Meant to share a few thoughts on this detailed, clear Dexter Filkins long-read, digging into the lingering Trump/Russia server question. Really nuanced reporting /1 newyorker.com/magazine/2018/… What was happening before the election in 2016 was an enormously complex counterintelligence investigation. We have only had glimpses of bits of it so far.

"Looking for people in the US helping Russia influence the election" /2

I only started paying attention to Murkowski when she fought back against a tea party favorite & won back her seat with iron-grip retail politics & representing her state +!constituents well.

Her speech right now on the Senate floor is the best of the last 3 weeks. /1 She has taken on conspiracies and bad behavior from both sides. She has called for a need to change course (and not vengeance, as many have).

And she has called for everyone to start listening to victims in a serious way. "Do more. Do better. Do it now." /2

I was scanning thru Kavanaugh oped & noticed he used this again: "sunrise side of the mountain"

It's also in his senate testimony & a recent speech. He uses is a lot.

I remembered it from somewhere & was curious what it means, & if it is signaling of some kind /1 Then I remembered Bush 43 also used this more than once -- especially when talking about Texas.

This book, which discusses how Rs use religious language as political speech, talks about meaning of the phrase as a reference to resurrection used by conservative Evangelicals /2

This is pathetic.

I left the Podesta Group and started my own firm because of the Ukraine issue.

Nice try though. Researching the Wired piece made me feel unclean.
Here's 7 pages of vile tweets about rape, if y'all want to understand the sewer-level information universe I've been wading through the last 3 weeks:

From Cernovich

I'm already super grumpy and I got in an uber home, and the crazy uber driver is playing the crazy Russian state media radio that broadcasts from next to the WH, and it's airing a crazy far-right radio show and frickin' Stephen Cohen is on glorifying Putin, and I hate everyone. Cohen's painful explanation of how everyone was confused to excuse Putin killing Syrians is ludicrous. He's now trying to explain S-300s and has no idea WTF.
Also yo -- S-300s have been in Syria FOR YEARS
God what a gig.
"Putin was representing Assad in world affairs" Cohen says

So here's the thing about MeToo that no one has a good answer for:

There's no mechanism for dialogue or reconciliation between pitchforks and silence -- yet. This thing where CSPAN is flooded with calls, crisis lines are flooded with calls -- no one is calling for mass prosecutions, which is this primal fear you hear others talking about and exploiting (aka if you listen to one accuser then "it could be any of us")

TV is failing the America people by using the committee cameras and showing zero of this texture.

https://twitter.com/alexanderbolton/status/1045677004895506432

*American
where's the coffee robot?

Molly's unscientific survey of politicos I respect from both sides:

Left-leaning neutrals: Kavanaugh came across as foaming lying jerk, used anger to attack accusations but also confirm he has personality traits of belligerence; far too partisan to be on highest court of land /1 plus had to apologize for being a jerk to a woman during the hearing.

Right: both witnesses were credible; Kavanaugh has every right to be enraged and he is right it is all a conspiracy and a farce /2

Morning tweeps. Today's going to be bollocks & we aren't at the bottom yet. Sometimes you guys ask me how I stay sane in all this. I embrace a philosophy of good moments + assume there's only today. Like:

Try not to miss sunset, but sunrise is good too, no matter where you are Take the train. You get to see more stuff. Plus, old train stations are beautiful.

In the meantime, my ZFG take on POTUS's UNGA speech today:

1 - We're America. Or "Amurica" as POTUS seemed to be slurring today. We don't stand in front of the UN & account for our reforms + tell tale tales re domestic successes. This was nonsense. It belittled the presidency. 2 - Sovereignty is great. Ceding global leadership because you're stuck in a victimization narrative is foolish.

Hey tweeps. Gonna drop a massive piece tomorrow that will make ALL THE TROLLS go bonkers.

Suit up. Soon. Soon.

At Stanford, I had to spend a crapload of time in the Hoover archives looking at Soviet propaganda posters archived on slides etc. Sometimes the librarians were slow getting them from the stacks, so I would read the archives interviews of Soviet Jews and other emigres ... /1 ... which they had been granted the right to do under the Jackson-Vanik amendment.

