Sunday, July 31, 2016

Oops! Trump assuredly says "Putin won't go into Ukraine"

Trouble is...Putin already did invade Ukraine. His troops are in Crimea.  When that information was pointed out to him, here's the nonsensical answer from Trump: "OK, well he's there in a certain way. But I'm not there."  ????? 

But, oh well, what difference does it make if Trump knows nothing, lies constantly, and never makes sense and doesn't read anything but Twitter and some ultra right wing sites on the Internet?  So what if he is totally ignorant of what is going on in the world and doesn't know the Constitution of the U.S.? (he says he supports Article 12, but there are only 7 articles) So what if he says the same thing over and over again to supporters who bring up subjects he is clueless about: "We're looking into that."?? 

His supporters don't care about any of this...they're the people who live in the Bubble World, getting their truthiness "news" from Faux/Fox.  They are citizens of an alternate universe.  In that universe, Trump tells them what they want to hear--and, if it's immediately proven wrong by facts (something the right wing is not familiar with), he just does a sudden switchback and says the opposite--or backs away by changing the topic to blame the Democrats for something or other, even if it has nothing to do with the subject at hand.  Either way, his voters cheer him.  Who can account for that kind of lemming mindset that doesn't need logic or continuity--or truth from facts?  These are the Trump voters. It would be humorous if it weren't so tragic.

Trump says Putin is 'not going to go into Ukraine,' despite Crimea

Washington (CNN)Donald Trump said Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin won't make a military move into Ukraine -- even though Putin already has done just that, seizing the country's Crimean peninsula.

"He's not going into Ukraine, OK, just so you understand. He's not going to go into Ukraine, all right? You can mark it down. You can put it down. You can take it anywhere you want," Trump said in an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos on "This Week."

"Well, he's already there, isn't he?" Stephanoploulos responded, in a reference to Crimea, which Putin took from Ukraine in early 2014.

Trump said: "OK -- well, he's there in a certain way. But I'm not there. You have Obama there. And frankly, that whole part of the world is a mess under Obama with all the strength that you're talking about and all of the power of NATO and all of this. In the meantime, he's going away. He takes Crimea."
Stephanopoulos interjected to note that Trump has suggested he could recognize Russia's claim on Crimea over Ukraine's -- and Trump didn't back away from that possibility in the interview.
"I'm going to take a look at it," he said. "But you know, the people of Crimea, from what I've heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were. And you have to look at that, also ... just so you understand, that was done under Obama's administration."

Trump added: "And as far as the Ukraine is concerned, it's a mess. And that's under the Obama's administration with his strong ties to NATO. So with all of these strong ties to NATO, Ukraine is a mess. Crimea has been taken. Don't blame Donald Trump for that."

Stephanopoulos also pressed Trump on changes to the Republican platform removing calls for the provision of lethal weapons so the people of Ukraine can defend themselves, which Trump said he had nothing to do with.
And he asked about Trump's claims in recent years that he has a personal relationship with Putin.

"I have no relationship with Putin. I have no relationship with Putin," Trump said.  "Just so you understand, he said very nice things about me. But I have no relationship with him. I don't -- I've never met him," said Trump.
But in a November 2015 Republican primary debate, Trump had said of Putin: "I got to know him very well because we were both on '60 Minutes,' we were stablemates."
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Saturday, July 30, 2016

Trump belittles parents of fallen hero soldier

Trump Hits Father Of Fallen Soldier: 'I've Made A Lot Of Sacrifices'

By Karoli Kunis

Of course Donald Trump was going to go after Khizr Khan, the bereaved father who spoke at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night. He had to, because Khan stands for everything anti-Trump. Patriotism, sacrifice, and integrity. Oh, and Khan is Muslim.

Trump did not disappoint, telling ABC News Saturday that he had "made a lot of sacrifices" by employing "thousands and thousands of people," and having "tremendous success."

Here's some questions Stephanopoulos might have asked, if he were thinking on his feet. I would have asked them, anyway. How can you compare money to the loss of a child? Have you lost a child? Have you lost a child who laid down his life for his country? No? Then you've made no sacrifice greater than the one the Khan family has.

It didn't stop there, either. Trump went after Khan's wife for not saying anything on the stage.

"If you look at his wife, she was standing there. She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn't allowed to have anything to say. You tell me," he rambled.

What a stupid thing to say. In their interview with Lawrence O'Donnell Friday, Mrs Khan explained that she can't even bear to go into the room where his picture is because the loss is still so utterly fresh for her. She didn't trust herself to maintain her composure so she let her husband speak. He, in turn, said that without her at his side he wouldn't have made it through the speech.

If you were in the room -- and we were -- you know this moment was electrifying. Simply electrifying. The Khans were private citizens who had the courage to come out and stand up for their son because they get it. As immigrants, they understand the constitution and American values better than Trump does.

We managed to get a picture of them just as they began their speech from our vantage point behind cameras and things.

Trump has no idea what to do with ordinary American citizens who are not white or Christian but are incredibly good. He has no idea what the meaning of sacrifice truly is.

And because he has no idea of that, he has no business being Commander-in-Chief. None whatsoever. If Donald Trump thinks money is as much of a sacrifice as someone's child, he would simply treat people as human currency to throw away in meaningless grudge wars.

The Khans stand as a rebuke to that, and voters should pay attention.

David Waldman summed it up: 

Trump's sons have made sacrifices. Animal sacrifices.

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Friday, July 29, 2016

This Election Isn't Just Democrat vs. Republican. It's Normal vs. Abnormal

This election isn't just Democrat vs. Republican. It's normal vs. abnormal.

Updated by on July 28, 2016

What we just witnessed in Cleveland and Philadelphia defies our normal political vocabulary. We are used to speaking of American politics as split between the two major parties. It's Democrats versus Republicans, liberals versus conservatives, left versus right.

