by ti-amie ‘I’m Haunted by What I Did’ as a Lawyer in the Trump Justice Department
No matter our intentions, lawyers like me were complicit. We owe the country our honesty about what we saw — and should do in the future.

By Erica Newland
Ms. Newland worked in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department from 2016-18.

Dec. 20, 2020

was an attorney at the Justice Department when Donald Trump was elected president. I worked in the Office of Legal Counsel, which is where presidents turn for permission slips that say their executive orders and other contemplated actions are lawful. I joined the department during the Obama administration, as a career attorney whose work was supposed to be independent of politics.

I never harbored delusions about a Trump presidency. Mr. Trump readily volunteered that his agenda was to disassemble our democracy, but I made a choice to stay at the Justice Department — home to some of the country’s finest lawyers — for as long as I could bear it. I believed that I could better serve our country by pushing back from within than by keeping my hands clean. But I have come to reconsider that decision.

My job was to tailor the administration’s executive actions to make them lawful — in narrowing them, I could also make them less destructive. I remained committed to trying to uphold my oath even as the president refused to uphold his.

But there was a trade-off: We attorneys diminished the immediate harmful impacts of President Trump’s executive orders — but we also made them more palatable to the courts.


This burst into public view early in the Trump administration in the litigation over the executive order banning travel from several predominantly Muslim countries, which my office approved. The first Muslim ban was rushed out the door. It was sweeping and sloppy; the courts quickly put a halt to it. The successive discriminatory bans benefited from more time and attention from the department’s lawyers, who narrowed them but also made them more technocratic and therefore harder for the courts to block.


After the Supreme Court’s June 2018 decision upholding the third Muslim ban, I reviewed my own portfolio — which included matters targeting noncitizens, dismantling the Civil Service and camouflaging the president’s corruption — overcome with fear that I was doing more harm than good. By Thanksgiving of that year, I had left my job.

Still, I felt I was abandoning the ship. I continued to believe that a critical mass of responsible attorneys staying in government might provide a last line of defense against the administration’s worst instincts. Even after I left, I advised others that they could do good by staying. News reports about meaningful pushback by Justice Department attorneys seemed to confirm this thinking.

I was wrong.

Watching the Trump campaign’s attacks on the election results, I now see what might have happened if, rather than nip and tuck the Trump agenda, responsible Justice Department attorneys had collectively — ethically, lawfully — refused to participate in President Trump’s systematic attacks on our democracy from the beginning. The attacks would have failed.

Unlike the Trump Justice Department, the Trump campaign has relied on second-rate lawyers who lack the skills to maintain the president’s charade. After a recent oral argument from Rudy Giuliani, Judge Matthew Brann (a Republican) wrote that the campaign had offered “strained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations, unpled in the operative complaint and unsupported by evidence.” Even judges appointed by Mr. Trump have refused to throw their lots in with lawyers who can’t master the basic mechanics of lawyering.

After four years of bulldozing through one institution after another on the backs of skilled lawyers, the Trump agenda hit a brick wall.

The story of the Trump campaign’s attack on our elections could have been the story of the Trump administration’s four-year-long attack on our institutions. If, early on, the Justice Department lawyers charged with selling the administration’s lies had emptied the ranks — withholding our talents and reputations and demanding the same of our professional peers — the work of defending President Trump’s policies would have been left to the types of attorneys now representing his campaign. Lawyers like Mr. Giuliani would have had to defend the Muslim ban in court.

Had that happened, judges would have likely dismantled the Trump facade from the beginning, stopping the momentum of his ugliest and most destructive efforts and bringing much-needed accountability early in his presidency.

Before the 2020 election, I was haunted by what I didn’t do. By all the ways I failed to push back enough. Now, after the 2020 election, I’m haunted by what I did. The trade-off wasn’t worth it.

In giving voice to those trying to destroy the rule of law and dignifying their efforts with our talents and even our basic competence, we enabled that destruction. Were we doing enough good elsewhere to counterbalance the harm we facilitated, the way a public health official might accommodate the president on the margins to push forward on vaccine development? No.

No matter our intentions, we were complicit. We collectively perpetuated an anti-democratic leader by conforming to his assault on reality. We may have been victims of the system, but we were also its instruments. No matter how much any one of us pushed back from within, we did so as members of a professional class of government lawyers who enabled an assault on our democracy — an assault that nearly ended it.

We owe the country our honesty about that and about what we saw. We owe apologies. I offer mine here.


And we owe our best efforts to restore our democracy and to share what we learned to help mobilize and enact reforms — to remind future government lawyers that when asked to undermine our democracy, the right course is to refuse and hold your peers to the same standard.

To lead by example, and do everything in our power to ensure this never happens again. If we don’t, it will.

Erica Newland, counsel at Protect Democracy, worked in the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department from 2016-18.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/20/opin ... awyer.html

by ti-amie This person responded to the above mea culpa this way.
Judy Parr
Holland, MI

Times Pick

Erica Newland’s confession sounds familiar. In describing the trial of Michael Cohen in February 2019, NYT opinion writer Peter Wehner wrote how Cohen and Trump’s loyalists sank into Trump’s cesspool:

“Mr. Cohen told Republican lawmakers, ‘I did the same thing that you’re doing now. For 10 years. I protected Mr. Trump for 10 years.’

“He then issued this warning to them: ‘The more people that follow Mr. Trump — as I did blindly — are going to suffer the same consequences that I’m suffering.’ Mr. Cohen later explained the ethos of Trumpworld: ‘Everybody’s job at the Trump Organization is to protect Mr. Trump. Every day most of us knew we were coming and we were going to lie for him about something. That became the norm.’

“The ethic that became the norm at the Trump Organization —- defacing the truth and disfiguring reality in the service of Donald J. Trump — is the ethic that has become the norm of the Republican Party and the American right.

“This is what some of us who are conservatives and who have been lifelong Republicans have warned since Mr. Trump began his quest for the presidency — that his corruptions would eventually become theirs.”
What I will never understand is how so many allowed themselves to fall under his spell. The two letter word "NO" doesn't seem to be in their vocabulary. Another NYT reader said that Lt Col Vindman did the right thing. I agree.

by ponchi101 I have "followed" Tiny since the 80's, when Doonesbury started covering his charade. And I have always wondered what is it that people see in him. He is truly a bag of the worst qualities a human being can be. And yet, he swoons large crowds. He has gotten away with anything and everything always. And I have always wondered: why can't people see what I, a damn foreigner that has not dog in this fight, can so easily detect?
And I draw a blank. Then again, I always asked the same question about Chavez. Why were so many people not able to see the real person?
Guess that is the reason I am an emigrant.

by ti-amie Trump’s Longtime Banker at Deutsche Bank Resigns
Rosemary Vrablic, who oversaw hundreds of millions of dollars in loans to President Trump’s company, will leave the bank next week.

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Rosemary Vrablic, a managing director and senior banker in Deutsche Bank’s wealth management division, recently handed in her resignation.Credit...Paul Laurie/Patrick McMullan

By David Enrich
Dec. 22, 2020, 1:12 p.m. ET

President Trump’s longtime banker at Deutsche Bank, who arranged for the German lender to make hundreds of millions of dollars of loans to his company, is stepping down from the bank.

Rosemary Vrablic, a managing director and senior banker in Deutsche Bank’s wealth management division, recently handed in her resignation, which the bank accepted, according to a bank spokesman, Daniel Hunter.

“I’ve chosen to resign my position with the bank effective Dec. 31 and am looking forward to my retirement,” Ms. Vrablic, 60, said in a statement.

The reasons for the abrupt resignation of Ms. Vrablic, as well as that of a longtime colleague, Dominic Scalzi, were not clear. Deutsche Bank in August opened an internal review into a 2013 real estate transaction between Ms. Vrablic and Mr. Scalzi and a company owned in part by Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of Mr. Trump and a client of Ms. Vrablic’s.

Ms. Vrablic and Mr. Scalzi joined Deutsche Bank in 2006 from Bank of America. Ms. Vrablic quickly made a name for herself as one of her division’s leading rainmakers. In 2011, she landed a prominent new client: Mr. Trump, who for decades had been mostly off-limits to the mainstream banking world because of his tendency to default on loans. With her bosses’ approval, Ms. Vrablic agreed to a series of loans, totaling well over $300 million, for his newly acquired Doral golf resort in Florida, for his troubled Chicago skyscraper and for the transformation of the Old Post Office building in Washington into a luxury hotel.

When Mr. Trump became president, his relationship with Deutsche Bank came under a microscope by regulators, prosecutors and congressional Democrats. Ms. Vrablic’s starring role in the suddenly controversial relationship — she was a V.I.P. guest at Mr. Trump’s inauguration — pushed the publicity-shy banker into the spotlight.

The relationship between Mr. Trump and the German bank is the subject of congressional, civil and criminal investigations. The Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance, has been investigating whether Mr. Trump committed financial crimes as he sought to get loans from Deutsche Bank.

Mr. Scalzi didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/22/busi ... -bank.html

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by ponchi101 subpoena phobia?

by ti-amie

The Whitestone Republican Club, whose gathering in Queens, N.Y., occurred before New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) halted indoor dining starting Dec. 14, hosted at least 50 guests indoors at an Italian restaurant, Il Bacco. New York prohibited gatherings of more than 10 people at the time.

The group wrote in its social media post Tuesday, “Yes, we held a holiday party. A good time was had by all. We abided by all precautions. But we are not the mask police, nor are we the social distancing police.

“Adults have the absolute right to make their own decisions, and clearly many chose to interact like normal humans and not paranoid zombies in hazmat suits,” the club continued. “This is for some reason controversial to the people who believe it's their job to tell us all what to do.

“We ALL have the inalienable right under the First Amendment to peaceably assemble, and that's what we did,” the post went on to say. “There's no pandemic clause in the Constitution, no matter how badly the media and Cuomo want you to believe otherwise.”

“We urge ALL New Yorkers regardless of political affiliation to go out and enjoy the holidays in whatever way makes them happy and comfortable. Make your own calculated decisions, don't give in to fear or blindly obey the media and politicians, and respect the decisions of others,” the organization added.

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watc ... nds-adults

by ponchi101 It is absolutely despairing. What part of it is contagious don't they get?
Opposite end. I went to train today. The tennis courts have a kid (a kid, 15 or something like that) outside taking down your name and temperature. And as I approach him, he tells me "Mr. P, you are no wearing a mask".
I went out without one. So I realize it is not in my car, I did not bring one.
So he went and fetched me one.

No harm done, I just thanked him.
A kid in Colombia. It is not that hard.

by ti-amie What is there to say? Grifters gonna grift.

The Trump administration awarded border wall contracts to build on land it doesn't own in Texas
The government’s strategy of awarding contracts before acquiring titles to land in Texas has led to millions of dollars in costs for delays. Things could get even more complicated if President-elect Joe Biden stops border wall construction.

BY PERLA TREVIZO, THE TEXAS TRIBUNE AND PROPUBLICA, AND JEREMY SCHWARTZ, THE TEXAS TRIBUNE AND PROPUBLICA DEC. 23, 2020

LA GRULLA, Texas — The federal government said it needed Ociel Mendoza's land on the outskirts of this tiny Texas town — and it couldn't wait any longer.

Each additional day of delay was costing the government $15,000 as contractors waited to begin construction on the border fence slated to go through Mendoza's ranch, the Department of Justice argued in court filings. By Nov. 24, the tab for the delay had reached nearly $1.6 million, the land acquisition manager for U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in an affidavit.

More than a year earlier, CBP had awarded a contract then worth $33 million to a New Mexico-based company to build 4 miles of fencing in Starr County. The county is one of the top targets of President Donald Trump’s administration for a border wall and a place agents have called the most volatile stretch in the nation. Construction was slated to begin in November 2019, the agency announced.

There was one problem: The government had awarded the contract before obtaining the land it needed, including Mendoza’s. This September, after more than a year without getting that land, CBP had to suspend the contract to Southwest Valley Constructors, accruing “substantial” charges along the way, according to court documents.


An investigation by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune has found that the government's strategy of awarding contracts before acquiring titles to the land in Texas has led to millions of dollars in costs for delays, according to calculations based on statements made by CBP officials in court filings. On at least two dozen occasions, the agency has used the argument, often successfully, to convince even dubious federal judges to immediately seize land from property owners fighting their eminent domain cases.

The situation could become even more complicated if President-elect Joe Biden makes good on his promise to stop border wall construction.

Mendoza, an entrepreneur, said the government’s latest offer, which he said was about $136,000, fell short of the $200,000 he was seeking. The ranch is especially personal. It’s a piece of land he vowed to own after he crossed the border illegally over the property as a teen more than 40 years ago.

“It represents a dream to me,” said Mendoza, who became a permanent resident in the 1980s. “The American dream.”

Since 2017, the federal government has awarded at least a dozen contracts in South Texas worth more than $2 billion prior to obtaining all the land it needed for the projects. The agreements are to build 146 miles of border wall and install nearly three dozen gates.

But very little construction has been completed. Out of the 110 miles the administration planned to build in the Rio Grande Valley, where most of the land is privately owned, 15 miles had been finished as of mid-December.

The Army Corps of Engineers generally requires land to be acquired prior to awarding contracts, but the policy allows exceptions if approved by high-level officials, said Grace Geiger, an agency spokeswoman.

While posing greater risks for the government, she said the practice doesn't have to lead to greater costs as, depending on the situation, the government may still be able to acquire the land before the contractor needs to enter the site.

Contract experts say the practice violates principles of sound procurement.

“It sounds like a formula for waste, or worse, to make the construction contract first and only acquire the land months or years later,” said Charles Tiefer, a University of Baltimore contracting expert.

Austin Evers, the executive director of American Oversight and a senior counsel for the State Department during President Barack Obama's second term, said the practice should be investigated by federal watchdogs.

“The government is arguing that it has to seize these lands right now because it is being penalized under the contract it already signed,” Evers said. “In plain English, what that means is that American taxpayers are seeing their money thrown away for no purpose because the government signed the contract before it could execute the project.”

Federal judges hearing CBP’s eminent domain cases in South Texas also have expressed frustration with the government’s legal argument for immediate possession in Starr County. In recent weeks, a segment of border fencing has quietly gone up in a remote area near Mendoza’s ranch.


While the government gets the title to the property as soon as it files what’s called a “declaration of taking” and deposits the amount it deems reasonable with the court, it can’t begin construction until a judge approves an order to possess the land. U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez, a George W. Bush appointee, blasted government attorneys’ request to take immediate possession of Mendoza’s ranch, arguing that the agency has had the funds to acquire private land in Starr County for nearly two years.

“The United States’ delay until November 2020 to file its motion for possession is not within the Court’s control ... and (does) not create an emergency for this court,” she wrote Dec. 17. “The Court has repeatedly expressed its dissatisfaction with the United States’ requests for expedited relief. The United States is not entitled to expedited relief, and should cease requesting such relief without good cause.”

However, Alvarez said that under the Declaration of Taking Act, she had little option but to grant the government’s request to take possession of Mendoza’s land, noting that Mendoza had not responded in time and that the government had filed the correct documentation and deposited what it estimated it would pay for the land seizure.

Even as government attorneys continue to cite the growing costs of delays to judges, the agency has downplayed the issue outside the courtroom.

“CBP will not know if there are any associated delay costs due to real estate until the end of the contract, as the Contractor may be able to make up any potential delays incurred,” CBP spokesman Matthew Dyman told ProPublica and the Tribune on Friday. Dyman declined to clarify the statement, citing the ongoing litigation.

CBP also insists that awarding contracts without first obtaining land is efficient.

“Once the border wall system design is approved by the Government, and sufficient real estate is acquired by the Government, construction activities can begin,” wrote Roger Maier, a spokesman for CBP.

The government has been here before. A decade ago, CBP learned that building in this part of the border would be especially challenging, between acquiring the land — which in some cases took more than two years — and flooding concerns. Under the Bush and Obama administrations, several border wall fence projects, also awarded before the government obtained the land, died because the agency couldn’t get them built before funding dried up.

The Trump administration’s legal efforts have only intensified, with nearly 40 new eminent domain lawsuits filed in the Southern District of Texas since Election Day.

All of which leaves the incoming Biden administration and hundreds of Texas landowners in a web of title and compensation disputes, multimillion-dollar contracts and a string of unfinished — and disconnected — projects all along the Rio Grande.

Biden has said he will cease wall construction and drop all the lawsuits on day one. His transition team didn’t respond to a request for comment as to how exactly the administration would go about canceling existing contracts nor what it would do with land it now owns as part of the eminent domain push. Biden could save up to $2.6 billion if he halts construction, according to Army Corps of Engineers documents reviewed by The Washington Post.

This will not be the first time Biden confronts this issue. Last time he was in the White House, the Obama-Biden administration allowed the lawsuits and contracts to proceed. By the end of their first term, 54 new miles of border fence had been built in South Texas.


Starr County

One of CBP’s toughest fights over eminent domain centers on Starr County, a poor, mostly rural county where family properties date back to original Spanish land grants issued 250 years ago, well before the Rio Grande served as an international boundary.

For more than a decade, residents and county officials have resisted the agency’s push to build a border wall in Starr County, which the government has said in court filings is the No. 1 county for narcotics seizures across the entire southern border of the United States.

Starr and neighboring Hidalgo and Cameron counties are part of the agency’s Rio Grande Valley sector, which accounts for 40% of immigrant arrests and 43% of the marijuana seizures along the southwest border.

Under the Trump administration, Starr has become one of the agency’s top priorities for the border wall. Hidalgo and Cameron counties already have about 60 miles of border fencing, built upon concrete levee systems.

But Starr County, which lacks a levee system, had no wall before the Trump administration first proposed building there in 2017. Three years later, CBP has awarded contracts for 55 miles, but only about 5 miles have been built, mostly on U.S. Fish and Wildlife refuge land in remote corners of the county.

As it was a decade ago, the government’s effort is once again mired in complicated eminent domain legal battles that have so far prevented construction on the remaining miles.

Of 70 condemnation cases filed by the government since September in South Texas, 53 are in Starr County, where the government has only accelerated legal action since Election Day (25 lawsuits have been filed in this county since Nov. 3).

In one case filed at the end of November, the government is seeking to seize a triangle of land smaller than 2 acres in the county. Despite the tract’s small size, there are more than 30 individuals with possible ownership rights, scattered across Texas and as far away as Washington state, according to court records.

Lawyers say that as land has passed through the generations, many partitions have not been documented properly in official records, resulting in a thicket of potential land ownership that the government has struggled to unravel.

“The title issues in Starr County seem to be far more complicated and difficult than what we've seen in the other border counties,” said Roy Brandys, an Austin-based eminent domain attorney who represents border residents in these cases. “On several of the cases we've been working on in Starr County, one of the reasons they have not progressed even faster is because the government and frankly, we as the landowners’ representatives, are trying to work out the title issues before they move forward.”


According to a recent Government Accountability Office report, title issues in Starr have slowed construction timelines considerably. “Some counties in South Texas, such as Starr County, do not have the infrastructure or funding to maintain recordkeeping systems,” the report says.

But where the federal government sees as a maze of legal hurdles, local officials see a reflection of the region’s heritage.

“For many, the land has been in their families for generations,” said Joel Villarreal, mayor of the Starr County seat of Rio Grande City. “We have a large number of residents that own land and they are proud of that heritage to own land. They speak of it as something to be cherished, the idea of having land.”

Fight over land

On a recent morning, Mendoza, 60, stood in front of his ranch as orange survey markers fluttered in the wind around him.

At regular intervals, he has built steps into his own mesh and metal tube fencing, allowing would-be border crossers to climb over. He said Border Patrol agents have asked him why he built them. “I tell them for one, I was undocumented when I came here,” he explained. “And two, so they don’t break down my fence!”

The ranch holds a special place in the heart of Mendoza, who owns several businesses and properties in Starr County. In 1979, he crossed the border as an undocumented immigrant, passing through the same piece of property on his way to a new life in Houston. Thirty years later he bought the ranch when it came up for sale, and he is loath to lose it.

If the wall comes through the front of his ranch as proposed, Mendoza said he would have to move the fence and an expensive front gate, as well as the corral for the 40 or so cattle he raises on the land. Worse, he said, the wall would render the ranch virtually worthless by placing it almost entirely behind the barrier.

“It won’t have any value afterwards” he said. “Anything could happen on the other side of the wall. I won’t be protected inside there.”

The government first made Mendoza an offer to buy his land in April, according to court documents. Five months later, federal prosecutors sued to take part of his ranch, depositing about $93,000 with the court as a “just compensation.”

The government claimed in Mendoza’s case that the cost of suspending work was about $15,000 per day. In other cases, the government contended that delays have added as much as $100,000 per day, depending on the size of the contract, according to a review by ProPublica and the Tribune. The expenses came from what officials called de- and re-mobilization and from having equipment and crew on standby beyond the date construction was scheduled to begin.

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Excerpt from the government’s motion for immediate possession in Mendoza’s case.

In four Rio Grande Valley projects alone, where the government has detailed the costs of delays in court filings, the total is nearly $9 million, as of the date the court granted the order for immediate possession, which is when work can begin.

Despite not having been able to break ground in 18 months, the original $33 million contract to Southwest Valley Constructors is now worth $42 million thanks to contract options the government has exercised. An earlier review of federal spending data by ProPublica and the Tribune found modifications to contracts have increased the price of the border wall by billions, costing about five times more per mile than it did under previous administrations.

Francis Rooney, a Republican U.S. representative from Florida and longtime real estate developer, called the practice “ridiculous.” From a contractor point of view, he said, there’s the risk of inflation and rises in labor or material costs, for instance, as work on those sites is delayed.

“That sounds a little reckless to me, but I’m not surprised given some of what this administration has done,” he said, in reference to Trump declaring a national emergency and using military funding to accelerate border wall building.

ProPublica and the Tribune reached out to the companies with contracts in the Rio Grande Valley awarded under the practice. Most didn’t respond and Kiewit Infrastructure West, an affiliate of Southwest Valley Constructors, referred questions to the Army Corps of Engineers.

Raini Bruni, another spokeswoman with the Corps, said border wall contracts are written in a way that puts much of the risk on the contractor, who can request compensation in cases where there’s a delay or suspension, approved on a case-by-case basis.

But beyond the risk to the government and contractors, the practice can lead to a loss of protections to landowners, experts said.

Due process is at the heart of the government’s power to take private property, said Evers of the nonpartisan watchdog American Oversight. But it is being ignored by rushing things through based on emergencies of the administration’s own creation, he added, “which runs counter to basic American values.”

Beyond the fight over the value of his land, Mendoza doesn’t believe the wall will achieve its goal. “The people won’t stop,” he said. “It wouldn’t have stopped me, I would have jumped over.”

“They use the legal system as a threat”

About 20 miles upriver from Mendoza, the Muñiz family is also fighting the government’s attempt to seize its land in a case that shows the pressure government agents have put on local landowners, especially in the final months of 2020.

On Sept. 1, the government sued Noelia Muñiz and offered to pay $5,500 for about an acre of land. According to court documents, she felt harassed by constant phone calls that she said were taking a toll on her health.

“They call every day, they threaten that if you don’t show your face they will take you to court,” said her brother Noe Muñiz Jr., 63, outside their home. “They use the legal system as a threat. ... It’s very stressful for her.”

Usually the government first tries to settle with landowners but sues when they can’t reach an agreement or it’s unclear who owns the land.

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Since the beginning of the Trump administration, the government has filed 193 lawsuits — three-fourths just in the past year — asking Texas landowners to relinquish, temporarily or permanently, more than 5,800 acres, according to information provided by the Texas Civil Rights Project and court documents.

Noe Muñiz Jr. said the family has been going through the process without an attorney because it can’t afford to pay one. “We have no support at all,” he said. “If you want support it takes money and no one has money. ... I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t do this in a place where the majority of people are white. Here you have Mexican people and they are poor, so come on.”

In a normal condemnation case there would be safeguards in place such as environmental reviews, hydrology reports prior to starting the project, said Brandys, who has represented border residents under the current and previous administrations.

But due to what he calls the politicization of border wall construction, the U.S. attorney and those building the wall are under significant pressure from Washington to get as much done as possible. All of which can significantly impact the landowners, he said, adding, “Unfortunately in some of those situations you won't know until the wall is built and the projects are up and we see what the effects are.”

The Department of Homeland Security has a record of abusing the eminent domain process to build border barriers.

In 2017, a ProPublica-Tribune investigation found DHS had cut unfair real estate deals, secretly waived legal safeguards for property owners and ultimately abused the government’s power to take land from private citizens. In some cases, the DOJ bungled hundreds of condemnation cases, taking property without knowing the identity of the owners and condemning land without researching facts as basic as property lines.

Under the George W. Bush administration, the federal government filed more than 360 eminent domain lawsuits along the U.S.-Mexico border as part of an effort to build up to 700 miles of fencing by December 2008. Along the Rio Grande, the agency built 50 miles in disconnected strips and seized a total of 564 acres for which it paid $18.2 million, ProPublica and the Tribune reported.

There are still 20 cases pending in South Texas from that era, involving about 440 owners, according to the DOJ.

While lawyers and residents say some things have improved, such as the government providing more details about the property it is trying to take, the pressure on landowners has not eased.

Daniel Villarreal, a 56-year-old bail bondsman in Rio Grande City, said government negotiators told him earlier this year he either had to accept their offer or they would take it anyway.

But following Biden’s victory, he is starting to feel pangs of regret about selling about an acre of his riverfront property to the government.

He didn’t want to say how much he agreed to but said it’s not life-changing money. “They say they gave me market value, but how long is that going to last? A year or two?” he said. “And then what you’re left with is a monument to a man I don’t even like.”

The wall would also cut Villarreal off from the beauty of the river’s edge, a fear echoed by other property owners.

Growing up, Noe Muñiz said he and his siblings swam daily in the river. As he grew older, the river offered respite after a long day of working in cantaloupe and onion fields. He still fishes there but worries that after a wall is built, the river would become too dangerous to visit inside the no man’s land that would be created south of the barrier.

Even though the Muñiz family will likely lose the battle to keep its land, it is trying to get what it considers just compensation, he said, and holding onto hope that Biden will cancel the wall contract in the area. “You can’t give up on the land. It’s not the government’s land,” he said. “It’s hard to let go.”

Lexi Churchill contributed to this report.

https://www.texastribune.org/2020/12/23 ... ce=twitter

by ti-amie This is a breakdown of a story exclusive to @businessinsider re the shell company set up by Tiny and his kids to hide the money they were stealing from their own campaign. It's behind a paywall. https://www.businessinsider.com/eric-tr ... ny-2020-12

Darren Samuelsohn

SCOOP: The Trump campaign shell company that helped hide $617M in presidential campaign spending was almost exclusively a Trump family production, run in part by a top deputy to Eric Trump, @Politicsinsider has learned. by @tomlobianco & @davelevinthal ($)

That Eric Trump deputy, attorney Alex Cannon, worked closely to run American Made Media Consultants with Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, Trump daughter-in-law Lara Trump, and former campaign manager Brad Parscale.

Together, they built a campaign shell company so powerful and opaque that key Trump campaign aides feared what they might uncover if they learned too much about its operations, according to interviews with more than a dozen Trump advisors and Republicans close to the campaign.

Vast swaths of AMMC's spending still remain a mystery to the public and Trump's own campaign team, although Insider was able to uncover some of American Made Media Consultants' expenditures based on interviews and public documents filed with the Federal Election Commission.

The power and secrecy of the shell company has spurred calls for federal investigations, including requests filed by three Democratic lawmakers after Insider broke the news last week of Kushner and Lara Trump's involvement.

The shell company was originally created by the Trump kids & Parscale to protect Trump from exorbitant consultant fees & grifting accusations, many of which had been levied at Parscale for his dual role atop campaign & approving payments to himself, Trump advisors told Insider.

But as the campaign evolved during 2019 and into the 2020 sprint, AMMC was also used to make secret payments to Lara Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr., who doubled as the Trump campaign's national finance director.

It also facilitated large payments — not disclosed publicly — to top campaign strategist Jason Miller, through an arrangement with the campaign firm he worked for before joining the Trump campaign.

Now w/ Trump's loss clear to almost everyone except Trump, the campaign shell company has become a focal point for advisors lamenting what went wrong. Competing factions in Trumpworld are accusing each other of stealing from the president's campaign coffer via the shell company.

Insider broke the news Friday that Kushner helped create AMMC and picked Lara Trump and Vice President Mike Pence's nephew, John Pence, to serve on its board — facts unknown even to core Trump campaign operatives. Lara Trump is married to Eric Trump.

"The obfuscation raises so many questions," said one Trump advisor.

Whether Trump officials broke the law or will face any consequences remains to be seen. Any possible criminal charges would have to be decided on by prosecutors reporting to Joe Biden's Justice Department. Biden's transition team did not respond to requests for comment.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1341 ... 06721.html

by ti-amie
The Lincoln Project
@ProjectLincoln
Today is William Barr’s last day as Attorney General. In one word, how would you evaluate his time as AG?
His quick exit is making more sense with every passing day.

by ponchi101
ti-amie wrote: Wed Dec 23, 2020 9:37 pm
The Lincoln Project
@ProjectLincoln
Today is William Barr’s last day as Attorney General. In one word, how would you evaluate his time as AG?
Criminal.

by patrick
ti-amie wrote: Wed Dec 23, 2020 9:37 pm
The Lincoln Project
@ProjectLincoln
Today is William Barr’s last day as Attorney General. In one word, how would you evaluate his time as AG?
His quick exit is making more sense with every passing day.
Unfortunately, not soon enough. He, along with Mr Distractor & McConnell, is the reason Americans are struggling with all aspects of economy, life and justice.

by ti-amie Eric Garland
@ericgarland
<THREAD>

Pardons! Face with tears of joyRolling on the floor laughing

There is a list of PARDONED people who can no longer invoke the 5th Amendment. If they get a subpoena, and they go to jail until they testify! Ready?

LT. GEN MIKE FLYNN: Whaddya wanna ask him about? His work as a foreign agent for Turkey? The "Middle East Marshall Plan?" His work with Russia's GRU?

Ask away! Or let him rot in a jail cell!

GEORGE PAPADOPOULOS: Set up Trump's illegal bribe from the Egyptian dictator, El-Sisi, during the 2016 campaign. Ask him all about it! Under oath! If he refuses, JAIL UNTIL HE TALKS.

PAUL MANAFORT: Look, this one's tough, because Manafort is an actual goomba ( From Urban Dictionary: Goomba is the phonetic spelling of the term "cumpà", which is the way people from Southern Italy used to pronounce the word "compare", that is "godfather".)
who was born to go to the clink, and frankly his lack of access to Clairol Luscious Brunette hair dye is working out.

But he can give up everyone from Ferdinand Marcos to Jared Kushner.

ROGER STONE: Prosecutors, you know you can compel testimony out of this Nixon-era basket case for *decades.* Please find out about the Eliot Spitzer-pharma-mortgage stuff. I'm very interested.

CHARLES KUSHNER: Look, his son is going down for 1000 years of violations of his SF-86 form alone...but ask Charlie about Israel and the years *2000-2002.* Ga' head. That'll be fun.

DUNCAN HUNTER, CHRIS COLLINS: Why were these two Republican Congresscritters the *first* two to support that Queens Mobster? Any prosecutor with some curiosity will have a *lot* of fun with that question!

STEVE STOCKMAN: Huh. Why WAS he running agitprop around that Waco thing during the Clinton Administration? Prosecutors, have at. No more 5A here!

(EG Note: Did these Mob idiots realize that the FBI can now get information into court records on counterintelligence cases that would have been very, very difficult otherwise? No? HAHAHAHAHA)

This could go on a long time.

Either way, while these people are still alive, they can be sent a subpoena and have no recourse to the Fifth Amendment. They testify truthfully...or go to prison.

Merry Christmas!

by ti-amie Sidney Powell’s secret intelligence contractor witness is a pro-Trump podcaster

Image

By
Jon Swaine
Dec. 24, 2020 at 4:03 p.m. EST

As she asked the U.S. Supreme Court this month to overturn President Trump’s election loss, the attorney Sidney Powell cited testimony from a secret witness presented as a former intelligence contractor with insights on a foreign conspiracy to subvert democracy.

Powell told courts that the witness is an expert who could show that overseas corporations helped shift votes to President-elect Joe Biden. The witness’s identity must be concealed from the public, Powell has said, to protect her “reputation, professional career and personal safety.”

The Washington Post identified the witness by determining that portions of her affidavit match, sometimes verbatim, a blog post that the pro-Trump podcaster Terpsichore Maras-Lindeman published in November 2019. In an interview, Maras-Lindeman confirmed that she wrote the affidavit and said she viewed it as her contribution to a fight against the theft of the election.

“This is everybody’s duty,” she said. “It’s just not fair.”

In a recent civil fraud case, attorneys for the state of North Dakota said that Maras-Lindeman falsely claimed to be a medical doctor and to have both a PhD and an MBA. They said she used multiple aliases and social security numbers and created exaggerated online résumés as part of what they called “a persistent effort . . . to deceive others.”

Powell’s reliance on Maras-Lindeman’s testimony may raise further questions about her judgment and the strength of her arguments at a time when she is becoming an increasingly influential adviser to the president. Trump’s legal team distanced itself from Powell last month after she falsely claimed Republican state officials took bribes to rig the election. But she has visited the White House three times in the past week, once to participate in an Oval Office meeting. Trump has weighed naming Powell a special counsel to investigate the election, according to previous reports.

Maras-Lindeman, 42, served in the Navy for less than a year more than two decades ago and has said she worked later as a government contractor and part-time interpreter. She has identified herself as a “trained cryptolinguist.”

North Dakota’s assertions about her credentials came in a civil case brought by the state’s attorney general in 2018 over a purported charitable event she tried to organize in Minot, N.D., where she and her family resided. Attorneys for the state said she used money she collected — ostensibly to fund homeless shelters and wreaths for veterans’ graves — on purchases for herself at McDonald’s, QVC and elsewhere.

A judge ultimately found that Maras-Lindeman violated consumer protection laws by, among other things, misspending money she raised and soliciting donations while misrepresenting her experience and education. He ordered her to pay more than $25,000.


Maras-Lindeman has appealed to the state Supreme Court. In court filings and in her interview with The Post, she denied mishandling the funds or misleading donors. She blamed identity theft and bureaucratic failings for a proliferation of variations on her name and social security numbers associated with her.

Maras-Lindeman also claimed that she was targeted by the state for political reasons, noting that around that time she was exploring running for mayor of Minot — under the slogan “Make Minot Great Again.” She said that in 2018 she assisted the campaign of David C. Thompson, the Democratic challenger to longtime Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem (R). Thompson is now Maras-Lindeman’s defense attorney.

Thompson said in an interview that the case was a “vindictive exercise” and was excessive given the relatively small amounts of money in question. “They took a missile to kill a fly,” he said.

In an interview, Stenehjem — who signed a brief this month asking the Supreme Court to take up a case that sought to overturn the election — dismissed the claim that his investigation was politically motivated and said that anyone working with Maras-Lindeman should “back away” from her.

In a text message, Powell did not directly address questions about Maras-Lindeman’s fraud case and credentials. “I don’t have the same information you do,” she wrote to The Post.

Powell’s lawsuits — litigation she has referred to as “the kraken,” after a Scandinavian mythological sea monster — rely in key respects on a handful of anonymous expert witnesses. Among them is a purported military intelligence expert identified in court filings as “Spyder.” The Post reported this month that the witness is an I.T. consultant named Joshua Merritt who has never worked in military intelligence. Rather, Merritt spent the bulk of his decade in the Army as a wheeled-vehicle mechanic.

Like Merritt, Maras-Lindeman told The Post she had never spoken directly to Powell or anyone working on her legal team. She said she distributed the affidavit widely to like-minded people and was unaware it had come to Powell’s attention until it appeared as an exhibit in one of her cases.

