he thinks his debtors can’t really collect if all he’s making is a quarter an hour making license plates or sweeping the side of a highway.

  62. 62.

    Aziz, light!

    Ordering the liars to stop beating the stolen election drum because it’s bad for business is not the same as telling them to admit that they lied. There’s a world of difference. There will be no “healing” until these traitorous fuckers tell their audience the truth. Yeah right.

  65. 65.

    Delk

    The utter stupidity of all these right wing pundits/commenters/media hosts to not keep their big mouths shut. It would have been so much easier for them to demonize a Biden presidency than prop up a lying liar.

  66. 66.

    gene108

    @Betty Cracker:

    I don’t think its hyperbolic to say that the future of the country depends on minimizing the number of people who buy into the Big Lie. It can’t be 70 million plus.

    The problem is the Republican Party has been drifting to become the party of the “Big Lies” for a couple of generations.

    “Tax cuts (for the rich) will pay for themselves”

    “Saddam Hussein is an existential threat, since he might have WMD’s”.

    All the way to today that “Trump won”.

    Republicans cannot allow their media puppets to stop with the dispensing some version of one Big Lie or the other.

    I’m not confident the “Stop the Steal” Big Lie will ever be fully deprogrammed from those 70 million people.

    Too many powerful people’s livelihoods depend on it.

  68. 68.

    Captain C

    @Gin & Tonic: I suspect that some people, Trump among them, are in a state of panic over what will come out (and what will happen to their assets) about their financials and other activities once Biden’s term starts.  I wouldn’t be shocked to see Moscow Mitch try to block Merrick Garland again (though I don’t fully expect it, and realistically, if he does, he’ll only delay confirmation of a guy who now has a real incentive to go after the McConnell-Chao family finances, which I suspect are shady at best).

  69. 69.

    BR

    Could we have a phone bank thread to call congress (house/senate) to support immediate impeachment and removal?

  70. 70.

    Mike in NC

    @germy:  Good points. I wrote out a check to the company. We do hire a local handyman for various projects who wants to be paid in cash. Not a MAGAt as far as I know and he does a good job.

  74. 74.

    louc

    @Another Scott: The story also notes that Sund said he was out  of pocket because he was responding to the pipebomb found on the grounds. That convinces me more than anything that there was a plan to kidnap Congressional leaders. It’s a common tactic: distract law enforcement.

  75. 75.

    debbie

    I managed to listen to the entire first hour of Glenn Beck’s clown show, who bemoaned this very thing. He let his audience know he may need to move to a different host and then immediately launched into a plea for money contributions. So, the usual.

  76. 76.

    sanjeevs

    FB still a disaster

    The top-performing link posts by U.S. Facebook pages in the last 24 hours are from:

    1. Dan Bongino

    2. Dan Bongino

    3. NPR

    4. First Lady Melania Trump

    5. Ben Shapiro

    6. Bill Maher

    7. USA Patriots for Donald Trump

    8. Dan Bongino

    9. Ben Shapiro 10.

    USA Patriots for Donald Trump

  78. 78.

    Mary G

    @dmsilev: Reading her statement and then Hillary’s gave me whiplash. I could never decide if they wrote like third graders with grammar errors,extraneous capital letters and typos if they were genuinely stupid, smart enough but too lazy to fix things, ignorant, or doing  it deiberately as part of the act.

  79. 79.

    patrick II

    Patriot Party
    Jan 8
    The Patriot Party wants to start our own Media/Social Media company, But we would need a financial backing from Patriots who wants to see us fight back.

    A Sucker is born every minute.

  80. 80.

    trollhattan

    How does the minority party in the House finagle this?

    “House Republicans on Monday blocked a measure calling on Vice President Pence and Trump’s Cabinet to remove him under the 25th Amendment,” the Washington Post reports.

    “The procedural move by the GOP to block consideration of the measure under unanimous consent will force the full House to vote Tuesday on the resolution. The resolution pressures Pence to initiate proceedings to remove Trump in the wake of the attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob and as calls from Trump’s impeachment grow.”
    –via Political Wire

  82. 82.

    trollhattan

    @patrick II:

    “Money things cost money and you have money so send us money to do this money thing we all want. Plus I have a bigass payment on this F-350.”

  84. 84.

    jonas

    @PAM: That’s exactly right. It’s thanks to sect. 230 that Trump and his treasonous minions weren’t booted from most social media platforms a long time ago. Who would want to be legally responsible for any of the shit going on in the right wing media ecosystem?

