NBC confirms that it paid off former assistant producer after she brought a sexual harassment complaint against Chris Matthews.

Courtesy of Fox News: 

The website, citing two sources, reported that NBC paid the woman $40,000 to settle her claim against Matthews in 1999. An NBC spokesperson told The Daily Caller the network paid a smaller, unspecified amount as part of a severance package. 

The woman complained to executives that Matthews, now 71, had made inappropriate comments to her and made inappropriate jokes about her to others. 

An MSNBC spokesman told The Daily Caller that Matthews had been slapped with a formal reprimand at the time the woman made her complaint. The website reported that the network decided that the complaints were "inappropriate and juvenile," but were not intended as propositions.

There is no way that this should be unexpected to people who watch Hardball. 

Matthews' often uncomfortable remarks toward female guests has been prominently on display for decades.

Even as a male viewer of the program, I have been creeped out by Tweety more than a few times.

However let's keep in mind that according to this story Matthews was NOT trying to sleep with these women nor using his power to bully them. At least as far as we know right now.

And that should puts him in a separate category than the Roy Moore's or Donald Trump's of this world.

I still think he is going to lose his job however.

Kellyanne Conway invents a terrorist attack to justify Muslim ban.

.@KellyannePolls says that 2 Iraqi refugees "were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre."
(There was no such massacre.) pic.twitter.com/sD3Nnb5xfE

— Joe Sonka (@joesonka) February 3, 2017

If you are right now wondering why you never heard of this "Bowling Green massacre" that is because it never happened.

Here is Vox trying to make some sense out of Conway's bullshit: 

In 2011, two Iraqi refugees, Waad Ramadan Alwan and Mohanad Shareef Hammadi, were arrested in Bowling Green, Kentucky, on federal terrorism charges. Allegedly, they had been plotting to send money and weapons back home to Iraqi insurgents. 

During the investigation, the FBI found something worrying: fingerprints from Alwan on a roadside bomb in Iraq. This suggested there was a very specific flaw in America’s refugee screening process: Databases of fingerprints from Iraqi militants were not well-integrated into the broader State Department–run refugee admissions process. As a result, the Obama administration initiated a new review of all roughly 57,000 Iraqi refugees who had been recently admitted into the United States.

See? No massacre.

And also there was never a "ban," just a more intensive vetting of refugees coming from Iraq which resulted in a slowdown that lasted about six months.

This is how Vox summed it up:

No one was killed by refugees in Bowling Green. 

There was never even a plan to kill anyone in Bowling Green. 

There was no ban on Iraqi refugee admissions afterward.

In other words this is fake news. 

Which by the way, the Trump administration seems to create every single day.

Okay this Hardball interview with the guy who provided intelligence about Iraq to George W. Bush in the lead up to the war is not getting nearly enough attention.

Courtesy of Salon: 

On Tuesday night, former CIA Deputy Director and Bush’s intelligence briefer Michael Morell appeared on MSNBC’s “Hardball,” where he, under an amount of good cable news duress, admitted that the administration intentionally misrepresented intelligence. 

The show played a clip of Cheney saying, “We know [Saddam Hussein] has been absolutely devoted to trying to acquire nuclear weapons. And we believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons.” 

“Was that true or not,” host Chris Matthews asked. 

“We were saying–” 

“Can you answer that question? Was that true?” 

“No, that was not true,” he finally said.

Okay as all of you know I often find Matthew's interview style irritating because he will never let anybody finish their answer, but in this case it was EXACTLY what was needed to get the truth out of this guy.

And like Matthews I am amazed that this guy has allowed his intelligence to be mischaracterized for all of these years as faulty, and has essentially unfairly taken the blame for the purposeful lies that the Bush administration told to convince Americans to support this unnecessary war.

What I want from this moment forward is for reporters to start every interview with the GOP presidential wannabes with a showing of this clip, followed up by the question "Now do you think President Bush was right to send troops into Iraq?"

Because let me tell you I would be eating popcorn by the fistful while gleefully watching their responses to that!

President Obama VS Senator Elizabeth Warren on TPP.

Courtesy of Politico:  

President Barack Obama said Tuesday that Elizabeth Warren is “wrong” in her criticisms of the Asia-Pacific trade agreement he’s trying to reach — an unusually direct criticism of the senator whose support he has courted on other issues that are increasingly shaping his party’s economic agenda. 