But not this election. The conventions showed that this is something different. This campaign is not merely a choice between the Democratic and Republican parties, but between a normal political party and an abnormal one.

The Democratic Party's convention was a normal political party's convention. The party nominated Hillary Clinton, a longtime party member with deep experience in government. Clinton was endorsed by Bernie Sanders, the runner-up in the primary. Barack Obama, the sitting president, spoke in favor of Clinton. Various Democratic luminaries gave speeches endorsing Clinton by name. The assembled speakers criticized the other party's nominee, arguing that he would be a bad president and should be defeated at the polls.

That isn't to say that Democrats didn't show divisions or expose fault lines. They did. Political parties are chaotic things. The Democratic Party's primary was unusually bitter, and listening to the loud "boos" of Sanders's most committed supporters, there's real reason to wonder whether Democrats will fracture in coming years. But for now, the Democrats nominated a normal candidate, held a normal convention, and remain a normal political party.

Republicans held an abnormal convention and nominated an abnormal candidate

The Republican Party's convention was not a normal political party's convention. The party nominated Donald Trump, a new member with literally no experience in government. Ted Cruz, the runner-up in the primary, gave a primetime speech in which he refused to endorse Trump, and instead told Americans to "vote your conscience."

The Republican Party's two living presidents, George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush, declined to endorse Trump or attend the convention. The party's previous two presidential nominees, Mitt Romney and John McCain, declined to endorse Trump or attend the convention. The assembled speakers — including Chris Christie, a prospective attorney general — argued that the other party's nominee was a criminal who should be thrown in jail.

Republican National Convention: Day Two Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images GUILTY!

Even the normal parts of the convention felt abnormal. The prospective first lady's speech included a passage plagiarized from the Democratic Party's first lady. Trump counterprogrammed the first night of his own convention by doing a phone interview with Fox News and an hour-long discussion with the Golf Channel. He distracted from his running mate's acceptance speech by telling the New York Times he would not automatically honor America's commitments under the NATO treaty. Trump's speech was enthusiastically endorsed by David Duke, the former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. "Couldn't have said it better," he tweeted.

Trump's post-convention was even worse

The strangeness didn't end with the convention. The next day — the very next day! — Trump gave a press conference in which he said Ted Cruz's father was likely involved in the assassination of JFK, swore he wouldn't accept Cruz's endorsement even if it were offered, and argued that the National Enquirer deserved a Pulitzer Prize. It was one of the strangest and most self-destructive political performances in recent memory. The conservative Weekly Standard was left agog. The Republican Party's nominee, Stephen Hayes wrote, "is not of sound mind."

Then, befitting the dignity we expect in our presidential aspirants, the Republican Party's nominee spent his week live-tweeting the Democratic Party's convention, with deep, thoughtful commentary like:

And:

He followed that up with a press conference at which he blasted the job Tim Kaine had done in … New Jersey? Of course, Kaine was the governor of Virginia. Trump seems to have literally confused the Democrats' vice presidential nominee with Tom Kean, the former Republican governor of New Jersey.

Unwilling to stop there, Trump went on to comment on the hack of the Democratic National Committee's emails, which most experts think was conducted by Russia. "Russia, if you are listening, I hope you are able to find the 33,000 emails that are missing — I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press," he said.

Let's stop there for a second: Donald Trump went out and asked a foreign government to conduct cyber espionage in order to help his campaign. His supporters initially tried to laugh it off as an ad-libbed joke, but then Trump tweeted the same thing. This came only hours after his running mate, Mike Pence, had warned of "serious consequences" if Russia truly was behind the DNC hack.

None of this is normal.

A new cleavage in American politics: normal versus abnormal

America's main political cleavage is between the Democratic and Republican parties. That split has meant different things at different times, but in recent decades it primarily tracks an ideological disagreement: Democrats are the party of liberal policies; Republicans are the party of conservative policies.

But in this year's presidential election, the difference is more fundamental than that: The Democratic Party is a normal political party that has nominated a normal presidential candidate, and the Republican Party has become an abnormal political party that has nominated an abnormal presidential candidate.

Donald Trump And Mike Pence Hold Town Hall In Scranton, PA Photo by John Moore/Getty Images

Simply saying that will raise people's partisan hackles, but it's not a partisan comment. Republicans know that Donald Trump is not a normal nominee. They know this isn't what their 2012 convention looked like or how their 2008 convention felt. And while most Republicans fear Democrats keeping the White House enough to unhappily support Trump, it's worth listening to what they've said about him.

Ted Cruz called Trump a "pathological liar," "utterly amoral," and "a narcissist at a level I don't think this country's ever seen."

Rick Perry said Trump's candidacy was "a cancer on conservatism, and it must be clearly diagnosed, excised, and discarded."

National Review, the flagship journal of American conservatism, said Trump "is a menace to American conservatism."

Rand Paul said Trump is "a delusional narcissist and an orange-faced windbag. A speck of dirt is way more qualified to be president."

A list like this could go on, and on, and on. But here's the point: These aren't normal political condemnations. This isn't normal political language. Republicans know they've nominated a dangerous man. They tried to warn their voters in the strongest terms possible that Trump is unqualified, untrustworthy, and amoral.

Michael Bloomberg, the former Republican mayor of New York City, put it simply in a speech endorsing Clinton. "Together, let's elect a sane, competent person," he said. That is what an endorsement sounds like when the choice shifts from left versus right to normal versus abnormal.

There are some differences in politics that transcend ideology. This is one of them. Clinton, say what you will about her, is a normal political candidate who will operate within the normal boundaries of American democracy. Donald Trump is an abnormal political candidate; we have no idea which democratic boundaries he would respect, which conspiracy theories he would believe, which political enemies he would punish, which treaties he would honor.

Trump has already been scolded by his own party for racist comments, for attacks on the judiciary, for undermining the NATO alliance, for inviting foreign governments to meddle in American elections. None of this is okay. None of it is normal. This is not a man with the temperament, the steadiness, or the discipline to be president.

