Maddow, R TRMS

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prolly some neglect target 1 24

merri ok

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AN 8 26

In August 2025 — roughly seven months into his second presidency — Donald Trump threatened Colorado officials with "harsh measures" if they didn't release former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters from prison, where she was serving time for criminal charges related to her efforts to overturn 2020's presidential election results. Now, newly revealed e-mails, according to MS NOW's Steve Benen, shed light on the steps Trump took to punish the State of Colorado for Peters' incarceration.

Highlighting one of Benen's August 17 opinion columns in a post on X, formerly Twitter, journalist Kyle Griffin notes, "Emails revealed in court: As Trump publicly condemned Colorado for incarcerating convicted felon and election denier Tina Peters, the White House organized an urgent 'brainstorm call' with five federal agencies — with the goal of exploring ways to curtail federal support to Colorado. The next day, federal agencies announced they were canceling hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants for Colorado projects."

Benen, in his column, points out that the "degree to which" Trump "was serious" about punishing Colorado because of Peters "is still coming into focus."

"The New York Times reported, late last week, for example, that as Trump publicly condemned the Rocky Mountain State for incarcerating a convicted felon, the White House organized an urgent 'brainstorm call' with five federal agencies, with the goal of exploring ways to curtail federal support to Colorado," Benen explains. "The meeting, evidently, was a success — at least as far as the administration was concerned."

Trump's "assault against the Democratic-run state," Benen observes, ranged from cutting off transportation funds to taking "steps to dismantle a renowned science lab in Colorado."

"But while the pattern is not new, what is new is the newly disclosed document: We're now aware of an e-mail, sent by White House special assistant Emily Underwood just days after the president published a series of messages related to Peters, which reinforces rather obvious suspicions that the administration's campaign against Colorado was not a mere coincidence: Team Trump set out to punish the state, and then took a variety of steps to execute that plan ... It's worth emphasizing that the gambit — what was effectively an extortion plot, hatched by the White House against an American state — proved effective."

Benen continues, "In mid-May, Polis succumbed to pressure and announced his commutation for Peters, a convicted felon who illegally tried to use her office in pursuit of pro-Trump election conspiracy theories. But the fact that the scheme worked doesn't make it any more defensible."

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4 6? 26 TRMS INTEL COMM DEM

TRUMP WILL STEal mark warner fabricate emergency

Rachel Maddow Show

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11 25

Rachel@msnbc.com (We read our mail.)

To submit news tips, use any of the contact points at SendItToRachel.com.

Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."

Show archives:

The new Watch page comes with search and sorting functions that can be helpful.

And here is the archive of the text transcripts of past shows.

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an 7 25

former Rep. Devin Nunes (R-California) hasn't been shy about filing defamation lawsuits that many legal experts considered frivolous according to the standards outlined in U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1964 ruling in New York Times v. Sullivan. In April 2023, U.S. District Court Judge C.J. Williams threw out a Nunes lawsuit against Esquire. And in 2020, Judge John Marshall ruled that Nunes couldn't sue two parody accounts on X, formerly Twitter (one of which was named Devin Nunes' Cow and mocked him from the perspective of a fictional cow).

Nunes also sued NBC/Universal in response to comments from top-rated host Rachel Maddow. But on Friday, August 1, U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel dismissed that lawsuit, ruling that Nunes failed to show actual malice.

In New York Times v. Sullivan, the Warren Court ruled that libel has to involve actual malice — a ruling that, 61 years ago, countless journalists and legal experts hailed as a major victory for the First Amendment and freedom of the press.

Castel's ruling is generating a lot of comments on X, formerly Twitter.

IFrame Content

Reuters Jonathan Landay noted that Nunes' lawsuit involved "a comment by Rachel Maddow about his dealings with a suspected Russian agent."

X user EJW commented, "Perpetual Loser Nunes — loses again."

Another X user, Sadie NYC, wrote, "Sucks to be you dude. Trump Media CEO Nunes loses defamation lawsuit over Rachel Maddow show."

Politico's Josh Gerstein observed, "BREAKING: Judge tosses fmr Rep. Nunes' libel suit re MSNBC report on handling of package from Russia-linked legislator. Maddow & producer said they relied on POLITICO report suggesting Nunes sat on package, didn't see later 1 saying he gave it to FBI."

X user Bill Thatcher wrote, "@DevinNunes Such an insecure little weenie. Did she hurt your little feelings?! Devin, the continuing poster boy for thin-skin, low IQ, politically deaf white boys."

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ref

april 16, 2025,

By Steve Benen

Given Ed Martin’s recent record as the interim U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., it was difficult to imagine how he could become even more controversial. But a new Washington Post report makes matters worse for the hyper-partisan Trump loyalist and former “Stop the Steal” organizer.

Martin is now interim U.S. attorney for D.C. and Trump’s pick to serve full time in the role. But as a conservative activist and former Missouri Republican official, he appeared more than 150 times on [the Russian state television network RT] and Sputnik — networks funded and directed by the Russian government — as a guest commentator from August 2016 to April 2024, according to a search of their websites and the Internet Archive’s database of television broadcasts.

What makes a story like this so striking is that it’s really made up of three overlapping problems.

The first is that Martin agreed to appear more than 150 times on Russian propaganda outlets.

Maddowblog Trump administration shutters office that combats foreign disinformation

The second is what Martin said during those on-air appearances: The Republican lawyer apparently had a knack for offering commentary that aligned with Kremlin talking points, including telling one host that there was “no evidence” of a Russian military buildup on Ukraine’s borders the week before the Russian military crossed those borders and began a war in Ukraine.

But every bit as important, if not more so, is the third problem: As part of his presidential nomination to serve as the U.S. attorney in one of the nation’s most important prosecutorial offices, Martin was required to disclose these media appearances to the Senate Judiciary Committee — and according to the Post’s report, at least initially, he did not. (The article has not been independently verified by MSNBC or NBC News.)

“Martin’s office did not initially respond last week to questions about his appearances on RT and Sputnik, including why he did not disclose them to the Senate or whether he was compensated for them,” the Post added. The report went on to note that his spokesperson said Martin sent senators “a supplemental letter” disclosing the appearances he failed to mention earlier.

On Monday, a group of former Jan. 6 prosecutors and conservative attorneys asked a disciplinary board to investigate Martin, arguing that Trump’s right-wing nominee — who has no prosecutorial experience — has a “fundamental misunderstanding of the role of a federal prosecutor.” The letter, addressed to the Office of Disciplinary Counsel at the U.S. District Court of Appeals, said Martin’s actions “threaten to undermine the integrity of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the legal profession in the District of Columbia.”

Two days later, Martin’s nomination suddenly looks even worse.

For those unfamiliar with the Missouri Republican, Martin’s “greatest hits” package features misguided and unnecessary fights with the dean of Georgetown University’s law school, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, former President Joe Biden and Democratic Reps. Robert Garcia of California and Eugene Vindman of Virginia. During his brief tenure, Martin has also:

demoted multiple senior officials involved in Jan. 6 insurrection cases;

compared one of the criminal charges used against Jan. 6 defendants to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II;

falsely described himself as one of the president’s lawyers;

weighed in on a civil case involving the White House, which had literally nothing to do with his office;

intervened in a dubious Environmental Protection Agency investigation;

made a dubious decision in acase involving Republican Rep. Cory Mills of Florida;

launched the wildly unnecessary “Operation Whirlwind”;

also launched the wildly unnecessary “Project 1512” initiative;

also launched a wildly unnecessary “election accountability” unit;

made a creepy public vow to wield his prosecutorial powers against those who get in Elon Musk’s way;

engaged in brazen conflict of interest in a Jan. 6 case, in which he effectively took both sides of a criminal case;

and kicked off a radically unnecessary investigation into Jack Smith and a law firm that gave the former special counsel pro bono legal services.

In a piece for New York magazine, Elie Honig recently described the lawyer as Trump’s “dangerous and ridiculous prosecutor.” Martin seems to be going out of his way to prove his many critics right.

