Wallace is just touting the usual Right Wing talking point about the 2017 shooting incident, and he’s scrambling the actual timeline. And he’s doing the usually offensive Right Wing maneuver of trying to blame that incident on the Democratic Party.

James Hodgkinson was not a Democrat. He was an angry independent guy who felt the rich were stealing from everyone else. He supported Bernie Sanders as an independent who wanted Sanders to shake up the establishment, and he was enraged by the behavior of Trump and the Pence White House. Hodgkinson was also an unstable man with a serious anger problem who had access to guns and ammunition, which he used to brutally attack the congressmen at the baseball practice. If anything, Hodgkinson is a poster child for the issue of why this country desperately needs sane gun regulations. Hodgkinson’s act of shooting up the baseball game speaks not of anything any Democratic person has ever advocated – it speaks only of Hodgkinson’s madness and of the fury that the Trump crowd has inspired around this country.

Bernie Sanders NEVER advocated for violence or shootings or anything like this. He did have some supporters who were more anarchists or angry warriors than anything else, but he repeatedly disavowed such people and stated that he was sickened by their violence. It’s true that there were plenty of anarchists inspired by Sanders to fight the political machine, but it’s not a true statement to say that Sanders or the Democrats were actively encouraging any of them to shoot or kill anyone.

On the other hand, we have this Florida Trumper, clearly inspired by the violent rhetoric of Trump and the Fox News crowd, and it’s evident why he chose to send mail bombs to the people he did – because Fox News, AM Radio and the Tweeter-in-Chief told him it was okay to do so. He was one of many deplorables who have felt emboldened by the Pence White House and Trump to act out on the hatred within him. We’re just lucky that his bombs were intercepted and dealt with and that this man is behind bars.

If the Pence White House had any shame whatsoever, Donald Trump would humbly apologize to this nation for the violence he has advocated, and he would beg Americans for their forgiveness. And if Fox News had an iota of shame, they would do the same. Sadly, they do not have any shame, and we don’t live in that world. I’m sure that on Monday, Rush Limbaugh will be opining that this guy was a Democratic Party plant of some kind. And then Trump will echo the same claim at a rally.

I am happy to answer Mr. Neilson.

First, we need to correct the unfortunate misuse of the phrase “fake news”. In its actual meaning, it refers to clickbait stories one might see on Facebook or on various entertainment sites – stories saying “We say goodbye to The Rock” just to see if they can get gullible people to try that link. During the 2016 campaign, there was plenty of this going on regarding politics – mostly a series of false stories about Hillary Clinton supposedly being fired from the Watergate investigation (she wasn’t) or being a craven murderer (she isn’t). There was even a false story about Donald Trump slagging Republicans at the same time. So that would be “fake news”.

This term has been badly used by Donald Trump for some time since the 2016 election, apparently to refer to actual news media and journalists who don’t report his opinions as fact. But that’s a matter of a Right Winger not liking the reportage, not a matter of the reportage being false. The problem here is that the Pence White House and so many of its followers and pundits seem to think it is acceptable to misuse this phrase just because a would-be bully does so. It is not. Frankly, using that phrase in this manner diminishes both the argument one is making, and the person making the argument.

Second, Tucker Carlson is knowingly making false statements. He’s also willfully forgetful about the “Tea Party” mobs who angrily stormed Town Halls and public gatherings throughout President Obama’s terms, usually to do odd things like assert that President Obama was born in Kenya. And he’s willingly forgetful about the actual violence being committed in this country, about the sheer volume of Right Wing assaults and gun attacks we’ve been seeing – a number that sharply increased after Trump squeaked through in 2016. He’s willingly forgetful about the actual murder we saw committed last year, by angry Right Winger James Alex Fields, who knowingly drove his car into protestors in Charlottesville and killed Heather Heyer for having the temerity to speak out against the Nazis who were trying to overrun that town. The protestors we saw over the past weeks at the Capital were not driving their cars into crowds of Senators and they weren’t shooting at them. They were loudly expressing their 1st Amendment rights – something that Carlson formerly defended when it was people speaking out against President Obama.