This election puts Republicans in a hard position. Even as the choice in this election is between a normal candidate and an abnormal one, it's also between a liberal candidate and a, well, conservative-ish one. I don't doubt Trump would nominate pro-life judges, or that he would resist raising taxes. I understand why so many Republicans have decided to suppress their doubts and support him.

But this is a dangerous game. We are a nation protected by norms, not just by laws. Our political parties should be held to certain standards in terms of the candidates they nominate, the behaviors they accept, the ideas they mainstream. Trump violates those standards. By indulging him, the Republican Party is normalizing him and his behavior, and making itself abnormal.

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Donald Trump Wanted to "Hit" Speakers at Dem. Convention

.."so hard their heads will spin."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-threat-hit-democrats_us_579b6724e4b0693164c0e3d6

I wonder what he would do as President if Putin or Kim Jong-un said something critical about him...


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Fox viewers didn't get to see the Muslim father and mother whose son was killed fighting for the U.S.

Instead, while that father was talking about his son with heartfelt passion, Fox "treated" its loyal viewers to films of ISIS fighters and commercials attacking Hillary over Benghazi.  And so the right wing missed one of the most touching (and teaching) moments of the Democratic convention (but, of course. The "Fair and Balanced" network is committed to carefully editing out truth and facts that might cause any doubts to arise in the brains of Trump supporters).

For any right wingers with minds that still have an open crack for truth to seep in, and who might want to see what they missed, you can go to this link and watch the video:  http://www.rawstory.com/2016/07/megyn-kelly-airs-images-of-isis-fighters-while-muslim-dad-of-slain-u-s-soldier-speaks-to-dnc/  I'm sure some cognitive dissonance might have arisen in the minds of Fox viewers who happened to see retired Marine General John Allen speak out in a strong denouncement of Trump and a rousing support of Clinton.  But Fox was quick to tamp down that can't-be-allowed! dissonance by immediately presenting General Flynn, a rabid right winger (and one of the runner-ups in Trump's VP selection), to denounce Col. Allen. Unfortunately for Fox,  it's kind of like "whack-a-mole", as more and more high military brass and government leaders are coming out in support of Clinton. 

Megyn Kelly airs images of ISIS fighters while Muslim dad of slain US soldier speaks to DNC

Fox News host Megyn Kelly ignored a Muslim father speaking at the Democratic National Convention whose son was killed fighting for the U.S. and instead aired photos of ISIS fighters and commercials attacking Hillary Clinton over the terrorist attacks in Benghazi.

Speaking at the DNC on Thursday, Khizr Khan explained that his son was killed by a car bomb fighting in Iraq for the U.S. Armed Forces in 2004. Kahn also held up a copy of the U.S. Constitution and challenged GOP nominee Donald Trump to read it.

But viewers of Fox News only briefly saw Khan in a split screen without audio as Brit Hume and Kelly discussed Trump. Kelly then cut to a commercial blaming Hillary for the attacks in Benghazi while Kahn was visible in a split screen. After returning from commercial, viewers saw images of ISIS and a segment warning about the Islamic state.

As Media Matters noted, Kelly did find time at the end of her program to air several minutes of Katy Perry performing at the convention. 

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Taking the measure of the men -- Obama and Trump

Click on the link below to read a good article that does exactly that--takes the measure of the men through their own words and actions--and leaves you to decide which kind of man you admire most.  Should be read by all Americans, but won't even be noted by Fox viewers, because it won't be included in their daily poisoned pablum from that network.  They're so used to eating poison, they don't recognize nurturing food when it is presented to them.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/barack-obama-donald-trump-quotes_us_579a155fe4b02d5d5ed489ce?section=

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Sunday, July 24, 2016

Hillary appears to have a minor seizure a few days ago - caught on video

A very strange happening occurred while Hillary was answering questions in a crowd, right after campaigning with Elizabeth Warren.  This video is showing up all over the Internet:   http://www.snopes.com/hillary-clinton-seizure-video/

It does appear to be some kind of seizure, but she covered it up well and even duplicated/mimicked it herself immediately after, with a laugh, as if to convince everyone she was doing it on purpose.  This just adds more speculative fuel to all the questions about her candidacy.  Should be an interesting convention.  As Bette Davis said in her legendary movie quote, "Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night." (week, in our case).  I think the bumps are going to continue throughout the campaign for both sides...and maybe even become mountains, as this latest fiasco with Debbie Wasserman Schultz may be heading. E-mails of all kinds might cause the downfall of Hillary. They seem to be dogging her relentlessly.   I have to say this for Hillary, with some begrudging admiration for the woman:  She is One Tough Cookie!

Re. Hillary's health, this article is from January 2013:

Clinton Out of Hospital After Treatment for Clot

Photo
Hillary Rodham Clinton leaving New York-Presbyterian/Columbia hospital on Wednesday with her family. Credit Joshua Lott/Reuters

Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose globe-trotting tour as secretary of state was abruptly halted last month by a series of health problems, was discharged from a New York hospital on Wednesday evening after several days of treatment for a blood clot in a vein in her head.

The news of her release was the first welcome sign in a troubling month that grounded Mrs. Clinton — preventing her from answering questions in Congress about the State Department's handling of the lethal attack on an American mission in Libya or being present when President Obama announced Senator John Kerry as his choice for her successor when she steps down as secretary of state.

"Her medical team advised her that she is making good progress on all fronts, and they are confident she will make a full recovery," Philippe Reines, a senior adviser to Mrs. Clinton, said in a statement.

Mrs. Clinton, 65, was admitted to NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia hospital on Sunday after a scan discovered the blood clot. The scan was part of her follow-up care for a concussion she sustained more than two weeks earlier, when she fainted and fell, striking her head. According to the State Department, the fainting was caused by dehydration, brought on by a stomach virus. The concussion was diagnosed on Dec. 13, though the fall had occurred earlier that week.