  85. 85.

    RSA

    @dmsilev:

    By the way, we need a post on the pity party that Third Lady threw for herself. (link to statement). She’s the real victim here, dontchaknow?

    Speaking of victims, Melania calls out by name the people who are known to have died or been killed during the riot, beginning with Ashli Babbit and ending with the police officers, Brian Sicknick and Howard Liebengood. Her heart goes out to them all, indiscriminately.

  87. 87.

    The Moar You Know

    Also, early reporting is often wrong.

    I’m reminded of a former colleague who served on a DC grand jury and was there when a rather infamous case was in the news. He said the reporting got many important facts wrong…

    @Another Scott: My father’s a retired airline pilot and worked a lot with the NTSB on cockpit management issues surrounding air crashes.  He used to rant about the media.

    Finally asked him why.  He handed me an NTSB final on a fairly famous air crash and asked me if that squared with what I’d read in the news about it.

    That was a fuckin’ eye opener.  He gave me a couple more.  Pretty much everything you’ve ever read about an air crash is wrong in some extremely significant ways.

  90. 90.

    Mike in NC

    @Jeffro:  Something needs to be done about the seditionists in Congress. Letters of Censure at a minimum. Take away their assorted perks and committee assignments.

    I’m crafting a sternly-worded letter to my neo-Confederate shitbird GOP representative to demand that he resign his seat if he cannot observe the oath he took to support the Constitution. The same oath my deceased father and wife’s father — WW2 veterans — took, and I that took seriously during my 30 years of military service.

    At most I expect to get back a form letter thanking me for my service. Pass!

  91. 91.

    burnspbesq

    Anyone who would be bankrupted by the loss of their investment in Parler isn’t diversified enough, and that’s nobody’s fault but their own. Too damn bad.

  93. 93.

    randy khan

    BTW, the right-wing talking points about the insurrection now appear to include (a) that the woman who died was shot by a Black Capitol Police officer (never mind that she was trying to break into a barricaded room); and (b) that the Capitol Police officer who died had a heart attack.  Also, they’re still on the bit about how we don’t know who was involved, as if the idiots who were there hadn’t posted selfies and videos on social media.

  96. 96.

    The Moar You Know

    So the real Rudy is off twitter.

    Maybe he left in solidarity with the orange pol pot.

    @germy: I think he and Sidney Powell got the banhammer at the same time as Trump.

  97. 97.

    Ken

    @Betty Cracker: Biden alluded to its Nazi history, which sent every wingnut into an ear-splitting snit.

    Remind me, who was the third-party candidate last year, who when someone (possibly Hillary Clinton?) spoke of “Russia backing candidates”, went into a tirade about how horribly they’d been insulted – even though their name had not been mentioned?

  98. 98.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Mike in NC: I am happy to say that my junior Senator, Sheldon Whitehouse, has already introduced a resolution to censure and possibly expel Cruz and Hawley.

  100. 100.

    Baud

    The Treasury Department announced a new spate of sanctions on Monday targeting the “inner circle” of Andrii Derkach, the pro-Russian Ukrainian lawmaker who aided Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to probe unsubstantiated allegations of wrongdoing by President-elect Joe Biden and his family.

  103. 103.

    West of the Rockies

    If I may note the obvious, Bongino looks like an imbecile.  No. Really.  He looks like is mother was a drinker and his meth addict father dropped him on his melon.  Maybe it’s  steroids and booze?

  105. 105.

    Ken

    @Mary G: I’ve heard that some scams, such as the “Nigerian prince”, deliberately put spelling and grammar errors in their pitches as a way to filter for people who aren’t bright enough to notice, thus are less likely to realize it’s a scam.

  107. 107.

    debbie

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Why just those two senators? There were others, maybe less vocal but no less subversive

    ETA: I think even those who remained silent (ie, Rob Portman) should be included.

  109. 109.

    Jinchi

    Local website investor: “They have effectively tried to bankrupt me and my investors on Parler. And you know what? They won”

    You know, I’m suddenly worried that Trump won’t be able to refinance his half-billion dollar debt.

    Ah well, I’m sure he can cover it.

  110. 110.

    Woodrow/asim

    @trollhattan: What Pelosi wanted was unanimous consent –basically everyone in the House agrees to the measure.