Finally, it’s unfortunate that you would make jokes about a situation like the one we are seeing with the newly cemented Radical Right Supreme Court. There are millions of people around the country who will be affected by the rulings that Kavanaugh and Gorsuch (the latter in a stolen seat) were handpicked to help inflict. As decades of jurisprudence are steadily jettisoned by this court, one wonders if you will be as quick to make jokes like this. We’re already seeing some unfortunate Right Wing gloating and sneering about having succeeded ramming this man onto the high court. For example, West Virginia Councilman Eric Barber (who claims to be an independent) thought it would be fun to post “Better get you’re coat hangers ready liberals”. Is this what we can expect from the Right Wing for the upcoming years?

Hannity is being consistent with his pattern. This is not some sudden moment of humanity for him. He couldn’t care less about what Brett Kavanaugh did to Christine Blasey Ford. He wants Kavanaugh confirmed as soon as possible, and he wants the Democratic population of the country to know that it’s being rammed down their throats.

He’s hoping that he can make the Right Wingers in the Senate look like they’re the reasonable ones, and he’s hoping that Dr. Ford’s testimony will be something that he and Kavanaugh can easily pick apart, before watching Kavanaugh fly through on a party line vote and then take his seat on the high court.

The key to Hannity is making the Democratic Senators look like they’re the ones being unreasonable, and making Dr. Ford look as flakey as possible. This not only helps Hannity gloat and bully about Kavanaugh’s upcoming guaranteed confirmation but it also will help ensure that the Right Wing maintains its majorities in both houses of Congress in less than 2 months.

As usual, Carlson is lying as blatantly as he can.

Brett Kavanaugh has been extremely clear about who and what he is for the past 40 years. His attempted rape of Christine Blasey Ford is a consistent part of that person. He grew up as a privileged white male with a certain level of intelligence and animal ability – which is why he was able to participate in football and baseball in school while also showing promise as a student, even while he was partying as hard as he could with good friends and fellow travelers like Mark Judge. He was the sort of guy who would be voted “Most Likely to Succeed” and who figured they could get away with whatever they wanted – just as Mitt Romney did in his formative years.

When Kavanaugh graduated college, he went into the political world, and was more than aware that he needed to watch his public image as a rising star on the Right. Kavanaugh showed himself to be a craven political operative to anyone paying attention, while cultivating an image of himself as a pious, devout family man who was the very image of “Aw Shucks” America. In reality, he repeatedly took time to demonstrate viciousness to anyone he thought he could get away with attacking – especially if they were Democratic politicians or anyone connected with the Clintons.

Kavanaugh hasn’t changed from the entitled, childish person he was in high school – he’s just learned how to cloak it better. We saw the real face of Kavanaugh when he angrily rejected the hand of Fred Guttenberg this month.

As for Carlson’s nonsense about the current situation – he’s laughably wrong on who’s responsible for the death threats. Christine Blasey Ford sent a letter in to a local congressperson, hoping she could take a small step toward exposing who Kavanaugh really is. Other classmates from her years at Holton Arms have started to come forward as well, confirming that this was a story that people discussed at the time. From what I can see, Kavanaugh and Judge acquired a reputation for these kinds of actions and the word got out about them – but nobody was going to call the police or their parents. Rather, they just knew to stay away from those guys or to make sure they weren’t alone if they did deal with them. Teenagers tend to figure this stuff out quite well on their own.

When this story began to break in a big way, Dr. Ford realized she wasn’t going to be able to remain anonymous, and she made the courageous choice herself to come forward rather than continuing to hide and allowing Kavanaugh to get away with it again. Predictably, the Right Wing has reacted with vicious rage, including multiple attacks on Ford and the aforementioned death threats. Unless I’m living in an alternate universe, those death threats weren’t made by Democrats – they were made by Right Wingers emboldened by the Pence White House to let their inner hater fly.