Maras-Lindeman’s 37-page affidavit outlines a purported conspiracy by the Canadian company Dominion Voting Systems, which sells voting machines used in some states, and Scytl, a Spain-based firm that provides election software. She claims that votes cast on Dominion machines in key states were hacked as they passed through Scytl tallying systems and rigged in favor of Biden.

“The vote is not safe using these machines not only because of the method used for ballot ‘cleansing’ to maintain anonymity but the EXPOSURE to foreign interference and possible domestic bad actors,” she writes in the affidavit.

Like Trump and many of his supporters, Maras-Lindeman points to election night spikes in Biden’s vote totals — explained by officials as merely the result of densely populated areas reporting their counts — as evidence of a “digital fix” involving abrupt dumps of bogus votes.

In a statement last month, Dominion described allegations leveled against it by Powell and other Trump supporters as “baseless, senseless, physically impossible, and unsupported by any evidence whatsoever.” Scytl said in a statement that it “does NOT tabulate, tally or count votes in US public elections,” had no relationship with Dominion, and that its U.S. operations are run by a Tampa-based subsidiary.

Last week, Dominion said it had written to Powell to demand that she retract what the company said were defamatory accusations.

Federal judges have rejected all four of the complaints Powell has filed, two of which — in Wisconsin and Arizona — included Maras-Lindeman’s affidavit.

In Wisconsin, a federal judge ruled that Powell’s request that the results of the election be overturned is “outside the limits” of the court’s power. Attorneys for Gov. Tony Evers (D), in seeking the dismissal, said the complaint was “rampant with wild speculation and conspiratorial conclusions, and simply without any basis in law or fact.”

A federal judge in Arizona wrote that allegations “that find favor in the public sphere of gossip and innuendo cannot be a substitute for earnest pleadings and procedure in federal court” and “most certainly cannot be the basis for upending Arizona’s 2020 General Election.”

Powell has appealed the cases to the U.S. Supreme Court, where she is seeking to have them consolidated.

Maras-Lindeman, who goes by Tore (pronounced “Tory”), spent recent weeks in Washington with a group of fellow Trump supporters working to bolster Powell’s legal campaign, according to social media posts and statements on her podcast, “Tore Says.” The group included Millie Weaver, a former correspondent for the far-right website Infowars, who released a documentary over the summer — “Shadowgate” — that helped propel Maras-Lindeman to prominence among conspiracy theorists on the right.

Maras-Lindeman told her listeners on Dec. 7 that she was speaking from “the belly of the beast” and that a group of Trump loyalists was working to take action against those who had stolen the president’s victory.

“There are really good people — patriots — gathered, working hard to ensure that they not only get to the bottom of what happened during this election . . . but they’re also seeking to prosecute,” she said.

Maras-Lindeman spent time at Trump’s hotel in downtown Washington and interviewed Patrick Byrne, the millionaire Overstock.com founder and Trump backer who has said he is funding a team of “cybersleuths” to scrutinize the election. Byrne and Maras-Lindeman told The Post he is not funding her.

In past episodes, Maras-Lindeman has discussed conspiracy theories, including one that baselessly accused high-ranking Democrats of human trafficking centered at a D.C. pizzeria. In an episode last year, she said, “What we realize is that this Pizzagate stuff, this satanic constant abuse of children is an actual real thing.”

Maras-Lindeman, who is of Greek heritage, joined the Navy in December 1996 and spent eight months training in Illinois and Florida as an airman recruit before departing the service in August 1997, according to a Navy record.

In their civil case, North Dakota state attorneys said that Maras-Lindeman created a profile on Together We Served, an online veteran community, that incorrectly depicted an extensive military career.

The profile, which is no longer online, said that Maras-Lindeman reached the rank of lieutenant, served in the combat zones of Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, and in the Office of Naval Intelligence, and was awarded multiple medals including a Purple Heart.

In the interview, Maras-Lindeman denied creating the profile and said whoever did had misstated the details of her career. She previously posted to Twitter a purported copy of her Navy separation paperwork, which said that she specialized in communications and intelligence.

Neither the record provided to The Post nor the paperwork Maras-Lindeman posted online stated a reason for her departure, but the papers she posted said that the character of her discharge was “general (under honorable conditions).”

In response to questions about the nature of the discharge, a Navy spokesman referred to the Navy Military Personnel Manual. The manual said it means, “The quality of the member’s service has been honest and faithful; however, significant negative aspects of the member’s conduct or performance of duty outweighed positive aspects of the member’s service record.”

In her affidavit, Maras-Lindeman identifies herself as a former “private contractor with experience gathering and analyzing foreign intelligence” and says that from 1999 to 2014 she had responsibility for delegating tasks to other contractors working for the United States and allied nations. She stood by that account in her interview with The Post.

In a court filing in North Dakota last year, she wrote that she had worked as a contractor since 1996 and had been “a vendor with certain programs associated with USSOCOM,” the U.S. Special Operations Command. A spokesman for the command said in an email that its contracting office could find no record of any contract with her.

She claimed in Weaver’s documentary that, as an intelligence contractor, she carried out a notorious 2008 intrusion into the State Department’s passport records on several presidential candidates. In a separate podcast interview, she said that she retrieved the records on direct orders from John O. Brennan, who then led a private security firm implicated in the incident and was later CIA director. “I went and got them,” she said. “He told me to go get them.”

A spokesman for Brennan said that Brennan had never heard of Maras-Lindeman.

Maras-Lindeman told The Post that, by its nature, her covert work could not be independently verified. “People like me don’t exist,” she said. “You just have to trust.”

According to a LinkedIn profile that has since been deleted, between 1997 and 2014 Maras-Lindeman obtained eight academic degrees in the United States and the United Kingdom, along with additional professional qualifications. The attorneys in the fraud case said in court filings that they could find records of her earning only one degree, a bachelor’s in biology from the University of Kentucky in 2011.

Maras-Lindeman told The Post someone else created the profile — despite claims to the contrary by state attorneys in the fraud case — and she declined to comment on its particulars.

After obtaining the degree, Maras-Lindeman and her family moved to Beaverton, Ore.

She took a voluntary job teaching Greek at Agia Sophia Academy, a private Greek Orthodox school in Beaverton. Her archived biography on the school’s website used the title “Dr.” and said she had a PhD. Attorneys for North Dakota later said in a court filing in the fraud case that Maras-Lindeman “is not a doctor and does not possess a PhD from any institution.”

The school’s principal, Christina Blankenstein, said in an email that the school could not vouch for Maras-Lindeman’s professional record because her position was unpaid. Maras-Lindeman worked at the school for between a year and two years, Blankenstein said.

In the interview, Maras-Lindeman said the school must have misunderstood paperwork she gave them saying that she was a PhD candidate.

After she moved to North Dakota, Maras-Lindeman asserted in series of small claims court cases that she was a pediatric oncologist, attorneys for North Dakota said in a court filing. As recently as November 2017, a website for a purported cancer research organization named “ML Laboratories” referred to her as “Dr. Tore Maras-Lindeman” and said she was its founder.

Maras-Lindeman also used an email address and Twitter handle identifying herself as “Dr. Lindeman.” She told The Post she reserved the accounts so they would be ready for her when she earned a doctoral degree.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/investig ... story.html

by ponchi101 This ties to the conversation we were having about "Will the GOP split?". If they do not speak out against this level of chicanery, what hope can you have that they will develop a spine and stand up to it?
Many are still mum about the election, despite evidence that they are the ones doing treason.

by ti-amie
Keith Olbermann @KeithOlbermann
Ah. Corrupt, humiliated ex-con ex-NYPD police chief calls for violence against McConnell
Bernard B. Kerik @BernardKerik
.@senatemajldr is a spineless coward that @realDonaldTrump should destroy! Either support @POTUS, or prepare for a new @GOP! twitter.com/ap/status/1339…
BeachCat31 @BeachCat31 Replying to @KeithOlbermann
Kerik was as crooked as they come yet now that he got his pardon he sacrificed his soul. Imagine, a former police chief inciting violence. It's not like I feel bad for Mitch, I feel bad for America.

by ponchi101 And not only I dreamed that this thread (and its parent) would die after Nov 3rd, I was hoping TAT2.0 would not have this purulent cesspool as a routinely visited topic.
How naïve I was... :cry:

The post above is truly worrisome.

by ti-amie Geoff Bennett @GeoffRBennett
As a government shutdown looms and COVID relief hangs in the balance, Treasury Sec. Steve Mnuchin is at his home at a private resort in Mexico, sources tell @SRuhle and @JoshNBCNews

Trump has spent three of the last four days golfing in Florida while Pence vacations in Vail.
Dr. emptywheel @emptywheel

Add Mnuchin to the list, along with Jared, Ivanka, and Pence, who are fleeing the country before the (expletive) hits the fan.
AFAIK Florida and Colorado are still in the United States. I have no idea where the Wonder Boy and Vanky are though.

by ti-amie
Heather Cox Richardson (TDPR)
@HC_Richardson
Digging into the Corporate Transparency Act included in the National Defense Authorization Act that Trump vetoed. Is this what Trump is really upset about: the undermining of shell companies and money laundering? Can someone with some knowledge about the CTA help me out?

...he signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act (or so the stories say). He vetoed the National Defense Authorization Act, which is the one with the anti-money laundering piece. Congress will override his veto, but it's still interesting....
There's no mention of this in the following WaPo article.

House votes to override Trump’s veto of defense bill, setting up first such rebuke during his presidency
By
Karoun Demirjian
Dec. 28, 2020 at 6:43 p.m. EST

The House voted Monday to reject President Trump’s veto of a $741 billion defense authorization bill, setting up the first congressional override of his presidency just days before he exits office.

The 322-to-87 vote was comfortably more than the two-thirds of the House that was needed to pass the measure and set up the legislation for a similar override vote in the Senate later this week. But the House’s margin of victory was smaller than the support the same bill received earlier this month, before the president’s veto. Some Republicans who supported the measure three weeks ago did not vote to override the president’s veto.

Trump made good on repeated threats to veto the legislation last week, when he sent the bill back to Congress with a laundry list of objections. Among the president’s complaints were that it ordered the Pentagon to change the names of military installations commemorating Confederate generals; restricted his ability to pull U.S. troops out of Germany, South Korea and Afghanistan; and did not repeal an unrelated law giving certain liability protections to technology companies.

His move led some of his stalwart supporters, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), to announce that they would not cross the president’s veto, even though they had voted for the defense bill. But despite those gestures of solidarity, the president never had the numbers to sustain a veto, according to congressional officials.

Since the summer, the National Defense Authorization Act — an annual measure authorizing funds for everything from overseas military operations to pay increases for service members — has had overwhelming, veto-proof support in both chambers of Congress and the backing of a majority of each political party.

Over several weeks, many leading Republicans, particularly in the Senate, engaged in a concerted effort to get Trump to back off his veto threat, arguing that if the president’s push to retain the Confederate names kept the defense bill — for the first time in six decades — from becoming law, he would be on the wrong side of history.

They also appealed to Trump to abandon his insistence that the bill repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a law that shields social media companies from legal liability for what third parties post to their websites. Trump has taken special aim at the law as part of his vendetta against Facebook, Google and Twitter for what he alleges is anti-conservative bias.

On Sunday night, Trump included a mention of Section 230 in a statement announcing he had signed a federal budget and pandemic relief bill into law.

“Congress has promised that Section 230, which so unfairly benefits Big Tech at the expense of the American people, will be reviewed and either be terminated or substantially reformed,” Trump said.

Trump’s statement did not represent a concession from Congress but a reflection of reality. While Democrats and most Republicans are in agreement that Section 230 needs revisiting, they also believe that it should be changed through a more careful process rather than shoehorning it into the defense bill.

Still, Trump’s statement was seen as potentially freeing up some Republicans who were loath to cross his veto over the Section 230 issue to support Monday’s override vote in the House.

Speaking on the floor just before the vote, the House Armed Services Committee’s top Republican, Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Tex.), implored his colleagues to do so.

“It’s the exact same bill. Not a comma has changed,” he said, calling on those who had backed the legislation earlier this month to vote in support of it again.

The panel’s chairman, Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), said the defense bill presented Congress with a rare opportunity to close the year on a high note.

“We put together a bipartisan, bicameral product that has gotten an overwhelming number of votes,” Smith said. “Let’s show the American people that the legislative process works, at least a little better than sometimes they think it does.”

The bill now heads to the Senate, which must also pass the measure with a two-thirds majority for it to become law. That vote could happen as soon as Wednesday.

Congress to date has never been able to muster the votes to override any of Trump’s vetoes, of which there have been nine since the start of his presidency. That is a higher rate of vetoes than either Barack Obama or George W. Bush, who each issued 12 vetoes over eight years in office. Before them, Bill Clinton issued 36 vetoes and George H.W. Bush issued 29. Each of those presidents faced at least one veto override by Congress.

Parts of the bill run against key elements of Trump’s agenda. The bill’s provisions restricting troop reductions at foreign outposts were inspired by Trump’s efforts to do so over the objections of Congress. Similarly, its prohibition on presidents using their emergency authority to move unlimited military construction funds to pay for domestic projects is a response to Trump’s efforts to siphon off billions of military funds to pay for a border wall.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national ... story.html

by ti-amie McConnell blocks Democrats’ attempt to quickly approve $2,000 stimulus checks amid pressure on GOP to act

By
Mike DeBonis and
Tony Romm
Dec. 29, 2020 at 1:47 p.m. EST

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday blocked consideration of a House bill that would deliver $2,000 stimulus payments to most Americans — spurning a request by President Trump even as more Senate Republicans voiced support for the dramatically larger checks.

McConnell’s move was just the beginning of a saga that is likely to engulf the Senate for the rest of the week. Democrats are pushing for an up-or-down vote on the House bill, while more Republicans acknowledge a need for larger stimulus checks.

Proponents include Georgia’s two embattled Republican senators — David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler — who find themselves in tough reelection battles that will decide the fate of the chamber next week. GOP Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska also lent support Tuesday, declaring that “people are hurting and we need to get them more aid.”

McConnell instead took note of Trump’s Sunday statement that called for not only larger checks but also new curbs on large tech companies and an investigation into the November election, and he suggested they would be dealt with in tandem.

“Those are the three important subjects the president has linked together,” he said. “This week the Senate will begin a process to bring these three priorities into focus.”

The shifting Senate winds come a day after the House passed a bill to increase stimulus checks with a bipartisan 275-to-134 vote. That proposal, called the Caring for Americans with Supplemental Help (Cash) Act, aims to boost the $600 payments authorized in the massive year-end spending-and-relief package that Trump signed Sunday by another $1,400 and expand eligibility for them.

After McConnell spoke Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) made a request to take up the House-passed bill.

“There’s a major difference in saying you support $2,000 checks and fighting to put them into law,” he said. “The House bill is the only way to deliver these stimulus checks before the end of session. Will Senate Republicans stand against the House of Representatives, the Democratic majority in the Senate and the president of their own party to prevent these $2,000 checks from going out the door?”

McConnell objected without making further comment.

The addition of new Republican support further intensified the political pressure on the Republican leader, who now must navigate a path that addresses the president’s concerns without exposing his party to additional political attacks one week before the pair of Georgia special elections determines the Senate majority.

Trump weighed in again Tuesday morning: “Give the people $2000, not $600. They have suffered enough!” he wrote in a tweet.

The debate has created strange political bedfellows, aligning Trump with his Democratic foes in Congress, who have sought larger stimulus payments for months amid signs that the economy has worsened.

The Georgia senators joined Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), one of the earliest GOP proponents for sizable checks, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who endorsed the idea on Monday, and Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), who helped persuade Trump to sign the bill by backing a push for larger checks.

“Absolutely, we need to get relief to Americans now, and I will support that,” Loeffler said on Fox News. Perdue, meanwhile, tweeted hours later that he backs “this push for $2,000 in direct relief for the American people.”

Fischer would not say if she would vote for the House bill but said she opposes combining the question of larger payments with other issues: “I don’t like everything rolled in together. I think you end up with bad policy.”

Both Loeffler and Perdue have taken public credit in their campaigns for delivering the $600 checks in the signed bill. But they had not weighed in on the $2,000 checks before Tuesday, while their Democratic opponents — Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, respectively — have both enthusiastically embraced the larger amounts for days.

The new wave of Republican support left Hawley convinced Tuesday that the Senate had the necessary 60 votes to advance the proposal, adding in a tweet: “Let’s vote today.”

But the Senate now appears to be in a holding pattern. An emboldened Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who pushed for bigger checks for weeks, issued his own ultimatum Tuesday, blocking a planned Wednesday vote to override Trump’s veto of the annual defense policy bill unless McConnell relents and allows a stand-alone vote on the House checks bill.

“I don’t know what he has in mind, but the House passed, to their credit, a simple straightforward bill,” Sanders told reporters. “Let’s not muddy the waters: Are you for $2,000 or are you not?”

Sanders’s threat scrambled a tight timeline for the final days of the current Congress, which will end on Sunday when the new class of lawmakers is sworn in. Without unanimous agreement, the Senate cannot vote on the veto override until Friday at the earliest — raising the prospect that the two Georgia senators would have to spend several unexpected days in Washington amid the closing week of their reelection campaigns.

The House voted overwhelmingly to override the veto Monday. Speaking on the floor Tuesday, McConnell left little doubt about the final outcome once the Senate vote is taken: “Soon this important legislation will be passed into law,” he said of the defense bill.

Acceding to Sanders and Democrats is not an easy choice for the majority leader: There is still major opposition to the larger checks among Senate Republicans, who insisted for months than any pandemic relief measure following on the March Cares Act cost taxpayers no more than $1 trillion.

Adding $2,000 checks to the roughly $900 billion package that Trump signed Sunday would add $464 billion to the cost of the legislation — a staggering price tag for many Republicans who have spent years fretting publicly about a growing national debt.

As McConnell acknowledged, Trump’s demands are not limited to larger checks. In a Sunday statement released after he signed the massive stimulus bill, Trump said the Senate would “start the process for a vote that increases checks to $2,000, repeals Section 230, and starts an investigation into voter fraud.”

“Section 230” is a reference to a 1996 federal law that broadly indemnifies tech platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Google for the actions of their users. Trump has railed against the tech companies as they have started to crack down on his unfounded postings alleging voter fraud in the November election, as well as much more aggressive actions targeting postings made by his supporters containing threats and disinformation.

Graham said in an interview Monday that there would be a vote on the checks and on the law governing tech companies, but he did not know if those votes would be held before the current Congress adjourns.

He predicted that if there was a stand-alone vote on the $2,000 checks, it would pass the Senate with the necessary 60 votes.

“What drove [Trump’s] thinking was, I’m not going to give in until I get a vote on the checks in the Senate, and I’m not going to sign this bill until we finally address section 230,” he said. “I don’t know how Mitch is going to do it.”


https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpos ... story.html

by ti-amie ‘I just want to find 11,780 votes’: In extraordinary hour-long call, Trump pressures Georgia secretary of state to recalculate the vote in his favor

By
Amy Gardner
Jan. 3, 2021 at 12:59 p.m. EST

President Trump urged fellow Republican Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, to “find” enough votes to overturn his defeat in an extraordinary one-hour phone call Saturday that election experts said raised legal questions.

The Washington Post obtained a recording of the conversation in which Trump alternately berated Raffensperger, tried to flatter him, begged him to act and threatened him with vague criminal consequences if the secretary of state refused to pursue his false claims, at one point warning that Raffensperger was taking “a big risk.”

Throughout the call, Raffensperger and his office’s general counsel rejected Trump’s assertions, explaining that the president is relying on debunked conspiracy theories and that President-elect Joe Biden’s 11,779-vote victory in Georgia was fair and accurate.

Trump dismissed their arguments.

“The people of Georgia are angry, the people in the country are angry,” he said. “And there’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, um, that you’ve recalculated.”

Raffensperger responded: “Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is, the data you have is wrong.”

At another point, Trump said: “So look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”

The rambling and at times incoherent conversation offered a remarkable glimpse of how consumed and desperate the president remains about his loss, unwilling or unable to let the matter go and still believing he can reverse the results in enough battleground states to remain in office.

“There’s no way I lost Georgia,” Trump said, a phrase he repeated again and again on the call. “There’s no way. We won by hundreds of thousands of votes.”

Several of his allies were on the line as he spoke, including White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and conservative lawyer Cleta Mitchell, a prominent GOP lawyer whose involvement with Trump’s efforts had not been previously known.


In a statement, Mitchell said Raffensperger’s office “has made many statements over the past two months that are simply not correct and everyone involved with the efforts on behalf of the President’s election challenge has said the same thing: show us your records on which you rely to make these statements that our numbers are wrong.”

The White House, the Trump campaign and Meadows did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Sunday, Trump tweeted that he had spoken to Raffensperger, saying the secretary of state was “unwilling, or unable, to answer questions such as the “ballots under table” scam, ballot destruction, out of state “voters”, dead voters, and more. He has no clue!”

Raffensperger responded with his own tweet: “Respectfully, President Trump: What you’re saying is not true.”

The pressure Trump put on Raffensperger is the latest example of his attempt to subvert the outcome of the Nov. 3 election through personal outreach to state Republican officials. He previously invited Michigan Republican state leaders to the White House, pressured Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) in a call to try to replace that state’s electors and asked the speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to help reverse his loss in that state.

His call to Raffensperger came as scores of Republicans have pledged to challenge the electoral college’s vote for Biden when Congress convenes for a joint session on Wednesday. Republicans do not have the votes to successfully thwart Biden’s victory, but Trump has urged supporters to travel to Washington to protest the outcome, and state and federal officials are already bracing for clashes outside the Capitol.

During their conversation, Trump issued a vague threat to both Raffensperger and Ryan Germany, the secretary of state’s legal counsel, suggesting that if they don’t find that thousands of ballots in Fulton County have been illegally destroyed to block investigators — an allegation for which there is no evidence — they would be subject to criminal liability.

“That’s a criminal offense,” he said. “And you can’t let that happen. That’s a big risk to you and to Ryan, your lawyer.”


Trump also told Raffensperger that failure to act by Tuesday would jeopardize the political fortunes of David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, Georgia’s two Republican senators whose fate in that day’s runoff elections will determine control of the U.S. Senate.

Trump said he plans to talk about the fraud on Monday, when he is scheduled to lead an election eve rally in Dalton, Ga. — a message that could further muddle the efforts of Republicans to get their voters out.

“You have a big election coming up and because of what you’ve done to the president — you know, the people of Georgia know that this was a scam,” Trump said. “Because of what you’ve done to the president, a lot of people aren’t going out to vote, and a lot of Republicans are going to vote negative, because they hate what you did to the president. Okay? They hate it. And they’re going to vote. And you would be respected, really respected, if this can be straightened out before the election.”

Trump’s conversation with Raffensperger put him in legally questionable territory, legal experts said. By exhorting the secretary of state to “find” votes and to deploy investigators who “want to find answers,” Trump appears to be encouraging him to doctor the election outcome in Georgia.

But experts said Trump’s clearer transgression is a moral one. Edward B. Foley, a law professor at Ohio State University, said that the legal questions are murky and would be subject to prosecutorial discretion. But he also emphasized that the call was “inappropriate and contemptible” and should prompt moral outrage.

“He was already tripping the emergency meter,” Foley said. “So we were at 12 on a scale of 1 to 10, and now we’re at 15.”

Throughout the call, Trump detailed an exhaustive list of disinformation and conspiracy theories to support his position. He claimed without evidence that he had won Georgia by at least a half-million votes. He floated a barrage of assertions that have been investigated and disproved: that thousands of dead people voted; that an Atlanta election worker scanned 18,000 forged ballots three times each and “100 percent” were for Biden; that thousands more voters living out of state came back to Georgia illegally just to vote in the election.

“So tell me, Brad, what are we going to do? We won the election, and it’s not fair to take it away from us like this,” Trump said. “And it’s going to be very costly in many ways. And I think you have to say that you’re going to reexamine it, and you can reexamine it, but reexamine it with people that want to find answers, not people who don’t want to find answers.”

Trump did most of the talking on the call. He was angry and impatient, calling Raffensperger a “child” and “either dishonest or incompetent” for not believing there was widespread ballot fraud in Atlanta — and twice calling himself a “schmuck” for endorsing Kemp, whom Trump holds in particular contempt for not embracing his claims of fraud.

“I can’t imagine he’s ever getting elected again, I’ll tell you that much right now,” he said.

He also took aim at Kemp’s 2018 opponent, Democrat Stacey Abrams, trying to shame Raffensperger with the idea that his refusal to embrace fraud has helped her and Democrats generally. “Stacey Abrams is laughing about you,” he said. “She’s going around saying, ‘These guys are dumber than a rock.’ What she’s done to this party is unbelievable, I tell you.”

The secretary of state repeatedly sought to push back, saying at one point, “Mr. President, the problem you have with social media, that — people can say anything.”

“Oh this isn’t social media,” Trump retorted. “This is Trump media. It’s not social media. It’s really not. It’s not social media. I don’t care about social media. I couldn’t care less.”

At another point, Trump claimed that votes were scanned three times: “Brad, why did they put the votes in three times? You know, they put ’em in three times.”


Raffensperger responded: “Mr. President, they did not. We did an audit of that and we proved conclusively that they were not scanned three times.”

Trump sounded at turns confused and meandering. At one point, he referred to Kemp as “George.” He tossed out several different figures for Biden’s margin of victory in Georgia and referred to the Senate runoff, which is Tuesday, as happening “tomorrow” and “Monday.”

His desperation was perhaps most pronounced during an exchange with Germany, Raffensperger’s general counsel, in which he openly begged for validation.

Trump: “Do you think it’s possible that they shredded ballots in Fulton County? ’Cause that’s what the rumor is. And also that Dominion took out machines. That Dominion is really moving fast to get rid of their, uh, machinery. Do you know anything about that? Because that’s illegal.”

Germany responded: “No, Dominion has not moved any machinery out of Fulton County.”


Trump: “But have they moved the inner parts of the machines and replaced them with other parts?”

Germany: “No.”

Trump: “Are you sure? Ryan?”

Germany: “I’m sure. I’m sure, Mr. President.”

It was clear from the call that Trump has surrounded himself with aides who have fed his false perceptions that the election was stolen. When he claimed that more than 5,000 ballots were cast in Georgia in the name of dead people, Raffensperger responded forcefully: “The actual number was two. Two. Two people that were dead that voted.”

But later, Meadows said, “I can promise you there are more than that.”

Another Trump lawyer on the call, Kurt Hilbert, accused Raffensperger’s office of refusing to turn over data to assess evidence of fraud, and also claimed awareness of at least 24,000 illegally cast ballots that would flip the result to Trump.

“It stands to reason that if the information is not forthcoming, there’s something to hide,” Hilbert said. “That’s the problem that we have.”

Reached by phone Sunday, Hilbert declined to comment.

In the end, Trump asked Germany to sit down with one of his attorneys to go over the allegations. Germany agreed.

Yet Trump also recognized that he was failing to persuade Raffensperger or Germany of anything, saying toward the end, “I know this phone call is going nowhere.”

But he continued to make his case in repetitive fashion, until finally, after more than an hour, Raffensperger put an end to the conversation: “Thank you, President Trump, for your time.”

Alice Crites contributed to this report.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... story.html

The audio is at the link. It's an hour long. You've been warned.

by ti-amie Dr. emptywheel @emptywheel
As you talk about The Tape, remember that Raffensperger and a slew of other GA officials are getting death threats on top of this.

by ponchi101 I cannot listen to one hour of this petulant child whining. The article will suffice.
If I were a gambling man, I would put down money that sometime close to Jan 20th he will call his minions to raise in arms. And many will.

by ti-amie The Post has published Trump’s full phone call with Georgia election officials. Listen to the audio and read the transcript.

By
Amy Gardner and Paulina Firozi
Jan. 3, 2021 at 4:15 p.m. EST

At about 3 p.m. Saturday, President Trump held an hour-long call with Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, in which he repeatedly urged him to alter the outcome of the presidential vote in the state. He was joined on the call by White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and several lawyers, including longtime conservative attorney Cleta Mitchell and Georgia-based attorney Kurt Hilbert. Raffensperger was joined by his office’s general counsel, Ryan Germany, and deputy secretary of state Jordan Fuchs.

The Washington Post obtained a copy of a recording of the call. This transcript has been edited to remove the name of an individual about whom Trump makes unsubstantiated claims.

Meadows: Ok. Alright. Mr. President, everyone is on the line. This is Mark Meadows, the chief of staff. Just so we all are aware. On the line is secretary of state, and two other individuals. Jordan and Mr. Germany with him. You also have the attorneys that represent the president, Kurt and Alex and Cleta Mitchell — who is not the attorney of record but has been involved — myself and then the president. So Mr. President, I’ll turn it over to you.

Trump: OK, thank you very much. Hello Brad and Ryan and everybody. We appreciate the time and the call. So we’ve spent a lot of time on this and if we could just go over some of the numbers, I think it’s pretty clear that we won. We won very substantially in Georgia. You even see it by rally size, frankly. We’d be getting 25-30,000 people a rally and the competition would get less than 100 people. And it never made sense.

But we have a number of things. We have at least 2 or 3 — anywhere from 250-300,000 ballots were dropped mysteriously into the rolls. Much of that had to do with Fulton County, which hasn’t been checked. We think that if you check the signatures — a real check of the signatures going back in Fulton County you’ll find at least a couple of hundred thousand of forged signatures of people who have been forged. And we are quite sure that’s going to happen.

Another tremendous number. We’re going to have an accurate number over the next two days with certified accountants. But an accurate number — and that’s people that went to vote and they were told they can’t vote because they’ve already been voted for. And it’s a very sad thing. They walked out complaining. But the number’s large. We’ll have it for you. But it’s much more than the number of 11,779 that’s — The current margin is only 11,779. Brad, I think you agree with that, right? That’s something I think everyone — at least that’s’ a number that everyone agrees on.

But that’s the difference in the votes. But we’ve had hundreds of thousands of ballots that we’re able to actually — we’ll get you a pretty accurate number. You don’t need much of a number because the number that in theory I lost by, the margin would be 11,779. But you also have a substantial numbers of people, thousands and thousands who went to the voting place on November 3, were told they couldn’t vote, were told they couldn’t vote because a ballot had been put on their name. And you know that’s very, very, very, very sad.

We had, I believe it’s about 4,502 voters who voted but who weren’t on the voter registration list, so it’s 4,502 who voted but they weren’t on the voter registration roll which they had to be. You had 18,325 vacant address voters. The address was vacant and they’re not allowed to be counted. That’s 18,325.

Smaller number — you had 904 who only voted where they had just a P.O. — a post office box number — and they had a post office box number and that’s not allowed. We had at least 18,000 — that’s on tape we had them counted very painstakingly — 18,000 voters having to do with [name]. She’s a vote scammer, a professional vote scammer and hustler [name]. That was the tape that’s been shown all over the world that makes everybody look bad, you me and everybody else.

Where they got — number one they said very clearly and it’s been reported they said there was a major water main break. Everybody fled the area. And then they came back, [name] and her daughter and a few people. There were no Republican poll watchers. Actually, there were no Democrat poll watchers, I guess they were them. But there were no Democrats, either and there was no law enforcement. Late in the morning, early in the morning they went to the table with the black robe, the black shield and they pulled out the votes. Those votes were put there a number of hours before the table was put there. I think it was, Brad you would know, it was probably eight hours or seven hours before and then it was stuffed with votes.

They weren’t in an official voter box, but they were in what looked to be suitcases or trunks, suitcases but they weren’t in voter boxes. The minimum number it could be because we watched it and they watched it certified in slow motion instant replay if you can believe it but slow motion and it was magnified many times over and the minimum it was 18,000 ballots, all for Biden.

You had out of state voters. they voted in Georgia but they were from out of state, of 4,925. You had absentee ballots sent to vacant, they were absentee ballots sent to vacant addresses. They had nothing on them about addresses, that’s 2,326.

And you had drop boxes, which is very bad. You had drop boxes that were picked up. We have photographs and we have affidavits from many people.

I don’t know if you saw the hearings, but you have drop boxes where the box was picked up but not delivered for three days. So all sorts of things could have happened to that box including, you know, putting in the votes that you wanted. So there were many infractions and the bottom line is, many, many times the 11,779 margin that they said we lost by — we had vast I mean the state is in turmoil over this.

And I know you would like to get to the bottom of it, although I saw you on television today and you said that you found nothing wrong. I mean, you know, And I didn’t lose the state, Brad. People have been saying that it was the highest vote ever. There was no way. A lot of the political people said that there’s no way they beat me. And they beat me. They beat me in the … As you know, every single state … we won every state. we one every statehouse in the country. We held the Senate which is shocking to people, although we’ll see what happens tomorrow or in a few days.

And we won the House, but we won every single statehouse and we won Congress, which was supposed to lose 15 seats, and they gained, I think 16 or 17 or something. I think there’s a now difference of five. There was supposed to be a difference substantially more. But politicians in every state, but politicians in Georgia have given affidavits or are going to that, that there was no way that they beat me in the election that the people came out, in fact, they were expecting to lose and then they ended up winning by a lot because of the coattails. And they said there’s no way that they’ve done many polls prior to the election. There was no way that they won.

Ballots were dropped in massive numbers. And we’re trying to get to those numbers and we will have them.

They’ll take a period of time. Certified. But but they’re massive numbers. And far greater than the 11,779.

The other thing, dead people. So dead people voted and I think the number is close to 5,000 people. And they went to obituaries. They went to all sorts of methods to come up with an accurate number and a minimum is close to about 5,000 voters.

The bottom line is when you add it all up and then you start adding, you know, 300,000 fake ballots. Then the other thing they said is in Fulton County and other areas. And this may or may not … because this just came up this morning that they are burning their ballots, that they are shredding, shredding ballots and removing equipment. They’re changing the equipment on the Dominion machines and, you know, that’s not legal.

And they supposedly shredded I think they said 300 pounds of, 3,000 pounds of ballots. And that just came to us as a report today. And it is a very sad situation.

But Brad if you took the minimum numbers where many, many times above the 11,779 and many of those numbers are certified, or they will be certified but they are certified. And those are numbers that are there that exist. And that beat the margin of loss, they beat it, I mean by a lot and people should be happy to have an accurate count instead of an election where there’s turmoil.

I mean there’s turmoil in Georgia and other places. You’re not the only one I mean we have other states that I believe will be flipping to us very shortly. And this is something that — You know, as an example, I think it in Detroit, I think there’s a section a good section of your state actually, which we’re not sure so we’re not going to report it yet. But in Detroit, we had, I think it was, 139 percent of the people voted. That’s not too good.

In Pennsylvania, they had well over 200,000 more votes than they had people voting. And uh that doesn’t play too well, and the legislature there is, which is Republican, is extremely activist and angry. I mean, there were other things also that were almost as bad as that. But, uh, they had as an example, in Michigan, a tremendous number of dead people that voted. I think it was I think, Mark, it was 18,000. Some unbelievably high number, much higher than yours, you were in the 4-5,000 category.

And that was checked out laboriously by going through, by going through the obituary columns in the newspapers.

So I guess with all of it being said, Brad, the bottom line and provisional ballots, again, you know, you’ll have to tell me about the provisional ballots, but we have a lot of people that were complaining that they weren’t able to vote because they were already voted for. These are great people.

And, you know, they were shellshocked. I don’t know if you call that provisional ballots. In some states we had a lot of provisional ballot situations where people were given a provisional ballot because when they walked in on November 3 and they were already voted for.

So that’s it. I mean, we have many many times the number of votes necessary to win the state. And we won the state and we won it very substantially and easily and we’re getting, we have, much of this is a very certified, far more certified than we need. But we’re getting additional numbers certified, too. And we’re getting pictures of dropboxes being delivered and delivered late. Delivered three days later, in some cases, plus we have many affidavits to that effect.