    The GOP blocked that, so it’ll just come up for a vote (I think they said tomorrow). Which will…put every House member on the record on supporting this, or not.

    So, yeah.

  113. 113.

    The Moar You Know

    Gell-Mann amnesia

    @Gin & Tonic: That’s good.  I assume any media report these days will have the same facts that any casual observer would notice correct, i.e. “big explosion downtown” and that the rest of it is idle speculation from a 20-something with a undergrad journo degree getting all his/her information off the internet.

  115. 115.

    Cathie from Canada

    I have realized that Democrats, and millions of Biden voters, really got suckered good.

    For 2 months it was all “just wait, don’t worry, Trump will come around, he just needs a little more time” and “don’t worry about those nutcases who think the election was stolen. As soon as the court cases are thrown out, they’ll understand the election really was fair” and “its OK that these Republican politicians are saying Biden stole the election, its just political theatrics for the base, everybody knows it isn’t really true” and “don’t talk too much about Biden’s win, it hurts their delicate fee-fees and you mustn’t do that,  you really need to reach out to unify the country again.”
    So we whispered instead of shouting, and we didn’t push back loudly and often, and we let it go when Republican politicians were too cowardly to say anything either.
    Meanwhile they were all busy plotting #TheBigLie & organizing #TrumpInsurrection. 

  118. 118.

    germy

    @debbie:

    The Senate will need to conduct security review of what happened and what went wrong, likely through Rules, Homeland and Judiciary. The Senate Ethics Committee also must consider the expulsion, or censure and punishment, of Sens. Cruz, Hawley, and perhaps others.— Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) January 11, 2021

  119. 119.

    scav

    @debbie: Low-hanging fruitcakes first?

    In no way does that imply there are not more in the pipeline, and it might inspire a few sensitive targets to attempt to signal their good-boy! status by coming over all bipartisan suddenly.

  122. 122.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @The Moar You Know: That’s always been my experience with the press, even when you literally write out the specifics and hand it to them. And they are oh so sensitive when they are called on it. A couple weren’t totally stupid, but quite a few I dealt with were just not that bright. Some of those seemed to want to do right, but just could not figure it out. Others simply didn’t give a flip.

  123. 123.

    The Moar You Know

    Maybe one reason for that is that the NTSB refuses to be more transparent?

    @Barbara: the NTSB is as transparent as it gets; you too can just go to their site and read finals just like anyone else.  A lot of it may not make a lot of sense to you unless you’re a pilot or aircraft engineer.

    Where they run into a meatgrinder with the media is that the media wants a cause within four hours of the incident and finding out what actually happened can take months if not years.  And the media is not willing to wait that long, but the NTSB is not going to release a final report until they know and understand what happened.

  126. 126.

    debbie

    My local NPR station had an hour-long show with the author of a book about Mussolini and other strong men, including Trump. At the very, very end of the show, a caller launched into a diatribe beginning with Benghazi. Pity, the previous 59 minutes were really very, very good.

  127. 127.

    sdhays

    @Another Scott: I read an article in the Washington Post last night that suggested that the Sergeants at Arms for the House and Senate are also at major fault. Apparently, Sund requested having the DC Guard on standby before January 6, but couldn’t get approval from the Sergeants at Arms.

    Then, on January 6 Sund was begging for approval to activate the Guard and the Sergeants at Arms said they needed to check with the leadership of their respective chambers (note: they did not need to do this). Staff for Pelosi and McConnell were shocked that the Guard was not on standby and that’s when the first bureaucratic blockage was cleared.

    The Sergeants at Arms aren’t talking, and there was some weird reference to one of them having their phone disconnected and having moved. So there’s quite a story there too.

  128. 128.

    Scout211

    Josh Marshall at TPM made the point yesterday in his post that we currently have a “headless” government.  In any other administration there would be press conferences, briefings and addresses to the public over something so serious.  Not one agency has done that so far.

    This morning on NBC.com there was story on their update ticker that stated the Democrats are calling for press conferences from DOJ, Homeland and FBI.

    So the ball is in their court(s) right now.

  129. 129.

    Amir Khalid

    @WaterGirl:

    I’m not really surprised. Trump’s tweets got a lot of eyeballs views for Twitter, and they knew they were acting against their own immediate business interest when they smote him with the banhammer. But I reckon they figured that not smiting him would lead to accusations that they were abetting him, and thence to an even bigger backlash.