What’s more, The New York Times reported that Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have asked the D.C. Bar’s disciplinary counsel to investigate Martin, arguing that the Trump-appointed Republican has “abused” his prosecutorial powers.

The Senate has not yet scheduled a confirmation hearing for Martin, and the calendar is of increasing relevance: If he isn’t confirmed by May 20, his interim appointment will expire and he’ll have to be replaced at the U.S attorney’s office. Watch this space.

*This post updates ourrelated earlier coverage

Steve Benen

Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MSNBC political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."

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an fair 3 25

At a time when the Democratic Party’s opposition to the ongoing right-wing authoritarian assault on US government is failing miserably (FAIR.org, 2/27/25), MSNBC’s recent purge means it is all the more unlikely that the cable news network will have any role in holding Democrats’ feet to the fire.

The news channel has nixed or demoted their most progressive anchors, all of whom are people of color. These are the hosts who have drawn the most ire from Donald Trump’s online warriors, according to Dave Zirin of The Nation (2/28/25). They are also some of the few who were willing to air the network’s rare criticism of Israel. In their stead, MSNBC has elevated Democratic Party apparatchiks and a center-right never-Trumper. This rightward shift reflects the reality that the channel’s corporate ownership has never cared for its left-of-center brand.

The network’s overhaul, led by its new president Rebecca Kutler, cancels Joy Reid’s ReidOut, Alex Wagner’s nighttime spot and Ayman Mohyeldin’s weekend evening show, with Reid fired, Wagner demoted and Mohyeldin’s voice diluted into a co-anchor position.

The ReidOut is getting replaced by a panel show consisting of Symone Sanders-Townsend, the former Biden and Harris advisor; Alicia Menendez, the daughter of disgraced ex-Sen. Bob Menendez; and Michael Steele, the former Republican National Committee chairperson, now a Democrat whose politics symbolize the Democratic Party’s disastrous fetish for centrist triangulation. Wagner’s 9 pm slot will now be anchored by Jen Psaki, another Biden alum.

As an indication of just how disruptive Kutler’s new vision for MSNBC is, even Rachel Maddow—the network’s biggest star with the most popular show—is getting a staff downsizing. The move seemed almost retaliatory, as it came after Maddow aired her grievances during one of her nightly shows (2/24/25). “Personally, I think it is a bad mistake to let [Reid] walk out the door,” Maddow said. “It is not my call and I understand that, but that’s what I think.” She added:

It is also unnerving to see that, on a network where we’ve got two, count ’em, two non-white hosts in primetime, both of our non-white hosts in prime time are losing their shows, as is Katie Phang on the weekend. And that feels worse than bad, no matter who replaces them. That feels indefensible, and I do not defend it.

Bucking the trend

Joy Reid has had her disagreements with the left. Her ardent defense of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential bid veered frequently into baseless accusations, online scolding of Bernie Sanders and promotion of the Russiagate conspiracy theory (FAIR.org, 9/3/16, 6/30/17, 8/24/16). Altogether, that contributed to Democrats’ refusal to conduct a true postmortem of the Clinton loss, the ramifications of which still aid Donald Trump’s dominance.

But during Joe Biden’s presidential tenure, Reid proved to be progressive, relative not just to MSNBC’s other anchors, but many in the corporate media writ large. As New York’s skies turned orange amid historic Canadian wildfires in the summer of 2023, for instance, Reid was one of the few who called out the role of fossil fuels (FAIR.org, 7/18/23).

While other outlets were overemphasizing the inflationary impact of President Biden’s paradigm-shifting economic stimulus in the wake of the Covid pandemic, Reid bucked the trend, drawing the ire of right-wing media (FAIR.org, 7/13/23).

Perhaps most notably, Reid was an outlier in her coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza and its backlash in the US. A FAIR study (8/15/24) found that Reid’s show was the only weekday news program studied to feature students expressing pro-Palestinian sentiment during coverage of the student Gaza solidarity encampments that cropped up at college campuses across the country last spring. The same study found that her show was the only one studied to have mentioned the words “divestment” and “police violence” more than “antisemitism” in relation to the encampments.

Similarly, as outlets like the New York Times provided Israel cover for its bombing of the densely-populated Jabalia refugee camp that killed and wounded 400 Palestinians, Reid questioned how Israel could justify such a disproportionate attack (FAIR.org, 11/15/23).

The panel of Sanders-Townsend, Menendez and Steele promises none of that nonconformity. Instead, they represent MSNBC’s decision to represent an even smaller sliver of the Democratic elite. By elevating the former Biden and Harris advisor Sanders-Townsend, MSNBC has empowered someone with an interest in defending the current Democratic guard’s rule.

The Lincoln Project–affiliated Steele similarly owes his ascendancy to the sort of Democratic group-think that spurred Kamala Harris’s ruinous gun-touting, Cheney-approved centrist presidential bid. Expect Hakeem Jeffries praise.

Pointing out hypocrisy

Though not fired, Mohyeldin and Wagner are two more MSNBC figures who have elevated criticism of Israel and are now facing a demotion. Following ex-Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s finding that Sudanese military forces had committed genocide against the Sudanese people, Mohyeldin (MSNBC, 1/13/25) took to the airwaves to point out Blinken’s hypocrisy:

The horrific atrocities committed against the Sudanese should be labeled as genocide. But Blinken’s declaration begs the question: Why is the US unable to apply that same standard to Israel?

If the Biden administration is calling out the famine in Sudan, why not also address the ongoing famine in Gaza, which has been condemned by independent experts from the United Nations?

After New York Mayor Eric Adams sicced the NYPD on Columbia and CUNY students who had erected Gaza solidarity encampments, Wagner (5/1/24) brought on Jelani Cobb, the dean of the Columbia School of Journalism, and CUNY journalism professor (and MSNBC contributor) Peter Beinart, a well-known critic of Israel. During the show, Wagner said she agreed with Beinart that it’s “probably a good thing for our national discourse” if the encampment movement is remembered in history as a turning point for debate about US support for Israel. She also suggested that common misrepresentations of the student protestors as treasonous were a “cudgel” to distract from the issue of US foreign policy towards Israel.

Mouthpiece for elite interests

Wagner’s replacement is Jen Psaki. No one is more qualified to execute MSNBC’s crusade to become nothing more than a mouthpiece for elite Democratic interests. As Julia Rock wrote in Jacobin (5/13/22) when Biden’s former press secretary left the administration for her first MSNBC gig:

The skills required to act as a press secretary in corporate Democratic presidencies—saying little of substance, committing to nothing, dispensing snark and scoffs, and never even accidentally challenging power—appear to carry over well to playing pundit on MSNBC, the corporate network that serves as the Democratic Party’s de facto propaganda outfit.

As press secretary, Psaki was known for insensitive and condescending quips in response to the public’s desire for good things. After the Democrats’ John R. Lewis Act, which would have enacted broad voting rights reforms, failed to pass the Senate in January 2022, Psaki suggested the public “go to a kickboxing class” or “have a margarita” to rejuvenate their spirits (Business Insider, 1/21/22).

Then there was the time when Psaki got short with NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson in response to her question asking why the United States, unlike other wealthy nations, couldn’t distribute free Covid-19 test kits to every US household (Jacobin, 12/8/21). Psaki, suggesting the best way to provide tests was Biden’s convoluted plan for reimbursements through private insurance, asked Liasson, “Should we just send one to every American?” Feigning ignorance, she continued, “Then what happens if every American has one test? How much does that cost, and then what happens after that?”

Psaki’s knack for subduing the electorate’s impulse for government to meet their needs will serve MSNBC’s priorities well. Add to that her gig as a “crisis consultant” (Jacobin, 3/20/21) for the Israeli AI facial recognition startup formerly known as AnyVision, whose services were used to surveil Palestinians in the West Bank (NBC, 10/28/19), as well as her consultancy for the ride sharing giant Lyft (Business Insider, 4/1/22), and it’s no wonder she got the primetime 9pm slot.