The clot was potentially serious, blocking a vein that drains blood from the brain. Untreated, such blockages can lead to brain hemorrhages or strokes. Treatment consists mainly of blood thinners to keep the clot from enlarging and to prevent more clots from forming, and plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration, which is a major risk factor for blood clots.

Photographed leaving the hospital, Mrs. Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and their daughter, Chelsea, appeared elated. In a Twitter post on Wednesday, Chelsea Clinton said, "Grateful my Mom discharged from the hospital & is heading home. Even more grateful her medical team confident she'll make a full recovery."

Photo
Credit The New York Times

Dr. David J. Langer, a brain surgeon and associate professor at Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine, said that Mrs. Clinton would need close monitoring in the next days, weeks and months to make sure her doses of blood thinners are correct and that the clot is not growing. Dr. Langer is not involved in her care.

Continue reading the main story

Mrs. Clinton's illness cuts short what would have been a victory lap for her at the State Department. With only a few weeks before the end of President Obama's first term — the time frame she set for her own departure — she will be able to do little more than say goodbye to her troops.

But she will, at least theoretically, be able to testify before the Senate and House about the attack on the American mission in Benghazi, Libya, which killed four Americans, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens. She was not able to appear at a hearing in December because of her illness. Republicans, who have sharply criticized the Obama administration's handling of the attack and its aftermath, had demanded that she appear to explain the department's role, though in recent days they have modulated their request.

Mrs. Clinton's blood clot formed in a large vein along the side of her head, behind her right ear, between the brain and the skull. The vein, called the right transverse sinus, has a matching vessel on the left side. These veins drain blood from the brain; blockages can cause strokes or brain hemorrhages. But if only one transverse sinus is blocked, the vein on other side can usually handle the extra flow.

In one sense, Mrs. Clinton was lucky: a clot higher in this drainage system, in a vessel with no partner to take the overflow, would have been far more dangerous, according to Dr. Geoffrey T. Manley, the vice chairman of neurological surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. He is not involved in her care.

The fact that Mrs. Clinton had a blood clot in the past — in her leg, in 1998 — suggests that she may have a tendency to form clots, and may need blood-thinners long-term or even for the rest of her life, Dr. Manley said.

One major risk to people who take blood thinners is that the drugs increase bleeding, so blows to the head from falls or other accidents — like the fall that caused Mrs. Clinton's concussion — become more dangerous, and more likely to cause a brain hemorrhage. Even so, the medication should not interfere with Mrs. Clinton's career, Dr. Manley said.

"There are lots of people running around on anticoagulants today," he said. "I don't see any way it would have any long-term consequences."

He also said there was no reason to think that this type of clot would recur; he said he had treated many patients for the same condition and had never seen one come back with it again.

Dr. Langer said the vein blocked by the clot might or might not reopen. Sometimes, he said, the clot persists and the body covers it with tissue that closes or narrows the blood vessel. As long as the vein on the other side of the head is open, there is no problem for the patient.

One thing that is unclear, and that may never be known for sure, is what caused Mrs. Clinton's blood clot. Around the second week in December, she reportedly contracted a stomach virus that caused vomiting and dehydration, passed out, fell and struck her head. A concussion was diagnosed several days after the fall, on Dec. 13, and the public was told Sunday that she had a blood clot, though its location was not revealed until the next day.

She had several risk factors for clots, including dehydration and her previous history of a clot. In addition, women are more prone than men to this type of clot, particularly when dehydrated. The fall may also have been a factor, though it is not clear whether her head injury was serious enough to have caused a blood clot. The type of clot she had is far more likely to be associated with a skull fracture than with a concussion, several experts said.

Did overwork — frequent overseas trips, perpetual jet lag, high-pressure meetings — make her ill? Mrs. Clinton has kept up a punishing schedule since she declared her candidacy for president in 2007. Having logged more than 950,000 miles and visited 112 countries, she is one of the most-traveled secretaries of state in history. She has put on weight and in recent times appeared fatigued. But the same could be said of plenty of people who do not develop clots in their heads.

"You cannot tell me that her hard work resulted in this," Dr. Langer said. "I can't imagine that you could make that judgment."

In theory, Dr. Manley said, exhaustion can weaken the immune system temporarily, and lower a person's resistance to infections like the stomach virus that apparently started Mrs. Clinton's problems. But in his opinion, the most important contributing factor to her blood clot was probably the head injury from her fall.

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Saturday, July 23, 2016

Good Article! Roger Ailes: How He Sped His Own Demise


Roger Ailes: How The Russ Meyer of the Newsroom Sped His Own Demise

July 21, 2016

Terrance Heath

The ouster Thursday of Fox News chief Roger Ailes, brought on by a long history of sexual harassment, portends big changes for the network he created — and the party it has consumed.

A sexual harassment lawsuit filed against Ailes by former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson sprouted a Bill Cosby-esque crop of similar allegations against Ailes. Not long ago, that wouldn't have been enough to dislodge Ailes as king of the Fox News mountain. But the ejection of Ailes' old ally Rupert Murdoch from his media throne left Fox News parent company in the hands of a younger generation of Murdochs, who have the future of the network to think about, and no particular love for Ailes.

Launched in 1996 as the "fair and balanced" answer to the so-called "liberal media," Fox News started as a 318-page plot by Ailes and other aides to then president Richard Nixon to get around the "prejudices of news networks," titled "A Plan For Putting the GOP on TV News." It became the most successful, most profitable, and least accountable arm of Rupert Murdoch's media empire. But even as it made household names of people like Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Megyn Kelly and Glenn Beck, Fox News remained most closely identified with Ailes. "He is Fox News," said former commentator Jane Hall.

