gaslighting (v.) -- to manipulate someone by psychological means into questioning their own sanity.
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Jennifer Bendery
@jbendery
Senior politics reporter for HuffPost. Ex-president . Bruiser in the . Mama. 
Got a tip? jen.bendery@huffpost.com
Got a tip? jen.bendery@huffpost.comJennifer Bendery’s posts
This massive video of Christine Blasey Ford's testimony is playing on repeat in front of Brett Kavanaugh's dinner guests as they wait outside.
0:38
she ain't comin over man
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Congratulations to the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team on winning the World Cup! Great and exciting play. America is proud of you all!
Oh man. Rep. Ted Lieu now playing a tape of Candace Owens, who is sitting right there, saying it would have been fine if Hitler just wanted to make Germany great.
WOW. San Juan mayor: "I am going to do what I never thought I would do. I am begging, begging anyone who can hear us to save us from dying.
Here is Megan Rapinoe getting the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House right now. 🏳️🌈🇺🇸
Anyway, Amazon will pay $0 in taxes on $11,200,000,000 in profit for 2018
Sean Spicer is now a TV reporter.
AG Jeff Sessions' former spokeswoman will be CNN's political editor overseeing 2020 coverage.
Actual journalists are being laid off everywhere.
I... don't have a clever punchline for this one.
Just a reminder of all the lies Brett Kavanaugh told, under oath, in his Senate confirmation hearing.
These were just the ones we could track at the time.
DNC held its first staff meeting today since Clinton's loss. This happened. huffingtonpost.com/entry/donna-br
Just an incredible milestone for the United States Senate: more Republicans have tested positive for COVID-19 than have accepted Joe Biden as the president-elect.
Little exclusive: Sen. Manchin is about to introduce a bill to prevent any federal funding for the 2026 World Cup -- which is being hosted by the U.S. -- until U.S. Soccer agrees to provide equal pay to the U.S. women’s and men’s national teams.
I see a total of four Republicans in Congress -- Mia Love, Carlos Curbelo, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Erik Paulsen -- have condemned Trump calling Haiti and Africa "shitholes."
Zero GOPers in leadership. Zero.
Kamala Harris calls for formal impeachment inquiry into Brett Kavanaugh
The guy hasn't said a thing about the three historically black churches burned down in Louisiana in 9 days.
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Notre Dame is an iconic symbol of faith to people all over the world – and it is heartbreaking to see a house of God in flames. Our thoughts and prayers are with the firefighters on the scene and all the people of Paris. twitter.com/ABC/status/111…
Remember the viral photo of the woman on her bicycle who flipped off Trump's motorcade?
That's and she just won a Virginia election.
A thing that happened today that won't get much attention: Senate Republicans confirmed *another* lifetime federal judge who earned a rare and embarrassing "not qualified" rating by the American Bar Association.
Chuck Todd: Think Biden's State of the Union address will resonate with Ukrainians?
NBC correspondent in Lviv, Ukraine: So its 6am here and people may be a little preoccupied because Russians are invading their country and trying to take it over.
😂
NEW: House Republicans just rolled out their official "Commitment to America” plan for 2023 with an inspirational video chock full of scenes presented as exceptional imagery of America -- but that are actually stock footage from Russia and Ukraine.
Wow-- more details on the White House meeting, via a senior Democratic aide:
Pelosi directly to Trump: Russia has always wanted a "foothold in the Middle East" and now it has one.
"All roads with you lead to Putin."
Pelosi's shop confirms the White House sent them a copy of their talking points on Trump/Ukraine -- and then followed up with a "recall" email 😂
Pool report: Trump was asked about losing in court today.
"I've had a great track record. ... within a couple of months, we'll have 182 federal judges."
Is he saying that the more federal judges he confirms... the more the courts will just rule for him? 😬
Chuck Woolery -- who accused the CDC, doctors and Democrats of lying about the seriousness of COVID-19 to hurt Trump (and got a Trump RT over it) -- has changed his mind and deleted his Twitter account after his son tests positive
Facebook: I will eat your ad revenue + destroy your business model
Newsrooms: Wait, no don't
Facebook: Nom nom nom
Newsrooms: Stop we're laying off people to survive
Facebook: Nom nom
Newsrooms: Helllp
Facebook: OK now we want to provide our users w/local news but can't find it
Trump's Mar-A-Lago winter vacation pushes his taxpayer-funded golf tab past $118 million.