Ideological thrashing

MSNBC’s rightward tack may come as a surprise to those who think it was born fully formed as Fox News’ liberal opposite. But its ideological thrashing over the years—oscillating between right-wing pundits like Laura Ingraham, Tucker Carlson and Michael Savage, and liberals like Phil Donahue and Keith Olbermann—before donning its current liberal identity in 2008, with the hiring of Rachel Maddow, shows the network is more akin to a cable news version of John Carpenter’s The Thing (FAIR.org, 8/28/21).

The owners of MSNBC—once Microsoft and General Electric, then GE alone, now the cable giant Comcast—have never held a commitment to its center-left brand beyond its capacity to capture as large a fraction of the market as possible. Now, as other mainstream corporate outlets like CNN are making similar adjustments (FAIR.org, 2/17/22), MSNBC seems to believe its best path to profit is shirking progressives.

The Democratic Party is facing an unprecedented—and justified—crisis in confidence among the public. A recent Quinnipiac University poll showed Democrats with just a 31% approval rating, the lowest since the school began measuring party approval. Meanwhile, a poll by the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project found that “ending Israel’s violence in Gaza” was a top issue for voters who supported Biden in 2020, but cast their ballots for someone other than Harris in the 2024 election.

MSNBC’s firing and demotion of its most progressive ranks, the ones who aired criticism of Israel, means that the Democratic Party—currently America’s sole opposition party in Congress—is all the less likely to be held accountable as the authoritarian right attempts to steamroll through our democracy.

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'Aren‘t you the boss?' Maddow supercut shows Trump being 'palpably scared' to talk about Putin

Newsmax guest says Rachel Maddow is "always bashing white men but she wants to look like a man" | Media Matters for America

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prequel-american-fight-fascism

OCTOBER 18, 2023

*Prequel - An American Fight Against Fascism

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddowargued that authoritarianism has existed on the fringe far-right of U.S. politics for nearly a century. Politics and Prose Bookstore and George Washington University in Washington, D.C., hosted this event. cspan booktv

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kraken spec ops rescue haspel? 11 21 trms

jkf and jr dallas numerology prophet fail/punt 3x?

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1123 maddow on NYT? report on jeff clark insurrection act day 1

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https://www.alternet.org/2022/11/devin-nunes-sue-nbc-libel/

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jeff clark

subpoena'd, fired from dark shop kickass

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https://www.msnbc.com/transcripts/show/rachel-maddow-show

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koch network is running TP ACA town hall play again:[bus tour?] sign: i will not let my child be your sci experiment; hands off my body ~ abortion https://www.msnbc.com/maddowblog

// Koch-backed group fuels opposition to school mask mandates, leaked letter shows

A template letter circulated by Independent Women’s Forum offers a glimpse into a well-resourced campaign against public health regulations

Protesters are escorted out of a school board meeting in Las Vegas. Opposition to mandates is being fueled, in part, by well-funded conservative groups whose methods mask the coordinated nature of the backlash. )

By Isaac Stanley-Becker

October 1, 2021 at 1:00 p.m. EDT

The letter sounds passionate and personal.

It is motivated, the author explains, by a desire to “speak up for what is best for my kids.” And it fervently conveys the author’s feelings to school leaders: “I do not believe little kids should be forced to wear masks, and I urge you to adopt a policy that allows parental choice on this matter for the upcoming school year.”

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https://www.alternet.org/2021/08/rachel-maddow/

oan pays $250k fails

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https://www.alternet.org/2021/08/rachel-maddow/

oan pays $250k fails defam

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow scored another court victory in a libel suit by One America News' parent company Herring Networks, after an appeals court upheld a previous ruling in the case.

The right-wing OAN and its owner sued Maddow after she commented on a Daily Beast report on the explicitly pro-Donald Trump network's employment of a Kremlin-paid journalist, and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court's ruling that her statements were not actionable, reported *The Hollywood Reporter*.

"We literally learned today that that outlet the President is promoting shares staff with the Kremlin," Maddow said in July 2019. "I mean, what?… 'In this case, the most obsequiously pro-Trump right wing news outlet in America really literally is paid Russian propaganda. Their on-air U.S. politics reporter is paid by the Russian government to produce propaganda for that government."

The libel suit was dismissed in May 2020 when a district court judge found that a reasonable viewer would not interpret Maddow's comment to mean that OAN was paid Russian propaganda, but instead her own hyperbolic opinion on the matter.

"In comparison to the undisputed facts that Maddow reports, the contested statement was particularly emphatic and unfounded: Maddow went from stating that OAN employs a Sputnik employee to stating that OAN reports Russian propaganda," wrote Circuit Judge Milan D. Smith Jr. "A reasonable person would understand Maddow's contested statement as an 'obvious exaggeration,' that is, as Maddow explains, 'sandwiched between precise factual recitations' of The Daily Beast article."

The judge awarded OAN to pay $250,000 in legal fees to Maddow and MSNBC.

FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES

RELATED ARTICLES AROUND THE WEB

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flipbd 11 hrs inside bubble, special on trump accomplishments, mypillow

an 221

In a Politico deep dive into a day of watching hyper-conservativeOne America News (OAN), reporter Tina Ngyuen wrote that the network is struggling to fill time with Donald Trump off the stage and staying out of the public eye while awaiting his impeachment trial in the Senate next week.

The network, which was just slapped with having pay to $250,000 in attorney's fees stemming from a defamation lawsuit that was dismissed last year against MSNBC, has been elevated by the ex-president as his network of choice after his falling out with Fox News but now, as the report notes, won't even grace them with an interview to help boost their viewership....

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"This is spy movie stuff’: Rachel Maddow worries Putin may assassinate — inside America

MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow on Friday worried that Russian President…

wapo

Rachel Maddow pinpoints the root of all evils: The fossil fuel industry

By Jill Dougherty

October 3, 2019

Jill Dougherty is a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington and a Centennial fellow at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. She covered the White House and State Department for CNN and served for nine years as CNN’s Moscow bureau chief.

Fulminating comes easy to Rachel Maddow. What sets her apart from other serial fulminators is that she does it with facts — and sardonic wit.

Her new book, “Blowout,” takes on the fossil fuel industry or, as one person she cites puts it, the “excrement of the devil.” This is not — and who would expect it from Maddow? — an “on the one hand, on the other hand” type of journalistic endeavor. She states her thesis at the outset: The oil and gas industry “is the most consequential, the most lucrative, the most powerful, and the least-well-governed major industry in the history of mankind.”

At its heart, this book is a tale of two countries, the United States and Russia, and how, as Maddow sees it — individually and together — they have been warped by a rapacious fossil fuel industry. In her view, almost everything comes back, in the end, to the industry. It’s the “key ingredient in the global chaos and democratic downturn we’re now living through,” she says. The industry is so rich, so “ginormous,” so intertwined with every aspect of our lives and the lives of everyone on Earth that, if you follow the dots, it explains how almost everything in the world works — ultimately, she warns, it will “fatally injure the whole freaking planet.”

The book’s title is a technical term for that horrifying moment when, if pressure in an oil or gas well builds and control systems fail, the fuel races back up to the rig and explodes in a fireball. “Blowout” reads like Maddow’s MSNBC monologues, piling outrage on top of outrage, peppered with breathless asides warning of Armageddon: “Hey, in the quest for American energy independence, maybe a few of us have to take one for the team — line up your pets, line up your eighth graders.” You can almost see that finger jab as she drives home the point.

Maddow’s tale ties together fracking in Oklahoma, Russian “sleeper” spies, the debauched son of the president of Equatorial Guinea, “earthquake swarms,” poisoned pets, the hacker Guccifer, Moammar Gaddafi’s death,a secessionist movement in Texas, but wait, there’s more! Fossil fuels are the world’s cheap high, an international addiction, Maddow argues, creating “such large, up-front, sweat-free gains for connected elites that no one wants to do anything else but chase the oil jackpot.”

One of her most outrageous examples is Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, wayward son of Equatorial Guinea’s president-for-life Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. Ensconced in a $30 million mansion in Malibu, Calif., he owned houses around the world, a fleet of luxury cars and a massive yacht, and liked to treat his girlfriends to an afternoon of shopping, giving them $80,000 in $100 bills, forked over from a Nike shoe box stuffed with cash. Oil, you see, had been discovered off the coast, and as a result, a Global Witness report showed, the tiny nation’s oil revenue soared from just $2.1 million in 1993 to $3.9 billion in 2007. Meanwhile, the report said, 77 percent of the population lived in poverty.