What was for a while the key to Fox News' success led to its current crisis. It became too much like its chairman, until what ailed Fox News was Ailes himself.

The Cesspool

From the moment Fox News launched, the network seemed to objectify its female anchors. Its male anchors don business suits. The women of Fox News are typically young, blonde, leggy, heavily made-up women usually in brightly colored sleeveless dresses, showing a bit of cleavage, with hiked-up skirts, and their legs crossed and visible through glass tables and desks.

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According to Gabriel Sherman's biography of Ailes, "The Loudest Voice in the Room," the sexism and misogyny in the Fox newsroom came straight from the top — especially his insistence on displaying his female anchor's legs on the air. According to Sherman, Ailes was so livid that former Fox News host Catherine Crier wore pants on-air, be barked at the control room, "Tell Catherine I did not spend x-number of dollars on a glass desk for her to wear pant suits." Carlson herself admitted that "pants were not allowed on Fox & Friends," when she appeared on Fox host Brian Kilmeade's radio show.

When Ailes fired Carlson, he didn't imagine he would soon follow her, any more than he worried that Carlson would share any secrets she knew about what went on behind the scenes at Fox News. When she signed on with Fox News in 2005, Carlson also signed an arbitration agreement stating that "any controversy, claim or dispute arising out of or relating to" Carlson's employment with Fox News would be "brought before a mutually selected three-member arbitration panel" in New York City. It's an increasingly common tactic of corporations, to keep employee and consumer grievances from seeing the light of day in court.

Earlier this month, Carlson filed suit not against the Fox News network, but against Ailes himself, alleging that Ailes fired her for repeatedly refusing his sexual advances. The suit claims that Ailes:

● Told Carlson that she would have been more successful at Fox News if she'd had a sexual relationship with him, and that "sometimes problems are easier to solve that way."
● Called Carlson a "man hater" and "killer" who needed to "get along with the boys," when she complained about harassment from "Fox & Friends" co-host Steve Doocy.
● Made frequent comments about Carlson's legs, asked her to turn around so he could see her posterior, and told her that she was "sexy," but "too much work."
● "Made it clear to Carlson that he had the power to "make anything happen for her if she listened to him and understood what he was saying."
● Stymied her advancement at Fox News, despite her successful track record, because of her complaints of sexual harassment and refusal of his sexual advances, telling her at one point, "I'm sure you can do sweet nothings when you want to."
● Promoted other Fox News hosts who did not complain about sexual harassment or rebuff his sexual advances.

Carlson's complaints will sound familiar to many women. A survey by Cosmopolitan magazine last year found that one in three women have been sexually harassed at work.

Fox News always had a reputation for egregious on-air sexism.

Since she filed suit, more than 20 women are reported to have reached out to Carlson's attorneys, with their own stories to share about Ailes. Six women spoke to New York magazine. One anonymous former Fox News employee told The Daily Beast, "One time he asked me if I was wearing underwear, and was he going to see something 'good'." Another ex-employee said that there was a "conspiracy of silence" over Ailes' behavior, because "you don't want to be personally and professionally destroyed. You don't want to bring Roger Ailes' wrath down on your head. Kelly Boyle, a former Republican National Committee advisor said Ailes suggested that she have sex with him in 1989, in return for his help advancing her career.

An internal inquiry, sealed Ailes' fate. The younger Murdochs took the allegations as seriously as their commitment to modern standards for office conduct. Several former and current Fox News employees said conduct like that mentioned in Carlson's suit were commonplace at Fox News. Conservative commentator and frequent Fox News guest Ann Coulter offered that "every woman who has ever been employed by Fox" has similar stories about Ailes. The network's most visible star even broke her silence. Megyn Kelly reportedly told investigators that Ailes also sexually harassed her, when she was a young correspondent at Fox.

Under Ailes' iron-fisted rule, Fox News became a "cesspool" of sexism and sexual harassment. So, it's poetic justice that Carlson's sexual harassment suit finally got him fired. That it should happen the same week as what may be Ailes' crowning achievement — the GOP choosing as its presidential nominee a man so lecherous that he's publicly objectified his own daughters — is deeply ironic.

Writing On The Wall

Roger Ailes may have fancied himself the Russ Meyer of the newsroom, shaping his female on-air personalities into his favorite physical archetype. Turning Fox News into his playground hastened his demise. Ailes was brought down by his hubris and belief in his own invincibility, but the writing was already on the wall long before Carlson's lawsuit.

Just over a year ago, Rupert Murdoch stepped down as CEO of Fox News parent company 21st Century Fox, and handed the reins to sons James and Lachlan Murdoch. The mutual hatred long-simmering between Ailes and the younger Murdochs immediately put Ailes' future in question. Then it was announced that Ailes would report directly to Murdoch's sons — in what was characterized as a demotion for the Fox News chief, who had hoped a special arrangement would allow him continue to report directly to Rupert Murdoch, as Fox News rushed to report.

The Murdoch brothers had other worries besides Ailes, who ultimately signed a contract ensuring his control of Fox News through 2018. They were, and are, faced with the long-term future of a network dependent on a dying demographic. The Fox News audience is the oldest (and whitest) on television; half of its audience is over 68 years old. And it's getting smaller, as older viewers die off and younger viewers refuse to tune in. It's the same problem the Republican Party has, and is aggressively failing to solve, due perhaps in no small part to Fox News' and Ailes' influence.

Securing Fox News' future would have required Ailes' departure sooner or later. Thanks to Ailes own excesses, the end came much sooner than anyone expected. What Fox News will look like after Ailes departure is anybody's guess. His ouster represents a potential seismic shift at the network, and potentially in the conservative movement, especially if it's followed by the aftershock of Donald Trump's defeat in November.

Viewers even watched Carlson endure sexual harassment from her co-anchors while on the air.