“I love Elizabeth. We’re allies on a whole host of issues. But she’s wrong on this,” Obama said in an interview with Chris Matthews to air Tuesday night on “Hardball.” 

Obama bristled at the suggestion that his trade agenda would hurt the middle class, a criticism he has faced from key union allies as well as Warren. 

“Think about it. I’ve spent the last six and half years yanking this economy out of the worst recession since the great depression. Every single thing I’ve done from the Affordable Care Act to pushing to raise the minimum wage to making sure that young people are able to go to college and get good job training to what we’re pushing now in terms of sick pay leave,” Obama said. “Everything I do has been focused on how do we make sure the middle class is getting a fair deal.” 

“Now I would not be doing this trade deal if I did not think it was good for the middle class. And when you hear folks make a lot of suggestions about how bad this trade deal is, when you dig into the facts they are wrong,” Obama said. 

Here is video of the President's Hardball appearance yesterday:

Now I have a confession folks, your Uncle Gryphen is by no means an expert on trade deals, so I feel this whole thing is above my pay grade.

Not only that but we don't have enough information to even assess if this is a good deal or not. Which of course seems to be Warren's major concern. (Though it appears that she herself HAS seen the deal.)

And since I have nothing but respect for both President Obama and Senator Warren, I am quite torn over all of this.

Yes it is inconceivable to me that Obama would do anything to hurt the middle class. However it is equally inconceivable that Warren would have her facts wrong.

To be honest I kind of feel like a little kid who just wants his parents to stop fighting.

I think President Obama should simply invite Warren to the White House for a beer and pick her brain. After all if you want a good deal it can't hurt to have a former Harvard law professor take a look at it and give her recommendations, now can it?

"He's been shooting blanks for weeks now." Chris Matthews is fed up with Darrell Issa. And he is not alone.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

"You can never close a case on what you don't know."

What doesn't he know? He knows full well that the initial idea to provide additional scrutiny to groups seeking a 501 tax exemption came from a conservative Republican in Cincinnati, and he knows that the IRS also used certain keywords to identify liberal groups as well.

The only thing this sleazebag does not seem to know is that his "investigation' has blown up in his face and that he no longer has an ounce of credibility with the American people.

Sarah Palin made it into yesterday's Hardball Sideshow along with Larry "Wide Stance" Craig. Seems like a fitting place for her.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Here is Palin's actual tweet:

Victory in NYC for liberty-loving soda drinkers. To politicians with too much time on their hands we say: Govt, stay out of my refrigerator!
— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) March 12, 2013

"Liberty loving soda drinkers?" Seriously?

I guess it would be a waste of time to inform Palin that Mayor Bloomberg is really battling the drink manufacturers who create these bladder bursting, sugar infused, contributors to childhood obesity,  and not the people are so easily duped into purchasing them.

You would think a woman planning to write a fitness book would be supportive of such a measure.

Oh that's right, now she is writing about the "War on Christmas" instead.

Personally I doubt she knows any more about that topic, than she did about fitness.

Oh, and by the way, the government was never not going to "stay out" of Palin's refrigerator. This law was for New York only, a place that even Sarah Palin cannot see from Alaska, and it had to do with the sale of large servings of sugary drinks in restaurants, stadiums, and other eating establishments, not what was stored in a private refrigerator.

So the tweet is, as usual, ridiculous.

Chris Matthews, Andrea Mitchell, and Michael O'Hanlon provide the best breakdown of the just released Benghazi inquiry report that I have seen so far.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Apparently this report is rather convoluted but essentially it dispels the notion that the Ambassador's request for additional security measures was ignored, refutes that there was more that could have been done after the attack began to protect him, and lays most of the responsibility for the “grossly inadequate” security arrangements solely at the feet of the State Department. Which has resulted in the resignation of three officials.

I am sure that the Right Wing will do their utmost to find something damning to use against the President and Hillary Clinton in the report but as of right now it appears their talking points lack credibility and will ultimately fall on deaf ears.

Chris Matthews tries to get surrogate for Koch Brothers to admit he works for them. He won't.

God I loved watching this yesterday!

The guys absolutely REFUSES to admit who bankrolls Americans for Prosperity even though we ALL know that the Koch Brothers pay these guys to work on their behalf in Michigan to help bust up unions.

I am not always a huge Chris Matthews fan, as I have stated before, but damn did I enjoy watching this slimy little worm squirm!