In tracing the industry and its impact on our lives, Maddow begins at the beginning, in 1859, with the discovery of “rock oil” and, a few years later, John D. Rockefeller’s founding of Standard Oil. She takes the story up to today’s inventions — hydraulic fracking and horizontal drilling — that have revolutionized extraction and helped launch America on its road to “energy independence.”

An inseparable part of America’s fossil fuel history, Maddow points out, are the federal and state tax breaks for the industry, what she calls the “longest running welfare program in the nation’s history.” This spawned a symbiotic relationship, as the fossil fuel industry began to feed on the body politic, eventually creating its own “corporate shadow foreign policy.”

The ultimate victims, Maddow says, continue to be average Americans across the country, in thrall to an industry that gives them jobs but threatens their health, even their lives, all the while undermining democracy.

Russia, without strong democratic institutions, comes off even worse, beset with “the Resource Curse”— abundant energy resources that create enormous cashflows but that crowd out more stable and diversified roads to economic development. The result: “poor governance and high corruption [that result in] devastating economic, health and environmental consequences at the local level, and high incidences of conflict and war.”

The culprit, as Maddow sees it, is President Vladimir Putin. Early in his presidency he targeted energy resources as the path to return Russia to its rightful place on the world stage after the ignominious demise of the Soviet Union. That was a worthy goal, and during the George W. Bush administration, when relations with America were more hopeful, Putin calculated that Russia could become an important energy supplier to the United States.

It didn’t end up that way. Putin’s efforts to restore Russia, Maddow writes, “no longer depend on capacity and know-how. They depend on cheating. Putin and his minions cheat at the financial markets. They cheat at the Olympics. They cheat at their own fake democracy. They cheat other people out of their democracies.”

Maddow devotes a large section of “Blowout” to Russia, but it’s not what you might expect from an American writing about America’s nemesis. Yes, there’s an entire chapter devoted to Russian “illegals” — undercover intelligence agents living in the United States as Americans, including Anna Chapman, “billed as a modern seductress worthy of Mata Hari.” And there’s Rex Tillerson, former head of ExxonMobil, who signed a strategic alliance deal between his company and the Russian energy giant Rosneft, and who went on to become President Trump’s secretary of state. And there’sIgor Sechin, head of Rosneft and a member of Putin’s inner circle,described with Maddow’s inimitable style: “When Sechin did smile, he looked like a fairy-tale ogre who had just swallowed a small tasty child.”

Her description of Carter Page, foreign policy adviser to then-candidate Donald Trump, is a close second: “The wheels in Page’s head didn’t turn with a great deal of velocity, but they exhibited real stamina.”

But Maddow goes deeper, deftly describing the sad truth that Russia and its citizens paid a steep price for Putin’s overreliance on energy: “Now in his twentieth year running the show, Vladimir Putin presides over a metaphysical unforced error: the tragic scuppering of one of the potentially great nations in the world.”

Maddow’s sources include some of the best writers on contemporary Russia, including Masha Gessen, Mikhail Zygar, Karen Dawisha, Nina Khrushcheva and Anna Nemtsova. She includes a quote from the world leader who probably knows Putin better than anyone, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up in East Germany and speaks Russian: “I understand why he has to do this — to prove he’s a man. He’s afraid of his own weakness. Russia has nothing, no successful politics or economy. All they have is this.”

There are a lot of bad guys in this book. But there are a few good ones, too. Like Austin Holland, head seismologist for the Oklahoma Geological Survey, who, under great pressure from the industry and its supporters to stop his research, found that disposal of wastewater from fracking was, indeed, linked to an astounding increase in earthquakes in the state. Eventually, he left his position and headed for New Mexico and a job with the U.S. Geological Survey.

The real heroes, Maddow says, are the teachers, students and parents in Oklahoma, fed up with the fracking and the earthquakes — more than 100 measuring a magnitude of 3.0 or higher in the state in February 2016 alone — and the tax breaks for the oil and gas industry, even as spending per student plummeted by 24 percent over eight years. Thanks to their protests, the state legislature eventually raised taxes on the industry and put more controls on wastewater.

Maddow doesn’t think the fossil fuel industry is going away anytime soon, although she says it will eventually: “Coal is dead. As dead as whale oil and kerosene and every other fuel source we once believed we couldn’t live without. Oil and gas are dead, too — only they don’t look sick yet.”

The world, she says, must figure out how to get along without them. And, although it seems hard to believe after more than 350 pages of horrors that the industry has inflicted on the environment and geopolitics around the world, Maddow claims that “this is a doable, winnable fight here at home.”

In “Blowout,” just like in her MSNBC monologues, Maddow doesn’t shy away from hyperbole: “Democracy either wins this one or disappears.” But we readers have to ask ourselves — is it really hyperbole?

Blowout

Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth

By Rachel Maddow

Crown.

406 pp. $30

booktv 1119

:{Rachel Maddow, "Blowout"MSNBC's Rachel Maddow argued that the gas and oil industry are weakening…:{}:

:{:{rachel bktv 11/19}::{}:

putin solve for pattern; nat gas makes $ but also divides/disrupts; Fitrash deal as middleman (not needed) 800m$ in one year 2007 [but can be siphoned and directed to diff purposes; gazprom itlself loses some $;

2006 Putin back Party of regions Manafort; ~ Orange Yulia Tymo; she undid sweetheart deal, got rid of middleman firtsh 2009; she was arrested under anti-corruption by prosecutor [appt by Yut, charged by parl?]

Firtash gets new deal 4 bill$ profit one year?! w/ help of US PR firm?

Yano 180 on camp pledge to get closer to EU, putin offers 15 bill$ ukr, ppl don'r fall for it; 9/21/12 small # ppl grows fast Maidan revo 100k ppl; pots for armor; Cops harass, putin thinks cold will drive them home but no, embaraa sochi olympics; 2/18/18? slingshots; KIa; ring of fire as defense; snipers, machine guns: we will give our lives to be free, not slaves; yano called off force (lost nerve?) and fled to east (regions safehouse?)

Biden had made mult visits, said wd protect ukr vs russia; said russia "withering" clinging to past, could not cope w/ new changing world; [150m ppl, biggerst geo, gdp less than s korea or italy;

Rudy says firtash a pal, client...resource curse: decline democ, follow $; FF corps make "ownm weather"; saudi: bettee to discover water; OPEC devil's excrement"

Activ meas 2016 a wild pitch; why take huge risk (HC a russia hawk; she could easily find out]

putin desperate to get rid of sanction b.c petrostate; he and rex made deal for 1/4 billion$ (#1 in industry if not history)

Rex hd no clue he wd be offered SoS (never met trump, thot they wanted advice on energy)

76% US ghg oil/nat gas burn;

Hope: all mjt ff corps HQ in US thus can be regulated; okla reddist 180 by teachers; sunrise

FF corps will lose power [Divest jiu jitsu?] b/c world will move on AGW, but power vacuum; what will fill? if liberal dmoc/rule of law robust/resilient enough, then that but not automatic; massive realignmen will literally change borders; section 1504 rule sez corps must declare bribes; trump gave crazy ppl guns and ! 1504 1-2#

despite massive profits, oil spill plan gulf of mex include walruses [suicide]; diaper filling and paper towels [chem?]

We must understand power, regulations [systems?] to defend x, weaken y, and at least expose/shout out wrings;

okla wells on capitol grounds (petunia, 3?0 aubrey mclendon; igor sechin

}:}:

no lnx

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/30/books/review/blowout-rachel-maddow.html

Rachel Maddow Takes On the Oil Industry

By Fareed Zakaria

Oct. 30, 2019

BLOWOUT

Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth

By Rachel Maddow

For those who have watched Rachel Maddow’s television show, the opening scene of her book will feel familiar in its eye for a compelling anecdote. She tells the 2003 story of a small new business in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood that is about to be inaugurated by a head of state, in fact, “one of the most powerful men on the planet.” We’re intrigued. It turns out the business is a gas station. What’s going on? Four paragraphs later, we learn that the mystery man is Vladimir Putin, who is publicizing one of a string of American gas stations acquired by the Russian oil giant Lukoil. Having piqued your interest, Maddow now broadens her narrative and explains why this anecdote is an apt illustration of the book’s larger point — the centrality and influence of the oil and gas industry.