Since she filed suit, more than 20 women are reported to have reached out to Carlson's attorneys, with their own stories to share about Ailes. Six women spoke to New York magazine. One anonymous former Fox News employee told The Daily Beast, "One time he asked me if I was wearing underwear, and was he going to see something 'good'." Another ex-employee said that there was a "conspiracy of silence" over Ailes' behavior, because "you don't want to be personally and professionally destroyed. You don't want to bring Roger Ailes' wrath down on your head. Kelly Boyle, a former Republican National Committee advisor said Ailes suggested that she have sex with him in 1989, in return for his help advancing her career.

An internal inquiry, sealed Ailes' fate. The younger Murdochs took the allegations as seriously as their commitment to modern standards for office conduct. Several former and current Fox News employees said conduct like that mentioned in Carlson's suit were commonplace at Fox News. Conservative commentator and frequent Fox News guest Ann Coulter offered that "every woman who has ever been employed by Fox" has similar stories about Ailes. The network's most visible star even broke her silence. Megyn Kelly reportedly told investigators that Ailes also sexually harassed her, when she was a young correspondent at Fox.

Under Ailes' iron-fisted rule, Fox News became a "cesspool" of sexism and sexual harassment. So, it's poetic justice that Carlson's sexual harassment suit finally got him fired. That it should happen the same week as what may be Ailes' crowning achievement — the GOP choosing as its presidential nominee a man so lecherous that he's publicly objectified his own daughters — is deeply ironic.

Writing On The Wall

Roger Ailes may have fancied himself the Russ Meyer of the newsroom, shaping his female on-air personalities into his favorite physical archetype. Turning Fox News into his playground hastened his demise. Ailes was brought down by his hubris and belief in his own invincibility, but the writing was already on the wall long before Carlson's lawsuit.

Just over a year ago, Rupert Murdoch stepped down as CEO of Fox News parent company 21st Century Fox, and handed the reins to sons James and Lachlan Murdoch. The mutual hatred long-simmering between Ailes and the younger Murdochs immediately put Ailes' future in question. Then it was announced that Ailes would report directly to Murdoch's sons — in what was characterized as a demotion for the Fox News chief, who had hoped a special arrangement would allow him continue to report directly to Rupert Murdoch, as Fox News rushed to report.

The Murdoch brothers had other worries besides Ailes, who ultimately signed a contract ensuring his control of Fox News through 2018. They were, and are, faced with the long-term future of a network dependent on a dying demographic. The Fox News audience is the oldest (and whitest) on television; half of its audience is over 68 years old. And it's getting smaller, as older viewers die off and younger viewers refuse to tune in. It's the same problem the Republican Party has, and is aggressively failing to solve, due perhaps in no small part to Fox News' and Ailes' influence.

Securing Fox News' future would have required Ailes' departure sooner or later. Thanks to Ailes own excesses, the end came much sooner than anyone expected. What Fox News will look like after Ailes departure is anybody's guess. His ouster represents a potential seismic shift at the network, and potentially in the conservative movement, especially if it's followed by the aftershock of Donald Trump's defeat in November.


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Sanders Campaign: Someone must be accountable for what DNC Emails show

Bernie Sanders Campaign Chief Says Someone Must Be 'Accountable' for What DNC Emails Show

Bernie Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver said his team was "disappointed" by the emails from the Democratic National Committee leaked through WikiLeaks, which seemed to reveal staff in the party working to support Hillary Clinton.

"Someone does have to be held accountable," Weaver said during an interview with ABC News. "We spent 48 hours of public attention worrying about who in the [Donald] Trump campaign was going to be held responsible for the fact that some lines of Mrs. Obama's speech were taken by Mrs. Trump. Someone in the DNC needs to be held at least as accountable as the Trump campaign."

Weaver said the emails showed misconduct at the highest level of the staff within the party and that he believed there would be more emails leaked, which would "reinforce" that the party had "its fingers on the scale."

"Everybody is disappointed that much of what we felt was happening at the DNC was in fact happening, that you had in this case a clear example of the DNC taking sides and looking to place negative information into the political process.

"We have an electoral process. The DNC, by its charter, is required to be neutral among the candidates. Clearly it was not," Weaver said, responding for the first time to the growing controversy. "We had obviously pointed that out in a number of instances prior to this, and these emails just bear that out."

Another member of Sanders' staff, Rania Batrice put it this way: "Everything our fans have been saying -- and they were beaten down for it and called conspiracy theorists -- and now it's in black and white."

The email dump comes at a crucial time, just days before the party's national convention in Philadelphia, with thousands of delegates representing both campaigns gathering from across the country. Weaver and several other members of the Sanders staff have said they are worried the news could disrupt the goals of the convention.

"We are trying to build unity for the fall to beat Donald Trump and Debbie Wasserman Schultz is a figure of disunity in the party, not a figure of unity," Weaver added. Weaver and the DNC chairwoman have tangled often during this campaign cycle. Asked specifically whether she should resign, Weaver responded, "She should consider what her options are."

Weaver said that he was surprised that no one with the party had reached out to him, "given the conduct that was disclosed" in the emails. Several of the emails showed that DNC staff called Weaver names including "a liar."

Several members of Sanders staff have expressed specific outrage over the emails, which seemed to suggest attacking the senator's religion. Sanders' former Iowa State Director Robert Becker told ABC News that it showed "a total lack of decency."

The Democratic National Committee has not commented on the issue.

Several of the emails released indicate that the officials, including Wasserman Schultz, grew increasingly agitated with Sanders and his campaign as the primary season advanced, in one instance even floating bringing up Sanders' religion to try and minimize his support.

"It might may [sic] no difference, but for KY and WA can we get someone to ask his belief," Brad Marshall, CFO of DNC, wrote in an email on May 5, 2016. "Does he believe in God. He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I read he is an atheist. This could make several points difference with my peeps. My southern baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist."