If Tucker Carlson wants to assign blame for death threats, he should look at his own fans to start with.

Hannity is doing this for pure political spin. He knows that if he jumps up and down and insists Rosenstein should be immediately fired (as he has repeatedly done for nothing), that Trump is likely to do so now. If Trump fires Rosenstein and essentially goes directly after Robert Mueller, there could be nasty results in the midterms. But if this story is allowed to fester for another month, this could be a useful pre-October Surprise that would allow the Right Wing to hold off the Dems this November and keep their majorities.

In simple terms, it’s too close to the November vote. Had this come out in June, Rosenstein and Mueller would have been fired within hours of the story breaking.

The basic strategy at the hearing next Monday will be to attack the Democratic Senators in the form of supposedly probing questions to Dr. Ford. Most of these will be phrased in terms of how long she’s been sitting on these allegations without telling anyone, and whether or not she has had contact with Dianne Feinstein or any other Democratic Senators about a strategy to derail the Kavanaugh appointment. There will also be a discussion about whether she thought in 2012 that Mitt Romney was about to be elected and that she was laying groundwork for this case at that time.

As for Dr. Ford herself, the Republicans will very likely allow Ted Cruz to do the nasty part of the heavy lifting here – challenging her on her memory and suggesting with the most sympathetic voice that isn’t it possible that she’s confused what happened here and is maligning poor, decent Brett Kavanaugh. I expect Cruz to make various snide comments that imply that Dr. Ford was a promiscuous teen – as Right Wingers are already doing in some extremely vicious comments online today.

My instincts say that the hearings will go on for a few hours on Monday, and then the committee will go ahead with its vote, either on that day or by Wednesday of next week, and then have a rushed floor vote by the end of that week if they still intend to seat Kavanaugh by October 1st.

This could all go sideways if she can provide more detail about how she knew Kavanaugh and Mark Judge, and about how this all went down. And if Kavanaugh gets caught in a direct lie here, that could end both his nomination and his judicial career, which would not be a bad thing for this country. But I believe him to be a lot more clever than that – I think he’ll be ready to put his “Aw Shucks Soccer Dad” face on when he sits before the committee, and he’ll present mock moral outrage when any Democratic Senator asks him anything. If he plays his part as well as he’s done so far, and if the GOP Senators vote as still expected, he’ll be on the SC within the next three weeks.

Everything I’m seeing indicates that this will not stop the vote from happening this week – I believe on Thursday. Grassley has already stated, now repeatedly, that he doesn’t understand why Feinstein never mentioned this letter if it was this important.

It’s possible that Grassley will encourage the Committee members to talk with Kavanaugh on their own before the vote, but I don’t see him holding up the process. Even if several more GOP members ask to examine the allegation, it won’t matter – McConnell and Grassley will remind them that this vote needs to happen immediately. From what I can see, the late reactions from Corker and Flake are more about saving face than they are about actually taking this allegation very seriously.

And in an ominous sign, Susan Collins has already stated that she asked Kavanaugh about this on Friday by calling him, and he just denied that it happened. So unless something else happens to change anyone’s point of view on it, I don’t see the Right Wing allowing anything to stop this from going through.

Eyes is correct. Geraldo is NOT a liberal – he only appears to be one because he’s always on with EXTREME HARD RIGHT voices. In the same way, Fox has former Democratic voices like Doug Schoen and Pat Caddell who spend their time these days fomenting and strategizing for how the GOP can win elections.