“Blowout” is a rollickingly well-written book, filled with fascinating, exciting and alarming stories about the impact of the oil and gas industry on the world today. While she is clearly animated by a concern about climate change, Maddow mostly describes the political consequences of an industry that has empowered some of the strangest people in the United States and the most unsavory ones abroad. It is “essentially a big casino,” she writes, “that can produce both power and triumphant great gobs of cash, often with little regard for merit.”

How much cash? Maddow tells the incredible, depressing story of Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, the son of the long-serving dictator of Equatorial Guinea, a country that saw its oil revenues grow from $2.1 million in 1993 to a staggering $3.9 billion in 2007. Despite these billions pouring into state coffers, an NGO observed in 2009, “77 percent of the population lives in poverty, 35 percent die before the age of 40 and 57 percent lack access to safe water.”

But life at that time is good for Teodoro, who owns a $100 million house in Paris, a $30 million beach house in Malibu, a $7 million vacation home in South Africa, one of the world’s largest yachts and dozens of racecars. When his drivers take one of Teodoro’s many girlfriends shopping, they are given a shoe box filled with up to $80,000 in cash for a single outing. His bill for one spree at an auction house in 2010, Maddow notes, would have paid the entire annual wages of 3,300 of his countrymen, since three-quarters of them live on $2 a day. (Teodoro does now face international investigations and pressure on various fronts.)

While there are many colorful tales about villains, scoundrels and adventurers, the through-line of this book is the story of the rise of Vladimir Putin. The most important geopolitical consequence of the oil and gas boom of the last 20 years has been Russia’s development into a full-blown petrostate, Putin’s consolidation of power and his determination to use this capacity to protect himself and disrupt the West.

Maddow carefully takes us through the manner in which Putin asserted greater and greater control over Russia’s vast oil and gas resources. The key move was the takeover of what was then Russia’s largest oil company, Yukos, run by a brilliant entrepreneur, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. By 2003, Khodorkovsky had built Yukos into a $36 billion company, providing an estimated 5 percent of the total tax revenues of the Russian government, and was planning to acquire a competitor, Sibneft, which would make the conglomerate the world’s fourth largest oil producer.

:{:{}:

This was not to be. By the end of 2003, Khodorkovsky had been jailed for tax evasion, fraud and embezzlement. The Russian government charged that Yukos owed $27.5 billion in taxes and penalties. In 2004, the company was sold in an auction that lasted six minutes. The winning bid — at the firesale price of $9.3 billion — was from an unknown company with an initial capitalization of $300. That company quickly sold Yukos to the state-owned oil giant, Rosneft, at cost. Putin now controlled some of Russia’s largest and most productive oil assets.

As oil prices rose, so did Putin’s ambitions,which reached a symbolic height with his decision to host the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, a Russian resort town with little snow and lousy facilities. No matter, that seemed part of the plan, because what ensued was an orgy of construction and corruption. In a detailed, thorough analysis of the project, the Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov concluded that the Sochi Olympics had cost more than the previous 21 Winter Olympics combined, because Putin’s favored builders had lined their pockets with $25-$30 billion. A year later, Nemtsov was dead, assassinated just outside the Kremlin’s walls.

One of the book’s themes is the degree to which Western capitalists — bankers and oilmen — abetted Putin’s rise to power, cheered on his capture of resources and partnered with him no matter what he was doing to Russia’s democratic and capitalist experiment. Chief among them was Exxon’s C.E.O. Rex Tillerson (later the secretary of state), who was so cooperative that in 2013 Putin awarded him the Order of Friendship, one of the country’s highest honors bestowed on a foreigner. And Tillerson was a fast friend indeed. Maddow quotes from a 2016 conversation in which Tillerson explained that after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea, he visited Russia and was surprised by his interactions with Putin and his aides. “The first question they asked me was … ‘Are you O.K.?’ And I said, ‘Well, yeah, I’m fine. Why do you ask?’ They said, ‘Well, we just wondered whether your government was coming after you because you’ve been doing business with us.’” Tillerson marveled that “they were more worried about me.” What amazing concern and consideration! For him, Putin’s aggression seemed far less noteworthy than his empathy.

Ukraine features prominently in Maddow’s account because it has become the central struggle between Putin and the West, and America in particular.She describes how Putin was outraged by American support for theouster of the corrupt and pro-Russian Ukrainian leader, Viktor Yanukovych, which happened in the midst of his triumphant Sochi Olympics. Putin was already deeply hostile toward the Obama administration, and Hillary Clinton in particular, for having given verbal support to pro—democracy protests in Moscow. For Putin, Western efforts at regime change could only be countered by his own attacks on Western democracies.

Maddow’s book is rich with other stories, from fracking in Oklahoma to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But while the tone throughout is one of shock, amazement and condemnation, the book is not as radical in its conclusions as readers might have anticipated. Maddow advocates more stringent rules on Western companies aiding foreign corruption. And she argues for an end to subsidies for the oil and gas industry, urging that it “pay for what it does.” I assume that means a carbon tax.

The caution is perhaps because Maddow knows that, whatever we might say about the oil and gas business, we are all eagerly consuming its products — charging our phones, flying on planes and using plastics. Around 80 percent of the world’s energy supply comes from fossil fuels, just about the same as 25 years ago. “I like driving a pickup and heating my house as much as the next person,” Maddow writes, “and the through-line between energy and economic growth and development is as clear to me as an electric streetlight piercing the black night.” In 2018, renewables made up just 11 percent of United States energy consumption. Without fossil fuels today, the lights would go out in much of the country.

“Blowout” is a brilliant description of many of the problems caused by our reliance on fossil fuels. But it does not provide a path out of the darkness.

Book Review:'It All Ties,' Rachel Maddow Says Of Oil And Gas ...

https://www.npr.org › 2019/10/02 › it-all-ties-rachel-maddow-says-of-oil-an...

Oct 2, 2019 - Blowout. Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most ... The oil and gas industry, according to MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, ... instead of making this weirdly exculpating argument, for Maddow to spend ...

Rachel Maddow Takes On the Oil Industry - The New York ...

https://www.nytimes.com › books › review › blowout-rachel-maddow

Oct 30, 2019 - Maddow's “Blowout” details the political problems caused by our reliance ... And she argues for an end to subsidies for the oil and gas industry, ...

Missing: MSNBC's

Maddow does the dirty work of digging into Big Oil in 'Blowout ...

https://www.bostonglobe.com › 2019/10/31 › arts › maddow-does-dirty-wor...

Oct 31, 2019 - MSNBC television host Rachel Maddow delivers an account of ... Rouge State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth.

Rachel Maddow pinpoints the root of all evils: The fossil fuel ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com › outlook › 2019/10/03

Oct 3, 2019 - The MSNBC host blames oil and gas companies for the world's ... “Blowout” reads like Maddow's MSNBC monologues, piling outrage on top of outrage, ... high, an international addiction, Maddow argues, creating “such large, ...

Rachel Maddow's New Book on Russia, Oil, and Politics ...

https://www.desmogblog.com › 2019/11/19 › rachel-maddow-blowout-bo...

Nov 19, 2019 - Indeed, the host of MSNBC's “The Rachel Maddow Show” said her ... Trump and the cover of Blowout by Rachel Maddow ... The oil and gas industry is tied into the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the ... Stanford Study Says Renewable Power Eliminates Argument for Using Carbon Capture with Fossil Fuels ...

===

dunno but jaylo headline banner

https://deadline.com/2019/09/rachel-maddow-msnbc-one-america-news-network-1202729817/

One America News Network, one of the rivals to Fox News for right-leaning viewers, filed a defamation claim against Comcast, MSNBC and Rachel Maddow on Monday, over Maddow’s claim that the conservative channel “really, literally is paid Russian propaganda.”

