Jeff - The minute I hear Barr's name come out as the next AG all I thought was "Iran Contra Cover Up". He so conveniently pulled Reagan and Bush's butts both out of the fire and nobody bothered to go back and take a look. In case you didn't know I was a die hard Conservative at the time that happened but I wasn't an idiot. Time hasn't changed my opinion on what happened. It changed my opinion or Reagan, Bush, etc but let's get real. Once bought...

What utterly baffles me is how the right can spout bald faced lie after lie and their turd gobblers keep eating them. Democrats are NOT perfect but let us be real when I am talking about the right today I see and mean big lies on things everyone knows or should know as indisputable facts. This kind of BS takes me back to Bill Clinton and the Meaning of "Is" when he was being evasive about getting a BJ from Lewinsky. He was simply being evasive and everyone - I mean EVERYONE - knew it happened. This is so much worse and even sinister because these are outright lies about things that factually are a part of the open record.

This boils down to Propaganda (aka "Talkig points") and the nativity of the gobblers eating it up. They see it over and over. Personally I think there should be an investigation of several news outlets. I am all for freedom of speech but entertainment TV posing as news should be outlawed period. That does mean left of right gobblers.

Here are five basic rules of propaganda, courtesy of Norman Davies in his extraordinary book "Europe: A History":

- The rule of simplification: reducing all data to a simple confrontation between 'Good and Bad', 'Friend and Foe'.
- The rule of disfiguration: discrediting the opposition by crude smears and parodies.
- The rule of transfusion: manipulating the consensus values of the target audience for one's own ends.
- The rule of unanimity: presenting one's viewpoint as if it were the unanimous opinion of all right-thinking people: draining the doubting individual into agreement by the appeal of star-performers, by social pressure, and by 'psychological contagion'.
- The rule of orchestration: endlessly repeating the same messages in different variations and combinations.

My God - GOOOGLE it.

#2 | Posted by Nixon

That was exactly my thought. Come on! It's the BENGALS...

Barr's bonafides were firmly established and duly recorded during the Reagan administration and the follow up to Iran-contra

"forget your history etc."

#10 | Posted by 1947steamer

And of course the follow up - exactly where my mind went reading the title before clicking. Cover up King. Saved Ronnie Raygun and Elder Bush from criminal charges in all honesty. When Barr was brought into this administration the writing was on the wall.

#17 | Posted by Avigdore

Didn't work too well in the midterm.

#9 | Posted by fishpaw

I am lol because if you have ever done Government paperwork or seen it filled out...

But seriously. Omissions - easy to do. Inaccuracies - also easy to do. I do both of these every single day not consciously but because I am a human being. Word choice has a LOT to do with it and Americans are not precise with their words in general. In my experience even lawyers are unless it suits their purposes to be precise. I have seen how normal police write up warrants, the FBI may be a step above that but it doesn't mean it is political - just sloppy is most likely the case.

#3 | Posted by AndreaMackris

I agree - our security was at risk or have you forgotten 9/11? I think war should be a last resort but Afghanistan wasn't exactly a "country" at that point.

Speaking VERY frankly - I am kind of with her take on typical Chinese restaurants. Frankly it has nothing to do with "appropriation" which is such a lame thing anyhow. I haven't been in a "clean" Chinese Restaurant owned by Chinese in decades. Around here there were 3 "fine dining" Chinese Restaurants in the 70s that slowly went down hill through the 80s. I know at least one was Chinese mob owned and I believe still is. All the small places have been pretty filthy for decades as well. We are talking 30 years of filthy restaurants. Now the Chinese have been opening these buffets that quickly go from good food and clean to disgusting over about 6 months.

When I lived in Denver - no different. Toronto? Detroit? Again no different... Pretty much where ever I have been. PF Changs is about the only "clean" "Chinese" place you can find and that's because it's a big chain.

Frankly it pains me because I like American Chinese food and some of the true Chinese food you can sometimes get. I generally like the Chinese people I meet working in the places too. My personal hunch is most are lacking papers in these new restaurants and I don't know if they are their "freely" in complete honesty. I lived a block away from one years ago and learned what to watch for. If you happen to be around at the right time, you can see they fill up big vans with all the staff and bus them in early in the morning and out after close. A friend got to know one a little and she was pretty scared of the managers. She said they aren't allowed to talk to the customers but she was sneaky about it. Several have been busted doing some pretty illegal things over the years and had their operations were exposed. Locally a couple I remember off hand - they were prepping all the food in a house next door in pretty nasty conditions and were caught when it caught on fire. Mysteriously all the workers disappeared during the investigation. Even further back, one of them had livestock hidden in the woods out back and were butchering them as needed - in the woods. The one I remember as a true stereotype was in San Diego. A place my friend had tried and never went back saying meat tasted funky - turns out they were serving cat and dog...

Interesting read. The kid knows what she wants - power. Experience be damned she can talk a good game and lie with the best - hire her. Sounds like she fits right in at Trumplandia.

I'm sure the regular stooges will be along soon to refute the IG... Trump's IG...

Too bad we can't read the actual story.