Meadows: So Mr. President, if I might be able to jump in and I’ll give Brad a chance. Mr. Secretary, obviously there is, there are allegations where we believe that not every vote or fair vote and legal vote was counted and that’s at odds with the representation from the secretary of state’s office.

What I’m hopeful for is there some way that we can we can find some kind of agreement to look at this a little bit more fully. You know the president mentioned Fulton County.

But in some of these areas where there seems to be a difference of where the facts seem to lead, and so Mr. Secretary, I was hopeful that, you know, in the spirit of cooperation and compromise is there something that we can at least have a discussion to look at some of these allegations to find a path forward that’s less litigious?

Raffensperger: Well, I listened to what the president has just said. President Trump, we’ve had several lawsuits and we’ve had to respond in court to the lawsuits and the contentions. Um, we don’t agree that you have won. And we don’t — I didn’t agree about the 200,000 number that you’d mentioned. I’ll go through that point by point.

What we have done is we gave our state Senate about one and a half hours of our time going through the election issue by issue and then on the state House, the government affairs committee, we gave them about two and a half hours of our time, going back point by point on all the issues of contention. And then just a few days ago we met with our U.S. congressmen, Republican congressmen, and we gave them about two hours of our time talking about this past election. Going back, primarily what you’ve talked about here focused in on primarily, I believe, is the absentee ballot process. I don’t believe that you’re really questioning the Dominion machines. Because we did a hand retally, a 100 percent retally of all the ballots and compared them to what the machines said and came up with virtually the same result. Then we did the recount, and we got virtually the same result. So I guess we can probably take that off the table.

I don’t think there’s an issue about that.

Trump: Well, Brad. Not that there’s not an issue, because we have a big issue with Dominion in other states and perhaps in yours. But we haven’t felt we needed to go there. And just to, you know, maybe put a little different spin on what Mark is saying, Mark Meadows, uh, yeah we’d like to go further, but we don’t really need to. We have all the votes we need.

You know, we won the state. If you took, these are the most minimal numbers, the numbers that I gave you, those are numbers that are certified, your absentee ballots sent to vacant addresses, your out of state voters 4,925. You know when you add them up, it’s many more times, it’s many times the 11,779 number. So we could go through, we have not gone through your Dominion. So we can’t give them blessing. I mean, in other states, we think we found tremendous corruption with Dominion machines but we’ll have to see.

But we only lost the state by that number, 11,000 votes, and 779. So with that being said, with just what we have, with just what we have we’re giving you minimal, minimal numbers. We’re doing the most conservative numbers possible, we’re many times, many, many times above the margin. And so we don’t really have to, Mark, I don’t think we have to go through …

Meadows: Right

Trump: Because, what’s the difference between winning the election by two votes and winning it by half a million votes. I think I probably did win it by half a million. You know, one of the things that happened Brad, is we have other people coming in now from Alabama and from South Carolina and from other states, and they’re saying it’s impossible for you to have lost Georgia. We won. You know in Alabama, we set a record, got the highest vote ever. In Georgia, we set a record with a massive amount of votes. And they say it’s not possible to have lost Georgia.

And I could tell you by our rallies. I could tell you by the rally I’m having on Monday night, the place, they already have lines of people standing out front waiting. It’s just not possible to have lost Georgia. It's not possible. When I heard it was close I said there’s no way. But they dropped a lot of votes in there late at night. You know that, Brad. And that’s what we are working on very, very stringently. But regardless of those votes, with all of it being said, we lost by essentially 11,000 votes and we have many more votes already calculated and certified, too.

And so I just don’t know, you know, Mark, I don’t know what’s the purpose. I won’t give Dominion a pass because we found too many bad things. But we don’t need Dominion or anything else. We have won this election in Georgia based on all of this. And there’s nothing wrong with saying that, Brad. You know I mean, having the correct — the people of Georgia are angry. And these numbers are going to be repeated on Monday night. Along with others that we’re going to have by that time which are much more substantial even. And the people of Georgia are angry, the people of the country are angry. And there’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, um, that you’ve recalculated. Because the 2,236 in absentee ballots. I mean, they’re all exact numbers that were done by accounting firms law firms, etc. and even if you cut ‘em in half, cut ‘em in half and cut ‘em in half, again, it’s more votes than we need.

Raffensperger: Well Mr. President, the challenge that you have is the data you have is wrong. We talked to the congressmen and they were surprised.

But they — I guess there was a person Mr. Braynard who came to these meetings and presented data and he said that there was dead people, I believe it was upward of 5,000. The actual number were two. Two. Two people that were dead that voted. So that’s wrong.

Trump: Well Cleta, How do you respond to that? Maybe you tell me?

Mitchell: Well, I would say Mr. Secretary, one of the things that we have requested and what we said was, if you look, if you read our petition, it said that we took the names and birth years and we had certain information available to us. We have asked from your office for records that only you have and so we said there is a universe of people who have the same name and same birth year and died.

But we don’t have the records that you have. And one of the things that we have been suggesting formally and informally for weeks now is for you to make available to us the records that would be necessary —

Trump: But Cleta, even before you do that, and not even including that, that’s why hardly even included that number, although in one state we have a tremendous amount of dead people. So I don’t know — I’m sure we do in Georgia, too. I’m sure we do in Georgia too.

But, um, we’re so far ahead. We’re so far ahead of these numbers, even the phony ballots of [name] , known scammer. You know the Internet? You know what was trending on the Internet? “Where’s [name]?” Because they thought she’d be in jail. “Where’s [name]?” It’s crazy, it’s crazy. That was. The minimum number is 18,000 for [name] , but they think it’s probably about 56,000, but the minimum number is 18,000 on the [name] night where she ran back in there when everybody was gone and stuffed, she stuffed the ballot boxes. Let’s face it, Brad, I mean. They did it in slow motion replay magnified, right? She stuffed the ballot boxes. They were stuffed like nobody had ever seen them stuffed before.

So there’s a term for it when it’s a machine instead of a ballot box, but she stuffed the machine. She stuffed the ballot — Each ballot went three times they were showing: Here’s ballot No 1. Here it is second time, third time, next ballot.

I mean, look. Brad. We have a new tape that we’re going to release. It’s devastating. And by the way, that one event, that one event is much more than the 11,000 votes that we’re talking about. It’s uh, you know. That one event was a disaster. And it’s just, you know, but it was, it was something, it can’t be disputed. And again we have a version that you haven’t seen but it’s magnified. It’s magnified and you can see everything. For some reason they put it in three times, each ballot, and I don’t know why. I don’t know why three times. Why not five times, right? Go ahead.

Raffensperger: You’re talking about the State Farm video. And I think it’s extremely unfortunate that Rudy Giuliani or his people, they sliced and diced that video and took it out of context. The next day we brought in WSB-TV and we let them show, see the full run of tape and what you’ll see, the events that transpired are nowhere near what was projected by, you know —

Trump: But where were the poll watchers, Brad? There were no poll watchers there. There were no Democrats or Republicans. There was no security there.

It was late in the evening, late in the, early in the morning, and there was nobody else in the room. Where were the poll watchers and why did they say a water main broke, which they did and which was reported in the newspapers? They said they left. They ran out because of a water main break, and there was no water main. There was nothing. There was no break. There was no water main break. But we’re, if you take out everything, where were the Republican poll watchers, even where were the Democrat pollwatchers, because there were none.

And then you say, well, they left their station, you know, if you look at the tape, and this was, this was reviewed by professional police and detectives and other people, when they left in a rush, everybody left in a rush because of the water main, but everybody left in a rush. These people left their station.

When they came back, they didn’t go to their station. They went to the apron, wrapped around the table, under which were thousands and thousands of ballots in a box that was not an official or a sealed box. And then they took those. They went back to a different station. So if they would have come back, they would have walked to their station and they would have continued to work. But they couldn’t do even that because that’s illegal, because they had no Republican pollwatchers. And remember, her reputation is — she’s known all over the Internet, Brad. She’s known all over.

I’m telling you, “Where’s [name] ” was one of the hot items …[name] They knew her. “Where’s [name]?” So Brad, there can be no justification for that. And I you know, I give everybody the benefit of the doubt. But that was — And Brad, why did they put the votes in three times? You know, they put ‘em in three times.

Raffensperger: Mr. President, they did not put that. We did an audit of that and we proved conclusively that they were not scanned three times.

Trump: Where was everybody else at that late time in the morning? Where was everybody? Where were the Republicans? Where were the security guards? Were the people that were there just a little while before when everyone ran out of the room. How come we had no security in the room. Why did they run to the bottom of the table? Why do they run there and just open the skirt and rip out the votes. I mean, Brad. And they were sitting there, I think for five hours or something like that, the votes.

Raffensperger: Mr. President, we’ll send you the link from WSB.

Trump: I don’t care about the link. I don’t need it. Brad, I have a much better —

Mitchell: I will tell you. I’ve seen the tape. The full tape. So has Alex. We’ve watched it. And what we saw and what we’ve confirmed in the timing is that. They made everybody leave, we have sworn affidavits saying that. And then they began to process ballots. And our estimate is that there were roughly 18,000 ballots. We don’t know that. If you know that …

Trump: It was 18,000 ballots but they used each one three times.

Mitchell: Well, I don’t know about that.

Trump: I do think because we had ours magnified out.

Mitchell: I’ve watched the entire tape.

Trump: Nobody can make a case for that, Brad. Nobody. I mean, look, you’d have to be a child to think anything other than that. Just a child.

Mitchell: How many ballots, Mr. Secretary, are you saying were processed then?

Raffensperger: We had GBI … investigate that.

Germany: We had our — this is Ryan Germany. We had our law enforcement officers talk to everyone who was who was there after that event came to light. GBI was with them as well as FBI agents.

Trump: Well, there’s no way they could — then they’re incompetent. They’re either dishonest or incompetent, okay?

Mitchell: Well, what did they find?

Trump: There’s only two answers, dishonesty or incompetence. There’s just no way. Look. There’s no way. And on the other thing, I said too, there is no way. I mean, there’s no way that these things could have been you know, you have all these different people that voted but they don’t live in Georgia anymore. What was that number, Cleta? That was a pretty good number too.

Mitchell: The number who have registered out of state after they moved from Georgia. And so they had a date when they moved from Georgia, they registered to vote out of state. And then it’s like 4,500, I don’t have that number right in front of me.

Trump: And then they came back in and they voted.

Mitchell: And voted. Yeah.

Trump: I thought that was a large number, though. It was in the 20s.

Germany: We’ve been going through each of those as well and those numbers that we got that Ms. Mitchell was just saying, they’re not accurate. Every one we’ve been through, are people that lived in Georgia, moved to a different state, but then moved back to Georgia legitimately. And in many cases —

Trump: How may people do that? They moved out and then they said, “Ah, to hell with it I’ll move back.” You know, it doesn’t sound like a very normal … you mean, they moved out, and what, they missed it so much that they wanted to move back in? It’s crazy.

Germany: They moved back in years ago. This was not like something just before the election. So there’s something about that data that, it’s just not accurate.

Trump: Well, I don’t know, all I know is that it is certified. And they moved out of Georgia and they voted. It didn’t say they moved back in Cleta, did it?

Mitchell: No, but I mean, we’re looking at the voter registration. Again, if you have additional records, we’ve been asking for that, but you haven’t shared any of that with us. You just keep saying you investigated the allegations.

Trump: Cleta, a lot of it you don’t need to be shared. I mean, to be honest, they should share. They should share it because you want to get to an honest election.

I won this election by hundreds of thousands of votes. There’s no way I lost Georgia. There’s no way. We won by hundreds of thousands of votes. I’m just going by small numbers when you add them up they’re many times the 11,000. But I won that state by hundreds of thousands of votes.

Do you think it’s possible that they shredded ballots in Fulton County? Because that’s what the rumor is. And also that Dominion took out machines. That Dominion is really moving fast to get rid of their, uh, machinery.

Do you know anything about that? Because that’s illegal, right?

Germany: This is Ryan Germany. No, Dominion has not moved any machinery out of Fulton County.

Trump: But have they moved the inner parts of the machines and replaced them with other parts?

Germany: No.

Trump: Are you sure, Ryan?

Germany: I’m sure. I’m sure, Mr. President.

Trump: What about, what about the ballots. The shredding of the ballots. Have they been shredding ballots?

Germany: The only investigation that we have into that — they have not been shredding any ballots. There was an issue in Cobb County where they were doing normal office shredding, getting rid of old stuff, and we investigated that. But this stuff from, you know, from you know past elections.

Trump: It doesn’t pass the smell test because we hear they’re shredding thousands and thousands of ballots and now what they’re saying, “Oh, we’re just cleaning up the office.” Yeah.

Raffensperger: Mr. President, the problem you have with social media, they — people can say anything.

Trump: Oh this isn’t social media. This is Trump media. It’s not social media. It’s really not it’s not social media. I don’t care about social media. I couldn’t care less. Social media is Big Tech. Big Tech is on your side. I don’t even know why you have a side, because you should want to have an accurate election. And you’re a Republican.

Raffensperger: We believe that we do have an accurate election.

Trump: No, no you don’t. No, no you don't. You don’t have. Not even close. You’re off by hundreds of thousands of votes. And just on the small numbers, you’re off on these numbers and these numbers can’t be just — well, why wont? — Okay. So you sent us into Cobb County for signature verification, right? You sent us into Cobb County, which we didn’t want to go into. And you said it would be open to the public. So we had our experts there they weren’t allowed into the room. But we didn’t want Cobb County. We wanted Fulton County. And you wouldn’t give it to us. Now, why aren’t we doing signature — and why can’t it be open to the public?

And why can’t we have professionals do it instead of rank amateurs who will never find anything and don’t want to find anything? They don’t want to find, you know, they don’t want to find anything. Someday you’ll tell me the reason why, because I don’t understand your reasoning, but someday you’ll tell me the reason why. But why don’t you want to find?

Germany: Mr. President, we chose Cobb County —

Trump: Why don’t you want to find … What?

Germany: Sorry, go ahead.

Trump: So why did you do Cobb County? We didn’t even request — we requested Fulton County, not Cobb County. Go ahead, please. Go ahead.

Germany: We chose Cobb County because that was the only county where there’s been any evidence submitted that the signature verification was not properly done.

Trump: No, but I told you. We’re not, we’re not saying that.

Mitchell: We did say that.

Trump: Fulton County. Look. Stacey, in my opinion, Stacey is as dishonest as they come. She has outplayed you … at everything. She got you to sign a totally unconstitutional agreement, which is a disastrous agreement. You can’t check signatures. I can’t imagine you’re allowed to do harvesting, I guess, in that agreement. That agreement is a disaster for this country. But she got you somehow to sign that thing and she has outsmarted you at every step.

And I hate to imagine what’s going to happen on Monday or Tuesday, but it’s very scary to people. You know, when the ballots flow in out of nowhere. It’s very scary to people. That consent decree is a disaster. It’s a disaster. A very good lawyer who examined it said they’ve never seen anything like it.

Raffensperger: Harvesting is still illegal in the state of Georgia. And that settlement agreement did not change that one iota.

Trump: It’s not a settlement agreement, it’s a consent decree. It even says consent decree on it, doesn’t it? It uses the term consent decree. It doesn’t say settlement agree. It’s a consent decree. It’s a disaster.

Raffensperger: It’s a settlement agreement.

Trump: What’s written on top of it?

Raffensperger: Ryan?

Germany: I don’t have it in front of me, but it was not entered by the court, it’s not a court order.

Trump: But Ryan, it’s called a consent decree, is that right? On the paper. Is that right?

Germany: I don’t. I don’t. I don’t believe so, but I don’t have it in front of me.

Trump: OK, whatever, it’s a disaster. It’s a disaster. Look. Here’s the problem. We can go through signature verification and we’ll find hundreds of thousands of signatures, if you let us do it. And the only way you can do it, as you know, is to go to the past. But you didn’t do that in Cobb County. You just looked at one page compared to another. The only way you can do a signature verification is go from the one that signed it on November whatever. Recently. And compare it to two years ago, four years ago, six years ago, you know, or even one. And you’ll find that you have many different signatures. But in Fulton, where they dumped ballots, you will find that you have many that aren’t even signed and you have many that are forgeries.

OK, you know that. You know that. You have no doubt about that. And you will find you will be at 11,779 within minutes, because Fulton County is totally corrupt and so is she totally corrupt.

And they’re going around playing you and laughing at you behind your back, Brad, whether you know it or not, they’re laughing at you and you’ve taken a state that’s a Republican state, and you’ve made it almost impossible for a Republican to win because of cheating, because they cheated like nobody’s ever cheated before. And I don’t care how long it takes me, you know, we’re going to have other states coming forward — pretty good.

But I won’t … this is never … this is … We have some incredible talent said they’ve never seen anything … Now the problem is they need more time for the big numbers. But they’re very substantial numbers. But I think you’re going to fine that they — by the way, a little information, I think you’re going to find that they are shredding ballots because they have to get rid of the ballots because the ballots are unsigned. The ballots are corrupt, and they’re brand new and they don’t have a seal and there’s the whole thing with the ballots. But the ballots are corrupt.

And you are going to find that they are — which is totally illegal, it is more illegal for you than it is for them because, you know what they did and you’re not reporting it. That’s a criminal, that’s a criminal offense. And you can’t let that happen. That’s a big risk to you and to Ryan, your lawyer. And that’s a big risk. But they are shredding ballots, in my opinion, based on what I’ve heard. And they are removing machinery and they’re moving it as fast as they can, both of which are criminal finds. And you can’t let it happen and you are letting it happen. You know, I mean, I’m notifying you that you’re letting it happen. So look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state.

And flipping the state is a great testament to our country because, you know, this is — it’s a testament that they can admit to a mistake or whatever you want to call it. If it was a mistake, I don’t know. A lot of people think it wasn’t a mistake. It was much more criminal than that. But it’s a big problem in Georgia and it’s not a problem that’s going away. I mean, you know, it’s not a problem that’s going away.

Germany: This is Ryan. We’re looking into every one of those things that you mentioned.

Trump: Good. But if you find it you’ve got to say it, Ryan.

Germany: … Let me tell you what we are seeing. What we’re seeing is not at all what you’re describing, these are investigators from our office, these are investigators from GBI, and they’re looking and they’re good. And that’s not what they’re seeing. And we’ll keep looking, at all these things.

Trump: Well, you better check the ballots because they are shredding ballots, Ryan. I’m just telling you, Ryan. They’re shredding ballots. And you should look at that very carefully. Because that’s so illegal. You know, you may not even believe it because it’s so bad. But they’re shredding ballots because they think we’re going to eventually get … because we’ll eventually get into Fulton. In my opinion it’s never too late. … So, that’s the story. Look, we need only 11,000 votes. We have are far more than that as it stands now. We’ll have more and more. And . Do you have provisional ballots at all, Brad? Provisional ballots?

Raffensperger: Provisional ballots are allowed by state law.

Trump: Sure, but I mean, are they counted or did you just hold them back because they, you know, in other words, how many provisional ballots do you have in the state?

Raffensperger: We’ll get you that number.

Trump: Because most of them are made out to the name Trump. Because these are people that were scammed when they came in. And we have thousands of people that have testified or that want to testify when they came in they were probably going to vote on November 3. And they were told I’m sorry, you’ve already been voted for, you’ve already voted. The women, men started screaming, No. I proudly voted til November 3. They said, I’m sorry, but you’ve already been voted for and you have a ballot and these people are beside themselves. So they went out and they filled in a provisional ballot, putting the name Trump on it.

And what about that batch of military ballots that came in. And even though I won the military by a lot, it was 100 percent Trump. I mean 100 percent Biden. Do you know about that? A large group of ballots came in. I think it was to Fulton County and they just happened to be 100 percent for Trump — for Biden, even though Trump won the military by a lot, you know, a tremendous amount. But these ballots were 100 percent for Biden. And, do you know about that? A very substantial number came in, all for Biden. Does anybody know about it?

Mitchell: I know about it, but —

Trump: OK, Cleta, I’m not asking you Cleta, honestly. I’m asking Brad. Do you know about the military ballots that we have confirmed now. Do you know about the military ballots that came in that were 100 percent, I mean 100 percent for Biden. Do you know about that?

Germany: I don’t know about that, I do know that we have when military ballots come in, it’s not just military, it’s also military and overseas citizens. The military part of that does generally go Republican. The overseas citizen part of it generally goes very Democrat. This was a mix of ‘em.

Trump: No, but this was. That’s OK. But I got like 78 percent of the military. These ballots were all for … They didn’t tell me overseas. Could be overseas too, but I get votes overseas too, Ryan, in all fairness. No they came in, a large batch came in and it was, quote, 100 percent for Biden. And that is criminal. You know, that’s criminal. OK. That’s another criminal, that’s another of the many criminal events, many criminal events here.

Oh, I don’t know, look Brad. I got to get … I have to find 12,000 votes and I have them times a lot. And therefore, I won the state. That’s before we go to the next step, which is in the process of right now. You know, and I watched you this morning and you said, uh, well, there was no criminality.

But I mean, all of this stuff is very dangerous stuff. When you talk about no criminality, I think it’s very dangerous for you to say that.

I just, I just don’t know why you don’t want to have the votes counted as they are. Like even you when you went and did that check. And I was surprised because, you know … And we found a few thousand votes that were against me. I was actually surprised because the way that check was done, all you’re doing you know, recertifying existing votes and, you know, and you were given votes and you just counted them up and you still found 3,000 that were bad. So that was sort of surprising that it came down to three or five I don’t know. still a lot of votes. But you have to go back to check from past years with respect to signatures. And if you check with Fulton County, you’ll have hundreds of thousands because they dumped ballots into Fulton County and the other county next to it.

So what are we going to do here folks? I only need 11,000 votes. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break. You know, we have that in spades already. Or we can keep it going but that’s not fair to the voters of Georgia because they’re going to see what happened and they’re going to see what happened. I mean, I’ll, I’ll take on to anybody you want with regard to [name] and her lovely daughter, a very lovely young lady, I’m sure. But, but [name] … I will take on anybody you want. And the minimum, there were 18,000 ballots but they used them three times. So that’s, you know, a lot of votes. … And they were all to Biden, by the way, that’s the other thing we didn’t say. You know, [name] , the one thing I forgot to say which was the most important. You know that every single ballot she did went to Biden. You know that, right? Do you know that, by the way, Brad?

Every single ballot that she did through the machines at early, early in the morning, went to Biden. Did you know that, Ryan?

Germany: That’s not accurate, Mr. President.

Trump: Huh. What is accurate?

Germany: The numbers that we are showing are accurate.

Trump: No, about [name] . About early in the morning, Ryan. Where the woman took, you know, when the whole gang took the stuff from under the table, right? Do you know, do you know who those ballots, who they were made out to, do you know who they were voting for?

Germany: No, not specifically.

Trump: Did you ever check?

Germany: We did what I described to you earlier —

Trump: No no no — did you ever check the ballots that were scanned by [name] , a known political operative and balloteer. Did ever check who those votes were for?

Germany: We looked into that situation that you described.

Trump: No, they were 100 percent for Biden. 100 percent. There wasn’t a Trump vote in the whole group. Why don’t you want to find this, Ryan? What’s wrong with you? I heard your lawyer is very difficult, actually, but I’m sure you’re a good lawyer. You have a nice last name.

But, but I’m just curious why wouldn’t, why do you keep fighting this thing? It just doesn’t make sense. We’re way over the 17,779, right? We’re way over that number and just if you took just [name] , we’re over that number by five, five or six times when you multiply that times three.

And every single ballot went to Biden, and you didn’t know that, but, now you know it. So tell me, Brad, what are we going to do? We won the election and it’s not fair to take it away from us like this. And it’s going to be very costly in many ways. And I think you have to say that you’re going to reexamine it and you can reexamine it, but reexamine it with people that want to find answers, not people that don’t want to find answers. For instance, I’m hearing Ryan that he’s probably, I’m sure a great lawyer and everything. But he’s making statements about those ballots that he doesn’t know. But he’s making them with such — he did make them with surety. But now I think he’s less sure because the answer is they all went to Biden and that alone wins us the election by a lot. You know, so.

Raffensperger: Mr. President, you have people that submit information and we have our people that submit information. And then it comes before the court and the court then has to make a determination. We have to stand by our numbers. We believe our numbers are right.

Trump: Why do you say that? I don’t know. I mean, sure, we can play this game with the courts, but why do you say that? First of all they don’t even assign us a judge. They don’t even assign us a judge. But why wouldn’t you — Hey Brad, why wouldn’t you want to check out [name] ? And why wouldn’t you want to say, hey, if in fact, President Trump is right about that, then he wins the state of Georgia, just that one incident alone without going through hundreds of thousands of dropped ballots. You just say, you stick by, I mean I’ve been watching you, you know, you don’t care about anything. “Your numbers are right.” But your numbers aren’t right. They’re really wrong and they’re really wrong, Brad. And I know this phone call is going nowhere other than, other than ultimately, you know — Look ultimately, I win, okay? Because you guys are so wrong. And you treated this. You treated the population of Georgia so badly. You, between you and your governor, who is down at 21, he was down 21 points. And like a schmuck, I endorsed him and he got elected, but I will tell you, he is a disaster.

And he knows, I can’t imagine that people are so angry in Georgia, I can’t imagine he’s ever getting elected again I’ll tell you that much right now. But why wouldn’t you want to find it right answer, Brad, instead of keep saying that the numbers are right? Those numbers are so wrong?

Mitchell: Mr. Secretary, Mr. President, one of the things that we have been, Alex can talk about this, we talked about it, and I don’t know whether the information has been conveyed to your office, but I think what the president is saying, and what we’ve been trying to do is to say, look, the court is not acting on our petition. They haven’t even assigned a judge. But the people of Georgia and the people of America have a right to know the answers. And you have data and records that we don’t have access to.

And you can keep telling us that you investigated this and nothing to see here. But we don’t know about that. All we know what you tell us. What I don’t understand is why wouldn’t it be in everyone’s best interest to try to get to the bottom, compare the numbers, you know, if you say, because … to try to be able to get to the truth because we don’t have any way of confirming what you’re telling us. You tell us that you had an investigation at the State Farm Arena. I don’t have any report. I’ve never seen a report of investigation. I don’t know that is. I’ve been pretty involved in this and I don’t know. And that’s just of 25 categories. And it doesn’t even. And as I, as the president said, we haven’t even gotten into the Dominion issue. That’s not part of our case. It’s not part of our, we just didn’t feel as though we had any to be able to develop —

Trump: No, we do have a way but I don’t want to get into it. We found a way … excuse me, but we don’t need it because we’re only down 11,000 votes so we don’t even need it. I personally think they’re corrupt as hell. But we don’t need that. All we have to do Cleta is find 11,000-plus votes. So we don’t need that. I’m not looking to shake up the whole world. We won Georgia easily. We won by hundreds of thousands of votes. But if you go by basic simple numbers, we won it easily, easily. So we’re not giving Dominion pass on the record. We don’t need Dominion, because we have so many other votes that we don’t need to prove it any more than we already have.

Hilbert: Mr. President and Cleta, this is Kurt Hilbert, if I might interject for a moment. Um Ryan, I would like to suggest just four categories that have already been mentioned by the president that have actually hard numbers of 24.149 votes that were counted illegally. That in and of itself is sufficient to change the results or place the outcome in doubt. We would like to sit down with your office so we can do it through purposes of compromise and just like this phone call, just to deal with that limited category of votes. And if you are able to establish that our numbers are not accurate, then fine. However, we believe that they are accurate. We’ve had now three to four separate experts looking at these numbers.

Trump: Certified accountants looked at them.

Hilbert: Correct. And this is just based on USPS data and your own secretary of state data. So that’s what we would entreat and ask you to do, to sit down with us in a compromise and settlements proceeding and actually go through the registered voter IDs and registrations. And if you can convince us that 24,149 is inaccurate, then fine. But we tend to believe that is, you know, obviously more than 11,779. That’s sufficient to change the results entirely in of itself. So what would you say to that, Mr. Germany?

Germany: I’m happy to get with our lawyers and we’ll set that up. That number is not accurate. And I think we can show you, for all the ones we’ve looked at, why it’s not. And so if that would be helpful, I’m happy to get with our lawyers and set that up with you guys.

Trump: Well, let me ask you, Kurt, you think that is an accurate number. That was based on the information given to you by the secretary of state’s department, right?

Hilbert: That is correct. That information is the minimum most conservative data based upon the USPS data and the secretary of state’s office data that has been made publicly available. We do not have the internal numbers from the secretary of state. We have asked for it six times. I sent a letter over to … several times requesting this information, and it’s been rebuffed every single time. So it stands to reason that if the information is not forthcoming, there’s something to hide. That’s the problem that we have.

Germany: Well, that’s not the case sir. There are things that you guys are entitled to get. And there’s things that under the law, we are not allowed to give out.

Trump: Well, you have to. Well, under the law you’re not allowed to give faulty election results, OK? You’re not allowed to do that. And that’s what you done. This is a faulty election result. And honestly, this should go very fast. You should meet tomorrow because you have a big election coming up and because of what you’ve done to the president — you know, the people of Georgia know that this was a scam. Because of what you’ve done to the president, a lot of people aren’t going out to vote and a lot of Republicans are going to vote negative because they hate what you did to the president. Okay? They hate it. And they’re going to vote. And you would be respected. Really respected, if this thing could be straightened out before the election. You have a big election coming up on Tuesday. And I think that it is really is important that you meet tomorrow and work out on these numbers. Because I know Brad that if you think we’re right, I think you’re going to say, and I’m not looking to blame anybody. I’m just saying you know, and, you know, under new counts, and under uh, new views, of the election results, we won the election. You know? It’s is very simple. We won the election. As the governors of major states and the surrounding states said, there is no way you lost Georgia, as the Georgia politicians say, there is no way, you lost Georgia. Nobody. Everyone knows I won it by hundreds of thousands of votes. But I’ll tell you it’s going to have a big impact on Tuesday if you guys don’t get this thing straightened out fast.

Meadows: Mr. President. This is Mark. It sounds like we’ve got different sides agreeing that we can look at these areas ands I assume that we can do that within the next 24 to 48 hours to go ahead and get that reconciled so that we can look at the two claims and making sure that we get the access to the secretary of state’s data to either validate or invalidate the claims that have been made. Is that correct?

Germany: No, that’s not what I said. I’m happy to have our lawyers sit down with Kurt and the lawyers on that side and explain to my him, here’s, based on what we’ve looked at so far, here’s how we know this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong.

Meadows: So what you’re saying, Ryan, let me let me make sure … so what you’re saying is you really don’t want to give access to the data. You just want to make another case on why the lawsuit is wrong?

Germany: I don’t think we can give access to data that’s protected by law. But we can sit down with them and say —

Trump: But you’re allowed to have a phony election? You’re allowed to have a phony election right?

Germany: No sir.

Trump: When are you going to do signature counts, when are you going to do signature verification on Fulton County, which you said you were going to do, and now all of a sudden you’re not doing it. When are you doing that?

Germany: We are going to do that. We’ve announced —

Hilbert: To get to this issue of the personal information and privacy issue, is it possible that the secretary of state could deputize the lawyers for the president so that we could access that information and private information without you having any kind of violation?

Trump: Well, I don’t want to know who it is. You guys can do it very confidentially. You can sign a confidentiality agreement. That’s OK. I don’t need to know names. But on this stuff that we’re talking about. We got all that information from the secretary of state.

Meadows: Yeah. So let me let me recommend, Ryan, if you and Kurt would get together, you know, when we get off of this phone call, if you could get together and work out a plan to address some of what we’ve got with your attorneys where we can we can actually look at the data. For example, Mr. Secretary, I can you say they were only two dead people who would vote. I can promise you there are more than that. And that may be what your investigation shows, but I can promise you there are more than that. But at the same time, I think it’s important that we go ahead and move expeditiously to try to do this and resolve it as quickly as we possibly can. And if that’s the good next step. But hopefully we can we can finish this phone call and go ahead and agree that the two of you will get together immediately.

Trump: Well why don’t my lawyers show you where you got the information. It will show the secretary of state, and you don’t even have to look at any names. We know want names. We don’t care. But we got that information from you. And Stacey Abrams is laughing about you. She’s going around saying these guys are dumber than a rock. What she’s done to this party is unbelievable, I tell ya. And I only ran against her once. And that was with a guy named Brian Kemp and I beat her. And if I didn’t run, Brian wouldn’t have had even a shot, either in the general or in the primary. He was dead, dead as a doornail. He never thought he had a shot at either one of them. What a schmuck I was. But that’s the way it is. That’s the way it is. I would like you … for the attorneys … I’d like you to perhaps meet with Ryan ideally tomorrow, because I think we should come to a resolution of this before the election. Otherwise you’re going to have people just not voting. They don’t want to vote. They hate the state, they hate the governor and they hate the secretary of state. I will tell you that right now. The only people like you are people that will never vote for you. You know that Brad, right? They like you know, they like you. They can’t believe what they found. They want people like you. So, look, can you get together tomorrow? And Brad. We just want the truth. It’s simple.

And everyone’s going to look very good if the truth comes out. It’s OK. It takes a little while but let the truth come out. And the real truth is I won by 400,000 votes. At least. That’s the real truth. But we don’t need 400,000. We need less than 2,000 votes. And are you guys able to meet tomorrow Ryan?

Germany: Um, I’ll get with Chris, the lawyer representing us and the case, and see when he can get together with Kurt.

Raffensperger: Ryan will be in touch with the other attorney on this call, Mr. Meadows. Thank you President Trump for your time.

Trump: OK, thank you, Brad. Thank you, Ryan. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thank you very much. Bye.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... story.html

by ti-amie

by mmmm8 It seems he's actually talked himself into believing this BS.

by ti-amie
Maggie Haberman
@maggieNYT
This line from Cohen testimony: “He is capable of behaving kindly, but he is not kind. He is capable of committing acts of generosity, but he is not generous. He is capable of being loyal, but he is fundamentally disloyal.” 8:43 AM · Feb 27, 2019·Twitter for iPhone
Anyone who knows Idiot knows this.
Before the 2016 election it was widely reported that no lawyer ever sat down with him without having someone with him/her to take notes. This makes it clear why. You say one thing. He says another and then concludes by saying you said what he said.

Sociopath

by ponchi101 I have no doubt he believes he won. This man's brain has to be studied. The level of lunacy is off the scale.
And, excuse me for saying this over and over: he reminds me so much of Chavez. The delusional trait is unique.

by shtexas We're still falling!?!?!

by ponchi101 For at least 16 more days, I would say.

by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld
@KlasfeldReports
The White House press release awarding Devin Nunes a presidential medal of freedom attacks the press, FBI, the Intelligence Community, and the so-called "Deep State."

Image

by ti-amie WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange’s Mental Unraveling Drives U.K. Judge to Block Extradition to United States
ADAM KLASFELD Jan 4th, 2021, 9:57 am

Blocking Julian Assange’s extradition to the United States, a U.K. judge found on the Monday that the WikiLeaks founder’s psyche may not be able to handle the possibility of imprisonment for the rest of his life.

“I am as confident as a psychiatrist ever can be that, if extradition to the United States were to become imminent, Mr. Assange will find a way of suiciding,” Assange’s psychiatrist Michael Kopelman is quoted as saying in the 132-page judgment.

District Judge Vanessa Baraitser decisively rejected Assange’s depiction as the target of a politically motivated prosecution, but she had been troubled by reports that the WikiLeaks founder told his psychiatrist he thought about suicide “hundreds of times a day.”

“The auditory hallucinations were much less prominent and less troubling and the somatic hallucinations had been abolished,” the judgment continues. “His symptoms in December 2019 included loss of sleep, loss of weight, impaired concentration, a feeling of often being on the verge of tears, and a state of acute agitation in which he was pacing his cell until exhausted, punching his head or banging it against a cell wall.”