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in San Diego (read it here) claims that the defendants retaliated against One America because its president, Charles Herring, called out MSNBC’s parent company. Comcast, “for their anti-competitive censorship” in refusing to carry the conservative channel. In an email to Comcast’s president of content acquisition, Gregory Rigdon, Herring had sought carriage on Comcast’s cable platforms and stated his concern that the cable giant “opposes including another conservative counter channel to counter MSNBC,” according to the lawsuit.

A week later, Maddow opened her show by telling her audience that OANN “really, literally is paid Russian propaganda,” according to the lawsuit.

“Their on-air U.S. politics reporter is paid by the Russian government to produce propaganda for that government,” Maddow said in the July 22 segment.

Skip Miller, a partner at Miller Barondess who represents OANN, said in a statement: “One America is wholly owned, operated and financed by the Herring family in San Diego. They are as American as apple pie. They are not paid by Russia and have nothing to do with the Russian government. This is a false and malicious libel, and they’re going to answer for it in a court of law.”

Maddow made the claim after the Daily Beast ran a story by Kevin Poulsen reporting that one of One America’s on-air reporters, Kristian Brunovich Rouz, also was on the payroll for Sputnik, the Kremlin news outlet. One America then demanded a retraction.

But One America said in the lawsuit that “Rouz has never been a staff employee of Sputnik News. He worked as a freelancer for Sputnik News and his work there had no relation to his work for OAN. Rouz submitted articles to Sputnik on his own and would receive approximately $40 if the articles were accepted.”

The lawsuit seeks more than $10 million in damages.

A spokeswoman for MSNBC did not immediately return a request for comment.

ref

LOUIS R. MILLER (State Bar No. 54141) smiller@millerbarondess.com

AMNON Z. SIEGEL (State Bar No. 234981) asiegel@millerbarondess.com

MILLER BARONDESS, LLP 1999 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 1000 Los Angeles, California 90067 Telephone: (310) 552-4400 Facsimile: (310) 552-8400 Attorneys for Plaintiff Herring Networks, Inc

...

(“Rouz”). Rouz collects and analyzes articles from other sources and writes articles

based on those sources for OAN. Rouz’s articles go through OAN’s editorial

process before they are published. Rouz does not have decision-making authority

with respect to the content that is aired on OAN.

Rouz was born in the Ukraine. When he moved to the United States,

he had no friends or family here. To make ends meet, Rouz began writing articles

for Sputnik News in 2014. Sputnik News is affiliated with the Russian government,

but Rouz chose the topics and viewpoints of the articles he wrote for Sputnik News.

Rouz’s articles provided updates about various topics in global economics and

international finance.

The headlines of Rouz’s articles for Sputnik News include: “N. Ireland

Pessimistic About UK Economy Amid Weaker Regional Growth – Poll”; “South

Africa’s Struggling Utility Eskom Raises $361 Mln to Keep Lights On”; “Japan Q1

GDP Beats Expectations Despite Weak Consumer Spending”; and “Turkish Central

Bank Relaxes Policy, Warns Against FX Purchases to Support Lira.”

Rouz has never been a staff employee of Sputnik News. He worked as

a freelancer for Sputnik News and his work there had no relation to his work for

OAN. Rouz submitted articles to Sputnik on his own and would receive

approximately $40 if the articles were accepted.

On July 22, 2019, the Daily Beast—an online publication—published

an article entitled, “Trump’s New Favorite Channel Employs Kremlin-Paid

Journalist.” The article was written by Kevin Poulsen (“Poulsen”), also known as

“Dark Dante”—the first computer hacker ever to be charged with espionage against

the United States government.

28. Poulsen spent 17 months as a fugitive from the law before being

arrested in 1991. In 1995, Poulson pleaded guilty to seven counts of conspiracy,

fraud and intercepting wire communications. He received the longest prison

sentence ever for a computer hacker at that time. United States law enforcement

...referred to him as “the Hannibal Lecter of computer crime.”

Poulsen’s article identified Rouz as “on the payroll” of Sputnik News.

But Poulsen did not identify any facts tying Rouz’s work for OAN to Sputnik News

or the Russian government; and that is because there never have been, and are, no

such facts.

B. Rachel Maddow

Maddow is a liberal television host with a show on MSNBC called

“The Rachel Maddow Show.”

Maddow is obsessed with conspiracy-mongering about a connection

between Russia and President Donald Trump. Her obsession is so pronounced that

even other media outlets have called her out for her lack of journalistic integrity.

On March 28, 2019, for example, the Guardian published an editorial

entitled, “Will Rachel Maddow Face a Reckoning Over Her Trump-Russia

Coverage?” And a March 27, 2019, editorial published in Politico noted: “For the

past two years, Rachel Maddow has been a hero of her own spy-thriller.” The

editorial details Maddow’s “deep delusion” with Russian conspiracies.

On April 12, 2017, The Intercept published an article entitled

“MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Sees A ‘Russia Connection’ Lurking Around Every

Corner.” The article noted that MSNBC and Maddow have “played a key role in

stoking the frenzy over Trump’s alleged involvement with Russian meddling in the

U.S. presidential race[.]”

The Intercept conducted a quantitative study of all 28 episodes of The

Rachel Maddow Show in the six-week period between February 20 and March 21,

Russia-focused segments accounted for 53 percent of these broadcasts. In 16

of the 28 episodes analyzed, Russia comprised either all or a substantial part of the

“A-block,” the show’s headlining and lengthiest segment.

C. Rachael Maddow’s Malicious and False Claim that OAN “Really

Literally is Paid Russian Propaganda”

---

ref 2 tenn star

One America News Network (OANN) demanded retractions from MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and The Daily Beast, threatening a lawsuit, after both suggested links to the network and Russian propaganda.

Kevin Poulsen of The Daily Beast wrote an article stating OANN’s Kristian Rouz “appears on segments for One America News Network – ironic given he is working for a Russian outlet fingered in the 2016 election attack.” That same day, Maddow stated on “The Rachel Maddow Show” that OANN “really, literally is Russia propaganda.”

Rouz does write for Sputnik, a Russian government-owned news outlet. He has “never had decision-making authority with respect to the content that is aired on OAN,” one cease-and-desist letter reads.

“His outside work for other media outlets has no relation to — or bearing on — his work for OAN,” according to a cease-and-desist letter.

Poulsen quoted former FBI agent Clint Watts, who suggested OANN employing Rouz means the outlet has merged with “Russian state-sponsored propaganda.”

“This completes the merger between Russian state-sponsored propaganda and American conservative media,” Watts said. “We used to think of it as ‘They just have the same views’ or ‘They use the same story leads.’ But now they have the same personnel.”

Miller Barondess, LLP is handling the case against on behalf of OANN.

“This is vile, sensationalistic reporting,” Miller wrote in a press release. “These defamatory statements must be retracted immediately. One America News Network has no connection to the Russian government or any other government — no connection whatsoever, financial or otherwise.”

“Kremlin propaganda sometimes sneaks into Rouz’s segments on unrelated matters, dropped in as offhand background information,” Poulsen wrote July 22, in which he referred to OANN as being endorsed by President Donald Trump.

If the stories broadcast by the Trump-endorsed One America News Network sometimes look like outtakes from a Kremlin trolling operation, there may be a reason. One of the on-air reporters at the 24-hour network is a Russian national on the payroll of the Kremlin’s official propaganda outlet, Sputnik.

The article also reads that OANN is “increasingly dedicated to conspiracy theories and fake news, and became overtly supportive of Russia’s global agenda.”

Maddow described OANN as a “boutique, little news outlet that is designed specifically for Trump mega-fans. It’s called One America … News Network.” She referred to The Daily Beast article during her show.

“We literally learned today that that outlet that the president is promoting shares staff with the Kremlin,” Maddow said July 22. “I mean, what? It’s an easy thing to throw out … ‘Hey, that looks like Russian propaganda.’ In this case, the most obsequiously pro-Trump right-wing news outlet in America really, literally is paid Russian propaganda.”

