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Watch: Olbermann’s Apology — To Viewers — Not Bosses

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

My thoughts, had he not returned, were, “Just imagine what a Keith Olbermann, CEO of The Keith Olbermann Foundation could accomplish…”

(Read: “Olbermann Suspension Over, Returns This Week.”)

Here’s the text, unedited, via MSNBC:

>>> discussing something that i’m sure has happened to you dozens of times in your life. you know, when there is a petition federal courting you and you get 22,000 tweets in 72 hours and you are invited to be on television because you aren’t on television because they want you on “good morning, america” and ” larry king” and “letterman” and you break records on the huffing ton post and you’re on the front page of the new york times without being dead or in jail or charlie sheen or something. for me it was a surprise. all i can say is i’m stunned and grateful and it still feels like a universal hug. i owe you three apologies. foremost for having subjected to to this drama. the white house is on the phone for you. seriously? another by having not known by observation since it is not in the contract for not making political donations although any rule like that probably isn’t legal. the third rule doubles as a correction. it is accurate that i contributed to the campaigns of conway, giffords and gribalba, but the reporting assumed that i donated then interviewed and should have disclosed it when i interviewed. the sequence was the reverse. i didn’t think about contributing until hours after the interview. if i had come on the air and said, hey, i contributed to gribalba and giffords and conway knowing the way you responded to stories like the free health care family and the chronic family in tennessee there would have been a lot of donations to them and suddenly then i’m fund-raising for them and we’re accidentally fox. however, the day after the donations i included the opponent in the race against congresswoman giffords in the old worst persons segment. i never made the connection that he, jesse kelly, was running against her. and i should have made it clear that i had contributed to her or just dropped him from the segment. i apologize to you and mr. kelly. after i play the late night comedians jokes about me which i will do after a few personal thanks. i would like to name all 300,000 signatories to the petition but i can’t. anyway, 99% of them were my relatives. i would like to thank the commentaries, reporters and columnists who gave their support or a fair hearing and those with whom my politics don’t overlap. william crystal and dana lash probably treated me better than i would have treated them. rick sanchez clearly did that. they get my thanks and respect although they probably wish they didn’t. three more. let me thank thomas roberts for filling in and chris hayes for not. and thanks to dear rachel when saying so much when saying anything would have been enough. now let the party begin.

>> here’s a story you may have heard about. msnbc’s keith olbermann will be back to work on wednesday after being suspended without pay for giving campaign contributions to democratic candidates which is against the rules at msnbc. see, if only he’d done like spitzer and given his money to hookers. he would have gotten his own prime time show on cnn. see? [ applause ]

>> see, john cline? i told you that’s how we should have done it. okay. so that was jay. then there was jon stewart. we criticized each other a week back. i have to say i took the spirit of his larger meaning in worst persons and he took mine and described parts of the rally as inartful. back to the subject of me, on that topic jon hit a series of homeruns.

>> that’s the great thing about america. we all have the freedom to have opinions and say and do what we wish.

>> msnbc suspended keith olbermann for making political donations.

>> almost everybody has that right. it seems friday keith broke a rule by making campaign donations without first obtaining permission from the network because msnbc has a hard and fast rule that political donations represent bias in journalism unless you ask first.

>> i read somebody’s 10,000 word essay on the ethics of donations and jon boiled it down to 17 with a p.s. of 21 words.

>> you learn you manners, boy, i will knock you down to host of headliners & lemgds so fast your head will spin. anyway, olbermann was suspended indefinitely. i mean it’s bad enough they suspended his mustache. boom! boom! oh, that was gratuitous.

>> no, it wasn’t. it was a bad mustache. i looked like i was dressed up as ming the merciless from flash gordon.

>> there is no telling how long it will be before we see keith olbermann again.

>> msnbc says keith will be back on air tomorrow night. [ laughter ]

>> lesson learned. yes, msnbc, it’s a stupid rule, but at least it was enforced poorly.

>> it’s not a stupid rule. it just needs debate about it. needs to be adapted to 21st century journalism. to wrap up i think we saw where the system is working for transparency in democracy and where it is failing. i made legal political contributions as a u.s. citizen near midnight eastern. by 10:00 p.m. eastern on thursday november 4 the contributions were public knowledge. that’s the point. i gave and you found out and you judged me for good or ill as you felt appropriate. if i had given the money through the u.s. chamber of commerce you would have never, ever known. that’s november 9, seven days since the republicans took control of the house. mr. bane, where are the jobs? i’m keith olbermann. good night and good

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News

Lindsey Graham Admonished by Senate Ethics Committee

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4 hours ago

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March 23, 2023

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U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has been formally admonished by the Senate Ethics Committee for violating ethics rules and standards by repeatedly soliciting campaign donations during an interview at the Capitol.

The bipartisan committee issued Graham a Public Letter of Admonition after the South Carolina Republican solicited donations for Georgia GOP Senate nominee Herschel Walker.

“Based upon all available information, the Committee concluded that on November 30, 2022, you conducted a media interview with Fox News in the rotunda of the Russell Senate Office Building and that your interview was slightly over nine minutes, with over four minutes devoted to a discussion of the 2022 senatorial run-off election in Georgia. The Committee further concluded that during your discussion of the senatorial run-off election, you directly solicited campaign contributions on behalf of Mr. Walker’s campaign committee, www.teamherschel.com, five separate times.”

The letter notes that Sen. Graham had previously violated the same standards when he solicited campaign donations in a federal building in October of 2020, but said it was an “unplanned media interview.” When a reporter had asked him about fundraising, Graham “directly solicited campaign contributions” for his re-election campaign.