If extradited and convicted, the 49-year-old Assange could spend the rest of his natural life in a United States prison. He faces 17 charges related largely to a massive cache of military and diplomatic files disclosed to him by former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.

The Department of Justice said that it will continue to seek Assange’s extradition on appeal.

“While we are extremely disappointed in the court’s ultimate decision, we are gratified that the United States prevailed on every point of law raised,” the department said in a statement. “In particular, the court rejected all of Mr. Assange’s arguments regarding political motivation, political offense, fair trial, and freedom of speech.”

Press-freedom advocates have warned that prosecuting Assange under the Espionage Act for disclosing what was the biggest leak of classified information in U.S. history would criminalize what has long been a standard journalistic practice.

“We welcome the fact that Julian Assange will not be sent to the USA, but this does not absolve the UK from having engaged in this politically-motivated process at the behest of the USA and putting media freedom and freedom of expression on trial,” Amnesty International wrote in a statement.

But U.S. prosecutors claim that Assange’s actions went beyond journalism, such as conspiring with Manning and other sources to hack into private databases.

“This court trusts that upon extradition, a US court will properly consider Mr. Assange’s right to free speech and determine any constitutional challenges to their equivalent legislation,” the judge wrote.

For Judge Baraitser, Assange’s alleged journalist-source relationship with Manning “went beyond the mere encouragement of a whistle-blower.”

Citing arguments by Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Kromberg, the judge found it legitimate to attempt to punish the allegedly knowing disclosure of the identities of U.S. informants whose lives were uprooted by the leaks.

“As Mr. Kromberg points out, well over one hundred people were placed at risk from the disclosures and approximately fifty people sought and received assistance from the U.S.,” the judgment states. “For some, the U.S. assessed that it was necessary and advisable for them to flee their home countries and that they, their spouses and their families were assisted in moving to the U.S. or to safe third countries. Some of the harm suffered was quantifiable, by reference to their loss of employment or their assets being frozen by the regimes from which they fled, and other harm was less easy to quantify.”

At Manning’s court-martial, a U.S. general conceded that none of the leaks led to any deaths, but those identified had to be shuttled to safety.

When prosecutors first unsealed charges against Assange in 2019, the first public indictment’s computer intrusion charge focused on revelations from Manning’s trial that the two allegedly discussed cracking a password to obtain anonymous access to the Net Centric Diplomacy database, which held the hundreds of thousands of State Department cables sent to WikiLeaks.

At the time of her leaks, Manning had lawful access to that database, but prosecutors said at her court-martial that she and Assange sought illegal access to evade detection. That alleged conspiracy, disclosed during Manning’s trial, is part of Assange’s indictment.

Judge Baraitser found that would be for the U.S. judiciary to decide.

“Whether or not it was possible for Ms. Manning to crack the passcode, and whether she was aware of the security issues, are in my judgment matters for a trial,” the U.K. judgement states.

Shortly after her arrest, Manning was found have been suicidal and a noose was found in her prison cell, leading to highly restrictive pretrial conditions that a military judge found to have been excessive. Assange cited Manning’s attempted suicide, according to the WikiLeaks founder’s psychiatrist.

This past June, U.S. prosecutors widened the scope of their computer-intrusion charges, saying that Assange also asked a teenager to steal audio recordings of phone conversations between high-ranking officials of a NATO country, including a member of its parliament.

The superseding indictment also charges that Assange played a hands-on role in connection with hacks by collectives Anonymous, Gnosis, AntiSec, and LulzSec. Their targets included a cyber security company, two hundred U.S. and state government email accounts, the private intelligence firm Stratfor and multiple law enforcement associations.

Jeremy Hammond, one of the the key figures behind the Stratfor intrusion who also broke into Boston and Alabama police databases, was sentenced to a decade imprisonment in 2013. WikiLeaks published his disclosures under the name “Global Intelligence Files.”

Assange’s charges larges focus on conduct spanning back a decade.

Former President Barack Obama’s administration declined to prosecute based on reported concerns about the First Amendment precedent that Justice Department officials at the time described as a “New York Times problem,” meaning that legal theories deployed against Assange now could be used against the paper of record later.

The Trump administration backpedaled, leading Assange’s defense team to argue there was a political vendetta.

But Baraitser noted that Trump is hardly antagonistic to Assange, whose publication of Democratic National Committee emails were a central part of the Russian government’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.

“First, there is little or no evidence to indicate hostility by President Trump towards Mr. Assange or Wikileaks,” the judge noted. “His reported comments suggest that he was well-disposed towards them both.”

When former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared certain to win the 2016 election, Assange reportedly told Trump’s son that he should refuse to concede the race. Though he is not currently charged with any conduct related to that election, Assange’s name came up repeatedly in the Mueller investigation and the prosecution of Roger Stone, whom Trump since pardoned.


https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/wi ... ed-states/

There is a copy of the judgement at the above link.

by ti-amie Biden's Attorney General choice becomes more and more important with every passing day doesn't it?

by patrick Not according to Peter Navarro.

by ti-amie
patrick wrote: Mon Jan 04, 2021 6:13 pm Not according to Peter Navarro.
Silly wabbit. You mean Ron Vara right? :D

by ponchi101
ti-amie wrote: Mon Jan 04, 2021 5:59 pm Biden's Attorney General choice becomes more and more important with every passing day doesn't it?
It will be the crucial person in the next administration. And Assange is the least of issues. Handling Tiny, finding out what was it that Tiny had on L. Graham, dealing with the moles that will be implanted before Tiny leaves. It will be a monumental task.
About Assange: yes, freedom of press. And leaks. But why did you never publish anything on Russia? China? Even the EU? Never. Only things about America. I would like to hear why.

by patrick
patrick wrote: Mon Jan 04, 2021 6:13 pm Not according to Peter Navarro.
This comment was in response to the 10 day audit. Wrong thread by me.

by ti-amie
Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1
Raffensperger adviser to Politico: "It's nice to have something like this, hard evidence, to dispute whatever he's claiming about the secretary. Lindsey Graham asked us to throw out legally cast ballots. So yeah, after that call, we decided maybe we should do this."
Bar0n_TheGrey @Bar0n_TheGrey
Replying to @kylegriffin1

Image

Ben Rhodes @brhodes

Lindsey Graham, who asked a government official to throw out legally cast ballots, is Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee - charged with confirming judges and overseeing the rule of law in this country. It's a truly extraordinary level of corruption.

by ti-amie Adam Klasfeld @KlasfeldReports
Brad Raffensperger Claims Trump's Lawyers May Have Violated Professional Rules in Infamous Call https://lawandcrime.com/2020-election/b ... mous-call/ via @lawcrimenews

Image

This is the Georgia professional rule that Raffensperger's claim Trump's counsel violated during that call, by effectively blindsiding their client by not notifying his counsel.

"The maximum penalty for a violation of this Rule is disbarment."

Image

by skatingfan Image

by ponchi101 I just cracked up. So right!

by ti-amie Ginni Thomas’ Facebook Page Disappears After Media Reports on Her Support for Pro-Trump Rally that Turned into Attack on U.S. Capitol
COLIN KALMBACHER Jan 8th, 2021, 1:39 pm

Image
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (R) and Virginia Thomas arrive for the State Dinner at The White House honoring Australian PM Morrison on September 20, 2019 in Washington, DC. Prime Minister Morrison is on a state visit in Washington hosted by President Trump.

Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, attorney and wife of right-wing U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is being heavily criticized for her role in promoting President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington, D.C.—a rally that resulted in the president’s supporters storming the U.S. Capitol Complex on Wednesday, leaving at least five dead.

Several supportive messages authored by the former Thomas, previously public, are now unavailable–along with her public-facing Facebook profile.

This development occurred during the process of writing the present article. It is unclear whether those specific messages were deleted, whether her overall profile was deleted, whether she simply changed the privacy settings for her social media account or whether Facebook itself took down Thomas’s page.

Thomas previously identified herself as a verified Facebook “Public Figure,” according to an Internet Archive screenshots via the Wayback Machine.

Image

“GOD BLESS EACH OF YOU STANDING UP or PRAYING,” Thomas added in a second post.

Image

Those two messages, roughly 15 minutes apart, were posted during the early morning hours of the instantly infamous day. Interspersed between those two supportive messages was an apparently indirect show of solidarity by way of a quote from Ronald Reagan’s famous “A Time for Choosing” speech.

“You and I have a rendezvous with destiny,” the Bedtime for Bonzo actor and eventual president said in support of then-GOP presidential candidate Barry Goldwater. “We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children’s children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done.”

(Technically a post, but not a status update, Thomas appeared to put Reagan’s imprimatur on the pro-Trump movement by updating her Facebook cover photo with an image of The Gipper appended to the quote from the speech known to Reagan fans as “The Speech.”)

After the “MAGA crowd” turned violent and overtook the U.S. Capitol Complex on Wednesday, however, Thomas has kept her posting to a minimum–only chiming in to edit her two status updates with the following: “[Note: written before violence in US Capitol]” and “[Note: written before the violence in the US Capitol].”

Law&Crime surveyed Thomas’s Facebook page on Friday morning. The edit history of those two posts show that the immediately above edits were made during the late Friday morning hours–roughly sometime between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Criticism of Thomas went widespread late Thursday and into Friday morning when Slate legal writer Mark Joseph Stern shared screenshots of the posts via Twitter. The thread was shared several thousands of times and quickly went viral–resulting in what is known as a “Trending Topic” under the microblogging website’s “Politics” section.



In other words, Thomas updated her posts following a wellspring of criticism online.

Stern appended a series of recent news stories to his thread in an attempt to reflect Ginni Thomas’s general political outlook:

Israel’s oldest continuously published newspaper and the country’s paper of record, Haaretz, accused Thomas of antisemitism over her embrace of those far-right George Soros conspiracy theories.

Thomas is widely known to be a member of the far-right movement and developed a reflexive goodwill relationship with the Trump administration.

In May 2020, the 45th president appointed Thomas a member of the Library of Congress Trust Fund Board, according to Fox News.

Thomas is also a vociferous opponent of the the Black Lives Matter movement, according to the Washington Post.

Law&Crime reached out Facebook and the Supreme Court for comment and clarification on this article. No response was forthcoming at the time of publication.

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/gi ... s-capitol/

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 Am I happy? Am I sad?
In all seriousness: these people also must be prosecuted. These circle of violence must stop.
Graham has been spineless and shameful. But he still deserves to be able to sit at an airport in peace.

by ti-amie
ponchi101 wrote: Fri Jan 08, 2021 8:42 pm Am I happy? Am I sad?
In all seriousness: these people also must be prosecuted. These circle of violence must stop.
Graham has been spineless and shameful. But he still deserves to be able to sit at an airport in peace.
They did the same thing to Romney the other day.

by JazzNU

by ponchi101 About frigging time!!!!!!! :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo:
And, Joe. Time for congress to regulate some of these platforms, from the point of view of what people can post. This example tells you how powerful this dystopian tools can be.

by shtexas Google has kicked Parler out of its app store over inciting violence concerns.

Apple may follow.

by ponchi101 Ok, great. But it took this for these companies to start doing it? And you know it is simply because he has 12 days left.
Again, thanks and great. But it took almost a tragedy at the center of your republic before these steps were taken. While this has been spoken about for years now.

by JazzNU Mediaite: Parler CEO says it took down post from Lin Wood calling for Mike Pence's execution

By Kate Sullivan

(CNN)The CEO of Parler, a social media platform popular among conservatives, told Mediaite that it removed a post from attorney Lin Wood calling for Vice President Mike Pence to be executed by "firing squads."

"Yes, some of his parleys that violated our rules were taken down," John Matze told Mediaite, specifying that the post, or parley, about the "firing squads" was among those removed.

Wood, a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump, told CNN, "I made NO threat. I do not believe in violence. I do believe in the rule of law."

"I have reliable evidence that Pence has a engaged in acts of treason. My comments were rhetorical hyperbole. Any journalist should understand that concept. If my information is accurate, law enforcement will address what punishment, if any, should be administered to Pence as they do with all criminals," Wood said.

Wood posted on Parler on Thursday, according to Mediate, "They let them in. Get the firing squads ready. Pence goes FIRST."

White House spokesman Judd Deere told CNN in a statement, "We strongly condemn all calls to violence, including those against any member of this administration."

A spokesperson for the United States Secret Service told CNN, "We are aware of the comments and take all threats against our protectees seriously."
CNN has reached out to Parler for comment.

Wood is an attorney who focuses on civil litigation and has experience in First Amendment and defamation litigation, according to his website. He is an attorney for Kyle Rittenhouse, who has been ordered to stand trial in the fatal shooting of two men and the wounding of another in August during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He also represented Kentucky high school student Nicholas Sandmann, who settled a lawsuit with CNN after being at the center of a viral video controversy.

Wood was permanently banned from Twitter this week after promoting the riots at the US Capitol on Wednesday, according to BuzzFeed News. Wood was at first temporarily suspended for a tweet that incited violence, and then permanently banned after Wood said he would begin posting from another account, according to BuzzFeed.

Amazon will remove Parler from its cloud hosting service, Amazon Web Services, on Sunday evening, effectively kicking it off of the public Internet after mounting pressure from the public and Amazon employees. The decision, which goes into force on Sunday at 11:59 p.m. Pacific time, effectively shuts down Parler's website until it can find a new Web hosting provider. BuzzFeed News was first to report the move.

Parler was recently removed from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. Google told CNN it was aware of "continued posting in the Parler app that seeks to incite ongoing violence in the US," and that its app store requires "apps implement robust moderation for egregious content." Apple told CNN in a statement that Parler had not taken "adequate measures to address the proliferation of these threats to people's safety."

The platform has billed itself as a free speech alternative in order to attract conservatives who say larger platforms are censoring their views.
The suspension of Parler from the Google Play store came the same day Twitter banned Trump's @realDonaldTrump account from its platform, "due to the risk of further incitement of violence." The suspension came after Trump incited a mob that rioted at the US Capitol and left five people dead.

CNN's Evan Perez, Jeremy Diamond and Brian Fung contributed to this report.

by ponchi101 The problem is how do you regulate these platforms (and you know where I stand about social media)? You come indeed again to the American 1st Amendment, and the complex issue of what is free speech and where do its limits end.
Mind you, were I king for a day I would vanish twitter, IG and FB. I believe the contributions pale in comparison to the bad aspects. But I am not. So, what do you do with them to avoid massive population manipulation?

by JazzNU Buried in the article above is this very important piece of information. Much, much more significant than Google and Apple taking them down from their app stores even though that is still huge, but no server means no site. They will be offline and in search of a new host. But these companies aren't merely bailing because of what happened on Wednesday and future threats of violence and the good of the country, they are bailing because they are trying to get as far away as possible from all versions of criminal and civil liability linked to any of this. The new company that takes on Parler will be taking on that liability, and with it, the potential that their servers get shut down by the feds pending investigation. My guess is they'll need to find a international hosting company with non-exist country laws to take on that risk.



by ponchi101 As I had to do some research on servers while I was setting this site up, I believe that their best option would be a server of their own. The criminal enterprises that have helped them all along (Bannon, Stone, etc) can easily find the financing and locating that lovely island where the law will not reach them (Vanuatu?) is not very hard.
Developing an app is also not very hard, specially if they did already. It will not be found in Google Play or the iStore, but just a simple download from a site could get you connected.
it will take a while before a proper law-enforcement solution can be found for these people. And I mean the people that deserve to be locked up, thinking. If they are capable of that.

by JazzNU Well, I see web developers laughing at their "we'll be back in a week" claims so fairly certain, given their traffic that was so great it knocked them offline for a bit Thursday or Friday, the server they'd need would be massive, more like a server farm. So no small feet in setting it up.

This is basically the exact path that other sites promoting and celebrating violent hate speech have taken. They might find a new hosting service, but there is no guarantee it will last. Many have struggled to stay online, but the ones that do, they tend to land on some semi-shady foreign hosting service.

Apps need servers too.

by ponchi101 Maybe some servers at the KGB? ;)

by JazzNU In case you missed it, the real victim of last week's attempted coup? Melania. Can't make this ish up.






by ponchi101 Do you believe she understands the meaning of salacious? Somebody else wrote that, if not a bot.

by ti-amie Her professional flak resigned. Maybe Hope Hicks wrote that mess.

by JazzNU Someone else always writes her stuff, but given how pitiful this is, not sure what middle schooler they found to put this out for her. Doubtful it's Hope Hicks, I don't think Melania wants to use her replacement for anything but leverage to up the amounts in her prenup.

by JazzNU

by ponchi101 I still say: Deutsche Bank has to be investigated to the gills. Like, they have to look behind the toilets of the building.

by JazzNU
ponchi101 wrote: Tue Jan 12, 2021 3:16 am I still say: Deutsche Bank has to be investigated to the gills. Like, they have to look behind the toilets of the building.
New York is investigating them. This changes nothing.

by ti-amie John Harwood @JohnJHarwood
from Reuters:

“Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cancelled his Europe trip at the last minute on Tuesday after Luxembourg's foreign minister and top European Union officials declined to meet him, European diplomats and other people familiar with the matter said”

by JazzNU

by ti-amie

Where's that woman who posted on Twitter where Nancy Pelosi was being protected? The one who swore she'd be wearing her gun into the Capital?

by ti-amie The $3,000-a-month toilet for the Ivanka Trump/Jared Kushner Secret Service detail

By
Peter Jamison,
Carol D. Leonnig and
Paul Schwartzman
Jan. 14, 2021 at 11:41 a.m. EST

Many U.S. Secret Service agents have stood guard in Washington’s elite Kalorama neighborhood, home over the years to Cabinet secretaries and former presidents. Those agents have had to worry about death threats, secure perimeters and suspicious strangers. But with the arrival of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, they had a new worry: finding a toilet.

Image
The Kalorama home of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner in Northwest Washington. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)

Instructed not to use any of the half-dozen bathrooms inside the couple’s house, the Secret Service detail assigned to President Trump’s daughter and son-in-law spent months searching for a reliable restroom to use on the job, according to neighbors and law enforcement officials. After resorting to a porta-potty, as well as bathrooms at the nearby home of former president Barack Obama and the not-so-nearby residence of Vice President Pence, the agents finally found a toilet to call their own.

But it came at a cost to U.S. taxpayers. Since September 2017, the federal government has been spending $3,000 a month — more than $100,000 to date — to rent a basement studio, with a bathroom, from a neighbor of the Kushner family.

A White House spokesperson denied that Trump and Kushner restricted agents from their 5,000-square-foot home, with its six bedrooms and 6.5 bathrooms, and asserted that it was the Secret Service’s decision not to allow the protective detail inside. That account is disputed by a law enforcement official familiar with the situation, who said the agents were kept out at the family’s request.

A spokeswoman for the Secret Service declined to comment, saying the agency “does not discuss the means, methods or resources utilized to carry out our protective mission.”

Arrangements that allow for some distance between Secret Service agents and those they guard are not unusual, particularly when the agency’s “means, methods or resources” involve indoor plumbing. The people who qualify for such protection often occupy expensive, sprawling properties where a detail can use a garage, pool house or other outbuilding as a command post, break room and bathroom.

The episode in Kalorama is unusual because of the lengths to which the agents’ exile took them. In addition to their reliance on the restrooms used by fellow agents assigned to the Obamas and Pences, the detail occasionally popped into neighborhood businesses to avail themselves of the facilities.

“It’s the first time I ever heard of a Secret Service detail having to go to these extremes to find a bathroom,” said one law enforcement official familiar with the situation.

The agents’ bizarre odyssey played out in full view of a wealthy enclave in Northwest Washington, where many deplore Trump’s presidency and have expressed frustration over what they view as the Kushner family’s disregard for their neighbors. The community also includes multiple embassies and a house owned by Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and owner of The Washington Post.

The blockade of precious street parking spaces by the Trump/Kushner Secret Service detail roiled the neighborhood early in 2017. The porta-potty erected for agents further enraged residents unaccustomed to such sights on stately Tracy Place NW. As the Trump administration enters its final days with the president impeached a second time for inciting a deadly attack on the Capitol, eyes in Kalorama are peeled for the sight of moving trucks.

“They sort of came in with the attitude, like, ‘We are royalty,’” Dianne Bruce, who until recently lived across the street, said of Kushner and Trump. “When they put the porta-potty right outside on the sidewalk we weren’t allowed to walk on, that was when people in the neighborhood said, ‘That’s really not acceptable.’”

Bruce said she felt sympathy for the family’s protective detail as she watched agents trying to balance the call of duty with nature’s call.

“These poor people,” she remembers thinking when the porta-potty was hauled away. “What, are they going to have to get in their cars” to go to the bathroom?

They were, and they did.

Two law enforcement officials said the bathrooms inside the Trump/Kushner home were declared off-limits to the people protecting them from the beginning. One official did not know the reason for this restriction, while the other said it was instigated by the couple. Both spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of security arrangements for the president’s family.

White House spokesman Judd Deere denied that Trump and Kushner ever requested that their Secret Service detail not use the bathrooms in their home.

“When discussions regarding protecting their home were initially had in 2017, Ivanka and Jared made clear that their home would always be open to the incredible men and women on their detail. It was only after a decision by the [Secret Service] was made that their detail sought other accommodations,” Deere wrote in an email. “The Kushners have a tremendous amount of respect for the servicemen and women on their detail and for the United States Secret Service as a whole. Their home will always be open to them and they have immense gratitude for their service over the last four years.”

The porta-potty was the agency’s initial solution to the protective detail’s dilemma, but it was removed in the face of the neighborhood’s protests. After that, according to the law enforcement officials, the agents began using a bathroom in a garage at the Obamas’ house, which the former president’s protective detail had turned into a command post

The Obamas did not use the garage, so the extra traffic to and from the command post caused no problem. Yet this solution, too, was short-lived after a Secret Service supervisor from the Trump/Kushner detail left an unpleasant mess in the Obama bathroom at some point before the fall of 2017, according to a person briefed on the event. That prompted the leaders of the Obama detail to ban the agents up the street from ever returning.

The agents assigned to the president’s daughter and son-in-law began driving a mile to Pence’s home at the Naval Observatory, where they were allowed to use a bathroom in a stand-alone guard station. If they didn’t have time for that excursion, the law enforcement officials said, they relied on the hospitality of nearby restaurants.

So when the Secret Service knocked on the door of Kay Kendall in September 2017, she was not surprised to learn why.

“I think it was very clear that they just needed a place to take a shower, take a break, use the facilities, have lunch,” said Kendall, who is chairwoman of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities and is married to Jack Davies, founder of AOL International. “I’m happy to be able to have helped them.”

Apart from the Kalorama house where she lives, Kendall owns a home across the street from Trump and Kushner. That house has a basement unit, including a bathroom, that is accessible from the rear. She thought of breaking that space off and ran the idea by the house’s tenant, former Connecticut congressman Anthony “Toby” Moffett Jr.

“I told her, ‘It’s fine, if you reduce the rent,’” Moffett recalled.

General Services Administration records indicate that the lease of the 820-square-foot basement on Tracy Place NW began on Sept. 27, 2017. It is due to expire on Sept. 26 of this year, at which point the federal government will have paid a total of $144,000 for the space.

Secret Service agents typically seek low-profile location for their command post and restroom, said Steve Atkiss, who served as special assistant for operations to former president George W. Bush and chief of staff at U.S. Customs and Border Protection. For example, former White House chief of staff Andy Card had a trailer set up for his protective detail at the end of his block in Virginia, Atkiss recalled. At the Bush family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine, a building was constructed specifically for the security detail of two former presidents, he said.

“I’ve seen it accomplished 1,000 different ways,” Atkiss said. “They don’t want to be in their personal space.”

In Kalorama, the Kushner/Trump agents were pleased with their new digs, the law enforcement officials said. The studio had plenty of natural light. Some considered it akin to a well-heeled lawyer’s study. Most importantly, it opened on a tidy bathroom.

“It’s been no big deal,” Moffett said. “They have been very nice to our grandchildren.”

Image
This basement unit being used by the Secret Service is across the street from the home of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)

The Secret Service has repeatedly incurred serious costs from providing protection to President Trump’s children. In October, The Post reported that Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. had enriched their family’s business, as the Trump Organization charged the federal government at least $238,000 for agents’ lodgings when the trio and their families visited Trump properties. Trump says he lost billions of dollars being president instead of running his business, which his sons have operated the past four years..

Deere declined to comment on how long Trump and Kushner plan to stay in Kalorama after President Trump leaves office next week.

Some neighbors are looking forward to their exit.

“I want my nice, quiet neighborhood back," said Marti Robinson, a trial attorney who lives across the street and was an Obama-appointed member of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

On a recent Tuesday, some quiet seemed to have returned. There was no sign of activity at the Kushner family’s residence, with its gray exterior shutters and white walls of brick. Black SUVs were parked in front.

A door to one of those SUVs opened, revealing what was, for the moment, the street’s only sign of life: A man wearing a dark suit, badge and crimson tie. He walked purposefully across the street, arms straight at his sides, and disappeared behind the house whose basement is being rented by the U.S. government. Five minutes later, he reemerged, recrossed the street, and stepped back into his vehicle.

David A. Fahrenthold contributed to this report.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va ... d-kushner/

by ti-amie When even the school their kids went to in DC couldn't wait to see the back of them you know how horrible they must be.

It should be noted that the Clintons bought a compound next door to their property for the Secret Service detail.

by ponchi101 I forgot where I read it because it was ages ago. It went something like this: You want to know how good people are? See how they treat those that serve them.
You could not expect them to be anything more than this. We will keep finding more and more details like these, and see how low they are.

by ti-amie

AFAIK there's no explanation as to why these folks are carrying this stuff out of the WH, especially the Lincoln Bust

by shtexas
ti-amie wrote: Thu Jan 14, 2021 6:14 pm When even the school their kids went to in DC couldn't wait to see the back of them you know how horrible they must be.

It should be noted that the Clintons bought a compound next door to their property for the Secret Service detail.
W and Laura bought 2 homes at the end of a cul de sac in Dallas - one for them and one for their security.

by JazzNU
ti-amie wrote: Thu Jan 14, 2021 6:14 pm It should be noted that the Clintons bought a compound next door to their property for the Secret Service detail.
Yes, but, and I'm guessing this is the case with the Bush family too, they bought that home for the Secret Service to have a place to live for their own comfort, as a nice thing for them. Not because they didn't want the damn help to ever use a toilet in their house. Just awful, objectionable people.

by ponchi101 It says so much about the kind of people they are. They truly belief they are better and special, and fully deserving of what luck, and luck alone, has brought them in life. And therefore, they treat other people this way. Monarchical thinking, from people that are nothing but cheaters in life.
I really cannot think of many more people that deserve some time in prison than this family. Just so they will see what reality is like.

by shtexas When I read that article about Ivanka and Jared, I couldn't help thinking of Hilly from "The Help".

by dryrunguy
ponchi101 wrote: Fri Jan 15, 2021 3:00 pm It says so much about the kind of people they are. They truly belief they are better and special, and fully deserving of what luck, and luck alone, has brought them in life. And therefore, they treat other people this way. Monarchical thinking, from people that are nothing but cheaters in life.
I really cannot think of many more people that deserve some time in prison than this family. Just so they will see what reality is like.
The worst part is that, of the three Trump children with the most visible political prominence, Ivanka is (arguably) the least toxic. Don't get me wrong, she's still toxic. But she's less toxic than Don Jr. or Eric (and certainly her own husband as well). Evaluating their humanity is like trying to choose between death, a permanent vegetative state, and total insanity.

by ti-amie
shtexas wrote: Fri Jan 15, 2021 4:49 pm When I read that article about Ivanka and Jared, I couldn't help thinking of Hilly from "The Help".
You weren't alone.

by ti-amie
JazzNU wrote: Fri Jan 15, 2021 4:53 am
ti-amie wrote: Thu Jan 14, 2021 6:14 pm It should be noted that the Clintons bought a compound next door to their property for the Secret Service detail.
Yes, but, and I'm guessing this is the case with the Bush family too, they bought that home for the Secret Service to have a place to live for their own comfort, as a nice thing for them. Not because they didn't want the damn help to ever use a toilet in their house. Just awful, objectionable people.
You're correct. It's what used to be called common decency.

by ponchi101 It is not only rude and lack of common decency. It is stupid. These are the people that protect you. You treat them that way and you think they are going to take a bullet for you?

by ti-amie

by JazzNU
ponchi101 wrote: Fri Jan 15, 2021 7:26 pm It is not only rude and lack of common decency. It is stupid. These are the people that protect you. You treat them that way and you think they are going to take a bullet for you?
Seriously. I was saying several months ago, can you just imagine how thrilled the Secret Service agents must have been that got selected for Biden and Harris' protection and pulled off detail for this awful family? And I'd imagine their families were almost as thrilled, don't have to worry as much about them being prime candidates on just a daily basis to catch covid along with the elevated risk associated with their job.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie Don't they understand that he does this to them too?

Episode 3: Descent into madness ... Trump: "Sometimes you need a little crazy"
Axios
Jonathan Swan, Zachary Basu

Beginning on election night 2020 and continuing through his final days in office, Donald Trump unraveled and dragged America with him, to the point that his followers sacked the U.S. Capitol with two weeks left in his term. This Axios series takes you inside the collapse of a president.

Episode 3: The conspiracy goes too far. Trump's outside lawyers plot to seize voting machines and spin theories about communists, spies and computer software.

President Trump was sitting in the Oval Office one day in late November when a call came in from lawyer Sidney Powell. "Ugh, Sidney," he told the staff in the room before he picked up. "She's getting a little crazy, isn't she? She's really gotta tone it down. No one believes this stuff. It's just too much."

He put the call on speakerphone for the benefit of his audience. Powell was raving about a national security crisis involving the Iranians flipping votes in battleground states. Trump pressed mute and laughed mockingly.

"So what are we gonna do about it, Sidney?" Trump would say every few seconds, whipping Powell more and more into a frenzy. He was having fun with it. "She really is crazy, huh?" he said, again with his finger on the mute button.

It was clear that Trump recognized how unhinged his outside legal advisers were. But he was becoming increasingly desperate about losing to Joe Biden, and Powell and her crew were willing to keep feeding the grand lie that the election could be overturned.

They were selling Trump a seductive but delusional vision: a clear and achievable path to victory. The only catch: He'd have to stop listening to his government and campaign staffs, to cross the Rubicon and view them as liars, quitters and traitors.

Trump's new gang of advisers shared some common traits. They were sycophants who craved an audience with the president. They were hardcore conspiracy theorists. The other striking commonality within this crew was that all of them had, at one point in their lives, done impressive, professional, mainstream work.

Rudy Giuliani once was "America's Mayor," hailed for his handling of 9/11. Powell was a successful attorney who defended Enron. Michael Flynn was a decorated three-star general whom Obama fired and then Trump brought back as his national security adviser, before firing him and ultimately pardoning him. Lin Wood was a nationally known defamation lawyer. Patrick Byrne made a small fortune launching the internet retailer Overstock.com.

One exception was Jenna Ellis. She had a thin legal resume, and had in the 2016 campaign season used adjectives like "idiot," "boorish," "arrogant," "bully," and "disgusting" to characterize Trump and his behavior. But during Trump's presidency, she pushed her way into his inner circle, powered by levels of televised obsequiousness remarkable even for Trumpworld.

Powell and Wood distinguished themselves with their extremism. Even Giuliani began distancing himself, telling anyone who'd listen that Powell didn't represent the president. But Trump promoted Powell as part of his team, and even though he had privately admitted to aides that he thought she was "crazy," he still wanted to hear what she had to say.

"Sometimes you need a little crazy," Trump told one official.

While Trump's campaign team — experienced attorneys such as Justin Clark and Matt Morgan — were scrutinizing issues such as signature verification and access to room monitoring for vote counting, Powell was appealing to Trump's personal mantra to "Think Big!"

She presented the president with a sweeping, multinational conspiracy of foreign interference at a scale never seen before in American history. The fact that she had no evidence that could hold up in court was a minor detail.

Powell and Flynn told Trump he couldn't trust his team. That appealed to a paranoid mentality that always lurked beneath his surface: The FBI was corrupt. His CIA was working against him, and his intelligence community was, too. Why else weren't they showing him the evidence that China, Venezuela, Iran and various other communists had stolen his election win?

To help him bypass these obstacles, they'd need Trump to give them top-level security clearances so they could get to the bottom of the "stolen" election. Trump liked this idea. Why not make Powell a special counsel in charge of election fraud? Why not give her and Flynn the clearances?

Trump's professional staff had learned over time that they had to pick their moments to fight back. On the question of Powell, chief of staff Mark Meadows and White House counsel Pat Cipollone were of one mind: No way was she getting a top secret clearance.

Powell and Flynn sent Trump advisers documents they said contained the evidence of this far-reaching conspiracy. To the White House staff, it was gibberish — the rantings of a QAnon devotee. But these documents — perhaps the most deranged materials to reach a modern U.S. president — found their way to the West Wing.

According to documents obtained by Axios, Powell and her crew advised Trump that a foreign conspiracy to steal the election involved a coordinated cyberwarfare attack from China, Russia, Iran, Iraq and North Korea.

In arguments in front of Trump in the Oval Office, White House officials pushed back aggressively.

What Powell was claiming to have uncovered would have been the greatest foreign attack in American history. Yet the U.S. intelligence community had seen no evidence of it.

But Powell had an answer for that too: The reason Trump hadn't heard about this from his intelligence officials was because they were actively subverting him and hiding crucial information from him.

His dog whistle to QAnon conspiracy theorists — a curiosity prompted once he learned they "love Trump" — dated back to at least the summer.

On July 1, 2020, Trump met with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Sen. Todd Young of Indiana and top political aides in the Oval Office for an update on Senate races. Trump was holding a printed slide deck showing the latest key data points, like polling and cash on hand, for the closely watched Colorado Senate race between Republican Cory Gardner and Democrat John Hickenlooper.

Trump looked at the deck and immediately said, "How about that primary last night?"

QAnon-enthusiast Lauren Boebert had won the Republican primary for Colorado's 3rd Congressional District. Consensus in the room was that Boebert's victory was a stunner. The president then addressed McConnell. "You know she’s a believer in that QAnon," he said. "Are you familiar with that, Mitch?" McConnell sat there stone-faced. He didn't move a muscle.

"You know, people say they're into all kinds of bad things and say all kinds of terrible things about them," Trump added. "But, you know, my understanding is they basically are just people who want good government."

The room fell silent. Nobody knew how to respond.

Then all of a sudden Meadows burst out laughing. "I have heard them described a lot of ways, but never quite like that," he said. The meeting participants broke down laughing. "In terror, quite candidly," said a source in the room.

Powell filled the Trumpian Venn diagram between conspiracy theorists and sycophants. She offered the comforting deceptions that Trump was craving in his desperate post-election days and that the people on his team who had actual experience in election law refused to serve him.

In the false and baseless theory she crafted, America's enemies had used two CIA programs — a foreign surveillance program called the "Hammer" and a cyberwarfare weapon called "Scorecard" — to steal U.S. elections.

Her evidence was based on claims from a California computer programmer with a long track record of hawking fantastic-sounding technology. Powell and Flynn claimed that the CIA had been using these programs nefariously since 2009.

Documents her team shared with Trump advisers falsely claimed that top Obama administration intelligence officials John Brennan and Jim Clapper — both enemies of Trump's — had illegally commandeered Hammer to advance Obama's supposed ambition of turning America into a communist client state. They further claimed that Brennan and Clapper had taken the program's source code with them when they left office. China had now mysteriously acquired Hammer, Powell argued.

They described this as an act of war in an Oval Office appearance on Dec. 18. No response should be considered too bold, they said. Trump needed to use the full force of the U.S. government to seize Dominion voting machines and catch the "traitors."

That an American president was even entertaining any of this, raised questions about the state of his mind and his capacity to fulfill his duties.