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Donald Trump: The Way , The Truth, the Life

"I ALONE CAN FIX EVERYTHING FOR YOU!"  -- Donald Trump

Donald Trump's fascist "All you need is me!" infomercial

CLEVELAND — We have always been at war with Eurasia. Snowball the Pig is responsible for everything that is wrong on the farm. How fortunate we are to have Donald Trump.

Donald Trump is the miracle product that will fix everything that is wrong in your home. He is also your father figure (put your little hand in his), who will be your preacher, teacher (everything you had in mind). He'll be your dream, your wish, your fantasy, your hope, your love, everything that you need. Truly, madly, deeply, he loves you.

He is the way, the truth and the life. None shall be saved except through him.

He will protect you. He will fix your aching bones and your bad hearing and when you walk home at night you will know that nothing can harm you, because Trump is there. You will get a good-paying job. The thing in the shadows that frightens you will melt away as if it were never real to begin with. (And perhaps it wasn't.)

Praise Trump from whom all blessings flow. Believe him.

He will also build a wall. It will be as tall as you want it to be. If you want the moon (Newt Gingrich does!) he will throw a lasso around it and pull it down for you. He will solve all your problems.

Why should you believe that he will do this? Listen, you're awful nosy, aren't you? Isn't the word of Donald Trump's children enough for you? (I would say, "And the words of his wife, Melania," but those turned out not to be her words.) They have spent the last four days praising him to the skies.

Say what you will about dictators, royalty, mafia dons, supervillains and Trumps, they have a well-defined aesthetic. You get an immense, Wonderful Wizard of Oz-scale picture of your head, some flags, and then you stand in front of it with your well-groomed family, and they say that if only people knew the real you, they would admit that you were great.

Thus, Thursday night kicked off with a long, rambling speech from someone who had once seen Donald Trump write a nice note to a young boy in the middle of a Mike Tyson fight. (This was the nicest story that anyone who was not literally related to Donald Trump could come up with.)

His daughter Ivanka introduced her father, saying that he had been extremely kind to and supportive of her. (If there is one thing we learned this week, it is that Donald Trump is very nice to his children. But hear me out: What if Donald Trump maybe treats his children differently than he does most people? Could that be it? In general, if the only people willing to recommend you for a position are literally members of your family, it's a sign that something is wrong.)

And then Donald Trump began to do what he has meant to do this whole time: talk about Donald Trump.

If Barack Obama was supposed to be your new bicycle, then Donald Trump is your new miracle juicer. He looks better on TV than he actually is. He is mostly plastic and he probably won't work when you get him home. But the commercial makes him sound like the solution to everything that ails you.

In this case, he went on for 76 (such a patriotic number!) minutes, advertising himself.

"I love you," Donald Trump said.

"I am your voice," Donald Trump said.

"Believe me," Donald Trump said.

"We will never ever make bad deals," Donald Trump said.

"Nobody knows the system better than me," Donald Trump said, "which is why I alone can fix it."

How? There is no how. All that has to happen for a thing to be so is for Donald Trump to say it. This is certainly how all his statistics work.

Clear your mind of questions.

See, Donald Trump is always right. If he says that Hillary is damaging our prestige in the world by leading from behind, then the problem is that Hillary is damaging our prestige in the world by leading from behind. If he says that America needs to stop upholding its obligations to NATO, then the problem is that NATO is taking advantage of us and we need to stop being had.

He will bring back law and order and end lawlessness, but also he will decrease regulations. We need more law and order, but also we need fewer laws and more freedom.

Whatever is wrong, Donald Trump will fix it, even if it contradicts the thing he just fixed. Believe him. The system is broken, and Donald Trump will fix it, by winning. He will make only good deals. This idea has never occurred to America before, to make only good deals. Donald Trump will try it, for once.

The truths of religion are not the same as the truths of daily life. Faith has to get you through the day with the promise that things will improve. It does not have to withstand strict logical scrutiny. It can be an article of faith that something is two contradictory things at once. There is a hidden logic to its incoherence. It coheres because it offers a single system for fixing everything that ails you. It answers all your woes. It fits all complaints. Just like Donald Trump. Everything he touches with his hands — which are the correct size — he cures, or at least turns to gold-colored brass.

Donald Trump is selling America a miracle juicer. The juicer is Donald Trump. It is orange and it will never let you down. If you order now, Donald Trump will send you another one free.

Donald Trump will make America great again. "Great" is a vague word. It means whatever you want it to mean. Donald Trump will make America that place you see when you close your eyes.

And the crowd cheered, "Yes you will!"

You love Donald Trump. He will be a dear, dear leader.

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LIST OF WIKILEAKS MOST DAMAGING DNC E-MAILS AGAINST BERNIE SANDERS

from heavy.com  (Getting this info. out is a fruitless effort, as it is now Full Steam Ahead in the Dem. campaign with Hillary and Kaine, her VP.  But these facts should be known (AND REMEMBERED!), even if they are being almost completely ignored by the media right now.)

WikiLeaks kept its promise to release a series of emails related to Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and the DNC. The emails show the DNC working against Bernie Sanders during the primary, with some startling tidbits such as how the DNC considered denying a Bernie delegate admittance to a fundraiser because she supported Bernie. The DNC was also only concerned about reduced polling locations in Rhode Island because it might give Sanders' supporters more reasons to complain. Many of these emails are part of the emails discovered from a hack of the DNC by Guccifer 2. With 19,252 emails released from the Democratic National Committee, including 891 documents and 175 spreadsheets, it can be a little overwhelming to go through them all. That's why we're providing in-depth coverage of the most interesting Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders emails in this gallery. The emails are inspiring Sanders supporters even more to stage big protests in Philadelphia during the Convention, and they might provide more evidence for a DNC class action lawsuit saying the primaries were rigged. Click through the gallery to see each of the most important emails, along with a detailed explanation. Note: Some of these are hard to read, so we provided a direct link to where WikiLeaks posted the email, if you need to see it more clearly. We will also be listing each topic below, so you can go directly to the messages of interest to you, if you prefer. Keep an eye on this story, as we will update it with more interesting emails as they are found. WikiLeaks said it was releasing a "series" of documents, so there may be more to come.