That amount is equivalent to 296 years of the $400,000 presidential salary that his supporters often boast he's not taking. huffpost.com/entry/trump-go via
"Grab 'em by the pussy." -- your dad
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...because I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and God-darnit people like me. #Franken
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) issued a statement today denying responsibility for letting loose the six zebras that have been on the run in the D.C. suburbs.
I see that the pieces of chicken that were on my plate have gone missing and my cat is sitting 15 feet away, licking his chops.
While this does not conclude that my cat ate my dinner, it also does not exonerate him.
JUST IN: Deb Haaland wins the Dem primary in New Mexico's 1st congressional district, meaning... we're on the verge of getting our first-ever Native American woman in Congress.
As Jim Jordan complains about this contempt hearing, it reminds me, whatever happened with all this? Remember how former Ohio State wrestlers accused him of turning a blind eye to sexual abuse?
Replying to
When I asked the National Congress of American Indians' prez for comment on Santorum, I did not expect so much fire. Wow.
Full statement below.
"Make your choice. Do you stand with White Supremacists justifying Native American genocide, or do you stand with Native Americans?"
"He had a bloody eye and a fly on his head." -- Anderson Cooper on Mike Pence tonight
😂
Jenny Craig tells HuffPost they're dropping Laura Ingraham's show.
That puts it at TEN advertisers that have dropped Ingraham since she mocked Parkland student two days ago.
Someone sent me this image of the latest copy of NRA's magazine, featuring a story with the words "Target Practice" next to a photo of Nancy Pelosi with Gabby Giffords. Maybe don't do this .
Joe Biden likely wouldn't have won key states without Native American voters turning out in droves for him
NY Times reporters say Brett Kavanaugh asked them to lie in exchange for an interview
And... that's now SEVEN advertisers dropped Laura Ingraham in less than 24 hours.
A thing not getting much attention is that Biden just put another public defender into a lifetime seat on a powerful U.S. appeals court. That makes 4.
Huge shift from the corporate attorneys + prosecutors typically picked for these powerful jobs.
Here is the American Federation of Teachers' official response to Betsy DeVos resigning.
Imma help you out, Mr. President. Here's some language from NASA's website for children.
Everytown took out this 2-page ad in the NYT today listing off members of Congress, their phone numbers and how much NRA money they’ve taken everytown.org/documents/2018
Christine Blasey Ford has had to move 4 times since she came forward, pay for a private security detail, she has yet to return to her job as a professor at Palo Alto University, and she keeps receiving death threats. 🇺🇸
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Replying to @ZoeTillman
Justice Brett Kavanaugh is at the Federalist Society's annual convention dinner — several hundred tuxedoed and ball gown-ed conservative lawyers erupted into cheers and a standing ovation when his name was announced
buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil
"I have tried to refrain from politics for 4.5 billion years. But today I am joining the resistance effective immediately." -- Mother Nature
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Trump Mall event delayed - unclear for how long. CNN has not yet gotten details of the length of the delay, but there is severe weather in the Washington area and low cloud cover.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren says she now supports adding at least 4 seats to the Supreme Court and will co-sponsor the Judiciary Act, a bill that would do just that.
INBOX: Sarah McBride Becomes First Trans State Senator in US History; Wins State Senate Seat in Delaware
Hi . I see you're on my flight to Kansas City. That means we're on the same plane for 3 hours with no escape. Wanna do an interview? Lemme know.
--Jen in Row 11
The House isn't coming back into session until after the inauguration.
The Senate has adjourned until Jan. 19.
Surreal cap to yesterday.
Sarah Sanders on SCOTUS' ruling that a cake baker could turn away a couple wanting a cake for their same-sex wedding: "We are pleased with the Supreme Court’s decision."
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Last night I was told by the owner of Red Hen in Lexington, VA to leave because I work for @POTUS and I politely left. Her actions say far more about her than about me. I always do my best to treat people, including those I disagree with, respectfully and will continue to do so
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) just formally testified to the Republican-led House Rules Committee that the real threat to democracy is House Republicans.
😂
NEW: In an incredibly unusual move, the Air Force is making a point to let its hundreds of thousands of personnel know that it will provide families with medical + legal help if they are being hurt by new state laws attacking gay and transgender children.
Tucker Carlson's show is bleeding advertisers after he said the U.S. doesn't have a white supremacy problem and that it's a "hoax" being pushed by the media.