The evening before that meeting, Giuliani had phoned his old friend, Ken Cuccinelli, second in command at the Department of Homeland Security, asking him whether DHS could seize voting machines. "No," Cuccinelli told Giuliani, politely but firmly. His department did not have that legal authority.

By this point, Trump was mainlining conspiracies. Many of his longest-serving advisers had all but given up trying to reason with him.

His son-in-law, Jared Kushner, billed once by Newsweek as the most influential presidential relative since Bobby Kennedy, receded from the discussions when it came to countering the crazies. Once Giuliani took over, Kushner subsided from view, trying to cut last minute deals in the Middle East and burnish his foreign policy legacy. This frustrated some of his colleagues. Serious intervention was required on the domestic front.

Whether Trump himself was still in charge, or had ceded decision-making to the bottom feeders, was at least an open question.

🎧 Listen to Jonathan Swan on Axios' new investigative podcast series, called "How it happened: Trump's last stand."

About this series: Our reporting is based on interviews with current and former White House, campaign, government and congressional officials as well as eyewitnesses and people close to the president. Sources have been granted anonymity to share sensitive observations or details they would not be authorized to disclose. President Trump and other officials to whom quotes and actions have been attributed by others were provided the opportunity to confirm, deny or respond to reporting elements prior to publication.

"Off the rails" is reported by White House reporter Jonathan Swan, with reporting and research assistance by Zach Basu. It was edited by Margaret Talev and Mike Allen. Illustrations by Sarah Grillo, Aïda Amer and Eniola Odetunde.

https://www.axios.com/trump-off-the-rai ... ce=twitter

by JazzNU We appear to be gearing up for Pardon Day tomorrow. Where are we posting this nonsense? All in here? A new thread? At the moment, they are thinking it could be over 100 of them.

by ti-amie
JazzNU wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 9:04 pm We appear to be gearing up for Pardon Day tomorrow. Where are we posting this nonsense? All in here? A new thread? At the moment, they are thinking it could be over 100 of them.
Someone said he's going to pardon L'il Wayne. I don't know if that's a joke or not.

by ti-amie Fox Settled a Lawsuit Over Its Lies. But It Insisted on One Unusual Condition.
Why did the network insist an agreement with the family of a murdered young man remain undisclosed until after the election?

By Ben Smith
Jan. 17, 2021

Image
Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch at the Allen & Company media and technology conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, in 2018.Credit...David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

On Oct. 12, 2020, Fox News agreed to pay millions of dollars to the family of a murdered Democratic National Committee staff member, implicitly acknowledging what saner minds knew long ago: that the network had repeatedly hyped a false claim that the young staff member, Seth Rich, was involved in leaking D.N.C. emails during the 2016 presidential campaign. (Russian intelligence officers, in fact, had hacked and leaked the emails.)

Fox’s decision to settle with the Rich family came just before its marquee hosts, Lou Dobbs and Sean Hannity, were set to be questioned under oath in the case, a potentially embarrassing moment. And Fox paid so much that the network didn’t have to apologize for the May 2017 story on FoxNews.com.

But there was one curious provision that Fox insisted on: The settlement had to be kept secret for a month — until after the Nov. 3 election. The exhausted plaintiffs agreed.

Why did Fox care about keeping the Rich settlement secret for the final month of the Trump re-election campaign? Why was it important to the company, which calls itself a news organization, that one of the biggest lies of the Trump era remain unresolved for that period? Was Fox afraid that admitting it was wrong would incite the president’s wrath? Did network executives fear backlash from their increasingly radicalized audience, which has been gravitating to other conservative outlets?

Fox News and its lawyer, Joe Terry, declined to answer that question when I asked last week. And two people close to the case, who shared details of the settlement with me, were puzzled by that provision, too.

The unusual arrangement underscores how deeply entwined Fox has become in the Trump camp’s disinformation efforts and the dangerous paranoia they set off, culminating in the fatal attack on the Capitol 11 days ago. The network parroted lies from Trump and his more sinister allies for years, ultimately amplifying the president’s enormous deceptions about the election’s outcome, further radicalizing many of Mr. Trump’s supporters.

The man arrested after rampaging through the Capitol with zip-tie handcuffs had proudly posted to Facebook a photograph with his shotgun and Fox Business on a giant screen in the background. The woman fatally shot as she pushed her way inside the House chamber had engaged Fox contributors dozens of times on Twitter, NPR reported.

High profile Fox voices, with occasional exceptions, not only fed the baseless belief that the election had been stolen, but they helped frame Jan. 6 as a decisive day of reckoning, when their audience’s dreams of overturning the election could be realized. And the network’s role in fueling pro-Trump extremism is nothing new: Fox has long been the favorite channel of pro-Trump militants. The man who mailed pipe bombs to CNN in 2018 watched Fox News “religiously,” according to his lawyers’ sentencing memorandum, and believed Mr. Hannity’s claim that Democrats were “encouraging mob violence” against people like him.

And yet, as we in the media reckon with our role in the present catastrophe, Fox often gets left out of the story. You can see why. Dog bites man is never news. Fox’s vitriol and distortions are simply viewed as part of the landscape now. The cable channel has been a Republican propaganda outlet for decades, and under President Trump’s thumb for years. So while the mainstream media loves to beat itself up — it’s a way, sometimes, of inflating our own importance — we have mostly sought less obvious angles in this winter’s self-examination. The Washington Post’s Margaret Sullivan concluded last week that the mainstream press is “flawed and stuck for too long in outdated conventions,” but “has managed to do its job.” MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan said the media had “failed” by normalizing Trump.

I took my turn last week, writing about how a man I worked with at BuzzFeed played a role in the insurrection. One thoughtful reader, a former engineer at Corning, wrote to me to say she’d been reckoning with a similar sense of complicity. The engineer was on the team that developed the thin, bright glass that made possible the ubiquitous flat screen televisions that rewired politics and our minds. She’s now asking herself whether “this glass made it happen.”

When I shared the engineer’s email with some others at the Times, one, Virginia Hughes, a Science editor and longtime colleague, responded: “Everyone wants to blame themselves except the people who actually deserve blame.”

And so let me take a break from beating up well-intentioned journalists and even the social media platforms that greedily threw open Pandora’s box for profit.

There’s only one multibillion-dollar media corporation that deliberately and aggressively propagated these untruths. That’s the Fox Corporation, and its chairman, Rupert Murdoch; his feckless son Lachlan, who is nominally C.E.O.; and the chief legal officer Viet Dinh, a kind of regent who mostly runs the company day-to-day.

These are the people ultimately responsible for helping to ensure that one particular and pernicious lie about a 27-year-old man’s death circulated for years. The elder Mr. Murdoch has long led Fox, to the extent anyone actually leads it, through a kind of malign negligence, and letting that lie persist seems just his final, lavish gift to Mr. Trump.

The company paid handsomely for it, according to Michael Isikoff of Yahoo News, who first reported on the settlement and has covered the case extensively.

The Murdoch organization didn’t originate the lie, but it embraced it, and it served an obvious political purpose: deflecting suspicions of Russian involvement in helping the Trump campaign. That’s why the story was so appealing to Fox hosts like Sean Hannity and Lou Dobbs, who kept hyping it for days after it collapsed under the faintest scrutiny. There has never been a shred of credible evidence that Seth Rich had contact with WikiLeaks, and a series of bipartisan investigations found that the D.N.C. had been breached by Russian hackers.

The story of Fox’s impact on the fracturing of American society and the notion of truth is too big to capture in a single column. But the story of its impact on one family is singular and devastating. Seth Rich’s brother, Aaron, reflected on it Friday from his home in Denver, where he’s a software engineer. Seth was his little brother, seven years younger and two inches shorter, but more at ease with people, more popular, better at soccer in high school.

Seth Rich was murdered in the early morning of Sunday, July 10, 2016, on a sidewalk in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Aaron was still wrestling with the shock, reeling from the worst week of his life, when a friend told him that something was happening on Reddit. A news story had mentioned that Seth was a staff member at the Democratic National Committee. While some of the top comments were simply condolences, the lower part of the page was full of unfounded speculation that the young D.N.C. employee — not the Russians — had been WikiLeaks’ source of the hacked emails. Julian Assange of WikiLeaks encouraged the speculation, but it remained low-level chatter about confusing theories for about 10 months. That’s when Fox claimed that an anonymous federal investigator had linked Seth Rich to the leak.

The story took off. It was like “throwing gasoline on a small fire,” Mr. Rich’s brother recalled in a telephone interview from his home in Denver. “Fox blew it out of everyone’s little echo chamber and put it into the mainstream.”

The story collapsed immediately, and in spectacular fashion. The former Washington, D.C., police detective whom Fox used as its on-the-record source, Rod Wheeler, repudiated his own quotes claiming ties between Mr. Rich and WikiLeaks and a cover-up, and said in a deposition this fall that the Fox News article had been “prewritten before I even got involved.”

“It fell apart within the general public within 24 hours,’’ Aaron Rich recalled, yet “Hannity pushed it for another week.” Finally, Aaron Rich said, he sent Mr. Hannity and his producer an email, and the barrage stopped, but he said he never received an apology from the Fox host.


“He never got back to me to say, sorry for ruining your family’s life and pushing something there’s no basis to,” he said. “Apparently, ‘sorry’ is a hard five-letter word for him.”

A Fox News spokeswoman, Irena Briganti, declined to comment on Mr. Rich’s request for an apology.

Fox also pulled the story down a week after it was published, with an opaque statement that “the article was not initially subjected to the high degree of editorial scrutiny we require for all our reporting.”

The damage had been done. The story is still in wide circulation on the right, to the point where Mr. Rich was reluctant to share a photograph of himself and his brother for this story with The New York Times. Every time he has done that, he said, the photo — of the brothers at Aaron’s wedding, for instance — has been reused and tainted by conspiracy theorists.

Aaron Rich, who with his brother grew up in Nebraska, said he hadn’t thought much about who beyond Fox’s talent was responsible for the lies about his brother. When I asked him about Rupert Murdoch, he wasn’t sure who he was — “I’m really bad at trivia things.” That’s the genius of the Murdochs’ management of the place: They collect the cash while evading responsibility and letting their hosts work primarily for Mr. Trump.

Mr. Rich isn’t party to the settlement with his parents, and he declined to discuss its details. His parents said in a court filing that the barrage of conspiracy theories had damaged their mental health and cost his mother, Mary, her ability to work and to socialize.

But he said he simply doesn’t understand why Fox couldn’t simply apologize for its damaging lie — not in May of 2017, not when it reached the settlement in October, and not when it finally made the settlement public after the election and wished his family “some measure of peace.”

It reminds me of a well-known political figure now leaving the stage, one who has been strikingly allergic to apologizing, expressing any empathy or engaging in any soul searching about his role in mobilizing the ugliest of American impulses.

“I was glad they stopped doing it,” Seth Rich’s brother said, a bit hopelessly. “But they never admitted they lit the fire.”

Ben Smith is the media columnist. He joined The Times in 2020 after eight years as founding editor in chief of BuzzFeed News. Before that, he covered politics for Politico, The New York Daily News, The New York Observer and The New York Sun.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/17/busi ... ticleShare

by JazzNU
ti-amie wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 10:59 pm Someone said he's going to pardon L'il Wayne. I don't know if that's a joke or not.
Not a joke. Widely believed at the time to be part of the reason why he was out shuckin and jivin back before the election. 50 felt the heat of the blowback a bit more and dropped the dime on there essentially being payment for the endorsements. Though he was talking about money, he left the door open for it being for more. Dwayne is not in any way, shape, or form hurting for money.

by JazzNU Mooch has been dunking on him daily in public for well over a year at least, so they must be incredibly desperate to bolster numbers. Mooch said the invite says he can bring 5 guests.



by ponchi101 Great.
But he is still Anthony Scaramucci, a man that was fired by Trump himself only five days into his tenure.
How come people forget that slight detail escapes me.

by ti-amie

by ponchi101
ti-amie wrote: Tue Jan 19, 2021 6:37 pm
:vomit: :vomit: :vomit:
You really must have nerves..

by JazzNU Watch this segment from All in with Chris Hayes last night. It is likely very educational for many on here, possibly most educational for those members who live outside of the United States. But maybe not, because it's not like US History classes don't downplay the brutality of slavery. Link is also below the video if you'd prefer to watch it on the MSNBC site.






https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/whit ... 9656773795

by ponchi101 I saved this clip for this morning. Extremely interesting.
You know I wrote about the concept of "who we really are". I focused on America and Venezuela, because of obvious reasons. That Prof Greer brought that up was interesting.
And indeed, America needs to really talk about some facts, pointed out in the clip. You cannot continue down this path of separation of the nation unless you really get to understand the past. Txs for the clip.

by skatingfan Can we lock this thread now?

by ponchi101 Or let it die of natural causes? (topics in this forum that are not viewed/posted on will be pruned in 180 days)

by JazzNU I mean with indictments a plenty forthcoming and impeachment on the horizon for this treasonous family, we can probably just keep it for now.

by JazzNU

by ti-amie I was thinking about leaving this one open and closing the Politics thread although I think some kind of thread dedicated strictly to politics going forward is needed. Keep in mind anyone can start a thread. I will leave that thread open until Sunday night.

The arrests are continuing so maybe they can be posted here instead.

by JazzNU From a reply to the above Tweet


Image

by JazzNU I mean. WTH?!?





by JazzNU This could be in covid thread of course, but this is more Dante level, how this grifting administration permeated and disrupted and doomed the US covid response. Just pitiful. It's a long article, so posting the Tweet to it. But will link the article directly below as well.





https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/01 ... nk-science

by JazzNU ^^ If you're not up for reading the report on the site, this is a quick look at some of what is in it that the report's author put on Twitter


Katherine Eban
@KatherineEban


EXCLUSIVE: My new special report in @VanityFair: a deep dive into @US_FDA #COVID19 response. Agency besieged w/ product pitches funneled from Trump @WhiteHouse, based on new internal docs and dozens of exclusive interviews, including w/ @SteveFDA. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/01 ... nk-science

A special White House email was created for "‘concierge service’ on these offers and requests," according to email sent by former deputy @WHNSC director Matthew Pottinger in March. /2

Through that email poured a "tsunami" of pitches for COVID diagnostics, including from @itsmarlamaples @TheJillKelley and ventilators backed by @IvankaTrump. @DrPeterLurie calls this special access "Outrageous." /3

In March WH meeting, @ScottGottliebMD and Dr. Fauci fought to preserve @US_FDA authority on #hydroxychloroquine, after @SecAzar dangled stroke-of-pen authorization. Trump silenced Azar mob-style, w/ finger to lips. /4

As COVID spread, @US_FDA got early admonition from @HHSGov to slow down early outreach to diagnostic test makers, and be "reactive," not "proactive," according to an internal email. /5

Career FDA officials besieged by Oleandrin pitches, backed by @MyPillowUSA CEO Mike Lindell. @US_FDA investigator uncovers: extract given to workers at TX meat-packing plant, nursing home, possible human subject violations. /6

Rookie commissioner @SteveFDA tells colleagues @HHSGov is "evil." Says to @VanityFair he found DC's political lies unnerving: "It is very unusual in hospital medicine that someone lies, because people die.” /END

https://twitter.com/KatherineEban/statu ... 098945024
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1351 ... 45024.html

by ponchi101 How soon we are reminded that closing this topic would be folly.
Of course, you have reached the bottom. But now comes the ugly part: exploring this cesspool, looking into every crevice and tunnel to see the level of perfidy that these people attained.
We have reached the bottom. But now we need to dig around to see where the stench is coming from. Which is basically everywhere.
The news above: sickening.

by ti-amie I was thinking about combining the Politics thread and this one into one thread. The report below could go into the Covid thread but belongs here because I think there's more news like this to come.

Biden inheriting nonexistent coronavirus vaccine distribution plan and must start 'from scratch,' sources say
By MJ Lee, CNN
Updated 11:37 AM ET, Thu January 21, 2021

(CNN)Newly sworn in President Joe Biden and his advisers are inheriting no coronavirus vaccine distribution plan to speak of from the Trump administration, sources tell CNN, posing a significant challenge for the new White House.

The Biden administration has promised to try to turn the Covid-19 pandemic around and drastically speed up the pace of vaccinating Americans against the virus. But in the immediate hours following Biden being sworn into office on Wednesday, sources with direct knowledge of the new administration's Covid-related work told CNN one of the biggest shocks that the Biden team had to digest during the transition period was what they saw as a complete lack of a vaccine distribution strategy under former President Donald Trump, even weeks after multiple vaccines were approved for use in the United States.

"There is nothing for us to rework. We are going to have to build everything from scratch," one source said.

Another source described the moment that it became clear the Biden administration would have to essentially start from "square one" because there simply was no plan as: "Wow, just further affirmation of complete incompetence."


The incoming White House now faces intense pressure to make good on the promises that Biden made during the campaign and the transition phase to drastically turn things around on the pandemic and conduct himself entirely differently from Trump when it comes to the virus and vaccine distribution. During the transition period, Biden was openly critical of what he described as a "dismal" rollout of the Covid vaccines under the Trump administration, making clear that he placed significant blame on his predecessor for the situation he would ultimately inherit.
Two Covid-19 vaccines were approved for use in the United States before Trump left office. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, around 16.5 million vaccine doses had been administered as of January 20 -- far short of the last administration's goal of administering 20 million vaccine doses by the end of 2020.

The new administration has asked some of the key players who worked on Covid and vaccines under Trump to resign from their roles, including Operation Warp Speed chief scientific adviser Moncef Slaoui and Surgeon General Jerome Adams. It has kept on others such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is now serving as Biden's chief medical adviser on Covid-19. Adams was asked to stay on as an adviser.

Prior to Inauguration Day, some of Biden's Covid-19 advisers had wanted to be careful not to be overly critical in public of the Trump administration's handling of the virus and vaccine, given that the Biden transition team was already having a hard time getting critical information and cooperation from the outgoing administration, the source said.

Now that the transition of power has taken place, the Biden administration is hoping that they can quickly start to get a clearer picture of where things actually stand with vaccine distribution and administration across the country, going through something of a "fact-checking" exercise on what exactly the Trump administration had and had not done, they added.

CNN has previously reported that the Biden team's most urgent concerns on Covid-19 include potential vaccine supply problems, coordination between federal and local governments, as well as funding, staffing and other resource needs for local governments. That is in addition to the emerging Covid variants, which the new White House -- in consultation with scientists and experts -- is watching warily.

Biden has made clear that slowing down the spread of Covid-19 and getting 100 million vaccine shots into Americans' arms in his first 100 days in office are of utmost priority -- goals that will shape whether Biden's first years in office are ultimately deemed successful.

Within hours of being sworn into office, Biden signed an executive order requiring masks on all federal property, a part of his campaign promise to push for a federal mask mandate during his first 100 days in office.

"This is going to be the first of many engagements we're going to have in here," Biden said in his first appearance in the Oval Office as president. "I thought with the state of the nation today there's no time to waste. Get to work immediately."

On Biden's first full day in office on Thursday, the White House is focusing on Covid-19 by rolling out a national strategy for getting the pandemic under control including numerous executive actions related to vaccination and testing.

Criticizing the "lack of cooperation" from the Trump administration as an "impediment" for the new administration, White House Covid coordinator Jeff Zients told reporters on Wednesday that he was still confident that the administration can meet its 100 million vaccine shots in 100 days target.

"For almost a year now, Americans could not look to the federal government for any strategy, let alone a comprehensive approach to respond to Covid," Zients said. "And we've seen the tragic costs of that failure. As President Biden steps into office today ... that'll change tomorrow."

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/21/politics ... index.html

by ti-amie This is what annoys me about outlets like CNN where its head is a MAGAt. POTUS based his comments about rapid deployment assuming that he would inherit at least a basic structure he'd have to beef up. If there is nothing in place (Jared sold it all) then they will have to build one and it will probably take longer than he would like. I expect all MAGAt leaning outlets (looking at CBS and ABC and NBC to a lesser extent) will be pushing this "he couldn't do it" story without putting the blame where it belongs.

by ponchi101
ti-amie wrote: Thu Jan 21, 2021 6:39 pm I was thinking about combining the Politics thread and this one into one thread. The report below could go into the Covid thread but belongs here because I think there's more news like this to come.

...
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/21/politics ... index.html
Remember. Click the POST NUMBER, the link will be copied immediately and you can post in both topics. This news is relevant.

About the news: Biden is too experienced for this. This promise of 100MM people vaccinated in 100 days will blow up in his face. Now he finds it may be impossible, not because of his team but because the previous buffoons. But try to tell that to the Fox News crowd. FN will reach 100 days, and at the stroke of midnight, all their talking heads will declare this administration a failure.
And Biden will have given it to them in a platter.
He has to be more circumspect. If people think that the GOP is dead, that is foolish. They will return to their regular shenanigans ASAP.

by ti-amie

Journalism Twitter is in an uproar about this.

by mmmm8 I wonder if it was something else in addition to this tweet? It's not even really pro-Biden!

by ti-amie
mmmm8 wrote: Sun Jan 24, 2021 7:27 pm I wonder if it was something else in addition to this tweet? It's not even really pro-Biden!
From what I''ve read it seems some "conservatives" objected to the tweet even though it wasn't on her professional/official NYT account. I don't know if the NYT has said anything about why that tweet would get someone fired.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie via @page88 Virginia Heffernan

During my first years at the NYT, there was Johnny Apple, & slightly later, David Carr. Both said & did wtf they wanted. They were emo & florid & funny & annoying. Apple once lied that he KILLED Viet Cong during the war. Journalism used to be way MORE emotional than it is now.

If you were trying hard to color within the lines as a Junior person, you were often encouraged to take more risks—and you have the model of Carr & Apple to know that’s where we’d end up. With freedom & the NYT having our backs.

Here’s what I think happened: after Howell Raines, Jayson Blair & Gerald Boyd were fired in an absurd & arguably racist bloodbath, most junior people got really, really scared.
Bill Keller used to get irritated with me from time to time—for saying “chills”? NO. Anytime he thought I was *losing my voice*, becoming “too Timesian.”

Most of us, esp women/POC, didn’t get anything like the leeway that say Carr got. Jayson Blair’s addiction wasn’t factored into his issues as a journalist. But Carr’s addictions (& recoveries) were his calling card. Like Apple’s excesses. They made him roguish & an idol.

But if you weren’t among the white hard-living rogue dudes you had to be very very very careful. I got pummeled by an editor once for writing that Ron Paul took money from Stormfront (when it was a personal check from Stormfront’s leader) because that suggested liberal bias.

But as usual, the paradox: the smaller you try to make yourself, the more your slips into personality or emotion stand out & get penalized.

If you’re approximating self-erasure, why can’t you go all the way?!?

So this week an excellent editorialist makes a joke abt Pence that would have been laughably tame to Johnny Apple & a brilliant reporter says she got chills, & the NYT convulses with status anxiety.

Does ANYTHING think this will make the right will stop slagging off the NYT?
• • •

by ti-amie

by Togtdyalttai One of Trump's final acts will allow former aides to profit from foreign ties

By THEODORIC MEYER

01/24/2021 07:01 AM EST

President Donald Trump’s last-minute move to scrap his administration’s own ethics rules will make it easier for his former aides to lobby on behalf of foreign interests — the same line of work behind so many Trump-era scandals.

In the final hours of his presidency, Trump revoked the ethics pledge he’d signed four years earlier, which, among other things, had barred those who’d served in his administration from lobbying for foreign governments and political parties for the rest of their lives.

With those restrictions gone, former Trump administration officials will be free to represent foreign powers — exactly the kind of swamp-like behavior Trump had promised to eradicate in his 2016 campaign.

Michael McKenna, a former lobbyist who worked in Trump’s White House legislative affairs office, said he had no intention of lobbying for foreign governments but thought other former Trump administration officials would jump at the chance.

“I’m pretty confident that a bunch of people would absolutely love to represent Monaco, France, the United Arab Emirates,” he said.

Trump’s “lifetime ban” on former officials in his administration representing foreign governments was part of his 2016 campaign pledge to “drain the swamp” in Washington. He even criticized President Bill Clinton for revoking his own ethics rules right before leaving office two decades ago, arguing Clinton had “rigged the system on his way out.”

“He is undoing really the only example of policy that was supposed to evidence his commitment to drain the swamp,” said Robert Weissman, the president of Public Citizen, which advocates for tougher ethics rules.

The Foreign Agents Registration Act requires those who lobby for foreign governments and political parties — along with some other foreign interests — to disclose their work with the Justice Department. Several prominent Trump allies failed to do so, ensnaring them in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and other federal investigations. .

Paul Manafort, Trump’s 2016 campaign chair, was sentenced in 2019 to 7 ½ years in prison for failing to register as a foreign agent, among other crimes.

Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser, admitted to lying to investigators about his role in a lobbying campaign on behalf of Turkish interests, though Flynn wasn’t charged with violating FARA.

And Elliott Broidy, a prominent fundraiser for Trump’s 2016 campaign, pleaded guilty in October to failing to register as a foreign agent even though he knew he should’ve done so.

Trump pardoned all three men before leaving office.

There’s nothing illegal or even unethical about lobbying for foreign governments, but many lobbyists try to avoid representing countries that have tense relationships with Washington or troubled human rights records. Two lobbying firms cut ties with Turkey late last year after Turkey aided Azerbaijan in a controversial conflict with Armenia, and several prominent firms quit lobbying for Saudi Arabia in 2018 after the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

But lobbying for foreign governments is one of the most lucrative niches on K Street, and Trump-connected lobbyists who registered as foreign agents thrived in Washington during his administration, earning millions of dollars lobbying for the governments of countries such as Turkey, Zimbabwe and the Dominican Republic.

Gotham Government Relations & Communications, a New York lobbying firm that once counted Trump as a client, capitalized on the connection after Trump’s 2016 victory, opening a Washington office and signing clients including the Libyan government. Like others on K Street, the firm is now trying to reposition itself for the Biden era.

Earlier this month, the firm sent a memo to several foreign governments and other potential clients highlighting its ties to a different New York politician: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

“Our Washington D.C. office stands ready to advocate for you with the Senate Majority office of the Honorable Charles Schumer!” the memo reads.

Trump’s ethics rules never barred former administration officials from lobbying entirely. Those who left the administration were allowed to lobby Congress, and loopholes also let them lobby the administration in some cases. At least 84 former Trump administration officials registered as lobbyists while he was in office, according to a POLITICO analysis of disclosure filings.

But the rules did include significant limitations, prohibiting former Trump administration officials from lobbying the agencies in which they served for five years after leaving the government.

Now that Trump has revoked his ethics pledge, they’re mostly free to lobby the executive branch. (Those who’ve left within the past year are still prohibited by law from trying to influence their former agencies.)

Some on K Street have cheered Trump’s decision. “It puts a number of people who were on the sidelines [back] in the game,” said one lobbyist whose firm has hired former Trump administration officials.

But others are skeptical staffers from the previous administration will have much sway.

“I’m not sure the Biden people are going to want to be lobbied by us,” said one former Trump administration official who’s now a lobbyist, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Former Trump administration officials are also now free to lobby Republican lawmakers on behalf of foreign interests — but demand for such work will be softer with Democrats in control of Congress, said Ivan Zapien, who leads Hogan Lovells’ government relations and public affairs practice.

“There’s not many world leaders who are trying to figure out how to deal with Republicans right now,” Zapien said.

Some ethics lawyers said Trump’s lifetime ban on foreign lobbying might have been excessive. (The ethics rules Biden debuted on Wednesday only bar those who serve in his administration from representing foreign governments until Biden leaves office or for two years after they leave government, whichever is later.)

Would the contacts former Trump administration officials made in government still give them a lobbying edge in 20 or 30 years?

“It sounds really good, there’s no doubt about it,” said Tom Spulak, a Washington lawyer who’s advised clients on the Foreign Agents Registration Act and has also lobbied for foreign interests himself. “But is it really serving a purpose?”

But Paul Light, a New York University professor who has criticized lengthy lobbying bans in the past, said he couldn’t support Trump’s last-minute repeal after all the ethics scandals during his administration.

“I don’t think Donald Trump is the right person to undo any ethics rule,” he said.

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/2 ... ing-461715

by ponchi101 All I will say is: in any other country, if you are representing a foreign nation, it is usually called treason. The people that represent the interests of a foreign nation in your soil are called "The Embassy".

by ti-amie

Is anyone surprised?

by ti-amie If you care whether Tiny is upset or not here's one of the articles floating around on Twitter.


by ponchi101
ti-amie wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 2:57 am

Is anyone surprised?
And from personal experience.
A lot of BCP and immigration people in the USA are immigrants, that then go full Brown-Shirt and treat people coming in as if everybody is a potential illegal alien.
I once landed in Miami. A Cuban person started asking me questions about what I was doing there. IN SPANISH. I answered him, IN ENGLISH. Halfway through this, he basically spits at me "Why are you answering me in English?" (I really had done it without realizing). "What f****** country are we in?" was my reply.
I was really close to the little back room.
That is ICE. And the BCP.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie Yeah these two again.


by ti-amie Millions earmarked for public health emergencies were used to pay for unrelated projects, inspector general says
Staff called the agency the ‘bank of BARDA’ and said research and development funds were regularly tapped for unrelated projects, including salaries and the removal of office furniture, the report finds

By
Dan Diamond and
Lisa Rein
Jan. 27, 2021 at 2:48 p.m. EST

The investigation, conducted by the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services and overseen by the Office of Special Counsel, centered on hundreds of millions of dollars intended for the development of vaccines, drugs and therapies by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority or BARDA, an arm of the federal health department.

The unidentified whistleblower alleged that officials in the office of the assistant secretary for preparedness and response at HHS, which oversaw the biomedical agency, wrongly dipped into the money set aside by Congress for development of lifesaving medicines, beginning in fiscal 2010 and continuing through at least fiscal 2019, spanning both the Obama and Trump administrations.

The inspector general substantiated some of the whistleblower’s claims, finding that staff referred to the agency as the “bank of BARDA” and told investigators that research and development funds were regularly tapped for unrelated projects, sometimes at “exorbitant” rates.

“I am deeply concerned about [the] apparent misuse of millions of dollars in funding meant for public health emergencies like the one our country is currently facing with the covid-19 pandemic,” Special Counsel Henry Kerner wrote in a letter to President Biden on Wednesday. “Equally concerning is how widespread and well-known this practice appeared to be for nearly a decade.”

The inspector general concluded that the agency violated the Purpose Statute, a cornerstone of federal law designed to ensure that funds appropriated by Congress are used for their intended purpose.

“I urge Congress and HHS to take immediate actions to ensure funding for public health emergencies can no longer be used as a slush-fund for unrelated expenses,” Kerner said in a statement to reporters.

Meanwhile, HHS is reviewing whether the spending irregularities violated the Antideficiency Act, another law governing the use of federal funds authorized by Congress. HHS also has engaged an accounting firm to conduct an audit, Kerner told Biden.

The Obama administration’s top emergency-preparedness official, who was named in the report, defended the agency’s use of BARDA funds as appropriate.

“All expenditures were done in a routine way,” said Nicole Lurie, who led the umbrella office known as ASPR and also said she wasn’t interviewed as part of the inspector general’s investigation.

“BARDA was part of ASPR and had a shared mission and used common resources,” Lurie added, noting that the inspector general faulted spending decisions — such as using BARDA funds to pay for ASPR contracting officers — that she said helped the agency expedite dozens of medical products to help fight public health emergencies.

HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

BARDA received national attention in May 2020 after then-Director Rick Bright was abruptly removed from his post, alleging that it was because he resisted the Trump administration’s pressure to expedite unproven anti-malaria drugs as a covid-19 treatment. Colleagues said that Bright’s ouster was more complicated and that Trump administration officials had sought to remove him before the pandemic. The inspector general’s investigation, which began in 2018 after a whistleblower tip, mostly focuses on BARDA before Bright’s leadership and on funding decisions made during the Obama administration. The Office of Special Counsel is involved because it receives complaints from whistleblowers and protects them from reprisal as it investigates their underlying allegations of misconduct.

The report does not specify a total amount of funding that was misappropriated, although a spokesperson for the Office of Special Counsel said investigators are “confident” the assistant secretary’s office wrongly repurposed millions of dollars intended for biomedical research and development.

For instance, the inspector general flagged the assistant secretary’s office for not providing adequate details to Congress on how BARDA spent $517 million in “management and administrative” costs over a decade.

“Because there were no specific details outlining what the M&A costs supported, we cannot determine whether the expenditures supported the BARDA mission,” the inspector general concluded.

Investigators also signaled their skepticism that all of the management and administrative funds went to their intended purpose, writing that the assistant secretary’s office “would likely fail” to adequately justify how the money was used.

The inspector general further found that between fiscal 2013 and 2017, BARDA paid $897,491 for the salaries of staffers who did not actually work for the agency. Investigators also said the biomedical arm wrongly covered millions of dollars in other administrative costs, such as having furniture removed from other parts of the building where its office was housed.

“That should not have been done using [research and development] funds as BARDA did not have their furniture removed,” one HHS staffer acknowledged to an investigator, according to notes in the inspector general report, which does not specify a dollar amount for the furniture removal.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2 ... propiated/

by ponchi101 If you had a time machine and could bring Torquemada back to life, and tell him to get these bastards and design a proper form of torture or punishment that would fit the crimes, he would scratch his chin and say. "Nope. Can't think of anything appropriate enough for that crime."
Dropping them naked in the middle of the Sahara with nothing more than a bag of extra hot chips would not even be the beginning.

by ti-amie

Image

by JazzNU This orbit is so freaking bizarre. Like this doesn't sound strange enough on it's own with her being Mnuchin's wife, the co-star shown in the picture is Ed Westwick of Gossip Girl and #MeToo fame.



by ponchi101 Oh, an autobiography?

by ti-amie Here is the @NYTimes article being referenced here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/31/us/t ... n-lie.html


Adam Davidson @adamdavidson

The NYT amazing report on Trump's post-election insanity helps explain why he has so many almost-certainly-illegal projects around the world.
Over the past 25 years, there has been an astonishing amount of illegal money flowing out of former Soviet Union and...
1/

other highly corrupt economies. Trillions of dollars. Broadly called money-laundering.
The sophisticated oligarchs used top law- and accounting-firms, banks, and big hotels to clean their money.
But there were many hack oligarchs.
2/

Who were too blatantly corrupt, too tied to terror or other bad actors, to use the "legitimate" forms of money-laundering.
Consider Azerbaijan's Anar Mammadov. He spent years and millions of dollars trying to get someone, anyone, in the US to work with him.
3/

Or Indonesia's Hary Tanoe, a man shockingly corrupt and crude even in a shockingly corrupt country.
Or the Tiah family in Malaysia. Or his partner's in Toronto, Panama, etc, etc.
These were very rich losers. They had too much risk to cross over to the legit economy.
4/

Until they met Trump.
The Trump Org, like the White House, did have some good lawyers. They wouldn't touch these deals.
So, Trump brought in Michael Cohen--who is less of a lawyer than Rudy, Lin, Sidney, and Ellis--from a taxi dispatch office in Brooklyn.
5/

And the Trump Org did have experienced real estate execs, but these deals were handled by Don, Jr., and Ivanka.
Trump refused to pay for the barest due diligence but did pay for fig-leaf assurances from pay-to-play "due diligence" firms.
6/

Much like with the election, he made a series of hugely risky and self-destructive decisions, was counseled against them, and then got a bunch of losers to back him up.
He got away with it because America barely prosecutes international white collar crime.
7/

The only reason he didn't get away with this coup (yet) is that people with power and resources had a strong incentive to investigate and stop him.
That has not, yet, happened with his business. (God damn you, Robert S. Mueller).
8/

Investigating the business will be harder.
But it's necessary.
In the end, it will find scenes much like the ones in the NYT story: Trump being told something is illegal, unethical, and risky, and then finding some bottom feeder who will tell him the opposite.
9/end

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1356 ... 08322.html

by ti-amie Image


by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by JazzNU Hilarious. Amazing what happens when Dominion says enough with the BS slander and files a billion dollar lawsuit against your propaganda network.



by ponchi101 Question: he IS a billionaire. He is still spewing this stuff. What stops Dominion from suing him too? Giulani and Powell will not be able to pay that bill, but this psycho can.
AITA?

by JazzNU Dominion already sent him a warning letter informing him they will file suit if the defamation doesn't end. Given that he's been saying he's going to expose their fraud at week's end, he hasn't appeared to have gotten the message loudly enough that he's opened himself up to significant liability. While Newmax is trying to cover their own ass and no one else's here, their attempts to cut him off and talk over him are helpful to Mike, he's just too deranged to realize it. He's got hundreds of millions I believe, but that's a dwindling fortune unless people stop caring about his nonsense or he adds in some hefty new contracts. Major retailers have been dropping MyPillow and most are citing plummeting demand as the reason.

by JazzNU

by ti-amie That lawsuit has them running scared doesn't it?