I also agree with Eyes about the nonsense curtains issue, as well as the ridiculous suites these guys stay in – those should be scrapped and we should put our resources to much better use. If there is an issue about the UN Ambassador needing a place to host international representatives, that’s great – we happen to have wonderful State Department offices with conference rooms where people can be met. Interesting that the only outrage Fox News has is that this was happening under President Obama – not a word about whether it’s okay to keep it going. And why didn’t Haley scrap the idea herself? When Jerry Brown became Governor of California (both times), he immediately eschewed all the big money trappings and did things like flying coach. All Haley had to do was announce, publicly, that she was downsizing that kind of stuff, and she would have had political talking points for the rest of her career. Interesting that she chose to try to keep it under her hat.

As for the deaths from Hurricane Maria, Trump and his acolytes can’t handle the truth. The issue isn’t how many people exactly died at the exact moment the Hurricane was sitting over Puerto Rico. Because the death toll also includes all the people who need help for months and months afterwards, who didn’t get it because the Pence White House didn’t care if they died. When the storms hit Texas, Trump was all over that issue, and people like Ted Cruz were talking about how the effects of the storms would be ongoing for years afterward, as a way of getting more attention and trying to get some kind of false moral high ground for himself. The issue isn’t about the number of people who died, although it’s part of the problem. The issue is the reason that the number was so high – which is that the Pence White House couldn’t care less if thousands of Puerto Ricans were and are without power and water. Trump never liked Puerto Ricans in the first place – to him, the photo-op of tossing a couple of paper towel rolls was a major give. He would have preferred to have nothing to do with Puerto Ricans. And the larger point is that this is even worse than Katrina. At least with Katrina, there was a real FEMA response, albeit inept, and there was a real follow-up. With Maria, the Pence White House did the minimum and essentially walked away, choosing to blame the Puerto Ricans for their own deaths.

If anything, the Right Wing’s bizarre response here just points up their own moral inadequacies. This is yet another example of why Right Wingers will not be able to walk back their statements and behavior in the coming years. They’ve gone on the record and unveiled their inner hatreds for all to see. The silver lining here is that now we know a lot more about who and what these people are. So when this epoch is finished, they don’t get to just pass it off as “I didn’t really mean that”.

While I’m glad to see Professor Ford has finally come forward with her allegation to make it specific, I have no confidence that the GOP will allow any discussion about this to delay the ram-through of Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. And they are now echoing what I thought they would from before – asking where the heck was this allegation during the last two MONTHS when the Dems could have raised it. Professor Ford brought this to the Dems in July – why did they sit on it until now? By waiting this long, it looks like the Dems have taken away the ability of Professor Ford’s allegation to be properly handled.

I expect Lindsay Graham to pay some lip service to the claim and then for the GOP committee members to say that they regret that the Dems have politicized it. And then they’ll ram through the nomination to the Senate Floor and get Kavanaugh into his Supreme Court robes on schedule. The Dems will then campaign on this, but the damage will already have been done, sadly.

A few notes:

Judith Miller is not a liberal by any means. Her false articles in the New York Times helped propel the US into the ill-fated invasion of Iraq in 2003, and she has never apologized for that, or for the deaths she helped cause in doing so. I would not make the mistake of trusting her. It’s not a surprise that she can’t come up with anything better in terms of actually stating facts in this matter.

President Obama is not “breaking tradition”. He is responding politely and correctly to the viciousness being inflicted by the Pence White House and the lies they keep repeating as though the number of utterances would make them somehow true. In the recent past, multiple presidents have criticized their predecessors, including George HW Bush going after Bill Clinton for his policies. It was only when Clinton left office that we were told that past presidents weren’t to say anything about the current president. So when Jimmy Carter noted the vicious things that W and Cheney were doing in the 2000s, various Republicans tried to tut-tut him, to no avail. When W left office in disgrace in 2009, nobody expected him to raise his head in public for years, which satisfied this new GOP “tradition” – but they had no problem trotting out Dick Cheney and having him say openly nasty and false things about the Obama White House whenever he could. John Sununu acted in a similar manner, usually couching his open hatred of President Obama in the most racist language he possibly could use. And for the past two years, we’ve heard nothing from the Pence White House but a stream of vicious lies about President Obama, ranging from untruths about the economic health of the country when Trump was sworn in to the nature of international treaties negotiated by the Obama Administration. And the GOP would have President Obama be quiet and face the wall while these guys play these games. So it’s a no-brainer that they’re angry that he has the temerity to open his mouth and call them out.