The interviews included fascinating detail of life inside the USSR, and stories of gulags and arrests and missing family.

I remember how angry it made me... /2

POTUS calls on OANN at presser, who asks 2 confused questions sort of about Russia.
To POTUS: "What do you say about possibility of war in Syria?"
Uh, there's BEEN a war for 7 years.
POTUS bored as Duda explains Russia is already the aggressor, stop worrying about provoking it POTUS on expanded basing in Poland: seems to imply that Poland is a "tremendously wealthy country" that should be paying "billions and billions" for us to be there because we have defending them at "tremendous cost" for many years.

WITAHF

Again: We're better than this.

So, let's be clear about the core arguments of bullsh*t being used.

It is BS that if you let one accuser be heard, there will always be an accuser.

It is BS that there are "crisis actor" accusers waiting around to smear people for "fame". /1

https://twitter.com/AlecMacGillis/status/1042052147205025794

It can be equally true that accuser's life is shaped by an event she remembers -- & he does not, b/c he was drunk or b/c he was never confronted w/ what happened.

Memory is plastic. It changes. Stuff you don't think about self-edits out. It's why we don't go mad: we forget /2

A woman makes an accusation against a powerful man.
Her character is questioned.
She goes to women for help.
Their character is questioned -- why didn't they do more?
Dozens of women are rounded up to support the accused, leveraging their reputation and character for his.... /1 What will R women senators do now, we ask?
Their character is questioned either way.

Next time you're about to say something like -- why now, why didn't she speak out before??

Just remember that, the way this circus always goes, it's never one woman who pays the price. /2

Lots of commentary today on what looks like automation supporting the "I choose [at]tedcruz for [#]TXSen" campaign.

Here's a thread looking at some of the accounts weighing in, and how this works:

/1

https://twitter.com/lamarwhitejr/status/1040138113279045632?s=21

The account may have been established by this real person. There is a corresponding Facebook account.

We as Americans, esp conservatives, have become skilled at denying inevitable outcomes

Worth looking at a few hard truths & understanding why Putin is happy w/ what he sees: /1

politico.com/magazine/story… Lots of people are warning us to open our eyes to what is right in front of us.

Woodward: hope there isn't a crisis b/c chaos in WH.
Anonymous oped writer: potential for crisis is worse than we know.
@RadioFreeTom: we are already deep in crisis /2

https://twitter.com/radiofreetom/status/1038234501602795520?s=21

Oooook tweeps. I need someone to explain a TV anomaly to me: disappearing ads?
I have directv.
I am watching Maddow on a slight delay.
I saw a f***ing weird political ad while I was doing something else, so rewound it to see whose ad it was.
But the ad had disappeared. /1 The ad showed an African American man standing in front of a waving American flag complaining about "radical left" going after Trump (it was super odd).

When I rewound the stream, only one frame remained; the rest had disappeared b/w endless pharma and union ads. /2

I will reluctantly tweet House Energy & Commerce hearing on Twitter. I will primarily tweet the crazy, because Alex Jones & other far-righters who believe there's a conspiracy against their conspiracy-mongering will likely be treated w/ respect by some members of committee... /1

https://twitter.com/MollyMcKew/status/1037334880441561088

In opening statements, Walden politely asks if maybe there is "shadow banning" on twitter. Pallone says he hopes hearing won't indulge conservative conspiracy theories while evaluating real issues. Pallone calls out Alex Jones, who is in room I think, as a liar/conspiracist /2

Hi folks -- I'll live-tweet highlights (and frustration) of the Senate Intel hearing with facebook/twiiter this morning in this thread. /1

https://twitter.com/MarkWarner/status/1037333718661246976

Burr's opening statement mostly a re-hash of his past, on-point statements, but he highlights that the same vulnerabilities exist, and the information social media platforms distribute "changes minds, hardens opinions" -- and thus is critically important. /2

I would encourage everyone to read President Bush's eulogy of John McCain. It was lovely.

"And his absence is tangible, like the silence after a mighty roar."

cnn.com/2018/09/01/pol… Both Bush and Obama said the same thing: as an opponent, he made us better presidents.

This sentiment is one we need to restore.