Here's a list of the 22 most damaging and/or interesting emails, in case you want to skip ahead to the ones of most interest to you:
Bernie Supporter and Delegate Almost Wasn't Allowed to Attend a DNC Fundraiser
DNC Party with the Washington Post: Was It a Joint Fundraiser?
DNC Collecting Bernie Voters' Data for Their Database
Rhode Island, Where Governor Is 'One of Ours,' Reduces Polling Locations
DNC Staffer Pitches Anti-Bernie Story to Communications Director
Laughing At Bernie's Wanting to Debate Before California
DNC Planning End of Sanders Campaign in April
Wasserman-Schultz Reacts Angrily to Claim That She's Biased
Wasserman-Schultz Called Jeff Weaver a 'Damn Liar' When He Said There Wasn't Violence in Nevada
Politico Reporter Agrees to Let DNC Review Article About Hillary Fundraising Before Publishing
DNC Planned Fake Craigslist Ad for Women Working for Trump
DNC Planned Messages About Bernie Being an Atheist to Hurt His Chances of Winning
Wasserman-Schultz Can't Stand Weaver
Wasserman-Schultz: It's Silly that Sanders Thinks He'll Be President
Hillary Clinton Campaign Sending Checks to DNC
Luis Miranda of the DNC Refers to Bernie as "BS"
Sanders Won't Have Convention Leverage (Back in April)
Donna Brazile, DNC Staffer, Not Neutral Like She Claimed
Luis Miranda of DNC Saying Clinton Not Really Under FBI Investigation
DNC Pushed to Keep NYT Reporter From Writing Too Much About Joint Victory Fund
Julie For President
Celebrating the End of Sanders' Lawsuit
State Parties' Being Short on Resources Is Funny to the DNC
DNC Staffer: Sanders Primary Win Just Means He's More Obnoxious
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Leaked internal e-mails prove the DNC worked against Sanders right from the start

This story will get buried in the Clinton/Kaine congratulations, etc. going on now. Whenever people (like me) point out the dirty tricks going on behind the scenes, we are always met with, "Oh, you crazies and your conspiracy theories. Be quiet and just move along now...there's nothing to see here."  Even when it's proven beyond doubt that what we claimed is verifiably true, the media will ignore it and obey the Wall Street masters by keeping it out of the mainstream public's attention.  What we have are dirty, nasty politics with sleazy characters like Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the Clintons (UGH!) and a system in which honorable candidates like Bernie will never get a fair shake. His presidential run was doomed right from the beginning.

There was NO WAY Bernie was going to be allowed to get to the White House, no matter how many supporters or voters he had.  Keeping voters away from the polls by devious means and skewing the vote machine counting procedures (owned by the power players in the party) would take care of that, if nothing else worked.  The counts in New York and in California were skewed against Bernie right from the start. In fact, the final Democratic primary count from California has not yet been publicized in the media. Hillary's win was announced before the polls here even closed--and the word went out that it would be "weeks, perhaps longer," before California's mailed-in votes would be counted--but no matter, Hillary had already won, anyway. And, just like that, no matter how many of those yet-uncounted votes were for Bernie, they were already being discounted as unimportant.
The fix was in for Hillary from the start, and the DNC pulled every string and every dirty trick in their playbook to bring it off. 

The only way to change this skullduggery would be for both of the corrupt major parties to be done away with. I wish Bernie would run as a 3rd party candidate--but that suggestion will of course be met with horror and consternation -- "OMIGOD! YOU CAN'T LET TRUMP WIN!" And so, we are stuck in the muck -- and will stay that way as long as we let the wealthiest among us dictate our candidates and our lives.


NEW LEAK FROM WIKILEAKS PROVES WHAT SANDERS' SUPPORTERS HAVE SAID ALL ALONG

A new leak of internal emails from the Democratic National Committee appears to support the long-held suspicions of some Bernie Sanders supporters that the DNC was working against him.

WikiLeaks released the 19,252 emails Friday, which came from "seven key figures" in the DNC, including communications director Luis Miranda and national finance director Jordon Kaplan.

One email from May shows CFO Brad Marshall suggesting that they use religion against a certain possible atheist with a Jewish heritage:

From:MARSHALL@dnc.org To: MirandaL@dnc.org, PaustenbachM@dnc.org, DaceyA@dnc.org Date: 2016-05-05 03:31 Subject: No shit

It might may no difference, but for KY and WVA can we get someone to ask his belief. Does he believe in a God. He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I think I read he is an atheist. This could make several points difference with my peeps. My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist.

The email doesn't mention Sanders by name, and Marshall told The Intercept that he was likely referring to "a surrogate," not the independent Vermont senator himself. He did not elaborate on who such a surrogate could be. (It's also unclear how this referring to a "surrogate" would make it a less questionable tactic. )

Another email shows national press secretary Mark Paustenpach suggesting an anti-Bernie "narrative" for a story.

"Wondering if there's a good Bernie narrative for a story, which is that Bernie never ever had his act together, that his campaign was a mess," Paustenpach wrote in a May email to Luis Miranda. He lists several examples of such "messiness" and concludes by saying, "It's not a DNC conspiracy, it's because they never had their act together."

While the WikiLeaks database is searchable, Heavy.com has compiled a comprehensive list of some other intriguing emails about the DNC's treatment of Sanders, including committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz writing that it's "silly" to speculate about Sanders ever being president and Kaplan referring to him as obnoxious.

In an ironic twist, one leaked email revals deputy communications director Eric Walker mocking Buzzfeed for writing that the DNC had bad cybersecurity.


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