OANN’s lawyers have given Maddow and The Daily Beast until Aug. 15 to retract its statements, according to the cease-and-desist requests.

Poulsen declined to comment. Maddow and The Daily Beast did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

Shelby Talcott is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.

hmn

salon

https://www.alternet.org/2019/04/rachel-maddow-is-wrong-and-right-the-problem-with-trying-to-be-fox-news-for-the-left/

https://www.c-span.org/video/?461371-2/fall-books-2019-preview-author-discussion

my new book. which is called blowout.some of you may know, i have this t.v. show where i get to -- you guys still have tvs! [laughter] for most of you very soon it will be a phone show. but right now it's a t.v. show where i get to cover the news in my own way and is my choice as to which stories i cover and how and at what length. for that show, i read several thousand words a day. and as long as there are no swearwords among them and as long as i abide by nbc news rules and standards are pretty much can say all the words i write on my own terms on t.v. every night. which means i have the greatest job on earth. but that may also make you wonder why on top of that, i would be so greedy as to want an additional outlet. yet to further express myself and give my take on what i think is going on in the world. in the abstract, i don't. but in 2012 and i wrote my first book, drift, and this past year when i started working on blowout, i really felt like i ended up book rating almost despite myself because in the course of my day job, i found myself repeatedly getting stuck. just in doing my regular work trying to explain the days news, trying to make sense of larger dynamic in which the new cycle was unfolding. both in 2012 and this past year. i kept feeling like i was getting caught in an intellectual bottleneck. there was this process that i could see at work in the world. a dynamic that came to think was pretty important for explaining the news on any given day. but it is an idea that's a couple of hundred pages long idea.

although i took incessantly a couple of hundred page long idea does not fit into my daily work. it is the same thing for me that happens in 2012. if any of you remember drift also the book when it came out it was about the use of american military power becoming unmoored from democratic decision-making. wars that never end and that the public never notices. and congress never votes on. i felt compelled to write drift because i felt that it was a tellable story about where it all came from. a fairly recent story and i felt it was a way to point out over a couple hundred pages why it didn't have to be that way forever. that was my first book.

my new book, blowout, came from a realization i had that sort of had me in the same way. which is that there is a fairly simple that i think uniquely destructive dynamic at work behind a bunch of news that we are living through right now. and it has to do with the oil and gas industry. it is a couple hundred pages long so it had to be a book. but the basic idea is that the democratic system of government and competent governance overall, both at home and abroad, they have a really potent and unrelenting enemy and not one industry. and oil and gas industry is a rich and dangerous sector of the business world but i think it also ought to be recognized as a political entity.

one has a track record of gobbling down even seemingly strong government and spitting out the bumps. part of the books subtitle is the phrase, rogue state russia. you may know that in my day job i have spent a -- amount of time on the russian attack on the 2016 election and its implications and aftermath. this book is not a book about that attack per se. but it does let me get off my chest a thing that i hope americans could better understand about why russia would have wanted to do a thing like that. and why they chose those weird methods. i think russia mounted the attack on our election from a position of profound economic and strategic weakness. for me, coming to understand that has been revelatory in terms of thinking about what they did but also what they've done since the attack and why and what makes for success in their own eyes when they mount these kinds of operations.

just one last point. i recognize that the oil and gas industry is a big bold committed thing. it is made up of many companies that are run by many executives that have many employees and many shareholders. each of whom is a person like who came from a mother. it is very nice. [laughter] i don't think the oil and gas industry is bad because it is made up of bad people. i think the story here is that it is a uniquely destructive entity particularly to our democracy and democracies abroad because of its inherent purpose and because of the profoundly cynical but rational expectations that industry has built for itself in terms of the way it does business. as you know, when used as directed, this is an industry whose products are in the process of ending the world. and sooner than we were really say expecting. but even before we get to the climate apocalypse, that's a ministry in the meantime really is doing its best to undermine our ability to govern ourselves effectively. and to make good group decisions about how to handle all of our challenges, including the ones that we get from them. so, i know, cheery, right?

there's a lot of oklahoma city, there are some siberia and equatorial guinea. there's a very talented -- there seats in hell -- there is a little bit of xena the warrior princess. some radioactive milk, and a comically terribly failed spy ring it up of terrible, terrible spies. and i know the cover, under the covers a little apocalyptic. actually briefly lobbied for the statute -- the statue of liberty to have a clown nose. my mother told me based on the cover she is afraid to read it. i will admit it is sort of about the end of the world. but i also think it is kind of a funny story. [laughter] so, in any case i hope that you like it. i want to thank you for this time. i want to thank you in advance. free interest, as i say it comes out on october 1.