#8 | Posted by J_Tremain

Actually failing to remember what happened in things like the Holocaust, Holodomor, The Armenian Genocide, Rawanda, the Cambodia Killing Fields etc. leads to people repeating it and people joining in or letting them get away with it. In particular the general rise of antisemitism is an example of just exactly why stories like this need to be published. As for your blow off - your remarks are very antisemitic. I understand some of it due to the Israelis and what that country has become. The but is just like American's should not be anti-Muslim because of what some Muslims did it doesn't stand for Jews either.

#33 | Posted by Pirate

Yes. Strip malls, gas stations, etc. Been around for years. Not sure the legitimacy of them...

Donating to the Salvation Army, Goodwill, etc doesn't mean they get used and don't end up in a landfill. Those places used to and still may get rid of most of the donations. They often go to people who ship them to places like Africa where they are sold or the landfill. Now in Africa there is a movement against this dumping of clothes even there.

Frankly Tremain your posts are offensive. But thanks again for letting everyone know what an anti-Semite ----- you are. That's exactly the kind of hate and mentality that leads to things like the Holocaust.

That story is a reminder of something very tragic and horrific in our past and it is an incredible tale of something good that came out of it. Ms. Spitzer is an amazing woman who repeatedly showed bravery in the face of not only the Nazis but the Communist Russians as well.

#2 | Posted by BruceBanner

While I agree with that, in Afghanistan I don't think there were any good options. War was surely the simplest as the Taliban would never have worked with the US or any other infidels...

I love the meaningless jabs and nonsense from the usual conservatives on this thread. How about someone step up and add something meaningful and defensible if you are backing the President on this. I might add a President and family so corrupt his enterprise running children had to take classes on how not to defraud their charity.

#45 | Posted by Nuke_Gently

Well here's the thing... Biden was never President. So there isn't a "if the shoe was on the other foot" scenario so sort of a false equivalency there. And frankly given this President's flippant attitude toward and flaunting of the emoluments clause it would be suspicious to begin with.

I'm not saying it is right for Hunter to have taken the job. But and here is the BUT - they are not elected officials. They are the children of them. This is a rather common practice unfortunately and it applies to Democrats as well as Republicans and it happens right here in the USA. IF the job is offered and taken without influence from the representative and as a result does not provide the company with influence over policy then no harm no foul. I mean are we going to ban the relatives of elected officials from working? That said there are some rather obvious cases where it is a matter of there is influence. That's when it becomes an issue.

Hunter Biden went to work for an Oil and Gas company. I get all the arguments. But what business did that company have Biden had any influence over? What did that company get out of Biden? Nothing. That's why even Barr refused to investigate it.

#7 | Posted by randomcanyon

I loved Boston Legal.

Honestly Shatner's Denny Crane was damn funny at times... Spader made the show though. The smoking chair scenes were always entertaining. Not to mention "Mad Cow".

Start studded show and Rene Auberjonois was far from the least of the cast.

RIP

Amazing. I can't imagine it. I don't buy 75 pounds of clothes a year and I am a bigger guy. I go through a couple pair of jeans a year just from them wearing out but they are worn at least 50 times on average and many go twice that long. I have a rotation I wear to work and when they are done being good enough for work - I work around the house in them. And some of my workout clothes are 15 years old... lol BUT I don't buy cheap crap (and I try to buy the expensive variety either).

#6 | Posted by AndreaMackris

Oh come on! Since when has Trump been subdued about anything at all remotely resembling this? Saudis have a fist up his rectum making him dance somehow. As already pointed out his weak MBS response is another example of his weakness on the Saudis. Why is it the GOP loves the nation that spawned 9/11 so much when they so hate Islam?

Personally I will wait for the results of the investigation BUT this is completely un-Trump.

This guy plays both sides. It's pretty clear from simply reading the actual article. Regardless of which side he "favors" lock him up is the correct action to take here. And I think he needs it if he indeed did what he is accused of and for longer than Russian Troll got.

#28 | Posted by bartimus

Funneling foreign money into elections is illegal. That's what they did.

Ira/Nulli/Willow

Quit spouting BS. Don't be naive. Don't be ignorant. By and large it is Conservatives are the true cause for illegal migration. The reason is they knowingly employ them to reduce their labor costs and fill jobs it would take paying Americans far more to do. They have done it for decades upon decades at this point. There were "migrants" when I was a kid and long before. They wandered the country doing farm jobs that Americans, including American teens, didn't want and were incapable of doing well. Then came the era of St. Raygun. All of a sudden there was a flood of illegal immigrants. They took good paying jobs and knocked wages through the floor. True these were jobs most Americans didn't want at first. They were not glamorous or complex jobs in general. They were and still are hard labor. Today we depend on illegals in these jobs. Especially with unemployment at 3.5%.

Yes liberals as well as conservatives have failed to come up with a solution. There are a couple reasons. The first being that conservatives know liberals are correct and it would cost them elections. Liberals more or less for the same reason in that they know it would cost elections too. But the main reason is the core of all our issues at this time IMHO - money in elections. The unlimited money, dark money and the ability of corporations and the ultra wealthy to influence elections is a sad comment on this country.

Yes racism is alive and strong in this country today. Yes I truly believe that racism is what killed this boy and so many others. There was no border crisis until Trump took over. Trump created one. Words have repercussions. And don't forget just how much Der Trumpf relies on them.