Fox News has dropped ‘Lou Dobbs Tonight,’ promoter of Trump’s false election fraud claims

By
Elahe Izadi
Feb. 5, 2021 at 7:32 p.m. EST

This story has been updated.

“Lou Dobbs Tonight” has been canceled by Fox News, a network spokesperson confirmed.

Dobbs, 75, was among the most ardent pro-Trump voices on air. He held influence over Trump administration policy — particularly on trade and immigration — and relentlessly promoted the former president’s false claims of election fraud late last year. His nightly program, which a person close to Dobbs said aired its final episode Friday, was by far the highest-rated on Fox Business.

The news was first reported by the Los Angeles Times, which reported that Dobbs will be unlikely to return to air, although he still has a contract with Fox News Media.

The announcement comes one day after the election technology company Smartmatic filed a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News, parent company Fox Corp. and several on-air commentators, including Dobbs.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/20 ... celed-fox/

by ponchi101 For reasons I have explained before, I detest Smartmatic.
But man, am I hoping they clean all these jerks' wallets. To the bone.

by JazzNU
ti-amie wrote: Sat Feb 06, 2021 1:14 am That lawsuit has them running scared doesn't it?
Big time. It could bankrupt some of them. Especially because they have more than just these lawsuits to deal with.


OAN put this before Mike's election fraud special that he paid to air on the channel. Important to note, a disclaimer like this is BS and isn't a legal shield, especially since a 90 second disclaimer in front of what I think I read was a 3-hour special is not much of a disclaimer.



by JazzNU Rudy also got a disclaimer put on him by his employer and had a bit of a tantrum about it. CYA time all-around.



by ti-amie

by ti-amie Stephen Punwasi @StephenPunwasi

A VC once told me to invest in anything that can be used for *legal* money laundering.

Not to make money from the launderers, but because the launderers will hide activity in businesses, boosting the likelihood of legit businesses hopping on.

Heck of an investment thesis.

2/ It turns out the whole gig economy was a great use case.

Renting a room that goes for $100/night in a hotel for $2,000/night on a short-term rental site doesn't set off any red flags, or capital currency controls.

It also isn't subject to laundering regs

3/ Also incredible how simple the operations are.

Person A buys a house, and rents it.

Person B gets people to rent from abroad. Don't show up, just pay.

Person A uses the revenue to secure more assets, and expand operations. Brings a new meaning to ghost hotel.

4/ In total, you're looking at 14-18% in fees to launder with a legitimate business front.

Typical laundering fees are 50-80% for really illicit cash.

Big accounting firms do semi-legit for ~20%-30%.

5/ People are like, art! Galleries charge 50% on avg. It's expensive, and only useful if you think the piece will appreciate.

Advantage of art is it becomes an unofficial currency shuffled tax free as payments in freeports. Limited use.

5/ People are like, art! Galleries charge 50% on avg. It's expensive, and only useful if you think the piece will appreciate.
Stephen Punwasi
@StephenPunwasi
See this building? It's one of the buildings at the Geneva Freeport. It's how a lot of the super rich dodge taxes.

... it also happens to be home to the world's greatest art collection, that will never be seen.

Image
(...)

6/ Totally unrelated, but it's all fun and games until they come for your democracy, amirite?
Image

7/ This quote is probably a lot more relevant in this thread than by itself tbh.
Quote Tweet
Stephen Punwasi @StephenPunwasi
· Feb 18
"In itself real estate is not an obvious threat... but it becomes an excellent vehicle to gain access to local politicians and their influence and power. You own one building is one thing, you own 10 or 30 commercial buildings and your influence is considerable."
- CSIS, 1997
Ted Lightbulb
@TedLightbulb
Replying to
@StephenPunwasi
In BC person B rents house & with owners knowledge & support turns the house into a grow op for 1-2 years (cash rent), then Person A extensively renovates the house paying tradespeople & suppliers in cash then sells. Not only washing the $ but profiting from real estate too.

by JazzNU Can't believe they are going after dogs now. Greg Kelly has always been the worst.



by ponchi101 "Unlike a presidential dog" :rofl:
And how should a presidential dog behave? Eat its Knl ration with a spoon?

by ti-amie
ponchi101 wrote: Sat Feb 20, 2021 4:55 pm "Unlike a presidential dog" :rofl:
And how should a presidential dog behave? Eat its Knl ration with a spoon?

by ponchi101 :rofl:

by JazzNU

by ponchi101 Watch him get a $10,000 bail, a five year trial, and a suspended sentence in the end.

by dryrunguy
ponchi101 wrote: Sun Feb 21, 2021 2:15 am Watch him get a $10,000 bail, a five year trial, and a suspended sentence in the end.
For once, it would be nice if "suspended sentence" actually meant hanging...

by ti-amie
dryrunguy wrote: Sun Feb 21, 2021 5:23 pm
ponchi101 wrote: Sun Feb 21, 2021 2:15 am Watch him get a $10,000 bail, a five year trial, and a suspended sentence in the end.
For once, it would be nice if "suspended sentence" actually meant hanging...
Normally I wouldn't cheer a post like this but when it comes to this guy, who is as dirty as his sister is dumb, I ask forgiveness and agree 100%.

by ti-amie

by JazzNU Not a joke. This is a big hit at CPAC. People claiming deep Christian beliefs worshipping a false idol.



by ponchi101 As much as I love that album, the sole background music for that clip is The Wall's "Waiting for the worms".

by ti-amie

by ti-amie


by ti-amie

by JazzNU No Shame.



by JazzNU Dear Lord, give me strength. Insurrectionist-in-Chief is trying to get Herschel Walker to run for the US Senate in Georgia.

by ti-amie
JazzNU wrote: Thu Mar 11, 2021 1:48 am Dear Lord, give me strength. Insurrectionist-in-Chief is trying to get Herschel Walker to run for the US Senate in Georgia.
Is that why he's trending on Twitter?

by JazzNU
ti-amie wrote: Thu Mar 11, 2021 1:59 am Is that why he's trending on Twitter?
Correct

by ti-amie
JazzNU wrote: Thu Mar 11, 2021 2:07 am
ti-amie wrote: Thu Mar 11, 2021 1:59 am Is that why he's trending on Twitter?
Correct
It's well known he's dumb as a box of rocks. Then again there's that Tuberville guy who is now in the Senate...

by JazzNU
ti-amie wrote: Thu Mar 11, 2021 2:09 am
It's well known he's dumb as a box of rocks. Then again there's that Tuberville guy who is now in the Senate...

Yes, they are banking on the football being enough. They also think any black guy will do to siphon off black voters. GOP has done this so, so many times.

by patrick
JazzNU wrote: Thu Mar 11, 2021 1:28 am No Shame.


Every GOP in House and Senate that is given credit or take credit needs to be shame to no end.

by ponchi101
ti-amie wrote: Thu Mar 11, 2021 2:09 am ...

It's well known he's dumb as a box of rocks. Then again there's that Tuberville guy who is now in the Senate...
Serious here. That has never stopped any politician in the USA. As a matter of fact, I believe that one of the things that, for example, hinders E. Warren is that she is obviously very smart. It turns off a lot of American voters.
It didn't stop Dubya, a man of seriously limited intellectuality, and you know my opinion of Tiny, a truly deficient mind that proved over and over his level of stupidity.
And remember: idiocy is somewhat relative. I am sure I am a total buffoon in the eyes of Wittgenstein or Marylin Von Savant (were he alive). I am sure Edward Witten would look at us in contempt (were he that kind of man). So, if a bag of rocks runs for congress in a county full of bags of rocks, how can the bags of rocks know he is a moron?

by ti-amie
ponchi101 wrote: Thu Mar 11, 2021 2:17 pm
ti-amie wrote: Thu Mar 11, 2021 2:09 am ...

It's well known he's dumb as a box of rocks. Then again there's that Tuberville guy who is now in the Senate...
Serious here. That has never stopped any politician in the USA. As a matter of fact, I believe that one of the things that, for example, hinders E. Warren is that she is obviously very smart. It turns off a lot of American voters.
It didn't stop Dubya, a man of seriously limited intellectuality, and you know my opinion of Tiny, a truly deficient mind that proved over and over his level of stupidity.
And remember: idiocy is somewhat relative. I am sure I am a total buffoon in the eyes of Wittgenstein or Marylin Von Savant (were he alive). I am sure Edward Witten would look at us in contempt (were he that kind of man). So, if a bag of rocks runs for congress in a county full of bags of rocks, how can the bags of rocks know he is a moron?
Well when you put it like that...
You're right of course.

by JazzNU
patrick wrote: Thu Mar 11, 2021 11:21 am Every GOP in House and Senate that is given credit or take credit needs to be shame to no end.

There are several doing it. They are the worst. And absolutely pitiful that some of these Republicans clearly wanted to vote for it and didn't have enough courage to do their damn job for their constituents and go against party's orders.



by dryrunguy I guess I'll put this here.

I spotted a new flag flying in Shirleysburg today. It was a dark blue flag, much like many of the Trump flags I used to see flying there. Then, in large red, all cap letters I read the words... "F*** Biden"...

by ti-amie
dryrunguy wrote: Sun Mar 14, 2021 8:38 pm I guess I'll put this here.

I spotted a new flag flying in Shirleysburg today. It was a dark blue flag, much like many of the Trump flags I used to see flying there. Then, in large red, all cap letters I red the words... "F*** Biden"...
I guess they're not cashing their stimulus check(s)...

by JazzNU
dryrunguy wrote: Sun Mar 14, 2021 8:38 pm I guess I'll put this here.

I spotted a new flag flying in Shirleysburg today. It was a dark blue flag, much like many of the Trump flags I used to see flying there. Then, in large red, all cap letters I read the words... "F*** Biden"...
Well that's pleasant.

In unrelated news, I remain reluctant to get off the Turnpike anywhere in the middle part of the state not named Harrisburg, Carlisle, or Breezewood.

by ti-amie



I get the feeling that they don't believe him.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 You know? Jared should be a meme for how real criminals look like. Not the usual stereotypes: the fully tattooed man, the chain smoking don, the leather clad biker. Real criminals look like this man, and act like this man. Three piece suit, proper haircut, fashionable sunglasses. Plus the pretty wife and the perfect kids.

by ti-amie

by JazzNU
ti-amie wrote: Tue Mar 16, 2021 6:17 pm

Of course they did. They sowed doubt amongst their base and that group is the most skeptical of the vaccine, but of course they were running for their luxury seats on the Titanic. These (expletive).

by ti-amie I wonder how much they paid?

by ti-amie It seems the Wonder Boy was allowed to post "advice" to President Biden on the WSJ editorial page.

The Drag-a-palooza continues on Twitter.

by ti-amie




by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 Was he selling them for adoption or food for the Hillary clan? You know, Satanists will pay good money for a plump 6-months old...
(bastard POS).

by ti-amie



Your Old Pal Donavon
@hellodonavon
Some questions from this:
- Is Jennifer Carnahan stupid or malfeasant?
- Why is the MNGOP so bad at raising money, even given all the malfeasance/stupidity?
- How many vendors working with GOP campaigns/committees are actually just grifting them for every dime they have?

by ti-amie It's a reality show gimmick. Cosplay.


by ponchi101 Because of course, smugglers and drug cartels like to operate in broad daylight.

by ti-amie I really do need someone to explain wth the point of this was. A bunch of middle aged men in a boat dressed up like insurcels for what reason?

Ponchi I'm sure the bad guys are trembling in their boots.

by ti-amie Your weekend laugh.


by JazzNU

by ponchi101 If you invite Tiny to your wedding, or if you hold your wedding at Mar-A-Lago, I have no sympathy for you when he does this. None.

by JazzNU Shouldn't be giving business to Mar-a-Lago, but to be clear, reports are that he's a wedding crasher, not an invited guest.

by JazzNU

by ti-amie Only the best.

I wanted to see if the Miami Herald had such a click-baity headline but there's a paywall.


by ti-amie

by ti-amie Oh there's more.





Ponchi when you get a chance we need that bathing gif back because after reading this...

by ponchi101
ti-amie wrote: Tue Mar 30, 2021 10:18 pm Oh there's more.

...

Ponchi when you get a chance we need that bathing gif back because after reading this...
Bath? We need a "Poltergeist cleaning" icon for this.
Here you go :bath:

by patrick
ti-amie wrote: Tue Mar 30, 2021 9:59 pm
Guess Wyoming was a destination spot for him to have his companion undercover while he was telling Wyomians to vote Cheney out

by ti-amie





Also, admitting your father has been wearing a wire kind of stops the investigation cold doesn't it?

by JazzNU I'm glad they are looking into the 17-year old girl. But what about his "son" Nestor? That entire story of how he got here and their relationship is suspicious as (expletive). Let's not just investigate what he did to the too-young girl, but also the much too young boy, I think he was 12 or 13 when he started living with him. Gaetz is quite the creepy (expletive), and ever since the Nestor reveal, creepy has seemed much too tame of a word, and allegedly has needed to be introduced into the conversation.

by ti-amie You know Matty threw Carlson into moving traffic not once but twice last night. The second time was when he mentioned that he and Tucker had had dinner one night and that Tucker's wife was there along with him and his date. Someone in WaPo comments said Carlson looked like he had been hit by a bolt of lightning because his date was probably not his wife.

I guess I'm still naive because I never thought about it that way.

by mmmm8 I guess I'm still naive because I don't understand why anyone of any age would engage in any kind of relations with these men (unless it's a professional, I suppose)

by ti-amie

by ti-amie


by ti-amie

by ti-amie Anyone remember how Facebook started out?


by ti-amie NEW: The Daily Beast has viewed text messages that got the feds interested in looking into Rep. Matt Gaetz

Gaetz, facing a reported probe into a pay-for-sex scheme, came to investigators’ attention after an alleged off-hours visit to a Florida tax agency — where the local official was allegedly making fake IDs.

That tip to the feds came in a text message conversation that Seminole County Tax Collector Joel Greenberg, indicted for sex trafficking, had with an employee.

That employee inquired about IDs sprawled all over a desk in the office.

Greenberg attempted to explain why they were both in the office, according to this person.

“Yes I was showing congressman Gaetz what our operation looked like. Did I leave something on?” — text message from Greenberg read.

In a separate incident on July 4, 2019, Greenberg and Gaetz called a state legislator, Rep. Anna V. Eskamani, and left her a peculiar voicemail.

We have obtained a copy of that voicemail.

Gaetz and Greenberg are on the voicemail telling Eskamani, who they refer to as “dear Anna,” that she’s “the future of the Democratic Party in Florida!”

Eskamani said she maintained Greenberg at arm’s length for years.

Read more by @Jose_Pagliery:

According to people familiar with the investigation, Secret Service agents were initially interested in Greenberg’s failed attempt to allow Seminole County residents to pay their taxes in Bitcoin

The official in this text message signed a $50,000 settlement with the Office of the Seminole County Tax Collector over claims of unfair retaliation at work. It bars her from making “false or defamatory statements” about her former employer. trib.al/qyhT2BX

Image

Here are texts that purport to show Greenberg helping Gaetz get duplicate IDs—outside of proper channels. When Greenberg later came under investigation for identity theft and stalking, agents approached former employees at the tax office to obtain proof. trib.al/qyhT2BX

Image

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1377 ... 24866.html

by JazzNU I just about lost it at the hula hoop, Apple Pay, and Cash App parts of this tawdry tale



by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by JazzNU A different twist for this thread. Pat Robertson is making sense today for at least a minute and a half? The end is most definitely near.



by ponchi101 The two words that come to my mind: "DEEP FAKE".
It is that hard to believe. But bravo for him.

by ti-amie


by MJ2004 Funny when the one time they make sense is when the cop is a woman. How about that.

by ti-amie The government finally connects the line from Trump’s campaign to Russian intelligence
So much for the ‘Russia hoax’ hoax

By
Philip Bump
April 15, 2021 at 11:59 a.m. EDT

From the first moments that the report on Russian interference in the 2016 election compiled by former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s team became public two years ago, it was obvious where it contained gaps. The report itself documented the places where questions were unhappily left unanswered, a function of reticence from relevant parties or of encrypted communications or, at times, of witnesses being unavailable for interview.

In that latter group was a man named Konstantin Kilimnik.

Kilimnik, who was indicted by Mueller’s team, sat at the center of one of the more obvious places where the campaign of then-candidate Donald Trump might have intersected with Russia’s efforts to get Trump elected. Kilimnik had worked with Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort for years before Manafort joined the campaign effort despite (or perhaps because of) his sketchy connections to Russia. One of Manafort’s primary clients in the years before his volunteering to work for Trump without pay was a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine. Their mutual colleague Rick Gates told various people that he believed Kilimnik was a “spy,” according to Mueller’s report, but that didn’t keep the three from sharing information during the campaign — while both Gates and Manafort worked directly for Trump.

On Aug. 2, 2016, with Manafort running the Trump campaign and Gates serving as his deputy, the three met at a cigar club in midtown Manhattan. Beforehand, Manafort had asked Gates to print out campaign polling data, information that Manafort apparently gave Kilimnik that evening.

Mueller’s report describes the meeting:

“They also discussed the status of the Trump Campaign and Manafort’s strategy for winning Democratic votes in Midwestern states. Months before that meeting, Manafort had caused internal polling data to be shared with Kilimnik, and the sharing continued for some period of time after their August meeting.”

At another point, the report goes into more detail about that ongoing exchange of information.

“Manafort instructed Rick Gates, his deputy on the Campaign and a longtime employee, to provide Kilimnik with updates on the Trump Campaign — including internal polling data, although Manafort claims not to recall that specific instruction. Manafort expected Kilimnik to share that information with others in Ukraine and with Deripaska. Gates periodically sent such polling data to Kilimnik during the campaign.”

The “Deripaska” referred to is Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, a former client of Manafort’s whom the campaign chairman had been eager to impress with his position on the campaign. (Hours after the Aug. 2 meeting, a plane belonging to Deripaska landed in New Jersey; his team denies any link to the meeting.)

This was as close as Mueller got to demonstrating a connection between Trump’s campaign and the Russian effort to aid his candidacy, an effort that included both a bid to influence public opinion using social media and the release of data stolen from the Democratic Party and a senior staffer for Hillary Clinton, Trump’s 2016 opponent. It left unanswered two questions: How close was Kilimnik to Russian intelligence, and what did he do with the polling information he’d received?

The Mueller report acknowledged both uncertainties, writing that “Because of questions about Manafort’s credibility and our limited ability to gather evidence on what happened to the polling data after it was sent to Kilimnik, the [special counsel’s team] could not assess what Kilimnik (or others he may have given it to) did with it.”

Last year, one of those questions was answered. A bipartisan report from the Senate Intelligence Committee identified Kilimnik explicitly as an agent of the Russian government: “Kilimnik,” it read, “is a Russian intelligence officer.”


At another point, the report brushes up against the second question.

“The Committee obtained some information suggesting Kilimnik may have been connected to the GRU’s hack and leak operation targeting the 2016 U.S. election,” it read. The GRU is the intelligence arm of the Russian military and has been identified as the group that stole the information from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman that was later released by WikiLeaks. The implication, then, is that there was not only a connection between Kilimnik and Russia broadly but specifically to the team directly involved in the interference effort.

On Thursday, the Treasury Department unveiled new sanctions against the Russian government linked to its apparent hack of U.S. government networks. But the news release also included a statement clearly answering our second question above.

“During the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign, Kilimnik provided the Russian Intelligence Services with sensitive information on polling and campaign strategy. Additionally, Kilimnik sought to promote the narrative that Ukraine, not Russia, had interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election,” the statement read.

“Kilimnik has also sought to assist designated former President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych. At Yanukovych’s direction, Kilimnik sought to institute a plan that would return Yanukovych to power in Ukraine,” it read.


Yanukovych was a member of the pro-Russian party for which Manafort had worked, the Party of Regions.

That one sentence, though, appears to finally complete the long-speculated line from Trump’s campaign to Russian intelligence. It goes like this, according to the aggregated information compiled by various parts of the government:

Trump hires
Manafort to run his campaign. Manafort then orders
Gates, his deputy, to provide polling and strategy information to
Kilimnik, their longtime colleague and, according to the Senate committee, a Russian intelligence officer. Kilimnik then shares that information with
Russian intelligence agents.
(Bolding is from the WaPo article)

It’s important to note that there is 1) no evidence at this point that Trump knew about the sharing of that information or 2) that Russia did much with the information it obtained. There were targeted ads from Russian actors during the campaign, but there remains no good evidence that those ads were targeted with insider information (much less well-targeted in general) nor that they had much of an effect.

What is instead revealed is that the government’s concern about the Trump campaign’s links to Russia — links that extended to other members of Trump’s team — was in this case probably warranted. Manafort’s presence in the campaign prompted head-scratching from the outset, given his ties to various international ne’er-do-wells. He had been on the radar of federal intelligence agencies for years. It’s not surprising, then, that this link should be demonstrated. It just took awhile for the line to be drawn as clearly as it was Thursday morning.

Among the reasons that Mueller’s team couldn’t draw that line clearly in the first place was that Manafort misled investigators (spurring false-statement charges) and otherwise refused to offer a detailed assessment of his time on the campaign.

Two days before Christmas last year, Trump, by then a lame duck, granted Manafort a pardon.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... elligence/

by ponchi101 I had totally forgotten about this. How easy would it be now to get a full copy of the report under FOIA?

by ti-amie
ponchi101 wrote: Fri Apr 16, 2021 2:55 pm I had totally forgotten about this. How easy would it be now to get a full copy of the report under FOIA?
Remember that the FOIA guy under the former administration was rioting at the Capitol on 1/6.

If this has come out as a "by the way" release by the Treasury Department it makes you wonder what else Mnuchin and his cronies were sitting on?

I wonder if there has to be a real IC review before full release?

by ti-amie

by JazzNU Not sure if this was posted. Sorry if it's a repeat



by ti-amie It never ceases to amaze me how accurate reporting on US issues often comes from overseas press. Of course this was met with crickets.

by ti-amie


by JazzNU
ti-amie wrote: Sat Apr 17, 2021 7:14 pm It never ceases to amaze me how accurate reporting on US issues often comes from overseas press. Of course this was met with crickets.
I've read this guy before. Foreign publication, but the journalist lives in the US. He's someone who covers far right connections I believe. Just starting to get picked up by others, so we'll see in a few days if it's truly crickets.

by mmmm8 My favorite part of the Pompeos abuse of their roles is that they had someone make a reservation at the Cheesecake Factory.

by ponchi101 Sincerely, in the scope of the criminality of Tiny's administration, this is like charging Hannibal Lecter with stealing the salt and pepper shakers from the restaurant. This is minor, and I am sure that the Pompeo's did much worse.

by ti-amie

City of Albuquerque refers Trump campaign bill to collection agency
https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/ci ... D=ref_fark

by ti-amie

by JazzNU There are an astounding number of unpaid bills from his rallies in various states. If they were easy to get them paid, so many would've done so over the years. Part of why some areas flat out refused to have their rallies in their cities in the last two years was not because of politics, but because there was an existing debt and they weren't signing up for a repeat.

by JazzNU

by ti-amie


by ti-amie Revealed: Donald Trump's firms charged Secret Service more than £17,000 for 2017 trips
Donald Trump’s golf resorts in Scotland and Ireland charged the US Secret Service more than £17,000 for a series of previously undisclosed trips during his first full year in office.
By Martyn McLaughlin
Saturday, 24th April 2021, 10:00 pm
Updated
5 hours ago

A tranche of invoices and spending records released by the US government agency under Freedom of Information legislation shows the former US president’s properties in Turnberry and Doonbeg received a string of payments throughout 2017.

As well as footing the bill for stays at Trump’s South Ayrshire resort, the records show US taxpayers stumped up several thousand pounds for luxury car rentals during a visit to Scotland by Trump’s son Eric.

The newly disclosed documentation was obtained by American Oversight – a non-partisan, non-profit ethics watchdog based in Washington DC, and passed to The Scotsman.

The organisation said the receipts provided further evidence of how the Trump family was able to “line its pockets” by charging its security detail to stay at Trump Organisation properties.

While the sums involved are relatively small, they provide further evidence of how Mr Trump’s private businesses received taxpayers’ money thanks to his public office. Throughout the 74-year-old’s single term, his Turnberry resort alone received close to £300,000 from the Secret Service.

The latest disclosure details an invoice prepared by the Turnberry resort dated August 14, 2017 for £5,400. The cost is for one room, although information about the duration of the stay has been redacted by the Secret Service. The invoice is addressed to the US Embassy in London.

It is unclear who visited Turnberry that month, but as revealed last December, Eric and a 30-strong party of "international guests" flew to Scotland by private jet in July 2017 to play the family’s golf resorts.

That trip, part of the Trump Organisation’s so-called Ultimate Links Tour, saw Secret Service agents stay at Turnberry.

The overall cost of the visit to the US public purse was more than £13,000, according to records previously obtained by The Scotsmanvia US Freedom of Information laws.

Austin Evers, executive director at American Oversight, said: “No-one objects to the Trump family receiving Secret Service protection, but every time they charge their security detail to stay at a Trump hotel, thousands of taxpayer dollars line their pockets.

“If Eric is going to visit Scotland in the future, the public should demand he find less kleptocratic accommodations.”

The newly released Secret Service receipts disclosed to American Oversight now show that during July, the Secret Service also paid £6,042 to Little’s – a Glasgow-based luxury car rental and chauffeur business.

The same firm received a six-figure windfall from the US federal government the previous summer when Trump flew to Turnberry on a private visit.

The receipts also show that during that month’s Ultimate Links Tour, Secret Service agents accompanied Eric and his guests after they left Turnberry for Trump’s Doonbeg resort in the Republic of Ireland. Trump’s Co Clare firm charged the agency £5,310 for rooms between July 22 and 23.

That April, meanwhile, the Doonbeg hotel also charged £6,680 to the Secret Service for accommodation to cover a visit by Eric. He and his wife, Lara, had visited Turnberry just days before, with Trump’s flagship Scottish firm paid £6,820 for hotel rooms.

The Trump Organisation did not respond to enquiries from The Scotsman.

https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/ ... ps-3212314

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 The damage is done and this is basically irreparable in the short term. Every election lost by a GOP'er will be seen as fraudulent. Plus Dominion's claim that their reputation has been tarnished (to say it politely) and which is the foundation of their lawsuits is solid, because this is not an ATM machine that gives you the $50 you asked for when you press ENTER. I should know as, for example, there is no way I could trust casting a vote in a SMARTMATIC machine, after the fraud they ran in 2004 in Venezuela.
So you system of elections is shot, thanks to these lunatics.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

Throwing dung against the wall to distract from the Coney Barrett book deal.

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 Pedophile & stupid. What kind of punishment should you get?

by JazzNU
ponchi101 wrote: Mon May 03, 2021 8:20 pm Pedophile & stupid. What kind of punishment should you get?
In most places, under the jail. If they're in Eastern Europe, a lengthy sentence in regular prison sounds like an excellent punishment from what I've heard.

by ti-amie








by ponchi101 Sole way for this to end well is if he is handed to The Hague, to ensure impartiality.
But this guy deserves a long sentence. I mean, on top of the OTHER long sentence on top the OTHER.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 He is not going away. And his chances in 2024 are pretty good.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie




by ti-amie Breaking from the NYT:

Activists and Ex-Spy Said to Have Plotted to Discredit Trump ‘Enemies’ in Government
The campaign included planned operations against President Trump’s national security adviser at the time, H.R. McMaster, and F.B.I. employees, according to documents and interviews.

By Adam Goldman and Mark Mazzetti
May 13, 2021
Updated 3:39 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON — A network of conservative activists, aided by a British former spy, mounted a campaign during the Trump administration to discredit perceived enemies of President Trump inside the government, according to documents and people involved in the operations.

The campaign included a planned sting operation against Mr. Trump’s national security adviser at the time, H.R. McMaster, and secret surveillance operations against F.B.I. employees, aimed at exposing anti-Trump sentiment in the bureau’s ranks.

The operations against the F.B.I., run by the conservative group Project Veritas, were conducted from a large home in the Georgetown section of Washington that rented for $10,000 per month. Female undercover operatives arranged dates with the F.B.I. employees with the aim of secretly recording them making disparaging comments about Mr. Trump.

The campaign shows the obsession that some of Mr. Trump’s allies had about a shadowy “deep state” trying to blunt his agenda — and the lengths that some were willing to go to try to purge the government of those believed to be disloyal to the president.

Central to the effort, according to interviews, was Richard Seddon, a former undercover British spy who was recruited in 2016 by the security contractor Erik Prince to train Project Veritas operatives to infiltrate trade unions, Democratic congressional campaigns and other targets. He ran field operations for Project Veritas until mid-2018.


Last year, The New York Times reported that Mr. Seddon ran an expansive effort to gain access to the unions and campaigns and led a hiring effort that nearly tripled the number of the group’s operatives, according to interviews and deposition testimony. He trained operatives at the Prince family ranch in Wyoming.

The efforts to target American officials show how a campaign once focused on exposing outside organizations slowly morphed into an operation to ferret out Mr. Trump’s perceived enemies in the government’s ranks.

Whether any of Mr. Trump’s White House advisers had direct knowledge of the campaign is unclear, but one of the participants in the operation against Mr. McMaster, Barbara Ledeen, said she was brought on by someone “with access to McMaster’s calendar.”

At the time, Ms. Ledeen was a staff member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, then led by Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa.


The scheme against Mr. McMaster, revealed in interviews and documents, was one of the most brazen operations of the campaign. It involved a plan to hire a woman armed with a hidden camera to capture Mr. McMaster making inappropriate remarks that his opponents could use as leverage to get him ousted as national security adviser.

Although several Project Veritas operatives were involved in the plot, it is unclear whether the group directed it. The group, which is a nonprofit, has a history of conducting sting operations on news organizations, Democratic politicians and advocacy groups.

The operation was ultimately abandoned in March 2018 when the conspirators ended up getting what they wanted, albeit by different means. The embattled Mr. McMaster resigned on March 22, a move that avoided a firing by the president who had soured on the three-star general.

Project Veritas did not respond to specific questions about the operations. On Thursday, James O’Keefe, the head of the group, said this article was “a smear piece.”

“Because The New York Times is losing to Project Veritas in a court of law, it is trying to smear Project Veritas in the court of public opinion,” he said. “I think the court, like me, may well be appalled at The New York Times’s continued pattern of defamation of Project Veritas.” He also released a video.

(...)

When confronted with details about her involvement in the McMaster operation, Ms. Ledeen insisted that she was merely a messenger. “I am not part of a plot,” she said.

Scheme Against McMaster

The operation against Mr. McMaster was hatched not long after an article appeared in BuzzFeed News about a private dinner in 2017. Exactly what happened during the dinner is in dispute, but the article said that Mr. McMaster had disparaged Mr. Trump by calling him an “idiot” with the intelligence of a “kindergartner.”

That dinner, at an upscale restaurant in downtown Washington, was attended by Mr. McMaster and Safra A. Catz, the chief executive of Oracle, as well as two of their aides. Not long after, Ms. Catz called Donald F. McGahn II, then the White House counsel, to complain about Mr. McMaster’s behavior, according to two people familiar with the call.

White House officials investigated and could not substantiate her claims, people familiar with their inquiry said. Ms. Catz declined to comment, and there is no evidence that she played any role in the plot against Mr. McMaster.

Soon after the BuzzFeed article, however, the scheme developed to try to entrap Mr. McMaster: Recruit a woman to stake out the same restaurant, Tosca, with a hidden camera. According to the plan, whenever Mr. McMaster returned by himself, the woman would strike up a conversation with him and, over drinks, try to get him to make comments that could be used to either force him to resign or get him fired.

Who initially ordered the operation is unclear. In an interview, Ms. Ledeen said “someone she trusted” contacted her to help with the plan. She said she could not remember who.

“Somebody who had his calendar conveyed to me that he goes to Tosca all the time,” she said of Mr. McMaster.

According to Ms. Ledeen, she passed the message to a man she believed to be a Project Veritas operative during a meeting at the University Club in Washington. Ms. Ledeen said she believed the man provided her with a fake name.


(...)

By then, Mr. McMaster already had a raft of enemies among Trump loyalists, who viewed him as a “globalist” creature of the so-called deep state who was committed to policies they vehemently opposed, like remaining committed to a nuclear deal with Iran and keeping American troops in Afghanistan.

Mr. Seddon recruited Tarah Price, who at one point was a Project Veritas operative, and offered to pay her thousands of dollars to participate in the operation, according to interviews and an email written by a former boyfriend of Ms. Price and sent to Project Veritas Exposed, a group that tries to identify the group’s undercover operatives.

The May 2018 email, a copy of which was obtained by The Times, said that Ms. Price was “going to get paid $10,000 to go undercover and set up some big-name political figure in Washington.” It was unclear who was funding the operation. Ms. Price’s former boyfriend was apparently unaware of the target of the operation, or that Mr. McMaster had been forced to step down in March.

Two people identified the political figure as Mr. McMaster. Ms. Price did not respond to requests for comment.

Ms. Ledeen was a longtime staff member for the Judiciary Committee who had been part of past operations in support of Mr. Trump. In 2016, she was involved in a secret effort with Michael T. Flynn — who went on to become Mr. Trump’s first national security adviser — to hunt down thousands of emails that had been deleted from Hillary Clinton’s private email server.

According to the report by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, Ms. Ledeen had prepared a 25-page proposal about how to obtain what she believed were “classified emails” that had already been “purloined by our enemies.” The exchange was included in emails the special counsel obtained during the investigation.

Image
Barbara Ledeen, one of the participants in the operation against Mr. McMaster, in 2003. She said she recently retired as an aide to the Senate Judiciary Committee.Credit...Scott J. Ferrell/Congressional Quarterly, via Getty Images

Ms. Ledeen later claimed to have obtained the deleted Clinton emails from the dark web and sought Mr. Prince’s assistance to authenticate them. “Erik Prince provided funding to hire a tech adviser to ascertain the authenticity of the emails. According to Prince, the tech adviser determined that the emails were not authentic,” the special counsel’s report said.

She is part of a network of conservative activists who had particular influence in the Trump White House. She is a member of one group, Groundswell, that pushed to purge the White House and other government agencies of “deep state” enemies of Mr. Trump.

Last year, Axios reported that a memo written by Ms. Ledeen — laying out a case against a nominee for a top job in the Treasury Department — was instrumental in Mr. Trump’s decision to withdraw the nomination.

Ms. Ledeen is married to Michael Ledeen, who wrote the 2016 book “The Field of Fight” with Mr. Flynn. She said she retired from the Senate earlier this year.

After Mr. Flynn resigned under pressure as national security adviser, Mr. Trump gave the job to Mr. McMaster — inciting the ire of loyalists to Mr. Flynn.

Ms. Ledeen posted numerous negative articles about Mr. McMaster on her Facebook page. After The Times published its article about Mr. Prince’s work with Project Veritas, she wrote on Facebook, “We owe a lot to Erik Prince.”

