Breaking - Bernie Sanders had to be hospitalized yesterday for a blocked artery. He was given stents for this…and cancelling his appearances for the time being.
1 Like
Um, yeah. Anyone with brain can see that 
4 Likes
A lot of push back for any Republican who dares criticize T in the form of cyber warfare and conservative talk radio…Even Sen Romney is getting big notice not to stick his neck out on this issue.
In the conspiracy-obsessed echo chambers of conservative talk radio and far-right websites, Sen. Mitt Romney has some explaining to do — answering for ties to the Ukrainian gas company that put Joe Biden’s son on its board, and accounting for conversations with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi about Republican support for impeaching President Trump.
In reality, neither claim is true. No meaningful ties exist between Romney and Burisma, and he had no such conversation with Pelosi.
The flood of baseless attacks and misleading innuendo buffeting Romney, which began after he became a rare Republican to express concern about Trump’s interactions with the Ukrainian president, serves as a preview of the viral attacks likely to be unleashed on GOP lawmakers if they buck their president during an impeachment showdown that Trump has denounced as a “coup.”
…
“It’s tribal, and there are Trump cultists in the Republican Party who are constantly going to try to manufacture anything against the president’s critics,” said Mike Murphy, a Republican strategist and Trump critic whose clients have included Romney as well as the late senator John McCain of Arizona. “The easiest place to manufacture and disseminate that stuff is online.”
Romney is not the only Republican to feel the heat in recent days. Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), after defending the whistleblower who raised alarm about Trump and Ukraine, faced withering criticism from the Gateway Pundit, a far-right blog that gained White House press credentials in 2017. “So much for the Republican leaders in the Senate defending President Trump against the continuation of the attempted coup,” the site warned.
3 Likes
Presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders greatly eclipsed former Vice President Joe Biden in fundraising over the past three months, placing progressive Democrats on strong footing in the crucial final stretch before primary voting begins.
Warren’s campaign reported to donors Friday morning that the Massachusetts senator raised $24.6 million from more than half a million donors in the fundraising quarter that ended Monday. The amount is just shy of the haul by her Senate colleague and fellow progressive Sanders, of Vermont, who earlier in the week reported raising $25.3 million.
2 Likes
Iranians tried to hack U.S. presidential candidates in effort that targeted hundreds, Microsoft says
A campaign believed to be tied to the Iranian government attempted to identify, attack and breach email addresses belonging to U.S. presidential campaigns, government officials and journalists, according to new data unveiled by Microsoft, highlighting the continued global security threats that loom over the fast-approaching 2020 election.
The campaign observed by Microsoft, which it dubbed Phosphorus, made more than 2,700 attempts to identify e-mail addresses that belonged to the company’s customers over a 30-day period between August and September, 241 of which were then attacked. Four were compromised, but they do not belong to presidential campaigns or government officials, according to the tech giant.
Microsoft said it notified the customers attacked and has worked with those whose accounts were compromised to secure them. It declined to disclose the names of the account holders.
According to Microsoft, Phosphorus hackers tried to figure out how to reset passwords or otherwise trigger account recovery features to take over accounts. In some instances, Microsoft found that the group gathered phone numbers belonging to its targets to try to authenticate password resets.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
3 Likes
And you know this is just the tip of the iceberg. Did other intrusions by Iran go undetected? How many other countries are doing the same thing?
Yet the President and Republicans have astoundingly fought tooth and nail against protecting our elections until just a couple weeks ago. Way too little, way too late.
4 Likes
I didn’t realize it was a heart attack, poor Bernie. I hope he has a speedy recovery. Stressful times.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/bernie-sanders-diagnosed-with-heart-attack-campaign-confirms
3 Likes
Yes, it was not a good health report. Saw it in some headlines tonight…
The campaign road is grueling, with 5 -6 pitstops a day…unreal how it can be done.
He’s been an advocate for so many good things…and yes, do wish him a speedy recovery. 
3 Likes
Well said.
3 Likes
Not every candidate has released their fundraising numbers yet. The deadline to release file their third-quarter reports with the Federal Election Commission is October 15.
Here’s where the field stands so far.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, $25.3 million
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, $24.6 million
South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, $19.1 million
Former Vice President Joe Biden, $15.2 million
California Sen. Kamala Harris, $11.6 million
Businessman Andrew Yang, $10 million
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, roughly $6 million
Author Marianne Williamson, $3 million
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, nearly $2.3 million
Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, $2.1 million
3 Likes
Biden’s UNHINGED ad - taking direct aim at you-know-who.
2 Likes
This made for good AM reading.
4 Likes
African Americans top targets of 2016 Russian info warfare, Senate panel finds
Panel says campaigns, media outlets need to verify source of viral social media posts before sharing
4 Likes
Trump is paying Facebook to spread political disinformation to millions of people.
Unbound by truth on one of the world’s most powerful advertising platforms, Trump’s anti-impeachment ads are drawing in donors with clickbait disinformation.
3 Likes
A hopeful story out of Louisiana from their elections this year that may tell us how things will go next year:
Jeremy S. LaCombe just won HD-18 for the Louisiana House against a serious Republican opponent in a district that Trump won by over 17 points!
And Francis Thompson has flipped HD-19 for the Louisiana House in a district that Trump won by 43 points!
4 Likes
What Time Is Tonight’s Democratic Debate? Our Guide on How to Watch
- The debate is 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern in Westerville, Ohio.
- You can watch it on nytimes.com, The New York Times’s app, CNN, CNN International, CNN en Español and CNN.com.
- Twelve Democratic candidates will debate: Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., Senator Elizabeth Warren, Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Kamala Harris, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, the entrepreneur Andrew Yang, Senator Cory Booker, former Representative Beto O’Rourke, Senator Amy Klobuchar, the former housing secretary Julián Castro, Representative Tulsi Gabbardand the billionaire Tom Steyer.
- The candidates will have 75 seconds to answer questions and 45 seconds for rebuttals. There will be no opening statements. The moderators are the CNN anchors Anderson Cooper and Erin Burnett and The Times’s National editor, Marc Lacey.
- The New York Times will have live video of the debate, accompanied by live analysis from six reporters: Maggie Haberman, Lisa Lerer, Astead W. Herndon, Sydney Ember, Patricia Cohen and Elizabeth Dias.
1 Like
Cross-posting
WATCHING 
the Democratic Debate - here are some ways to follow.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/live-blog/2019-10-15/democratic-white-house-hopefuls-debate-in-ohio
Pushing back against disinformation, Trump re-tweeted Dan Scavino…
Note the big caveat: “assuming average Democratic turnout.” Nothing about the Democratic party’s turnout has been average since Trump stole the presidency. And this flies in the face of all other polls I’ve heard about.
Reading more about the poll itself, it seems to be basing its data on narrow assumptions about the economy. This poll feels rather like it’s bending over backwards to make its point, and every news outlet is happily devouring what it’s spoon-feeding them.
Moody’s found that if turnout among non-incumbent voters — Democrats and independents — were to match historical highs, the Democratic nominee would win under the stock market and employment models as well as an average of the three models.
2 Likes
Good post! 
I saw the Moody story briefly this morning but it was quickly buried. Thanks for posting, these polls are fascinating.
1 Like