President Obama isn’t concerned about sour grapes – that’s something more in line with the Pence White House’s spokesman, who regularly nurses grudges and is known to have hated President Obama with an even greater fury after some mocking comments were said about Trump at the White House Correspondents Dinner a few years ago. If Judith Miller is interested in talking about sour grapes, she might want to check in with the Pence White House – they’ve been masterful in growing them. And President Obama is correct to note that the behavior of the Pence White House has primarily been anti-democratic, whether or not most GOP members want to acknowledge it. I find it interesting that more and more rank and file GOP politicians are starting to make comments about their unease with the habits of this White House, even while they continue to attack every Democrat they can.

That said, I would not interpret the current scenario as proof that Fox News or the Right Wing is in any way worried too much about this year’s midterms or about President Obama’s potential impact. These guys have been in gloating mode for nearly two years now, and they’ve gotten used to it. They believe they’re about to win big time in November. Their numbers show them that they will keep the Senate and have a strong chance thanks to their gerrymandering to keep the House. Their comments about President Obama are not borne from fear of him – they’re based on their hatred of President Obama and their enjoyment in taunting and bullying his supporters. And I would not assume for a moment that a “Blue Wave” is going to be enough to over-run the massive gerrymandering the GOP did across the country in 2010. We will need to wait until 2020 to have a chance to deal with that – provided that Democrats run and win in enough local races this year. I certainly hope that the Dems win the Senate, and that they get a small majority in the House, but I haven’t seen an indication yet that the anger of Democratic voters is hot enough to overwhelm the simple math of so many gerrymandered districts where the Democrats would need to massively turn out and hope that the GOP voters stay home. Right Wing pundits are aware of this, and are standing by for another round of vicious gloating come Election Night and the rest of the year. Let’s hope the Dems who stayed home in 2016 and allowed this situation to happen in the first place have learned their lesson and will actually show up this November and in 2020 so we can begin undoing the massive damage that has been done here.

I don’t understand why anyone thinks a hardcore Right Winger would ever apologize for saying something completely racist. DeSantis knew what he was saying and was proud to say it. He’s thinking that the bigots will take him over the top to win, while he lies about Gillum’s record. Hopefully, Florida’s voters will prove DeSantis not only wrong but about 70 years too late for that kind of racism to fly with anyone but the deplorables.

Truman is again correct, and hopefully the Dems who stayed home in 2016 have learned their lesson – or there will be much worse consequences in 2019, including the wholesale gutting of Social Security and Medicare, and the replacement of Clarence Thomas with a 45 year old Hard Right Justice.

The key moments today were Kavanaugh’s refusals to show principle when asked about significant issues – he refused to address Fred Guttenberg and instead gave an indirect ramble about general thoughts rather than admit he had openly and viciously turned his back on a father who no longer has a daughter thanks to policies Kavanaugh happily supports. And he refused to answer truthfully about his positions about presidential immunity from inquiries. He gave vague answers that would allow the Pence White House to wiggle free of any questions they don’t want to answer and any situation for which they don’t want to be held to account. And he openly lied about his position on Roe and female choice. Sure, Roe is a precedent, and one that’s been upheld. But that kind of thing didn’t stop the last SC from erasing 40 years of precedent to wipe out labor law with the Janus decision in June. Anyone thinking that Roe or any other decision the Right hates is safe from attack now is deluding themselves. Kavanaugh is refusing to answer if he thinks Roe was decided correctly – which is a dog whistle to his supporters that should tell everyone that he will vote to overturn it in any way he can.