Dell just pulled out today huffpost.com/entry/long-joh via
Crooked Media says its Get Mitch Or Die Trying Fund, which has been raising money to flip the Senate and replace Mitch McConnell as majority leader, has raised $600K in the last 2 hours.
Snipers on the roof of the Supreme Court right now. Upper left.
"We are politicizing the courts and that is wrong," says Ben Sasse, who is helping to ram through a Supreme Court nominee 3 weeks before a presidential election in an effort to make sure Trump lands a Supreme Court justice who could play a role in securing his reelection.
Schumer just announced that the new Secretary of the Senate will be Ann Berry, a former longtime aide to Sen. Leahy and now the first African American to hold the job since... 1789.
That's when the position was created.
We're at the point where teachers in America, who signed up for a job to teach kids things like math and history, are being led into rooms and shot execution style with pellet guts as preparation for an actual school shooting. 🇺🇸
CNN reporter: Did it bother you that Biden called Trump a clown?
Undecided voter in Ohio: "When the shoe fits. When the clown shoe fits."
😂
Rep. Clyburn, chair of the House S/C on coronavirus crisis, just released 6 weeks of WH Coronavirus Task Force reports obtained by the committee showing the WH was aware of an alarming rise in COVID cases as Trump publicly downplayed it and held crowded events.
JUST IN: Nancy Pelosi announces the House will take up legislation to codify Roe v. Wade -- enshrining abortion rights into federal law -- as soon as the House returns from recess.
That woman who flipped off Trump's motorcade? I talked to her this weekend. She just got fired.
Incredible.
AOC is essentially filling the role that Ted Cruz abandoned.
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We’ve now raised $2 MILLION in relief for Texans & are adding more orgs.
I’ll be flying to Texas today 
to visit with Houston rep Sylvia Garcia (@LaCongresista) to distribute supplies and help amplify needs & solutions.
Let’s see how far we can go: secure.actblue.com/donate/aoc-soc
I’ll be flying to Texas today to visit with Houston rep Sylvia Garcia (@LaCongresista) to distribute supplies and help amplify needs & solutions.
Let’s see how far we can go: secure.actblue.com/donate/aoc-soc"In the same area that Gabby Petito disappeared, 710 indigenous people— mostly girls—disappeared between the years of 2011 and 2020 but their stories didn’t lead news cycles." via
Replying to
Over in the Senate, Patty Murray today became the first female president pro tem in history.
I asked how it feels to be third in line to the presidency.
"Well, today I’m second, because Kevin McCarthy’s not speaker." 😂
It looks like literally the entire country is protesting family separations on Saturday. Check out this map of planned protests. act.moveon.org/event/families
The thing about this tweet is that we pay the White House press secretary $183,000 a year to tweet photos of herself with a turkey but not hold a single press conference.
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Meeting the National Thanksgiving Turkey before his big White House debut! 
Whoa--the American Bar Assn just delivered a letter to Grassley/Feinstein urging them to hold off on a confirmation vote for Kavanaugh until the FBI can look into Dr. Ford's claims.
👀
"The next 6 to 12 weeks are going to be the darkest of the entire pandemic. Vaccines will not become available in any meaningful way until early to third quarter of next year." -- Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research, on Meet the Press
NEW: The anti-racism children's book that Ted Cruz was railing against yesterday during Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation hearing is currently a #1 bestseller on Amazon
Wild to watch Mitch McConnell absolutely throwing Kevin McCarthy under the bus as we hurtle toward a (stupid and unnecessary) government shutdown.
Everyone (Schumer, McConnell and now Biden) is increasingly isolating McCarthy as the one to blame for what's coming.
GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn goes after one of Biden's Black judicial nominees for having "a rap sheet" of citations, which was actually just three speeding tickets from 10+ years ago.
One was for going 5 miles over the speed limit.
Just realized Trump hasn't said anything about the guy who burned down three historically black churches in Louisiana in 9 days.
That's all.
DONE: It took Kamala Harris breaking a tie vote, but Rachael Rollins is confirmed as Massachusetts' historic top federal prosecutor
Replying to
At one point Schumer said, "Is your plan to rely on the Syrians and the Turks?"
Trump: "Our plan is to keep the American people safe"
Pelosi: "That's not a plan. That's a goal."
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.):
"There is no other recourse. We must abolish the filibuster in order to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act, and we must expand the Supreme Court in order to reclaim the stolen seats, and restore balance and the faith of the American people."