  130. 130.

    Wapiti

    @germy: I’d like Tuberville to explain the conversations with Trump on the day of. If he holds them in confidence… he’s part of the problem.

  132. 132.

    burnspbesq

    @Jinchi:

    Ah well, I’m sure he can cover it.

    Not if he’s added as a defendant in Dominion’s defamation action, and they get a pre-judgment attachment.

  134. 134.

    Jinchi

    @jonas: It’s thanks to sect. 230 that Trump and his treasonous minions weren’t booted from most social media platforms a long time ago.

    I think he was hoping to replace it with section 1488.

  136. 136.

    trollhattan

    @Cathie from Canada:

    For 2 months it was all “just wait, don’t worry, Trump will come around, he just needs a little more time” and “don’t worry about those nutcases who think the election was stolen.

    Other than our newsmedia betters, who are these mystery people you quote?

  145. 145.

    Spanky

    @WaterGirl: Twitter closed on Friday at $51.48. After the drop before this morning’s open it’s been climbing steadily. Currently at $49.03.

    Any articles about Twitter getting hammered for shitcanning Trump at this point will range from premature to overblown to full-blown bullshit.

  147. 147.

    jc

    In a way, it felt like the mess last Weds. was intended to be a distraction from the Georgia debacle for the Rs, and from the certification for Biden. Don’t look there, look *here*. But it got out of control — big surprise that the R base showed themselves to be such clowns. Now they need a new distraction from the mess they made last week …

  149. 149.

    sdhays

    @jc: What’s becoming more clear is that the clowns were distracting from the more dangerous people in their midst. At the time, there was an element of “as offensive as these clowns are, they can’t really be that much of a threat, can they?” since a lot of the violence wasn’t broadcast in real time (after the breach). We’re now finding out that there were people there who were prepared for a lot more than a circus.

  153. 153.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Amir Khalid: I hope we are still a nation of laws, but we definitely are a nation of lawyers. During my employment for the government I sat on the selection board for a major ($100M+) contract.

    I was very impressed at the secrecy precautions taken by and dire warnings given by the legal people. Much more elaborate precautions on information that can get us sued than we give to our military secrets which can merely get people killed.

    Short version: Twitter probably got scared. Lawyers are scary.

  154. 154.

    Aleta

    Parler CEO is shocked.  Amazon so unfair.   “It’s devastating.” “Where you gonna find 300-500 servers in a 24 hour window and how can you send all of the data out to them?”

    Their customers used Parler to declare war.  But he whines that the other side in the  war should still keep hosting them (or give courteous notice).  Even after the war is begun and being coordinated on Parler?   (Given a choice to monitor for/remove violent content, Parler refused, then offered that ‘volunteers’ could watch for them.)

    Matthew Keys @MatthewKeysLive
    VIDEO: Parler CEO admits his comment yesterday about “many competing for our business” was wrong, says no one wants to host website after being dropped by Amazon. Additionally, he says Parler’s attorneys have dropped them as a client. [He inserts a short clip from Fox News in his tweet]

  155. 155.

    Feathers

    @VeniceRiley: Yeah and it includes deleted posts and videos with the metadata, including GPS coordinates for the videos. Also, to set up an account you had to provide your #SSN and upload a photo of your ID.

    Turns out Parler was built on top of WordPress. The way in to get everything was discovered when all their vendors began bailing on them. Knowing what products they used (some of them NOT of the security grade to store #SSNs) allowed hackers to set up administrator accounts that gave them access to everything ever uploaded.

    Sweet.

  156. 156.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Feathers: Wait, WordPress is not state of the art security? Should I worry about the credit card info, birth certificate, address and SSN I was told I had to upload in order to comment on BJ?

    Seriously, I was appalled when I read that requirement about uploading your drivers license and SSN. NOBODY is allowed to ask you for your SSN. I would think any sentient being over the age of 5 would see that requirement and think, “yeah, this is some sort of identity-theft scam, nice try.”

    Yet all the right-wingers happy flocked over there and gave up their identities.

    Edit: Also, do we have a definitive answer as to whether the french word “Parler” in this context is to be pronounced as the French say it, or pronounced as someone who knows not a thing about French would say it?

  157. 157.

    sab

    @Ken: My great-grandfather almost fell for an African prince scam. His housekeeper talked him out of it. That was in about 1900. Sort of a family legend that we wish was better documented. He was in the import/export business. These things have been around for a long time.