A Former Spy’s Role

Mr. Seddon first came to know Mr. Prince in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, when he was stationed at the British Embassy in Washington and Mr. Prince’s company, Blackwater, was winning large American government contracts for work in Afghanistan and Iraq. Former colleagues of Mr. Seddon said he nurtured a love of the American West, and of the country’s gun culture.

He is married to a longtime State Department officer, Alice Seddon, who retired last year.

(...)

Project Veritas also experienced a windfall during the Trump administration, with millions in donations from private donors and conservative foundations. In 2019, the group received a $1 million contribution made through the law firm Alston & Bird, according to a financial document obtained by The Times. The firm has declined to say on whose behalf the contribution was made.

That same year, Project Veritas also received more than $4 million through DonorsTrust, a nonprofit used by conservative groups and individuals.

Targeting F.B.I. Employees

Around the time Mr. McMaster resigned, Mr. Seddon pushed for Project Veritas to establish a base of operations in Washington and found a six-bedroom estate near the Georgetown University campus, according to former Project Veritas employees. The house had a view of the Potomac River and was steps from a dark, narrow staircase made famous by the film “The Exorcist.”

The group used a shell company to rent it, according to Project Veritas documents and interviews.

The plan was simple: Use undercover operatives to entrap F.B.I. employees and other government officials who could be publicly exposed as opposing Mr. Trump.

The group has previously assigned female operatives to secretly record and discredit male targets — sometimes making first contact with them on dating apps. In 2017, a Project Veritas operative also approached a Washington Post reporter with a false claim that a Senate candidate had impregnated her.

During the Trump administration, the F.B.I. became an attractive target for the president’s allies. In late 2017, news reports revealed that a senior F.B.I. counterintelligence agent and a lawyer at the bureau who were working on the Russia investigation had exchanged text messages disparaging Mr. Trump.

The president’s supporters and allies in Congress said the texts were proof of bias at the F.B.I. and that the sprawling Russia inquiry was just a plot by the “deep state” to derail the Trump presidency.

Project Veritas operatives created fake profiles on dating apps to lure the F.B.I. employees, according to two former Project Veritas employees and a screenshot of one of the accounts. They arranged to meet and arrived with a hidden camera and microphone.

Women living at the house had Project Veritas code names, including “Brazil” and “Tiger,” according to three former Project Veritas employees with knowledge of the operations. People living at the house were told not to receive mail using their real names. If they took an Uber home, the driver had to stop before they reached the house to ensure nobody saw where they actually lived, one of the former Project Veritas employees said.

One woman living at the house, Anna Khait, was part of several operations against various targets, including a State Department employee. Project Veritas released a video of the operation in 2018, saying it was the first installment in “an undercover video investigation series unmasking the deep state.”

In the video, Mr. O’Keefe said Project Veritas had been investigating the deep state for more than a year. He did not mention efforts to target the F.B.I.

A former Project Veritas employee and another person identified the woman who targeted the State Department employee as Ms. Khait, who had appeared on the television show “Survivor.”


Ms. Khait did not respond to a request for comment.

By the time Project Veritas released its first “deep state” video, Mr. Seddon had left the group for other ventures — chafing at what he viewed as Mr. O’Keefe’s desire to produce quick media content rather than to run long-term infiltration operations, three former Project Veritas employees said.

He was replaced by Tom Williams, a longtime associate of Mr. Prince’s, two of the former Project Veritas employees said. Mr. Williams also eventually left the group.

Mr. O’Keefe has long defended his group’s methods. In his 2018 book, “American Pravda,” Mr. O’Keefe wrote that a “key distinction between the Project Veritas journalist and establishment reporters” is that “while we use deception to gain access, we never deceive our audience.”

Michael S. Schmidt contributed reporting.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/13/us/p ... ticleShare

by ti-amie Florida. Man.


by ti-amie

by ti-amie


by ti-amie



Scary stuff.

by ponchi101 You guys were really just months away from an autocracy. Had Barr remained as AG you would have been under McCarthy rules again.

by ti-amie

by dave g I see that she (Caroline Orr Bueno) decided to leave out the part that said that they did not think that she (Susan Collins) knew anything about the donation.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie




by ti-amie

Only the best people

by ponchi101 How much money on the Wyoming guy winning?

by ti-amie Is Liz father still alive? If he is I expect more to come out about this guy. I mean the election is next year and they've already linked him to Gaetz and child trafficking. And the folks who linked him to Gaetz are GOP'ers.

by dryrunguy
ti-amie wrote: Fri May 21, 2021 11:47 pm Is Liz father still alive? If he is I expect more to come out about this guy. I mean the election is next year and they've already linked him to Gaetz and child trafficking. And the folks who linked him to Gaetz are GOP'ers.
Yes, DICK is still alive. But I don't think he is in particularly good health.

by ti-amie
dryrunguy wrote: Sat May 22, 2021 12:33 am
ti-amie wrote: Fri May 21, 2021 11:47 pm Is Liz father still alive? If he is I expect more to come out about this guy. I mean the election is next year and they've already linked him to Gaetz and child trafficking. And the folks who linked him to Gaetz are GOP'ers.
Yes, DICK is still alive. But I don't think he is in particularly good health.
This just dropped. The dirty tricks folks are going to have a field day in Wyoming.


by ti-amie

by ponchi101
dryrunguy wrote: Sat May 22, 2021 12:33 am ...

Yes, DICK is still alive. But I don't think he is in particularly good health.
He has enough strings to pull to make it miserable for the other guy.
And if he dies, he will certainly have like a special place in hell. Satan most likely owes him some favors, so he can pull THAT string.
Cheney is one guy I would really not want to have as an enemy.

by ti-amie


by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ti-amie Son, ghostwriter of late senator say Trump intervened to stop probe of Patriots' Spygate scandal

Don Van Natta Jr.Seth Wickersham

IN THE SPRING of 2008, the NFL was in crisis. A hard-charging United States senator from Pennsylvania named Arlen Specter had launched an investigation into the Spygate scandal. He tried to determine how many games the New England Patriots' illegal videotaping operation of opposing coaches' signals had helped the team win and learn why the NFL, under the orders of commissioner Roger Goodell, had destroyed all evidence of the cheating. By May, Specter -- a former Philadelphia district attorney and a lifelong Eagles fan -- was so angry at the "stonewalling" of his inquiry by the league and the Patriots that he called for an independent investigator, similar to the Mitchell investigation of steroid use in professional baseball. League executives and coaches might be forced to testify under oath. The prospect sent the league, and its new commissioner, into panic. "If it ever got to an investigation," Goodell said at one point, "it would be terrible for the league."

The NFL tried to combat the Specter inquiry with public statements from teams that were the primary victims of New England's spying saying the league had done its due diligence. It wasn't working.

But there was one man, a mutual friend of Specter and Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who believed that he could make the investigation go away. He was a famous businessman and reality television star who routinely threw money at politicians to try to curry favor, whether it worked or not. He had been a generous political patron of Specter's for two decades.

One day in early 2008, Specter had dinner with the man in Palm Beach at his palatial club, not far from Kraft's Florida home. A phone call followed. The friend offered Specter what the senator felt was tantamount to a bribe: "If you laid off the Patriots, there'd be a lot of money in Palm Beach."

IN OCTOBER 2017, an ESPN reporter visited the University of Pittsburgh's Archives & Special Collections, housed in a five-story brick building in a neighborhood of warehouses and auto repair shops. For two days, the reporter sifted through Sen. Arlen Specter's letters, speeches, memos, notes and calendars, accumulated across a half-century career in public life, searching for evidence identifying the friend who had offered cash if the senator would shut down his pesky Spygate inquiry.

Two autumns earlier, the reporter had received a tip about the mutual friend's name. At the time, the man had just launched an outside and underdog campaign for president. But the tip was hard to confirm. Among Specter's papers, the reporter found a few clues but nothing conclusive. Before and after the visit to Pittsburgh, the reporter made more than a dozen calls to confidants of Specter, who died in October 2012 of complications from non-Hodgkin lymphoma, but had failed to turn up anything definitive. Another ESPN reporter visited Washington, D.C., meeting with Specter's former staffers at fashionable Beltway gossip venues BLT Steak and Off the Record. Nothing conclusive turned up.

But recently and unexpectedly, there's been movement in the quest. Follow-up conversations with the people closest to Arlen Specter -- his oldest son, Shanin, a Philadelphia personal injury and medical malpractice attorney, and Charles Robbins, Specter's trusted longtime communications aide and the ghostwriter of two Specter memoirs -- revealed this: The man who dangled campaign cash if Specter were to drop the Spygate inquiry was none other than Donald J. Trump.

Not only that: Trump had told Specter he was acting on behalf of Robert Kraft.

Kraft and Trump, both responding to ESPN through spokespeople, denied involvement in any effort to influence Specter's investigation.

"This is completely false," said Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Trump. "We have no idea what you're talking about." Miller declined to answer a series of follow-up questions. A Patriots spokesman said Kraft "never asked Donald Trump to talk to Arlen Specter on his behalf."

"Mr. Kraft is not aware of any involvement of Trump on this topic and he did not have any other engagement with Specter or his staff," the spokesman said via email.

THE ALLEGED SPYGATE connections among Arlen Specter, Donald Trump and Robert Kraft came up almost by accident. On July 1, 2010, Specter sat down with Robbins for one of their tape-recorded discussions to prepare for the writing of Specter's third and final book, a memoir titled "Life Among the Cannibals." Only six weeks earlier, Specter, who famously switched parties from Republican to Democratic, had lost a hard-fought Democratic primary to Congressman Joe Sestak. The defeat effectively ended Specter's five-term tenure in the U.S. Senate.

That evening, during a three-hour conversation inside the dark-hued den of Specter's Georgetown condo, the senator was in an expansive mood, discussing what he had considered his noble crusade for fairness in professional sports. For two decades, Specter was a frequent, loud critic of the NFL. It galled him that franchises extorted cities for new, mostly publicly financed stadiums. More than once, Specter had threatened to file legislation that would revoke the NFL's invaluable antitrust exemption. "This is part of Arlen Specter's thesis that the NFL owns America," Specter told Robbins that night, according to a transcript of their conversation. "They're addicted to pro football in a way they have never been addicted to baseball. Or heroin."

Specter then raised his quixotic inquiry into the Spygate scandal, a source of great frustration because, for one thing, he wondered whether the Patriots cheated to beat his beloved Eagles 24-21 in Super Bowl XXXIX in February 2005. And for another thing, he felt the NFL and the Patriots had stymied his bid to get the truth.

Specter's interest in Spygate began in late 2007. Then the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Specter wrote two letters to Goodell raising questions about the NFL's lightning-quick investigation. In September 2007, only four days after New England was caught taping the New York Jets' coaches' signals from the sideline, the league investigation ended when the commissioner fined the Patriots $250,000 and coach Bill Belichick $500,000 and confiscated the team's first-round draft pick. Goodell then briefly reopened the league investigation days later and ordered his most trusted aide, league general counsel Jeff Pash, to stomp a handful of spying videotapes to pieces inside a Gillette Stadium conference room. The punishments had been delivered before the evidence was collected and then quickly destroyed. To Specter and others, this looked, at best, like an amateur investigation or, worse, like a cover-up. And then Goodell did not respond to either of Specter's letters seeking an explanation.

Specter was still seething about that in January 2008 when Carl Hulse, a congressional reporter for The New York Times, asked Specter who he thought would win that year's Super Bowl, which eventually featured a clash between the undefeated Patriots and the New York Giants.

"It all depends," Specter deadpanned, "if there is cheating involved."

As he recited all of this to Robbins in 2010, Specter sipped a martini on the couch in his den and spoke about his lingering Spygate frustrations. Specter recalled that during a recent fundraising session, he had decided to call up "an unlikely candidate" but "illustrative of my chutzpah, bravado and self-confidence." He called Robert Kraft.

Surprisingly, still furious over Spygate, Kraft agreed to meet with Specter at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, March 15, 2010, in a hotel suite in Boston. Although Kraft says now through a team spokesperson that the meeting "wasn't memorable," Specter told Robbins that the two men "had a delightful conversation," according to the transcript. "And he said, 'Let me get off my chest some things you did to the Patriots which were very unfair. Just very unfair.' I decided not to argue with him." Eventually, Specter and Kraft discussed the purpose of their meeting, campaign money, with the senator's hope being that Kraft and his company would contribute to his Senate reelection campaign.

The Kraft discussion led Specter to offer Robbins an intriguing aside about his Spygate investigation: "On the signal stealing, a mutual friend had told me that 'if I laid off the Patriots, there'd be a lot of money in Palm Beach.' And I replied, 'I couldn't care less.'" Although that exchange is published in Specter's 2012 book, the senator did not identify the powerful friend -- nor did he reveal in print that the friend had told him he was acting as an emissary of Kraft.

It became a fascinating footnote to the Spygate saga, one of many lingering unanswered questions: Who was the mutual friend of Specter and Kraft who had offered "a lot of money" for a powerful senator's Spygate investigation to be dropped?

In an October 2017 interview with an ESPN reporter, Robbins said several possibilities for the mutual friend included the newly inaugurated President Trump. In a subsequent conversation initiated by the reporter, Robbins offered more details: "I asked Specter, and he said, 'It doesn't matter, let's move on,' and I didn't press it." Robbins added that it had bothered him that Specter didn't trust him with the name. But in the end, it didn't really matter, Robbins now says: "I was pretty darn sure the offer was made by Trump. At the time, it didn't seem like such an important moment. Back then, Trump was a real estate hustler and a TV personality."

He was also a prolific political donor. Trump and Specter's friendship began shortly after, according to Federal Election Commission records, Trump wrote his first $1,000 check to Specter's campaign on Aug. 19, 1983.

Over the course of three decades, Trump contributed a total of $11,300 to Specter's campaign committees, often giving the maximum amount allowed in each cycle, FEC records show. Trump and Specter also exchanged a series of friendly, handwritten notes in which Trump, more than once, referred to Specter as his "close friend." On Sept. 1, 2004, during the Republican National Convention in New York City, Trump hosted a fundraising luncheon for Sen. Specter at Trump Tower. Trump and Specter stood for photographs with more than 100 people who had written checks for Specter's reelection campaign. "This guy is a great character," Trump said of Specter, according to a report in The Morning Call of Allentown, Pennsylvania. "Arlen is quite simply a friend of mine. He's just someone I like." Trump then glanced at Specter, adding, "I don't know if that helps you or hurts you."

Trump and Specter also were linked by a mutual friend: Roger Stone. Stone had served as chairman of Specter's 1996 presidential campaign, and Trump later hired Stone to again help with political activities, a role that would lead to his conviction on charges of lying to Congress in connection with Robert Mueller's investigation of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Stone, whose sentence was commuted by Trump in July 2020, declined repeated requests to comment for this story. He has said he often lobbied Specter on an array of issues.

With Robbins now on the record that he believed Specter's "mutual friend" who had offered him money in Palm Beach was Trump, an ESPN reporter reached out again to Shanin Specter, Arlen's son. In October 2017, Shanin Specter and the reporter had discussed a few people who could have made the call to his father. He says he left the conversation under the impression he had pointed to Trump as the person. But now, he's far more definitive: "It was Trump."

"My father told me that Trump was acting as a messenger for Kraft," Shanin Specter says. "But I'm equally sure the reference to money in Palm Beach was campaign contributions, not cash. The offer was Kraft assistance with campaign contributions. ... My father said it was Kraft's offer, not someone else's."

"He was pissed," Shanin Specter says about his father. "He told me about the call in the wake of the conversation and his anger about it. ... My father was upset when [such overtures] would happen because he felt as if it were tantamount to a bribe solicitation, though the case law on this subject says it isn't. ... He would tell me these things when they occurred. We were very close."

He insists his statements today are not politically motivated, although he supported former Vice President Joe Biden's election bid last fall. And, to be fair, this wasn't a piece of information he took the initiative to reveal; he answered a reporter's follow-up questions after Robbins said more definitely that the friend who made the cash offer to Specter could only have been Trump.

Arlen Specter did not report the offer to the authorities or to Senate ethics officials after he concluded that the case law stated the offer wasn't a bribe solicitation, Shanin Specter said.

Election experts say it's a close call as to whether such an offer would be a bribe in the sense that it would be a prosecutable offense.

Federal statute 18 U.S.C. 201 covers the bribery of public officials: The government must identify "a question, matter, cause, suit, proceeding or controversy" that "may at any time be pending" or "may by law be brought before a public official." The law also covers an offer made on someone's behalf for an official decision. The statute of limitations is five years.

Matthew T. Sanderson, a Republican election attorney and a partner at Caplin & Drysdale in Washington, says, "It is immaterial whether Specter took Trump up on the offer formally. You can't walk up to a U.S. senator and say my friend has a big bag of cash for you, even if it's campaign money, if you would drop your investigation. That's a bribe."

But the truth is, this kind of thing happens and is not prosecuted, two other experts said. There are bribes, and then there are bribes. "You'd think campaign contributions would be considered bribes, and it's hard to understand they're not," one of the experts told ESPN. "We've just decided they're not -- and senators and congressmen certainly don't believe they are."

Before he was elected president, Trump considered himself a one-man lobbying firm. Repeatedly during the 2016 campaign, Trump said he used campaign money, given frequently to Democrats and Republicans, as an effective way to get things done "for business."

"I support politicians," Trump said at the March 4, 2016, Republican debate in Detroit. "In 2008, I supported Hillary Clinton. I supported many other people, by the way. And that was because of the fact that I'm in business."

Despite Shanin Specter's allegation of a Trump offer on behalf of Kraft in 2008 and Sen. Specter asking Kraft for campaign money at their meeting in March 2010, FEC records show that neither Kraft nor his company, the Kraft Group, donated a single dollar to Arlen Specter's campaign committees. Kraft confirmed that neither he nor any of his entities ever donated to Specter. But amazingly, the Trump offer -- and Specter's fury about it -- wasn't enough to prevent Specter, two years after he closed his Spygate inquiry, from visiting Kraft in Boston seeking a campaign check. With his Spygate inquiry long dead, Specter figured, an opportunity to support his reelection campaign might have enticed Kraft.

TO UNDERSTAND WHY Trump might have intervened in a Spygate inquiry with a senator he considered an old friend, one needs to understand the origins of the nearly 30-year-old friendship between Donald Trump and Robert Kraft -- and how Trump often tried to ingratiate himself with the leaders of Kraft's team. The Trump-Kraft relationship was symbiotic long before it became controversial. It began in the 1990s, when Kraft and his wife, Myra, bought a place in Palm Beach near Mar-a-Lago. Kraft and Trump played golf together, and Trump joined Jon Bon Jovi as regular celebrities at Patriots games during the first half of the team's dynasty. After New England upset the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI -- the game that launched the Patriots dynasty and that, years later, Specter was most interested in investigating for cheating -- 24-year-old Tom Brady found himself with Trump on the businessman's tricked-out Boeing 727, eating sandwiches, sitting on an Italian leather couch, in the mystical embryonic stage of fame, en route from New York to Gary, Indiana, where Brady would serve as a judge for Trump's Miss USA pageant. "Let me tell you," Trump later said to Sports Illustrated, "if one thing stands out about Tom Brady, it's that he loves those women. And guess what? They love him too."

The relationship strengthened as New England's Super Bowl rings added up. Trump considered himself a winner and liked to be around winners. To Brady, Trump was "Mr. Trump," which embarrassed the businessman. To Kraft and Belichick, he was "Donald," a good friend whose trademark was not his bombastic self-proclamations and loud narcissism but rather his thoughtfulness and unselfishness. Kraft attended Trump's wedding to Melania Knauss in January 2005 at Mar-a-Lago, and Donald and Melania attended Myra Kraft's funeral in July 2011. Kraft was devastated when Myra died, and Trump called Kraft every week for a year to check in on him. Kraft has spoken frequently about how much Trump's gesture meant to him. "Loyalty and friendship trumps politics for me," Kraft said. "I always remember the people who were good to me in that vulnerable time, and he's in that category."

At one point, Trump wanted his daughter Ivanka to date Brady. "You have to meet him!" Trump told her, according to the book "Raising Trump." Ivanka wasn't interested, and she married Jared Kushner in 2009 -- the same year Brady married Gisele Bundchen. Trump later reportedly mused to Kraft that he could have had Tom Brady as a son-in-law but instead ended up with Kushner, who "is about half the size of Tom Brady's forearm," according to the book "Kushner, Inc." Before one game, Trump boasted that Belichick hugged and kissed him. All the men -- Kraft, Belichick, Brady and Trump -- shared anger over the way Roger Goodell handled New England's two cheating scandals. Trump mocked Goodell during Deflategate, calling him a "dope," according to The New York Times, and publicly urged Brady to sue the league to clear his name.

By the time Trump ran for the White House, the Trump/Patriots alliance began to erode -- mainly due to Trump's divisive and racist rhetoric. When a red Make America Great Again hat was spotted inside Brady's locker in September 2015, the star quarterback dodged questions about it, saying he was merely supporting a golfing buddy. In the summer of 2016, Trump asked Brady to address the Republican National Convention, but the quarterback declined. Late in the 2016 campaign, after Trump read a letter of support from Belichick -- in which the coach groused about their shared contempt for the media -- it prompted so much fallout that Belichick was forced to address it in a Wednesday news conference, normally his most reserved day of the week. The coach described himself as apolitical and deflected all follow-up questions in the vein of "We're on to Cincinnati" by simply saying, "Seattle. Seattle. Seattle." On Instagram, Bundchen was asked whether she and her husband had backed Trump. "NO!" she replied. But through it all, Kraft remained a loyal friend. "For me," Kraft said in May 2017, "it's like having a high school buddy or fraternity brother become president. It's weird, but it's cool." Kraft opened his checkbook for his friend; he was one of seven NFL owners to each contribute $1 million to Trump's inauguration committee.

After New England won the Super Bowl over the Atlanta Falcons a couple of weeks after Trump's inauguration, the team was scheduled to visit the White House. Many players skipped it, including Brady. Hoping to avoid a lackluster turnout, Kraft showed players a photo of himself in the Lincoln Bedroom, hinting that the team would get a special tour of the White House residence. Sure enough, during the visit on April 19, 2017, Trump said before a small group of players and coaches, "Let's go to the Lincoln Bedroom!"

An aide told the president that visitors don't go up there.

"We take the Patriots!" Trump said.

But the relationship continued to be fraught with difficulties. After Trump went to war with the NFL during the fall of 2017 over players taking a knee during the national anthem, it was Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, not Kraft, who boasted in owners meetings about his direct line to the president. Kraft continued to see the president socially, including the occasional dinner at Mar-a-Lago. But when the Patriots won the Super Bowl a second time during Trump's presidency, over the Los Angeles Rams in 2019, the team never made it to the White House. Twice the Patriots had dates locked in. One time, the team had to reschedule; the other time, it was the White House. Neither side seemed eager to find a makeup date. In one of Trump's final acts in office, in January 2021, he offered to award Belichick the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It was the type of honor that a student of the military, whose father was a World War II veteran who spent three decades at the United States Naval Academy, might have treasured. But the coach declined the award, citing the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

SPECTER SAID HE decided to embark on a one-man Spygate investigation for a simple reason. "The NFL has a very preferred status in our country with their antitrust exemption," he told The New York Times in early February 2008. "The American people are entitled to be sure about the integrity of the game."

Two weeks after delivering that statement, Specter and his staff met with Roger Goodell and Jeff Pash for an hour and 40 minutes in his Senate office on Capitol Hill. The commissioner defended the punishments and offered scant new information in response to the former prosecutor's many questions. Danny Fisher, a counsel on Specter's Judiciary Committee staff and a lead investigator on the Spygate inquiry, had a list of 13 current and former Patriots to interview, including Robert and Jonathan Kraft, Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, Ernie Adams, Charlie Weis and a host of videographers. None of the current Patriots agreed to talk, referring Fisher to outside counsel.

Although his one-man inquiry lacked subpoena power, Specter's outspoken criticism of the NFL's Spygate investigation frightened the league and Kraft, who less than two years earlier had supported Goodell to succeed Paul Tagliabue as commissioner. Goodell persuaded the Eagles and Steelers to release statements insisting that the league had done its due diligence, even though executives with both teams were convinced the NFL investigation was flawed and deliberately incurious. Goodell also called Mike Martz, who had been the head coach of the Rams during Super Bowl XXXVI. In early 2008, the Boston Herald had reported that the Patriots videotaped the Rams' walk-through practice the day before the game -- a report that the Patriots denied and the Herald later retracted. (Patriots videographers witnessed the walk-through but did not tape it.) Sounding panicked, Goodell asked Martz to release a statement. "He told me, 'The league doesn't need this. We're asking you to come out with a couple lines exonerating us and saying we did our due diligence,'" Martz told ESPN in 2015. Martz was convinced that New England had cheated against his team in the Super Bowl, but he also believed a wider inquiry with subpoena power "could kill the league." Martz wrote a statement, which he later said had been significantly altered by the league before it was released.

Specter was furious that his investigation was being stonewalled. In his notes during the session with Goodell and Pash, he jotted, "Cover-up."

"At every turn, we were rebuffed from speaking with Patriots employees and personnel as well as others that had direct knowledge about the videotaping and the allegations of cheating," says Fisher, the counsel on Specter's staff. "It was extremely frustrating to Specter, especially in light of the NFL telling us there was no competitive advantage or benefit to the videotaping. If there's nothing to hide, why not be open and transparent?"

Before Specter had officially announced his inquiry, Donald and Melania Trump invited Specter and his wife, Joan, to a private dinner at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday, Jan. 20, 2008 -- the day of the AFC and NFC championship games. Four days later, Specter wrote a handwritten card to the Trumps: "Dear Donald & Melania, Joan and I very much enjoyed our dinner with you. The food was excellent and the company was better. Donald, you ought to give some serious thought to becoming a Cabinet secretary. Meanwhile, we look forward to March 18th. My Best, Arlen."

March 18, 2008, was the date of a party in Philadelphia for Specter's recently published book, "Never Give In." Trump served as the book party's co-host, according to the Specter papers. By that time, Specter's investigation of Spygate had grabbed many headlines. Shanin Specter said he can't recall precisely when his father told him about the Trump offer, but he said it was shortly after the senator had received the Trump call during the first half of 2008.

Not long after the book party, on March 31, 2008, Trump wrote a $1,300 check to Specter's campaign committee. It would be the last campaign check Trump would write for Specter.

By mid-May of that year, after Goodell interviewed former Patriots videographer Matt Walsh and all but declared the league's third look at Spygate closed, Specter's Spygate inquiry was running out of momentum. Specter couldn't interest his fellow senators in exploring it, though he continued to threaten to introduce legislation that would revoke the NFL's antitrust exemption. Some columnists excoriated Specter for spending so much time on the Spygate inquiry while the economy was rapidly deteriorating and the United States was still fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Specter was also accused of fighting with the NFL over Spygate on behalf of one of his most powerful political patrons: Comcast, the Philadelphia-based cable TV company that was Specter's second-largest contributor. At the time, Comcast was engaged in a public war with the NFL over whether the cable company could charge its customers for carrying the NFL Network. The criticism outraged Specter, who adamantly denied such suggestions. Still, Specter later acknowledged in notes in his personal papers that the "stonewalling" of his inquiry, combined with the mounting criticism and questions about his motives, was wearing on him. At 78, he was fighting cancer by undergoing chemotherapy sessions and told friends it was time to conclude his one-man battle against the Patriots and the NFL.

On June 5, 2008, Specter delivered a lengthy speech on the Senate floor, one he wrote himself by hand over several weeks, intended as his final word on Spygate. He defended himself against the Comcast criticism while again ripping the league's Spygate inquiry and calling for an "impartial investigation."

Now Shanin Specter says he was proud of his father, who he felt "did a great job" in pursuing the truth about Spygate. "He was alone, but so what? He was used to that," he said. "He was a football fan who felt he'd been cheated and a senator who felt the NFL needed to police themselves in order to maintain their congressional-awarded antitrust exemption. He was right on both counts. Now we know Belichick was, and is, a serial cheater and, in this instance, his boss closed ranks behind him."

Arlen Specter told confidants that the mysteries of Spygate -- precisely how many games the spying operation helped New England win, why the league had so quickly destroyed all the evidence turned over by the Patriots -- would remain stubborn secrets. And in doing so, Specter kept a few secrets of his own. Why didn't the senator name Donald Trump in his last memoir? Was it because, even though he was insulted by the offer, Trump was his friend? Or was it because Specter knew Kraft hadn't given him any campaign cash, and no harm, no foul, so why name names?

"I'm not sure why he didn't disclose it was Trump in the book," Shanin Specter said. "But he liked Trump. They had a warm relationship. So that may explain it. But that, of course, was a different Trump. If my father were in the Senate today, a lot of things would be different."

As with so much about Spygate, nobody will ever know.

Seth Wickersham and Don Van Natta Jr. are senior writers for ESPN.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/314 ... te-scandal

by ponchi101 In view of the multiple things that Tiny did, this is minor. But it is as if he went out and LOOKED FOR immoral things to do.
He reminds me so much of the bozos in Venezuela. We feel like they wake up every morning thinking "what can we make to make people's lives more miserable?". Tiny was "What NEW illegal thing can I do today?"

by ti-amie

by JazzNU FYI, this is happening as well. Michael Flynn is apparently the one pushing the coup part publicly.



by ti-amie And of course he's denying he said any such thing.

by ponchi101 I know there have been crazy people all throughout history. But this is different. These are people that are articulate (to a degree) and still are delusional as a hatter. If this is a disease, it is modern in essence.

by Jeff from TX
JazzNU wrote: Tue Jun 01, 2021 9:42 pm FYI, this is happening as well. Michael Flynn is apparently the one pushing the coup part publicly.


Can any of these people interviewed that are going on about Myanmar even locate it on a map? :roll:

God, these people are frightening in their pathology.

by ti-amie These folks are the way they are by design. For at least the last 20 years the GQP has been telling them that their opinions are just as valid as those of someone who has studied a subject for years, worked in it, and has maybe travelled overseas to learn more about it. Then they began to tell them what "folks like them are thinking and saying" thus giving them the opinions they want them to have. I think this is why the ignorance is so ingrained at this point it's generational.

by JazzNU Don Jr is selling videos on Cameo for $500 a pop. But sure, we believe you when you say your family has billions.



by ti-amie
JazzNU wrote: Thu Jun 03, 2021 11:06 pm Don Jr is selling videos on Cameo for $500 a pop. But sure, we believe you when you say your family has billions.


I don't understand why anyone would pay money to see someone on this platform. Is there something going here that I'm too naïve to see?
How much does a cameo cost?
Prices start as low as $1 to $5 for less recognizable online talent while iconic stars, like Ice Cube, Joe Montana, and Caitlyn Jenner, charge anywhere from $500 to $2,500 for a Cameo video.Mar. 10, 2021

by JTContinental I wouldn't pay to have a personalized message sent to me, but my husband got me Cameos from Sloane Stephens, Madison Keys (who was delightful), and Sandra from Survivor for my birthday and I thought it was pretty cool.

by ti-amie
JTContinental wrote: Fri Jun 04, 2021 12:05 am I wouldn't pay to have a personalized message sent to me, but my husband got me Cameos from Sloane Stephens, Madison Keys (who was delightful), and Sandra from Survivor for my birthday and I thought it was pretty cool.
Obviously I'm too old...

by ti-amie

by ti-amie State GOPs Can’t Explain Millions In ‘Trump Victory’ Cash
MYSTERY MACHINE
“These joint fundraising practices amount to little more than legalized money laundering,” said Brendan Fischer, director of federal reform at the Campaign Legal Center.

Roger Sollenberger
Political Reporter
Updated Jun. 09, 2021 12:12PM ET / Published Jun. 09, 2021 4:39AM ET

The article is behind a paywall


by JazzNU

by ti-amie Pathetic.

by ponchi101 Sincerely, I will take your word for it. No way I sit down to watch a clip of that idiot.

by ti-amie Re subpoena-gate:









Joyce Alene
@JoyceWhiteVance
Also, if DOJ used a 2703(d) order, the only way to get more than the very limited subscriber info you can get via subpoena, there is no way an order for a Congressman wouldn't be cleared all the way to the top.

by ti-amie A different perspective on subpoena - gate






by ti-amie Fascinating read.











p1

by ti-amie p2/L



Just WOW.

by ti-amie If the above is TL;dr here's the summary:

Pwn All The Things
@pwnallthethings
Replying to
@daveaitel
Trump directed DOJ to overturn the result of the presidential election.

by the Moz the Donald has faced next to no political repercussions - the events of 3 Nov the obvious exception - for his actions as President. What is it going to take to get him indicted already??

by patrick Looks like nothing as long as McConnell, McCarthy, Cruz, FOX News and others are covering up for his transgressions.

by dryrunguy Meanwhile, drove over the Shirleysburg again yesterday afternoon. Still lots of Trump signs and flags. And now one house just outside of Shade Gap has a display of Trump flags for sale at $10 a pop. The "F*** Biden" flag is among the selection. Let me know if any of you would like to place an order ($10 flag + shipping + my $25 gas fee).

by JazzNU
dryrunguy wrote: Wed Jun 16, 2021 5:56 pm Meanwhile, drove over the Shirleysburg again yesterday afternoon. Still lots of Trump signs and flags. And now one house just outside of Shade Gap has a display of Trump flags for sale at $10 a pop. The "F*** Biden" flag is among the selection. Let me know if any of you would like to place an order ($10 flag + shipping + my $25 gas fee).

I've told you before that I've always assumed I'd die if I got off the Turnpike near you and it's like you want to confirm that's absolutely true.

by ti-amie
JazzNU wrote: Wed Jun 16, 2021 6:38 pm
dryrunguy wrote: Wed Jun 16, 2021 5:56 pm Meanwhile, drove over the Shirleysburg again yesterday afternoon. Still lots of Trump signs and flags. And now one house just outside of Shade Gap has a display of Trump flags for sale at $10 a pop. The "F*** Biden" flag is among the selection. Let me know if any of you would like to place an order ($10 flag + shipping + my $25 gas fee).

I've told you before that I've always assumed I'd die if I got off the Turnpike near you and it's like you want to confirm that's absolutely true.
Sundown area's are very much alive.

by dryrunguy
JazzNU wrote: Wed Jun 16, 2021 6:38 pm
dryrunguy wrote: Wed Jun 16, 2021 5:56 pm Meanwhile, drove over the Shirleysburg again yesterday afternoon. Still lots of Trump signs and flags. And now one house just outside of Shade Gap has a display of Trump flags for sale at $10 a pop. The "F*** Biden" flag is among the selection. Let me know if any of you would like to place an order ($10 flag + shipping + my $25 gas fee).

I've told you before that I've always assumed I'd die if I got off the Turnpike near you and it's like you want to confirm that's absolutely true.
:lol: :lol: :lol:

by dryrunguy I guess I'll put this here...

A New Darkness Falls on the Trump Movement

It was 6 a.m. in Cleveland. I had spent the night trying to sleep stretched out across three chairs in the baggage claim at the airport and was wearing the same sweaty, grass-stained sundress I’d worn at the Donald Trump rally from the night before, when a familiar face sat down next to me on the flight back to Washington D.C.

There was Marjorie Taylor Greene sporting camo shorts and rhinestone bracelets, sipping a green Monster Energy drink. Hours earlier, the Georgia lawmaker and CrossFit devotee had delivered a stemwinder that made Trump’s own stream-of-consciousness remarks seem subdued in comparison.

“I saw you speak at the rally last night,” I said, my eyes bloodshot and my forehead leathery from baking in the June sun the day before.

“Oh?” Greene perked up, before quickly deflating when I informed her I was a reporter. “You [the media] don’t treat me very fairly.”