Jeffrey Toobin reconfirmed this in his analysis today.

We did get one glimpse of the real Brett Kavanaugh in the hearing room today. It was just as a recess was called. Fred Guttenberg, a parent of one of the kids attacked in the Parkland massacre this year, approached Kavanaugh to say hello to him and shake his hand, in the hope that Kavanaugh would discuss school shootings. As the video of the interaction shows, Kavanaugh coldly stared him down and then stomped away without saying a word. A bit later, one of the Pence White House’s spokesmen jumped up and down saying that security had intervened, but the video plainly shows this to be a lie. Kavanaugh could easily have spoken to this man and shaken his hand. He instead showed his contempt for that man and for the victims at Parkland – and frankly for everyone who isn’t in the Pence White House’s voter base. For a moment, his “aw shucks” mask came off, and the viciousness of the real man was revealed. And that’s the man who will be working to undo everything we’ve understood about the Supreme Court for generations – not out of any love for country or anything else, but simple craven ambition and a hatred for the people who oppose what the Right Wing has attempted to do to this country.

Sadly, the Dems do not have any ability to stop this situation or even slow it down. Whether they are present or not, Chuck Grassley will ram this nomination through the committee and send it to the floor for a vote as fast as he can. When he does so, John Kyl will be standing ready to join the rest of the GOP in voting for Kavanaugh as a giant middle finger to the Democratic Party and the rest of America. And we will likely see at least a 51-49 vote. Kavanaugh could get a couple of Dems, if they cave on their principles, but I hope he doesn’t. The GOP will vote in lockstep, including Susan Collins, who has already announced she’s satisfied that Kavanaugh believes Roe v Wade is “settled law” – which is a totally meaningless phrase since all decisions are settled law until the Supreme Court overturns them. Collins just needed that olive branch, and when Kavanaugh votes as everyone knows he will, she’ll just say that he never told her he was going to rule like this and she’s shocked, shocked that there is gambling going on in this establishment.

I admire the Dems for showing some spirit today, but it’s sadly two years too late. They needed to be doing this in 2016, if they wanted to avoid this situation from happening. Because those 2-3 million Dems in the swing states chose to stay home when they were needed, we now have a situation where major damage has been done to all three branches of our government, and where our best option will only slow the damage for a couple of years until we get another chance for those Dems to learn their lesson and show up.

Truman is correct. Elections do have consequences. The 2-3 million Dems across the swing states who chose not to vote in 2016 have given us those consequences, and they need to learn their lesson, lest further damage be inflicted. My hope is that they have learned it – particularly from watching the genuine shock reaction we saw across the country when Trump squeaked through.

That said, there is one chance to address the SC situation, and that is to make sure that Dem voters in all states possible vote in the Senate contests. While the House races are gerrymandered (and we just saw that North Carolina will continue using a district pattern that’s been expressly forbidden in court), the Senate races can’t be manipulated. If the Dems can hold their seats and pick up 2, the Dems will have a chance to replace Clarence Thomas, which would swing the majority on the court to the other side. If the Dems don’t put their efforts into the Senate, then Thomas will undoubtedly step down in 2019 and be replaced by a 40-45 year old equivalent, and THAT would be it for the next 30 years.

The Right Wing is happily gloating about this situation, as we knew they would, and they’ll be happily gloating with each major 5-4 ruling we see from the new edition of the SC – particularly when they overturn Roe within the next two years in a series of rulings that first strip it of meaning and then completely reverse it. But at the least this will prove to some commentators that it really does matter who gets elected, since we kept hearing from those people that the GOP would never seriously try to overturn Roe or do anything that extreme with the Supreme Court. I think we can say that argument has been put to bed.

Eyes is correct. This situation is a big plus for DeSantis with Fox News viewers and the Trump base he’s depending on to get him his next political seat.