(You can watch the entire interview here.)

Chris Matthews interviews "Game Change" director Jay Roach.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I have to say that I was a little disappointed in how much of the Palin mythology even Jay Roach buys into.

Her high poll numbers, her basketball skills, her success with the oil companies, are pretty much all bullshit, and yet even critics are simply not aware of how hard she worked to create this false image of herself.

Just think of how much MORE devastating the HBO movie would have been if they had known the REAL truth.

Oh well, I tried!

Ron Reagan: "Sarah Palin's constituency are people who wear red rubber noses and bells on their shoes."

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I LOVED this segment of Hardball yesterday.

Matthews, Reagan, and Joan Walsh absolutely raked Palin over the coals for her ridiculous statements, and it was delightful!

The Swiftboating of President Obama. Yes, believe it or not, they are actually going to go there.

I am not usually a fan of Michael Smerconish, but I think this is an episode of Hardball that all of us need to see. Though I doubt you will like it very much.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

What Jon Solz says about that birther general is absolutely correct, which you can read here for yourself:  

President Barack Obama is a socialist, was raised by communists, and wasn't born in the United States, according to the former Navy SEAL who founded the group Special Operations Speaks (SOS), which aims to portray Obama as anti-military in this election season. 

Earlier this week, a different group of former Navy SEALS calling themselves the Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund rolled out its campaign to criticize Obama for leaking national security information and taking what it believes as undue credit for the killing of Osama bin Laden. That group claims to be non-political. 

But the founder of SOS, a similar group with the same mission and the same tactics, says he has no problem admitting that he is against Obama's politics, personality, and believes that America's current president is lying about his origins. 

"I have to admit that I'm a Birther," said SOS founder Larry Bailey, a retired 27-year veteran of the Navy SEALs, in an interview. "If there were a jury of 12 good men and women and the evidence were placed before them, there would be absolutely no question Barack Obama was not born where he said he was and is not who he says he is."

So there you have it, right there is the mindset that is behind this scurrilous and hateful piece of propaganda. This POS is an embarrassment to his rank, to his service, and to his country. Obviously a man completely lacking in honor.

These Right Wingers are desperate to find something, ANYTHING to use to go after this President and they are demonstrating that there is nothing that is too low for them to use to smear him and keep him from serving a second term. Personally I am disgusted with these assholes!

Republican Congressman in Pennsylvania admits that the voter ID law has nothing to do with stopping voter fraud, and everything to do with stopping President Obama.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

You know I had earlier decided to avoid Hardball after I became irritated with Tweety's habit of talking over his guests, and his trumpeting of certain GOP presidential hopefuls, but lately he has been doing some very impressive pieces on the Republicans and I now find myself looking forward to what he comes up with next.

Chris Matthews slams corporations for sitting on their money to make the President look bad.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

As I have mentioned in the past I don't always watch Hardball, and often disagree with Matthews on a whole slew of issues, but watching him confront former Bush official Tony Fratto, and call out big business for helping to sabotage the economy to benefit the GOP was quite satisfying because I think most of us KNOW that's what's going on here.

The action starts around the 3:40 mark.

How Obama fired a general and took control of the Pentagon.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I found this to be very interesting, in that I remember how many people were dismissing this President as being too conciliatory to get the top military brass to respect him.

Clearly they, like just about everybody else, underestimated him.

Always a mistake.

What are we watching?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

It is rare that I find my television viewing habits in tune with anybody else's television viewing habits.

However I must surely be a liberal Democrat as that list almost EXACTLY matches my favorite programs.

On the other hand, I have NEVER even heard of some of the programs on the right wing list, and of the ones I do recognize I have never watched even ONE of them all the way through.

However I did recognize a certain theme running through those choices. They are programs that you would imagine your grandparents watching together. In other words, what that sample shows us is that these are programs being watched by individuals who are in their golden years, which by the way is how I now think about the Grand Old Party.

They may have a presence in the next handful of election cycles, but after that they will simply age right out of existence. So, how did those examples match up with YOUR television viewing habits?

Joe McGinniss on Hardball.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This is a MUCH superior interview to the one Joe did on CNN, and though I usually am not a huge fan of Mathews, he is very respectful and even gives Joe the chance to answer a question without interrupting.