READ MORE: Watch: GOP Lawmaker Orders Grieving Parkland Parents Removed From ‘ATF Overreach’ Hearing

The Committee noted “mitigating” circumstances and did not cite him for that violation.

“The public must feel confident that Members use public resources only for official actions in the best interests of the United States, not for partisan political activity,” the letter concludes. “Your actions failed to uphold that standard, resulting in harm to the public trust and confidence in the United States Senate. You are hereby admonished.”

CNN’s Manu Raju posted the letter to social media.

You can read the letter below or at this link.

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RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

Watch: GOP Lawmaker Orders Grieving Parkland Parents Removed From ‘ATF Overreach’ Hearing

Published

6 hours ago

on

March 23, 2023

By

U.S. Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) is being criticized for having the parents of a victim of the Parkland school massacre removed from a GOP-led House committee hearing on “ATF Overreach” after he deemed them “out of order” for remarks they made while a Member was speaking. Minutes later, Capital Police pinned the father to the ground in the hallway and arrested him.

“See this is, exactly what we have to avoid!” Rep. Fallon, chairing the joint hearing, angrily declared as he pointed his finger after the father, Manuel Oliver, made a remark that was inaudible. “Which is some minority of folks trying to silence dissent. Dissent shouldn’t be kryptonite.”

“There’s a decorum that should be adhered to,” Fallon, who recently refused to sign a statement denouncing white supremacy, said as he chastising Oliver.

After another, louder outburst, Fallon mockingly asked, “Is this an insurrection? So will they be held to the same — I don’t want another January 6.”

READ MORE: ‘Unlawful Incursion’: Manhattan DA Schools Jim Jordan for Demanding He Testify in Ongoing Trump Investigation

Congressman David Cicilline (D-RI) responded, “If they’re trying to overthrow the government, they oughta be held to the same standard, but I think they’re trying to express their frustrations.”

Angrily again, Rep. Fallon interjected.

“Whoa whoa whoa whoa,” he shouted as he banged the gavel.

“Member’s out of line,” Fallon said (incorrectly. The term is “out of order.”)

Shortly thereafter, Rep. Fallon had both Manuel and Patricia Oliver removed.

ABC News reporter Will Steakin, who was in the hearing, tweeted video and said bot Manuel and Patricia Oliver “appear to leave without resistance… moments later there was a loud thud outside the hearing room and I found Manuel being pinned to the ground by multiple officers.”

“Manuel Oliver, the father of a 17-year-old Parkland shooting victim, was arrested Thursday on Capitol Hill after he appeared to shout at a Republican lawmaker who was speaking during a hearing on gun regulations,” NBC News reports. Patricia Oliver, his wife and the mother of their 17-year old son, Joaquin Oliver, who was one of 17 people who died in the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre, was not arrested.

READ MORE: ‘National Security Implications’: Former DOJ Official Speculates on Ruling Ordering Trump Attorney to Hand Over Docs

On social media critics expressed anger at Fallon.

“Rep. Pat Fallon (R) thinks parents of slaughtered children should just sit down & shut up as Republicans maintain outrageously dangerous gun laws. He had this parent expelled rather than just giving a warning, which is the usual,” wrote one Twitter user.

“Texas Rep. Pat Fallon: You are the EXACT problem with the gun violence and why it keeps being the leading cause of death in children today,” wrote another.

According to the NIH, gun violence is the leading cause of childhood death.

Still another Twitter user blasted Fallon: “What disgraceful & despicable behavior by Representative Pat Fallon. Exercising your right to free speech is being an insurrectionist? The man lost his son. Have you no compassion? I think he has more than earned the right to be heard by Congress. Such an abuse of power.”

And one called Fallon “feckless.”

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News

‘Repercussions’: Biden White House Warns Uganda ‘Kill the Gays’ Bill Could Force US to Cancel $950 Million in Annual Aid

Published

8 hours ago

on

March 23, 2023

By

The Biden administration may cancel the $950 million in annual assistance the U.S. provides to Uganda if President Yoweri Museveni signs into law its latest “Kill the Gays” bill, which calls for the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” and between ten and 20 years in prison for other LGBTQ “acts.”

National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby on Wednesday made clear if Uganda further criminalizes homosexuality and the LGBTQ community there could be “repercussions that we would have to take.”

“That would be really unfortunate because so much of the economic assistance that we provide Uganda is health assistance,” Admiral Kirby said at a White House press briefing.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also told reporters Wednesday the Biden administration has “grave concerns” over the Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA), and “increasing violence targeting LGBTQIA+ persons.”

READ MORE: Florida GOP Lawmaker Who Wrote ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill Facing Up to 35 Years After Pleading Guilty in COVID Fraud Case

“If the AHA is signed into law and enacted, it would impinge upon universal human rights, jeopardize progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS, deter tourism and invest in Uganda and damage Uganda’s international reputation,” Jean-Pierre warned. “The bill is one of the most extreme anti-LGBTQI+ laws in the world.”

Kirby and Jean-Pierre’s remarks came on the same day as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken denounced Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” legislation, saying it “would undermine fundamental human rights of all Ugandans and could reverse gains in the fight against HIV/AIDS.”

“The United States provides more than $950 million in aid to Uganda each year, according to the State Department. The money supports development and health care measures, such as combating HIV/AIDS,” Courthouse News reported Wednesday. “Uganda is already among 30 African countries that ban same-sex relations. The new proposal would broaden penalties and appears to be the first to outlaw identifying as LGBTQ+, according to Human Rights Watch.”

Watch the videos above or at this link.

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