And yes, the statement was intentionally, viciously racist. He’s practically daring people to call him on his bigotry, and then coyly playing the “Oh, did I say THAT?” card. Of course he meant it. The point was to show the deplorables that he’s one of them. He’s pulling the Trump move of emboldening outright bigotry and viciousness, which will of course encourage more of the deplorables to echo his behavior in their own lives.

As I’ve noted before, when this miserable epoch of our history is finished, the Right Wing and the Trump base will not be able to walk back their statements and actions. They will not be able to come back to the adults’ table to say “Gee, I didn’t really mean that” or “Gee, I didn’t know what those guys were doing” or “Can’t we just let bygones be bygones”. They’ll have to own their bigotry and enjoy the badge of shame they’ve earned for the rest of their lives.

We should not be surprised at this. These are the same people who gleefully celebrated when James Fields ran over a group of protestors and murdered Heather Heyer in Charlottesville last year. I still remember seeing Fox News commenters chuckling about using a pickup truck with a snowplow next time. There’s a reason why these people are thought of as “deplorables”.

And we shouldn’t be surprised at the childishness and vehemence of the Pence White House’s spokesman, who is now continuing his feud with McCain beyond the grave. And he’s encouraging his followers to act out in the most offensive way possible.

I frankly wonder what the next step for the GOP will be. We thought this bunch had sunk as low as they could with W, who was and is a detestable man and an embarrassment as President. The GOP followed that with Trump and Pence, and I have to admit being impressed that they were able to dig themselves down below the cellarage. So what monster will come up from the pit for their next magic trick?

Fox News was in panic mode throughout the evening. Hannity in particular was having a complete meltdown (as is understandable given his relationship to Michael Cohen and how that may have just gone very south…).

The main point seemed to be a frantic repetition of all the debunked conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton, none of which were relevant to the very real legal jeopardy now faced by the Pence White House.

And Michael Cohen just pled guilty to multiple counts, including that he paid off women specifically to influence the election and “at the direction of the candidate”. Cohen is looking at 3-5 years in prison as part of the plea deal.

Expect to see some delightful Tweets from the Pence White House spokesman by tomorrow morning.

Owens and Kirk are desperate for attention, and yes, they’d both love to have high-paid slots on Fox News to spew their invective like Tucker Carlson. (It’s an odd irony that they don’t have that pleasure yet, while Juan Williams is paid a LOT to be the modern-day Alan Colmes on the network…)

The incident at the restaurant was unpleasant, but not violent. It was a case of people vocally registering their displeasure with both Owens and Kirk for their racism and viciousness – something those people had a right to do. I don’t hold with the throwing water at Kirk, but I don’t think protestors need to be deferential to people who are happily lying and enabling the brutality of the Pence White House.

Owens has a history of lying, as does Kirk – the fact that no police report was filed here says volumes. The fact that Owens wants to now hide behind her race and play that card when she’s spent her career attacking other people of her race is laughable. And her blatant lies about the Democratic Party and racism are the kind of thing that gets multiple Pinnochios from fact checkers.

It’s nice that Kirk thinks that Trump is the “greatest president in modern American history”. But the facts say otherwise – he’s done nothing but divide the country, gloat in front of his base, attack everyone else and do so while riding the economic turnaround built by the Obama White House. We’ll see if the Dems show up to the voting booths this November and 2020. If they actually can find time in their schedule to do so, Trump will likely go down as the greatest failure of a president we’ve seen since perhaps Herbert Hoover.

People are missing the most important point here. Balderson won. Coming close is still a loss. With the gerrymandering, a 13 point switch to the Dems is not enough. The Dems need a 16-20 point switch in their favor in races like these, where the Dems all show up and a bunch of the GOP voters don’t, which is extremely unlikely.

The lesson here is that the Dems blew it in 2010 by allowing the GOP to control the Census. The Dems must work super hard to mobilize the local elections by 2020, so we can get back to something rese,bling sanity, or the situation will continue to get worse for all of us.