Frank Bailey on Hardball.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I LOVE that he was able to talk about Palin writing her own glowing letters to the editor and then convincing supporters to sign them. that was one of my favorite revelations from the leaked manuscript.

And just so you know I completely disagree with Bailey about Sarah being smart, and I don't think she read as much about Alaska business as he claims.  In fact the books she had delivered to her office were almost exclusively gossip and celebrity magazines like People and US.

Sarah Palin may have lost the confidence of many Republicans, but she can always count on the racists.



"Oh my God! She is so beautiful! And white!"

 Courtesy of Americablog:

Palin's net favorability with folks who think interracial marriage should be illegal (+55 at 74/19) is 17 points higher than it is with folks who think interracial marriage should be legal (+38 at 64/26.)

(You can see all of the poll numbers here at PPP.)

If THAT surprises you, then you my friend have not been paying attention.

Of course Palin is not the only one enjoying high approval numbers with this crowd.

Haley Barbour, who is currently the Governor of Mississippi where this poll was conducted, received 79% approval rating from those who think interracial marriage should be illegal, but he also received 87% approval from those were fine with it, which seems to demonstrate that the people of Mississippi simply love them some Haley Barbour. Whether they are racist or not.

Coming up a close second to Palin is Huckabee who received a 73% approval rating from the racists, but also 73% from those NOT living in the nineteenth century. Which kind of indicates that other factors are driving his popularity.

However with 74% of those who think interracial marriage should be illegal approving of Palin versus 65% who don't mind a little "race mixing" digging the Grizzled Mama, it appears that Palin is the ONLY one who receives a substantial boost among the racists over those who DON'T spent their weekends ironing their white hoods and burning crosses in ethnic neighborhoods.

Which if you think about it is a little odd.  After all Sarah is not married to a real white dude, sinceTodd is part Yupik. Doesn't THAT qualify as an "interracial marriage" in Mississippi?

So if she is a traitor to her race what is the attraction?

Is it just that Sarah is simply irresistible to the most uneducated people in the country, regardless of who she is married to?

Or that her constant Facebook and Twitter attacks directed at Obama send a little shiver up the leg of southern racists?

Or perhaps that, from a distant, Todd looks white enough to "pass" as a REAL AmericanAnd?

Could it be because her defense of Dr. Laura after she used the "N" word 11 times on the radio gave southern KKK sympathizers a "Boehner?" (Wait, did I spell that right?)

Or perhaps it is that during the McCain campaign she became the "Poster Girl for Racism."



Whatever the reason, it is very clear that the people who DON'T like black people, LOVE Sarah Palin.  And she knows it!

That is why she rarely misses the opportunity to attack the President and show her own personal disdain for the first black man to sit in the White House.

And in my opinion that is what still makes Sister Sarah so dangerous even today.  If anybody could get the hateful racists in this country riled up enough to do something terrible to our President, it would be Sarah Palin. Because believe me, even if the majority of America is over Sarah Louise Palin, those people are still hanging on her every word.

What are your thoughts?

Chris Matthews on Frank Bailey's book

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This is too good not to share.

They do not talk about too much that has not already been revealed but their absolute joy at seeing the absolute insanity that is Sarah Palin is really fun to watch.

This is why I have been saying that this information is going to forever end her political aspirations.  It is not just the big things that it reveals, it is the small tidbits of how she handled polls, wrote letters to the editor using other people's names, and built her very own enemies list, on which yours truly held quite a high ranking, that tell people she is completely unfit to hold a political office.

That is the kind information that is gold to opposition researchers and that is impossible for a potential candidate to overcome.  The Palin-bots can spin, and spin until silk flies out of their asses, but they will NEVER repair the damage to Sarah Palin that this manuscript, and the books soon to come will do to it.

Period!

I don't usually watch Hardball anymore, but here Chris Matthews is speaking the gospel.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This is why I started this blog back in 2004.  It was to talk about the Bush administration and the lies they told to trick this country into fighting these illegal wars.  I had hoped to someday see George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Don Rumsfeld charged as war criminals, and for me that dream is still alive.

Mathews has thrown down the gauntlet, do we have the guts to pick it up?

For my fellow Alaskans the e-mail address for Senator Begich is here, while Senator Murkowski's is here.

Don't we owe it to our fallen warriors to get to the bottom of the lies that sent them to their premature deaths, and to make sure no President will EVER be allowed to mislead the American people into supporting an illegal war ever again?