  159. 159.

    Jay

    @trollhattan:

    Cathy was expressing frustration that the Democratic Party and their leadership are in a reactive mode, rather than a proactive mode.

    And that things have gone so far.

    We all saw this coming, but the great mass of the Lumpenproletariate are just starting to buy a clue.

  160. 160.

    sab

    @sdhays: Back then being gay never stopped men from marryimg, because they needed wives and children for respectability. Buchanan was engaged but he took so long to get married that she broke it off. He never got engaged again.

  161. 161.

    Ruckus

    @Brachiator:

    I used to have to deal directly with Clear Channel and if you think the radio station personalities are shit, you should meet some of the assholes in the executive suite. There have been times that I had to wonder, would a stint in jail be worth it……. And just for general information, the answer is mighty damn close. I’d say I was well above 90% sure it would. Just about the smallest of short of enough.

  162. 162.

    Aleta

    Via @VeniceRiley: @Feathers:

    crash override  @donk_enby  Jan 9

    the lack of moderation on Parler is not the issue. they actually have very robust moderation tools and all new users start out shadowbanned until enough of their post get approved for rightthink by their user moderators

    @donk_enby  Jan 5
    This is not an ad network. This is a system where their most “influential” users can get paid to post organic-looking sponsored content. Their CEO talks about it here [CNBC July 2]

     

    A TechCrunch article Scraped Parler data is a metadata goldmine by Zack Whittaker

    His article has a link to the Internat Archive where the data is posted.

  163. 163.

    MisterForkbeard

    @germy: Maybe this was answered in the past two hours, but I think it was today that they were going to push some new Hunter Biden stuff.

  164. 164.

    trollhattan

    Florida Man has thoughts.

    Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told Fox News that Democratic “overreach” in the coming years will help propel the GOP back into the Senate majority in 2022.

    Said Scott: “Over the next two years, the Democrats are going to try to do a whole bunch of things that the public doesn’t want.”

  165. 165.

    Gravenstone

    @Ken: Tulsi Gabbard reacted strongly to the mention of “Russian backed candidates” even without her name being mentioned, as you said. Wonder why???????

  166. 166.

    Brachiator

    @Ruckus:

    I used to have to deal directly with Clear Channel and if you think the radio station personalities are shit, you should meet some of the assholes in the executive suite. There have been times that I had to wonder, would a stint in jail be worth it……. And just for general information, the answer is mighty damn close. I’d say I was well above 90% sure it would. Just about the smallest of short of enough.

    Ha! Thanks for the insights. Of course KFI is the big dog here in the English language talk radio market. A lot of this is because the competition is pitiful.

  168. 168.

    Boris Rasputin (the evil twin)

    @Elizabelle: I was hoping Rush lives to see Biden sworn in, and then spontaneously combusts before air time. Now I see your points, and favor your approach.

    THEN, the spontaneous combustion.

  170. 170.

    Brachiator

    @trollhattan:

    Said Scott: “Over the next two years, the Democrats are going to try to do a whole bunch of things that the public doesn’t want.”

    I’m the public. I want good health care coverage.  I did not want to have to worry about dying from the goddam pandemic.

    The GOP thinks they can comfortably settle an opposition built around “free stuff to the unworthy, interference with your freedoms and scary, scary socialism on top of communism.”

    This crap gets so old.

  171. 171.

    WaterGirl

    @Spanky:  Looks like the rubes aren’t the only ones who need to be more discerning in evaluating what we read before we assume it’s true.  I suspect we all need to do better at this.

  172. 172.

    MisterForkbeard

    @WaterGirl: I did.

    40% of the country is going to be pissed about this, and Twitter made a lot of money off of engagement with Trump. Of course they’re losing share value – they pissed off a large portion of their audience and shut off a major money source.

    No surprise there at all.

  173. 173.

    Sm*t Cl*de

    @Another Scott:

    I loved the Andromeda Strain and some of Crichton’s other books. But he was a crank in some ways too (e.g. climate change)…

    In Andromeda Strain, Crichton called it “The Rule of 48” — “All scientists are blind” — using as example the persistence of the idea that humans have 48 chromosomes (rather than the actual 46). Which was amusing, but I checked the details he provided of how the wrong idea originated and persisted, and he was wrong about everything.

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