MY NEW BOOK. WHICH IS CALLED BLOWOUT.SOME OF YOU MAY KNOW, I HAVE THIS T.V. SHOW WHERE I GET TO -- YOU GUYS STILL HAVE TVS! [LAUGHTER] FOR MOST OF YOU VERY SOON IT WILL BE A PHONE SHOW. BUT RIGHT NOW IT'S A T.V. SHOW WHERE I GET TO COVER THE NEWS IN MY OWN WAY AND IS MY CHOICE AS TO WHICH STORIES I COVER AND HOW AND AT WHAT LENGTH. FOR THAT SHOW, I READ SEVERAL THOUSAND WORDS A DAY. AND AS LONG AS THERE ARE NO SWEARWORDS AMONG THEM AND AS LONG AS I ABIDE BY NBC NEWS RULES AND STANDARDS ARE PRETTY MUCH CAN SAY ALL THE WORDS I WRITE ON MY OWN TERMS ON T.V. EVERY NIGHT. WHICH MEANS I HAVE THE GREATEST JOB ON EARTH. BUT THAT MAY ALSO MAKE YOU WONDER WHY ON TOP OF THAT, I WOULD BE SO GREEDY AS TO WANT AN ADDITIONAL OUTLET. YET TO FURTHER EXPRESS MYSELF AND GIVE MY TAKE ON WHAT I THINK IS GOING ON IN THE WORLD. IN THE ABSTRACT, I DON'T. BUT IN 2012 AND I WROTE MY FIRST BOOK, DRIFT, AND THIS PAST YEAR WHEN I STARTED WORKING ON BLOWOUT, I REALLY FELT LIKE I ENDED UP BOOK RATING ALMOST DESPITE MYSELF BECAUSE IN THE COURSE OF MY DAY JOB, I FOUND MYSELF REPEATEDLY GETTING STUCK. JUSTIN DO MY REGULAR WORK TRYING TO EXPLAIN THE DAYS NEWS, TRYING TO MAKE SENSE OF LARGER DYNAMIC IN WHICH THE NEW CYCLE WAS UNFOLDING. BOTH IN 2012 AND THIS PAST YEAR. I KEPT FEELING LIKE I WAS GETTING CAUGHT IN AN INTELLECTUAL BOTTLENECK. THERE WAS THIS PROCESS THAT I COULD SEE AT WORK IN THE WORLD. A DYNAMIC THAT CAME TO THINK WAS PRETTY IMPORTANT FOR EXPLAINING THE NEWS ON ANY GIVEN DAY. BUT IT IS AN IDEA THAT'S A COUPLE OF HUNDRED PAGES LONG IDEA. ALTHOUGH I TOOK INCESSANTLY A COUPLE OF HUNDRED PAGE LONG IDEA DOES NOT FIT INTO MY DAILY WORK. IT IS THE SAME THING FOR ME THAT HAPPENS IN 2012. IF ANY OF YOU REMEMBER DRIFT ALSO THE BOOK WHEN IT CAME OUT IT WAS ABOUT THE USE OF AMERICAN MILITARY POWER BECOMING UNMOORED FROM DEMOCRATIC DECISION-MAKING. WARS THAT NEVER END AND THAT THE PUBLIC NEVER NOTICES. AND CONGRESS NEVER VOTES ON. I FELT COMPELLED TO WRITE DRIFT BECAUSE I FELT THAT IT WAS A TILLABLE STORY ABOUT WHERE IT ALL CAME FROM. A FAIRLY RECENT STORY AND I FELT IT WAS A WAY TO POINT OUT OVER A COUPLE HUNDRED PAGES WHY IT DIDN'T HAVE TO BE THAT WAY FOREVER. THAT WAS MY FIRST BOOK. MY NEW BOOK, BLOWOUT, CAME FROM A REALIZATION I HAD THAT SORT OF HAD ME IN THE SAME WAY. WHICH IS THAT THERE IS A FAIRLY SIMPLE THAT I THINK UNIQUELY DESTRUCTIVE DYNAMIC AT WORK BEHIND A BUNCH OF NEWS THAT WE ARE LIVING THROUGH RIGHT NOW. AND IT HAS TO DO WITH THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY. IT IS A COUPLE HUNDRED PAGES LONG SO IT HAD TO BE A BOOK. BUT THE BASIC IDEA IS THAT THE DEMOCRATIC SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT AND COMPETENT GOVERNANCE OVERALL, BOTH AT HOME AND ABROAD, THEY HAVE A REALLY POTENT AND UNRELENTING ENEMY AND NOT ONE INDUSTRY. AND OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY IS A RICH AND DANGEROUS SECTOR OF THE BUSINESS WORLD BUT I THINK IT ALSO OUGHT TO BE RECOGNIZED AS A POLITICAL ENTITY. ONE HAS A TRACK RECORD OF GOBBLING DOWN EVEN SEEMINGLY STRONG GOVERNMENT AND SPITTING OUT THE BUMPS. PART OF THE BOOKS SUBTITLE IS THE PHRASE, ROAD STATE RUSSIA. YOU MAY KNOW THAT IN MY DAY JOB I HAVE SPENT A -- AMOUNT OF TIME ON THE RUSSIAN ATTACK ON THE 2016 ELECTION AND ITS IMPLICATIONS AND AFTERMATH. THIS BOOK IS NOT A BOOK ABOUT THAT ATTACK PER SE. BUT IT DOES LET ME GET OFF MY CHEST A THING THAT I HOPE AMERICANS COULD BETTER UNDERSTAND ABOUT WHY RUSSIA WOULD HAVE WANTED TO DO A THING LIKE THAT. AND WHY THEY CHOSE THOSE WEIRD METHODS. I THINK RUSSIA MOUNTED THE ATTACK ON OUR ELECTION FROM A POSITION OF PROFOUND ECONOMIC AND STRATEGIC WEAKNESS. FOR ME, COMING TO UNDERSTAND THAT HAS BEEN REVELATORY IN TERMS OF THINKING ABOUT WHAT THEY DID BUT ALSO WHAT THEY'VE DONE SINCE THE ATTACK AND WHY AND WHAT MAKES FOR SUCCESS IN THEIR OWN EYES WHEN THEY MOUNT THESE KINDS OF OPERATIONS. JUST ONE LAST POINT. I RECOGNIZE THAT THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY IS A BIG BOLD COMMITTED THING. IT IS MADE UP OF MANY COMPANIES THAT ARE RUN BY MANY EXECUTIVES THAT HAVE MANY EMPLOYEES AND MANY SHAREHOLDERS. EACH OF WHOM IS A PERSON LIKE WHO CAME FROM A MOTHER. IT IS VERY NICE. [LAUGHTER] I DON'T THINK THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY IS BAD BECAUSE IT IS MADE UP OF BAD PEOPLE. I THINK THE STORY HERE IS THAT IT IS A UNIQUELY DESTRUCTIVE ENTITY PARTICULARLY TO OUR DEMOCRACY AND DEMOCRACIES ABROAD BECAUSE OF ITS INHERENT PURPOSE AND BECAUSE OF THE PROFOUNDLY CYNICAL BUT RATIONAL EXPECTATIONS THAT INDUSTRY HAS BUILT FOR ITSELF IN TERMS OF THE WAY IT DOES BUSINESS. AS YOU KNOW, WHEN USED AS DIRECTED, THIS IS AN INDUSTRY WHOSE PRODUCTS ARE IN THE PROCESS OF ENDING THE WORLD. AND SOONER THAN WE WERE REALLY SAY EXPECTING. BUT EVEN BEFORE WE GET TO THE CLIMATE APOCALYPSE, THAT'S A MINISTRY IN THE MEANTIME REALLY IS DOING ITS BEST TO UNDERMINE OUR ABILITY TO GOVERN OURSELVES EFFECTIVELY. AND TO MAKE GOOD GROUP DECISIONS ABOUT HOW TO HANDLE ALL OF OUR CHALLENGES, INCLUDING THE ONES THAT WE GET FROM THEM. SO, I KNOW, CHEERY, RIGHT? THERE'S A LOT OF OKLAHOMA CITY, THERE ARE SOME SIBERIA AND EQUATORIAL GUINEA. THERE'S A VERY TALENTED -- THERE SEATS IN HELL -- THERE IS A LITTLE BIT OF XENA THE WARRIOR PRINCESS. SOME RADIOACTIVE MILK, AND A COMICALLY TERRIBLY FAILED SPY RING IT UP OF TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE SPIES. AND I KNOW THE COVER, UNDER THE COVERS A LITTLE APOCALYPTIC. ACTUALLY BRIEFLY LOBBIED FOR THE STATUTE -- THE STATUE OF LIBERTY TO HAVE A CLOWN NOSE. MY MOTHER TOLD ME BASED ON THE COVER SHE IS AFRAID TO READ IT. I WILL ADMIT IT IS SORT OF ABOUT THE END OF THE WORLD. BUT I ALSO THINK IT IS KIND OF A FUNNY STORY. [LAUGHTER] SO, IN ANY CASE I HOPE THAT YOU LIKE IT. I WANT TO THANK YOU FOR THIS TIME. I WANT TO THANK YOU IN ADVANCE. FREE INTEREST, AS I SAY IT COMES OUT ON OCTOBER 1.

https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/msnbcs-rachel-maddow-reveals-white-houses-bizarre-machinations-concealing-putins

a key point in President Donald Trump's press conference with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki last week, a reporter asked the Russian president if he had wanted Trump to win the 2016 election. For the first time, Putin admitted that he did.

But according to the White House's official records, that didn't happen, as MSNBC's Rachel Maddow reported Tuesday night.

Other outlets have noted that in the White House's transcript of the press conference, the reporter's question about whether Putin had wanted Trump to win was suspiciously left out. And even after news outlets picked up the story, the transcript wasn't corrected....

Science or Spin?: Assessing the Accuracy of Cable News Coverage of Climate Science

Accuracy varies significantly across major cable news outlets. All of them can take steps to improve their coverage of climate science.

DOWNLOAD: Science or Spin? Assessing the Accuracy of Cable News Coverage of Climate Science (2014)

CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC are the most widely watched cable news networks in the U.S. Their coverage of climate change is an influential source of information for the public and policy makers alike.

To gauge how accurately these networks inform their audiences about climate change, UCS analyzed the networks' climate science coverage in 2013 and found that each network treated climate science very differently.

Fox News was the least accurate; 72 percent of its 2013 climate science-related segments contained misleading statements. CNN was in the middle, with about a third of segments featuring misleading statements. MSNBC was the most accurate, with only eight percent of segments containing misleading statements.

The public deserves climate coverage that gets the science right. Media outlets can do more to foster a fact-based conversation about climate change and policies designed to address it, rather than contributing to a broken and inaccurate debate about the established facts of climate science.

http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/solutions/fight-misinformation/cable-news-coverage-climate-change-science.html

MSNBC: Mostly Accurate, with Some Overstatements

MSNBC covered climate science 132 times in 2013. Of these segments, 92 percent were entirely accurate, while 8 percent included misleading portrayals of the science.
The handful of misleading statements were inaccurate in the same manner: all overstated the effects of climate change, particularly the link between climate change and specific types of extreme weather, such as tornadoes.
MSNBC generally accurately represented nuanced findings around climate change and extreme weather, but they could do so more often to achieve even higher levels of accuracy.

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