Dolly Parton has so many hilarious quotes, but this is still my fave: "I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb... and I also know that I'm not blonde." #GRAMMYs
Rep. Steve King: "No man will ever qualify for the Supreme Court" if being accused of sexual assault is "new standard" 😐
Another notable judicial nominee from Biden today: Sunshine Suzanne Sykes of Navajo Nation.
Biden has nominated Sykes, a CA Superior Court judge, to a lifetime seat on a U.S. district court in CA. If confirmed, she'd be the first Native American federal judge in CA.
Probably shouldn't be a manager if you don't know the difference between mentoring and harassment. 🤷♀️
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Another Side of #MeToo: Male Managers Fearful of Mentoring Women - The New York Times nytimes.com/2019/01/27/wor
Reporters blocked from Senate halls where protesters being arrested, shouting, "Kill the bill!" Being told, "no photos. Delete your photos."
Just talked to a nurse in San Juan. Water being rationed. Ppl with no power, little food, waiting hours in lines in sweltering heat. Unreal.
Morning! ☕️
In the dead of night, the Texas Senate passed a bill that will effectively ban public school teachers from talking about racism, white supremacy or current events.
It already passed the House. On its way to be signed into law now.
Lisa Murkowski's biggest reason to oppose Brett Kavanaugh may not be abortion rights or ACA.
Advocates for Alaska Natives have been flooding her office all week urging her to vote no. She owes her reelection to them. huffingtonpost.com/entry/lisa-mur
The thing about Elise Stefanik celebrating that HHS just gave $639,843 to a community health care center in her district is that it was just yesterday that Elise Stefanik voted against funding HHS for the rest of the year.
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RESULTS for #NY21 
nny360.com/communitynews/
nny360.com/communitynews/Not just a WH lawyer -- he's married to Ann Donaldson, chief of staff to WH counsel Don McGahn, who oversees Trump's judicial nominations.
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Trump Judicial Pick Did Not Disclose He Is Married to a White House Lawyer nyti.ms/2ibnS3x
A group of people has been walking from Minneapolis to DC since late Sept and they arrived today. Now they're gathered outside the Lincoln Memorial.
They are doing this to try to bring justice to Native American rights activist Leonard Peltier, who's been in prison for 47 years.
Jeff Flake said yesterday that if Brett Kavanaugh lied under oath, his nomination is over.
Well senator? Do we have some news for you! huffingtonpost.com/entry/brett-ka
Two former Yale classmates of Kavanaugh's who previously vouched for him just wrote to the Senate Judiciary Committee to note they are withdrawing their support because of "the nature of Judge Kavanaugh’s testimony."
This is a big deal and it's dropping on a Friday evening when people aren't paying much attention.
More science being stripped away from govt, clearing the way for political appointees to plow ahead without being accountable to what science shows.
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Trump just issued an executive order to slash 1/3 of all advisory committees that provide scientific advice.
Union of Concerned Scientists responds: "It's no longer death by a thousand cuts. It's taking a knife to the jugular.”
thehill.com/regulation/ene
Protesters in Richmond, Va. just pulled down a statue of Christopher Columbus and threw it it in lake
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Christopher Columbus is down in Richmond ! Discover that lake mf 
#richmond #rva #statue #down
#richmond #rva #statue #down
Ted Cruz just told a judicial nominee in her Judiciary Committee hearing -- a 20-year lawyer for the Innocence Project -- that "skyrocketing crime rates, homicide rates, burglary rates, carjacking rates" are ALL the direct result of policies she's spent her life advocating.
Cory Booker became a member of the Judiciary Committee last week.
He just TORE into DHS Sec over Trump's Africa/shithole comment: "Your silence and your amnesia is complicity."
Tulsi Gabbard says she voted "present" on impeachment because, while she thinks Trump is guilty, "removal of a sitting president must not be the culmination of a partisan process."
Impeachment does not remove a president. It levels charges against a president.
One of the pallbearers for John McCain's Arizona memorial service is Diane Humetewa, a U.S. district judge confirmed under Obama. She's the first-ever Native American woman to be a federal judge.
Buried in the 4,155-page omnibus spending bill is a single line item that’s likely to go unnoticed by almost everyone – except the freshman congresswoman who spent the last year and a half fighting for it.
"I literally woke up… and bawled my eyes out."