My days aren’t normally quite this … unusual. But it seemed oddly appropriate given the moment.Trump’s reemergence on the political scene is promising to spark a seismic disruption to America’s political system bigger than the one he caused when he descended down his gilded escalator six years ago. Where once his supporters were hopeful, they now seemed aggrieved. The crowds are more frenzied, the conspiracies more fantastical, the cast of characters more outlandish.

That includes Greene, a freshmen congresswoman from exurban Atlanta and self-described Qanon repentant who — just six months in office — has managed to get expelled from her committees and nearly censured for comparing mask-wearing to the Holocaust. A resume like that would, in past times, relegate her to the fringes of her party. But, on our chat home, she explained just how central she is set to become in the Trump comeback narrative.

The former president, she said, had personally invited her to the rally and, schedule permitting, she planned to attend his upcoming events across the country this summer.

Greene is an unapologetic type, which goes some way to explaining why she is appreciated by Trump — a man loath to ever admit fault or apologize. On stage, he praised her as “loved and respected, tough, smart and kind.”

During our flight home, she explained her penchant for making controversial statements as a byproduct of her northwest Georgia upbringing: that’s just how people talk back home. She said she felt the media has given her, a mom and businesswoman, an unfair shake, though the controversy that surrounds her is often of her own making — like the time she attracted headlines for agreeing with people who said the Parkland massacre was a “false-flag planned shooting.” She told me she continues to believe the 2020 election was stolen, though its validity has been proven time and again.

She never once asked to go off record as I sat there, in our row, half asleep and half awake. It had been a long 24 hours.

Earlier that day, I had traveled to the Lorain County fairgrounds in rural northeast Ohio to cover Trump’s first true post-presidential rally. The events tend to resemble a cross between a NASCAR tailgate and a traveling circus. Vendors from states far away come to sell their MAGA hats and Trump T-shirts. There are diehard fans who camp out days before to get a prime position. Strangers give each other high fives and honk their car horns as they pass houses flying Trump, or now, “F--- Biden” flags.

On Saturday evening, Trump had come to town to support congressional candidate Max Miller, a former White House aide who gained his endorsement partly because he was a loyal footsoldier willing to take on Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump following the Jan. 6 riots.

But no one seemed to care about any of that. Few of the attendees registered any opinion on the congressional race. Two people I interviewed from the 16th District didn’t even know who Gonzalez or Miller were.

Instead, they wanted to hear from Trump; and, if not him, then the supporting cast of allies who have eagerly fed the fraud that the 2020 election was stolen, ripped from the hands of voters like them.

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a Trump confidant and donor who has pushed conspiracy theories about the election so wild that he is now the defendant in a multi-million dollar defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems, was greeted like a veritable rock star. Wearing a suit and tie, sweat glistening off his face, he posed for selfies with fans, as they screamed out “hero!” at his mere passing by.

Lindell may have been one of the evening’s main actors, but the play itself was a fantasy about this past November.

On stage, a math teacher from Cincinnati gave a bizarre PowerPoint presentation to a patient audience that squinted in the sun to see slides of squiggly lines he said amounted to evidence of widespread, coordinated election fraud. He used his fuzzy math to prove Trump actually won the election, and the audience nodded along.

When it was Greene’s turn to speak, she asked the audience, “Who is your president?” “Trump!,” they replied, even though the year is 2021 and Joe Biden occupies the White House.

Not that the crowd needed much convincing. I asked Richard Stachurski, a resident of Wellington, Ohio, if he wanted Trump to run in 2024.

“How do you run for president if you’re already president?” he replied.

When he finally took the stage, Trump attacked Biden’s policies and became animated when he pivoted to the past, talking about his negotiations with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and his plans for a border wall.

There was a familiarity to it all. The chants of “4 MORE YEARS!” and “LOCK HIM UP!” (this time, aimed at infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci instead of former campaign rival Hillary Clinton). The recitation of the sinister poem, “The Snake.”

And yet, there were signs this rally was different. During past rallies, Trump’s supporters applauded Trump as he trashed immigrants, demonized the media, and echoed his calls to lock up his opponents. But they also felt hopeful the Manhattan billionaire was giving them a voice. There was a sense that this charismatic outsider would empower them to change Washington, and a joyfulness that came with being part of a movement. Now, they felt cheated. “WE THE PEOPLE ARE PISSED OFF,” one popular rally T-shirt read. Their champion was no longer in office, which means he had been stripped of any real power. It seemed to feed a sense of desperation, even from Trump himself.

“The subject matter is somewhat depressing,” he said of his own speech.

In all, Trump spoke for more than 95 minutes, and after the rally was over, supporters marched back to their cars. In the distance, the bright lights of the rally that read “SAVE AMERICA AGAIN” and a lit-up fairground french fries truck painted a dusky dreamscape redolent of Edward Hopper.

“Gloria,” the one-hit-wonder disco song about a woman driven to insanity because of a man, could be heard blaring from the speakers.

"Are the voices in your head calling, Gloria?”

People sang along.

It was time for us all to go home. And so I did, to the hotel I assumed I had booked. But when I arrived, the receptionist couldn’t find my reservation number. And after calling every hotel in the area, I resigned myself to the fact that a few hours in bed just wasn’t going to happen. To the airport I went.

“I think it’s because there was a Trump rally tonight,” one hotel receptionist said.

“Yes,” I replied, “Yes, there was.”

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/ ... ure-496991

by ponchi101 Sickeningly interesting.

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 Sorry, but...
Why would any organization give $14.25MM to get this woman into the SCOTUS, when giving $2MM to any Trump organization or lackey would have done the trick?
Tiny's penchant for grift is well known.
Not buying this, not yet.

by ti-amie

by dave g I am pretty sure that Art Martin is wrong. The governor has control over the National Guard, not the Federal Government. This is why former President Trump could not call out the National Guard to deal with the Black Lives Matter protests.

But that does leave the question of "Why would the Governor of South Dakota want to deploy National Guard along the southern border?" I am not sure that the Governor of South Dakota has the right to deploy the South Dakota National Guard outside of South Dakota without the receiving state's permission.

by JazzNU I think you're both right, saying things somewhat differently. National Guard units are directed by the Governor of the state or territory, but that doesn't change that they are military reserves and part of the armed forces under the DoD.

I'm not sure how there is a way to look at an attempt to privately fund activities carried out by the actual US military as anything other than extrajudicial.

by JazzNU Odds on favorite to win the 2024 GOP Presidential Nomination. Good lord.



by ti-amie
JazzNU wrote: Wed Jul 14, 2021 5:41 pm Odds on favorite to win the 2024 GOP Presidential Nomination. Good lord.



by ti-amie





An opioid addict under stress from his job. Maybe they wanted him to stay awake and do the job they were paying him to do? Sounds more like something a meth addict would say. JMHO

by ponchi101 Wouldn't you be able to tell whether he was under the influence by the voice in the recording?
I mean, this person obviously needs to spend considerable time behind bars, and after that, he needs a tracking device. But if he really was stressed out, I gather some technical analysis could tell.
Serious question. I have no idea.

by ti-amie

by JazzNU






by ti-amie Someone on Legal Twitter either the end of last week or over the weekend said that someone should file a class action suit against Fox News for their covid coverage, especially since all of them are vaccinated. I don't know if they all are but I wouldn't doubt it.

by ti-amie

by JazzNU The Freedom Phone crowd is taking a rather disgusting victory lap today because the US Women's Soccer team had that shutout loss to Sweden this morning. America first, right?

by ti-amie
JazzNU wrote: Wed Jul 21, 2021 7:36 pm The Freedom Phone crowd is taking a rather disgusting victory lap today because the US Women's Soccer team had that shutout loss to Sweden this morning. America first, right?
Of course they are.

by Suliso What's the story connecting freedom phones to women's soccer?

by ti-amie
Suliso wrote: Wed Jul 21, 2021 9:50 pm What's the story connecting freedom phones to women's soccer?
The USWNT's main spokesperson is an out lesbian Megan Rapinoe. She's taken a lot of anti-MAGA stances. Them losing so badly in the first round would make all of the incels and misogynists on the right happy.

by JazzNU There are more lesbians on the team besides Rapinoe, including previously having a married couple on the team. But the thing they appear to be the most pissed off about right now is the thing they've been pissed at Megan about for years now - the team took a knee. Megan took a knee years ago before the team has been doing it as a whole more recently.

Now this group are full of idiots, so as they celebrate this defeat, they are also forcefully cheering on Sweden and whoever else comes against them. They seemed to have missed that the Swedish team also took a knee along with several other teams. They are so, so dumb.

by ti-amie TL;dr Grifters gonna grift

Trump’s PAC collected $75 million this year, but so far the group has not put money into pushing for the 2020 ballot reviews he touts

By
Josh Dawsey and Rosalind S. Helderman

Today at 12:32 p.m. EDT

Former president Donald Trump’s political PAC raised roughly $75 million in the first half of this year as he trumpeted the false notion that the 2020 election was stolen from him, but the group has not devoted funds to help finance the ongoing ballot review in Arizona or to push for similar endeavors in other states, according to people familiar with the finances.

Instead, the Save America leadership PAC — which has few limits on how it can spend its money — has paid for some of the former president’s travel, legal costs and staff, along with other expenses, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of the anonymity to describe the group’s inner workings. The PAC has held onto much of its cash.

Even as he assiduously tracks attempts by his allies to cast doubt on the integrity of last year’s election, Trump has been uninterested in personally bankrolling the efforts, relying on an array of other entities and supporters to fund the endeavors, they said.

The tactic allows Trump to build up a war chest to use in the 2022 midterms on behalf of candidates he favors — and to stockpile cash for another potential White House run, an unprecedented maneuver for a former president.

In the meantime, the months-long audit of Maricopa County’s ballots in Arizona — which is expected to costs millions of dollars — is being paid for primarily by nonprofits that do not disclose their donors and private individuals such as former Overstock chief executive Patrick Byrne. A lawsuit seeking a similar audit in Fulton County, Ga., has been financed by small donations, according to the group that brought the claim.

A spokeswoman for Trump did not answer questions on whether the group is considering putting money into the ballot review efforts. The group will have to publicly disclose its fundraising and spending for the first half of the year by July 31.


After leaving office, Trump has repeatedly pushed for a range of states to overturn the election results, sending out a blizzard of statements with unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud. He has consulted with state officials in Arizona, Pennsylvania and Georgia, and has described state ballot reviews as the key to prove he won the 2020 election. And his political group has repeatedly urged donors to give by claiming Trump is working to protect their vote — fundraising pitches that his advisers say remain the most lucrative.

“We need you to join the fight to SECURE OUR ELECTIONS!” reads one Facebook ad.


(...)

Besides fundraising, Trump has begun renting the massive trove of data that his campaign amassed to other candidates he supports in exchange for a share of their fundraising revenue, according to people familiar with the deal. That could ultimately prove another valuable cash flow for him. :o

(...)

Among those fundraising for the audit are Voices and Votes, a group founded by One America News network host Christina Bobb, who frequently uses her on-air reports about the audit to encourage viewers to donate.

Byrne, who attended a chaotic Oval Office meeting with Trump in December to discuss ways to overturn the election, founded another group, the America Project, which Byrne said has raised $1.2 million to help pay for the Arizona review. Byrne also told The Washington Post that he personally donated another $500,000. Because the group is not required to disclose information about its donors or spending, it is not possible to corroborate those assertions.

Supporters of a different group — Election Integrity Funds for the American Republic — which has been promoted by Michigan attorney Matthew DePerno — have in recent weeks taken to the social media platform Telegram, popular among Trump allies, to allege that Byrne had not followed through on his funding promises. They pushed allies to donate to their group instead. Byrne has strongly denied those claims.

(...)

Additional details about the financing of the Arizona audit could emerge in coming weeks. Last week, an Arizona judge found that records and correspondence related to Cyber Ninjas, the private contractor hired to conduct the audit, should be considered public documents under state law, including information related to audit funding. The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by the group American Oversight.

The litigation is ongoing but in denying a motion by the Senate to dismiss the case, Judge Michael Kemp wrote, “It is difficult to conceive of a case with a more compelling public interest demanding public disclosure and public scrutiny.”

...In Pennsylvania, for instance, state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R), a Trump ally who has repeatedly questioned the election outcome, sent letters on July 7 to three Pennsylvania jurisdictions — the city of Philadelphia, as well as the Republican-leaning counties of York and Tioga — requesting that they turn over to the legislature a long list of voting-related items, including all of their voting machines, tabulators and ballots from the 2020 election.

Citing his role as the chairman of the state Senate’s Intergovernmental Operations Committee, which he wrote has the power to subpoena documents from government agencies, Mastriano told the counties that if they did not provide a plan to comply with his request by July 31, subpoenas could be forthcoming.

State officials have warned that turning over voting equipment could result in counties footing the bill to replace them. York and Tioga counties have already told Mastriano they do not plan to comply voluntarily. Philadelphia has not yet responded.

Mastriano has not said who would pay for the audit if he is able to obtain the information he is seeking from the three localities.

Trump allies have also been seeking an audit in Georgia, though so far unsuccessfully. Activists who have been hoping a judge in Fulton County would order that they be given access to ballots and equipment have so far instead settled for examining computerized images of ballots, which are accessible in Georgia via a public records request.

Garland Favorito, who leads the activist group that brought the lawsuit, has said his effort is being funded entirely by small-dollar donors to his organization, and he has received no other outside funding.

Amy Gardner contributed to this report.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... story.html

by ti-amie




by JazzNU
ti-amie wrote: Thu Jul 22, 2021 8:38 pm
State officials have warned that turning over voting equipment could result in counties footing the bill to replace them. York and Tioga counties have already told Mastriano they do not plan to comply voluntarily. Philadelphia has not yet responded.

Mastriano has not said who would pay for the audit if he is able to obtain the information he is seeking from the three localities.

This is especially hilarious because those voting machines are damn near brand new, required to be in compliance with new secure balloting measure enacted in maybe 2019, used for maybe two primaries and two general elections. The counties have barely paid off those machines, they sure as (expletive) aren't buying new ones.

by ti-amie

Image

Gee and all this time i thought jail was like going to a spa. Who knew? /s

by ponchi101 The poor darling. If only he were in one of those socialist countries like Norway, where prisons have tennis courts...

by ti-amie
ponchi101 wrote: Sat Jul 24, 2021 12:34 am The poor darling. If only he were in one of those socialist countries like Norway, where prisons have tennis courts...
:lol: :lol: :lol:

by dmforever
ti-amie wrote: Fri Jul 23, 2021 11:00 pm

Image

Gee and all this time i thought jail was like going to a spa. Who knew? /s
As much as I detest him, what he did, what he believes, what he stands for, and the people who support him, this is wrong. Not that he's in prison. But having prisons that are like this is a sign of a complete lack of civility.

Kevin

by JazzNU I think this ish is hilarious. Leader of the Proud Boys and failing white supremacy tests, whatever tf that means.

Prison isn't there to encourage people it's a good place to be, it's meant to be a deterrent. Don't try to (expletive) overthrow the Capitol and maybe you won't have to experience it. He's also greatly exaggerating a few things there. But even so, our prisons are freaking daycares compared to many. Suck it up buttercup.


"Food here is all soy based...hardly any protein."



by JazzNU Found out that fool is at county, not in prison. So greatly exaggerating his circumstances over and above what I originally thought. That is pure fiction right there.


Image

by ti-amie
JazzNU wrote: Mon Jul 26, 2021 4:12 pm Found out that fool is at county, not in prison. So greatly exaggerating his circumstances over and above what I originally thought. That is pure fiction right there.


Image
Why am I not surprised?

#snowflake

by ti-amie I was going to say this was a bit of comic relief but...



A response. One is enough.

Image

Well one more

Image

by ponchi101 I could smoke a pound of dope, drink a fifth of mezcal, lick three cacti, inject peyote and LSD, and do all the crack Richard Prior did in his entire life, and I could still not hallucinate that badly.

by JazzNU Very on brand for Huntington Beach unfortunately.



by ponchi101 To the chant of "LOCK HER UP!":
"Let them die, let them die..."
(I know it is not so easy as they will remain a pool for further infection, but there comes a moment that you have to let stupidity run its course. For the rest of us, just let us go to all the other places where we can show our proof of vaccination).

by ti-amie Today in cosplay news...



Apparently there's a cabinet in place too. I'm trying to find the tweet where that is detailed. I don't think it's funny at all.

by mmmm8 Brings me back to Model UN days... although our scenarios were more realistic.

by ti-amie



Really?

by ponchi101 Why not? You get a bottle of Japanese whiskey, you drink it all in one sit, you bet next day you will not know anything about it.

by ti-amie
ponchi101 wrote: Wed Aug 04, 2021 7:16 pm Why not? You get a bottle of Japanese whiskey, you drink it all in one sit, you bet next day you will not know anything about it.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ti-amie




by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

Video of him surrendering

by ti-amie And this is why folks lose their minds and always ask if the individual were of another race or religion things would've happened the way they did.


by ti-amie

by ponchi101
ti-amie wrote: Thu Aug 19, 2021 6:40 pm And this is why folks lose their minds and always ask if the individual were of another race or religion things would've happened the way they did.

It is very inconvenient when the person holding a bottle of coke that resembles in no way a molotov cocktail suspect is of dark skin and the mother is dead, because then who do you tell to come and pick up the pelletized body, and clean the floor or face a fine?

by ti-amie

by ti-amie Why Are We Minimizing the Story of the Would-Be Capitol Bomber?
A terrorist kept police in Washington, D.C., in a six-hour standoff on Thursday. Why wasn’t it bigger news?
By Joan Walsh

All Thursday I watched cable news toggle back and forth between criticizing President Joe Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal and not knowing how to cover a weird bomb threat by a man named Floyd Ray Roseberry from Grover, North Carolina, in a pickup truck parked outside the Library of Congress and near several congressional office buildings.

Authorities confirmed that he had what looked like an actual bomb. They evacuated the nearby offices, and some Capitol Hill neighbors.

Roseberry livestreamed his message on Facebook, so there were no mysteries about what he was trying to do. Just a few choice quotes: “Somebody needs to tell Joe Biden we here. (expletive) revolution starts today, Joe Biden. And before you go crackin’ any pops on me, you better get your military experts out and ask them what a seven-pound keg of gunpowder would do with two-and-a-half pounds of tannerite on that (expletive)! You know what else? I’m not going to light it. I’m going to give Joe Biden the option to.”

(...)

Roseberry claimed there were four other “Southern” bombers, and added: “You can take me out but you know what’s gonna happen, Joe Biden, there’s gonna be a chain reaction. And that chain reaction is going to be on your hands when you crack a bullet through my windows.”

Eventually, Roseberry crawled out of his truck and surrendered.

(...)

And Reuters...reported that he terrorized his former wife (as so many domestic terrorists and mass shooters do). “He’s crazy. He pulled a gun on me and his sister, and shot at me numerous times,” his ex-wife told Reuters.

Maybe it’s not a big story. Now it seems like it’s just one guy. The police say the apparent bomb wasn’t one. And I have to say, I really hate the fact that local and national news normally prefers stories of violence over stories of policy or political change.

(...)

I heard several folks on cable news say it was important not to broadcast his message. But c’mon, folks: His message is broadcast everywhere, every day, to people just like him. Two Library of Congress buildings, plus a House office building, were evacuated, as well as some residents of the nearby neighborhood. The same people terrorized on January 6 were again terrorized; isn’t this a version of terrorism?

Roseberry did exhibit the “economic anxiety” so many pundits have claimed motivated Trump voters, to be honest. He complained about his health insurance, which no longer paid for what he said was serious knee pain, or for coverage for his wife’s skin cancer because it was deemed “cosmetic.”

But he’s clearly part of a cult that honors the disgraced, twice-impeached ex-president Donald Trump. Alabama Representative Mo Brooks, who appeared at the Trump rally that helped incite the January 6 violence (wearing body armor), extended some sympathy to Roseberry on Thursday. “Sadly, violence and threats of violence targeting America’s political institutions are far too common,” Brooks tweeted. “Although this terrorist’s motivation is not yet publicly known, and generally speaking, I understand citizenry anger directed at dictatorial Socialism and its threat to liberty, freedom and the very fabric of American society. The way to stop Socialism’s march is for patriotic Americans to fight back in the 2022 and 2024 elections.”

I think every time someone like Roseberry occupies the Capitol grounds—and that’s what I call it when they force the evacuation of congressional buildings and nearby neighbors—we should cover it as a big deal. We should send our best reporters to get to the bottom of it.

https://www.thenation.com/article/polit ... -congress/

by ti-amie








by JazzNU I stopped reading at sheriff's department in Humboldt County, that sums it all up right there.

by ti-amie
JazzNU wrote: Mon Aug 23, 2021 10:44 pm I stopped reading at sheriff's department in Humboldt County, that sums it all up right there.
We East Coast elites don't know these things. I read it through.

by skatingfan

by ti-amie

by JazzNU Wow! Okay then. Just when you think they can't shock you with their hyper-aggressive rhetoric, they dial up the crazy to a Lucifer level you didn't know they hadn't sunk into yet.

by ponchi101 Amazing logic. It can be flipped.
"For every citizen of the world that has been killed by an American, an American city should be wiped off the face of the Earth"

Wonder which little town in Wyoming will be the last standing city in the land.

by ti-amie


by ti-amie Reason # 7509876 of why I could never be a lawyer




by ponchi101 I have never been able to understand, from a layman's point of view, why can't a judge slap them with contempt of court when they play a buffoonery like this.

by ti-amie
ponchi101 wrote: Thu Sep 02, 2021 11:03 pm I have never been able to understand, from a layman's point of view, why can't a judge slap them with contempt of court when they play a buffoonery like this.
They're actually doing that to those "Kraken" lawyers who wasted all that time and money trying to find someone stupid enough to say tfg won. I haven't posted much about it here but next time they're some new legal filings I will. They're facing disbarment.

by ti-amie He Confronted a Reporter Live on the Air. Now He’s in Custody.
Benjamin Eugene Dagley interrupted an NBC reporter covering Hurricane Ida in Mississippi, the police said. Three days later, U.S. marshals arrested him in Ohio.

Image
A man identified as Benjamin Eugene Dagley, left, confronted Shaquille Brewster, an NBC reporter, as Mr. Brewster covered Hurricane Ida.Credit...MSNBC

By Eduardo Medina and Michael Levenson
Published Sept. 1, 2021
Updated Sept. 2, 2021, 4:41 p.m. ET

An Ohio man was arrested on Thursday, three days after he angrily confronted an NBC News reporter who was live on TV, covering Hurricane Ida in Gulfport, Miss., the police said.

The man, Benjamin Eugene Dagley, 54, of Wooster, Ohio, was arrested by members of the U.S. Marshals Service’s violent fugitive task force after he left a store in a shopping plaza in Dayton, Ohio, the Marshals Service said.

He was charged with two counts of simple assault, one count of disturbing the peace and one count of violating an emergency curfew, the Gulfport Police Department said.

Mr. Dagley, who is on probation for an incident in Ohio involving a break-in at a metal plating shop, may also be in violation of travel restrictions that are part of his probation, the police said.



It was unclear why Mr. Dagley had been in Gulfport — about 1,000 miles from his home — a day after a major hurricane hit the area. Phone calls placed to a number listed as belonging to Mr. Dagley were not returned on Tuesday night.

A live report from NBC News shows that he whipped his white pickup truck off the road and into the backdrop of Shaquille Brewster’s shot as Mr. Brewster was describing the effects of Hurricane Ida, which had made landfall on the Gulf Coast on Sunday.

Mr. Dagley can be seen stepping out of his truck and running toward Mr. Brewster, who pauses and says, “I think we even have a random person going around.”

“You’re reporting this accurately, right?” Mr. Dagley says.

Mr. Brewster shifts so that the water is his backdrop and continues to speak to the camera. Mr. Dagley can be heard yelling in the background, though it is unclear what he is saying, and he is not visible in the shot.

A few seconds later, the scene appears to escalate.

“I’m going to toss it back to you,” Mr. Brewster tells Craig Melvin, an anchor for NBC. “We have a person who needs a little help right now.”

Mr. Dagley is seen moving toward Mr. Brewster as he screams in his face, “Report accurately!” and bumps into him before NBC cuts away. Mr. Melvin then tells viewers that the network will check in with Mr. Brewster later and that “there’s a lot of crazy out there.”

Later in the broadcast, Mr. Melvin said Mr. Brewster was OK.

Mr. Brewster, who did not respond to emails and requests for comment on social media, said in an Instagram post that he was “overwhelmed by the love and support” after “the wildest moment I’ve had on air.”

“Our team joked about it afterwards, but it was without a doubt as scary for us as it was for you all watching,” he said. “While that one report was interrupted, we were right back up in the next hour and will continue reporting as we are here to do.”

The Gulfport police said Mr. Dagley had left the area by Tuesday and was traveling in his white Ford F-150 pickup truck.

The members of the fugitive task force who took Mr. Dagley into custody on Thursday had received information that he was still driving that truck with an Ohio license plate, the service said.

“This violent fugitive was attempting to flee from his charges in Gulfport but the swift work of our task force members resulted in a timely arrest,” Pete Elliott, the U.S. marshal for the Northern District of Ohio, said in a statement.

Cleveland.com reported in 2017 that Mr. Dagley had been arrested on suspicion of breaking into an electroplating shop that he once owned and drilling holes into tanks holding dangerous chemicals. He pleaded guilty to vandalism, inducing panic and attempted assault, according to court records from Cuyahoga County, Ohio. He was sentenced to five years of probation in 2018.

The authorities in Cuyahoga County issued an arrest warrant on Tuesday for Mr. Dagley, at the request of his probation officer, that accused him of leaving the state without permission, according to court records.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/01/busi ... tw-nytimes

by dryrunguy Wooster is about 40 minutes away from where I grew up.

by ti-amie TL;dr

The fronts have moved out. The marks are paying his bills.

Trump Tower’s key tenants have fallen behind on rent and moved out. But Trump has one reliable customer: His own PAC.
By Shayna Jacobs, David A. Fahrenthold, Jonathan O'Connell and Josh Dawsey
Today at 7:00 a.m. EDT

NEW YORK — Inside Trump Tower, swank suit-maker Marcraft Clothes once rented the entire 18th floor, outfitting its offices with fireplaces, mahogany-lined closets and two bars for schmoozing customers.

But then Marcraft fell $664,000 behind on rent and went out of business last year — its assets having dwindled to $40.75 in a checking account and “1,200 damaged coats,” according to court filings.

One floor up, a business school once led by Kardashian family matriarch Kris Jenner was consumed by lawsuits, falling $198,000 behind on payments to Trump Tower by October 2020, according to court papers. And on the 21st and 22nd floors, the company that made Ivanka Trump shoes racked up $1.5 million in unpaid rent, according to a lawsuit that the Trump Organization filed this year.

But through all that — as Trump Tower has dealt with imploding tenants, political backlash and a broader, pandemic-related slump in Manhattan office leasing since last year — it has been able to count on one reliable, high-paying tenant: former president Donald Trump’s own political operation.

Starting in March, one of his committees, Make America Great Again PAC, paid $37,541.67 per month to rent office space on the 15th floor of Trump Tower — a space previously rented by his campaign — according to campaign-finance filings and a person familiar with the political action committee.

This may not be the most efficient use of donors’ money: The person familiar with Trump’s PAC said that its staffers do not regularly use the office space. Also, for several months, Trump’s PAC paid the Trump Organization $3,000 per month to rent a retail kiosk in the tower’s lobby — even though the lobby was closed.

Campaign-finance experts said the payments do not appear to be illegal. This kind of PAC has very few restrictions and no expiration date, so Trump is free to spend its money at his own properties as long as he wants.

But they said Trump is continuing a practice that was a hallmark of his presidency by exploiting loose regulations — and his own supporters’ trust — to convert political donations into private revenue for himself.

“He’s running a con,” said Paul S. Ryan, a campaign-finance expert at the watchdog group Common Cause. “Talking about political expenses — but, in reality, raising money for self-enrichment.”


The Trump Organization did not respond to questions. A spokeswoman for Trump’s political operation, Liz Harrington, defended the spending.

“We are paying market rate for leased office space used to help President Trump build a financial juggernaut to help elect America First conservatives and flip both the House and Senate to the Republicans in the midterm elections,” Harrington said.

Harrington said that the PAC had also paid for the lobby kiosk for several months, even though the lobby was closed, because it had inherited the kiosk from Trump’s 2020 campaign and “all of the campaign merchandise was still in the space.” Harrington said officials expected the lobby to reopen, but — when it remained closed — the PAC stopped paying. The last payment was made in early May.


Trump Tower, a 58-story glass tower on Fifth Avenue, served for years as Trump’s primary home, the headquarters of his business and a kind of physical avatar of his success. Its was the set for TV’s “The Apprentice,” and the backdrop for Trump’s announcement of his 2016 presidential campaign.

But, in its midsection, Trump Tower is something more prosaic: a Manhattan office building, with 12 floors available for lease. The Trump Organization’s headquarters occupies two other office floors.

The leased floors serve as part of the collateral for one of Trump’s biggest outstanding debts, a $100 million loan with the full amount due next year, according to data kept by the real estate analysis firm Trepp. Trump still owns his businesses, including this one, but says that his sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr. manage them day-to-day.

To assess the financial health of Trump Tower — and the importance of the revenue it receives from Trump’s own PAC — The Washington Post examined filings with New York taxing authorities, as well as loan documents, campaign-finance records and lawsuits involving Trump Tower tenants.

In the years before he became president, Trump reported to New York City that the tower’s office spaces produced income of between $8 million and $11 million per year in rent. Those filings were obtained by The Post after a public-records request.

The most recent filing that the city provided to The Post covered 2017. The Post could not find detailed figures on rental income from the office spaces after that.

But it is clear that some of Trump’s customers have recently fallen into turmoil, and at times ended up behind on their rent.

One was Marcraft, a clothing-maker that offered $1,400 Trump-branded suits in the heyday of “The Apprentice.” Its 18th-floor suite included a golden Buddha in the elevator lobby and a bar decorated with “a colorful light display for after-hour cocktail parties,” according to an archived news release from its architects. It was luxe enough that the New York Times wrote about it in 2006...

But Marcraft fell on hard times. Last year, it entered insolvency proceedings in a New Jersey — a kind of state-court version of bankruptcy — saying in court filings that it had more than $30 million in debts, including $664,000 in unpaid rent at Trump Tower.

“It was, for lack of a better word, a carcass,” said Morris Bauer, a New Jersey attorney whom the company assigned to take over its meager assets and deal with its creditors. Bauer said he wasn’t sure what happened to the Trump Tower suite, but he knew Marcraft had vacated it.

The company, Bauer said, “exists in name, but it’s not operating.”

One floor up from Marcraft, on Trump Tower’s 19th floor, are the offices of the Legacy Business School, which once boasted Kris Jenner as its chairwoman. (She reportedly resigned a few months after the school opened in 2016.) The school is expensive — its $70,000 annual tuition is $19,000 higher than Harvard University’s.

But Harvard doesn’t hold classes in Trump Tower.

“It is not just an educational campus,” the school’s website says, making the tower one of its main selling points. “It is studying at the most powerful building in the world.”


But that school also appears to have fallen into turmoil.

In February, investors who claimed to be the Legacy’s majority owners sued the school’s founder, Alessandro Nomellini, demanding Nomellini give up control of the school and its offices. The investors included documents showing that, as of last year, the school owed $198,000 in unpaid rent, taxes and fees to Trump Tower. They asked a judge to cancel the lease entirely. Nomellini has challenged these claims in court.

Nomellini’s attorneys declined to comment to The Post — and then, on Wednesday, asked to withdraw from the case, saying that Nomellini had not paid their bills. Nomellini himself did not respond to questions from The Post.

Another major Trump Tower tenant — occupying all of the 21st floor and part of the 22nd — had been Marc Fisher Footwear, the manufacturer of shoes for Ivanka Trump’s now-shuttered brand and others. But earlier this year, the Trump Organization sued Marc Fisher Footwear for unpaid rent. The suit said the shoemaker had stopped paying rent in November 2020, and owed more than $1.4 million.

That lawsuit was settled on undisclosed terms in April. A person familiar with the suit said that Marc Fisher Footwear had vacated its spaces at Trump Tower. The firm did not respond to requests for comment from The Post.

Trump Tower does have office tenants still in place: Gucci still rents the massive retail space facing Fifth Avenue. The foundation of Trump friend Stewart Rahr still occupies space on the 24th floor, according to its website. The hops seller Hopsteiner moved in. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China still rents office space, though it reportedly downsized in 2019. The bank did not respond to questions from The Post.

In the first quarter of this year — the latest for which data was available — Trump Tower’s commercial spaces were 75 percent occupied, according to Trepp data. That is lower than the occupancy rates for the tower from any year going back to 2013, Trepp reported. Citywide, this is not a good time to be trying to lease out office space. The effects of the coronavirus pandemic, combined with the construction of new buildings, have created an unusual glut of available space: A recent report by the firm Savills found that 18.4 percent of Manhattan office space was for rent, the highest level in decades.

One office has remained rented and producing income throughout this tumultuous time: Suite 1501. This 5,490-square-foot space was leased for years by Trump’s 2020 campaign, even though the campaign’s main headquarters was in Virginia. After Trump left office, his PAC moved in, according to the person familiar with the PAC. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the committee’s finances.

The rate Trump’s PAC is paying Trump’s company for space in Trump’s tower appears to be about $85 per square foot annually. That’s close to the average for midtown Manhattan, according to Savills, though it’s less than the $122 per square foot that Trump got from Marc Fisher Footwear.

At Trump Tower, the former president’s PAC appears to be a quiet tenant. Under typical office conditions, with about one worker per 175 square feet, that much space might hold 30 people. But the PAC’s latest campaign-finance filing only listed three employees at that address as of June. And even those three don’t always work there, according to the person familiar with the PAC: They work from home, or follow Trump to his clubs in Palm Beach, Fla., and Bedminster, N.J.

Even when Trump does visit Trump Tower, the person said, he doesn’t use the PAC’s rented space. He works out of his old office up in the Trump Organization’s headquarters on the 25th and 26th floors.


One recent weekday, a Post reporter sought to visit the PAC’s office — but was turned away by a security guard, who said there was no point. Nobody would be there.

Even if Trump’s PAC was a loud tenant, it seems unlikely that the neighbors would notice. Trump’s own marketing materials indicate the other office space on the 15th floor is vacant.

Fahrenthold, O’Connell and Dawsey reported from Washington. Isaac Stanley-Becker and Alice Crites contributed to this report.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... story.html

by ti-amie

by ti-amie






by ti-amie

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by ponchi101 The level of ignorance is off the scale.

by ti-amie


by ti-amie


by ponchi101
ti-amie wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 5:17 pm

Not that this discredits what is a good question but, right now, there are a few thousand haitians also in the Colombia/Panama border, waiting for the PANAMANIAN Govt to allow them to follow through so they can cross ALL OF CENTRAL AMERICA before reaching the US border.
Why and how did they travel first south and then attempt to go North is indeed puzzling.

by JazzNU Yes, I wondered about all of this immediately because it made so little sense for it to occur all at once.

The replies in that Tweet are illuminating. And not remotely hard to imagine.

by skatingfan Haitian trip to Texas border often starts in South America
By JULIE WATSON, JUAN A. LOZANO and ELLIOT SPAGAT
September 21, 2021

TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — Robins Exile downed a traditional meal of plantains and chicken at a restaurant run by Haitian immigrants, just a short walk from the walled border with the United States. He arrived the night before and went there seeking advice: Should he try to get to the U.S., or was it better to settle in Mexico?

Messages on WhatsApp and Facebook and YouTube videos from Haitian migrants warned him to avoid crossing in Del Rio, Texas, where thousands of Haitians have converged recently. It was no longer the easy place to cross that it was just a few weeks ago.

Discussion Monday at the Tijuana restaurant offered a snapshot of Haitians’ diaspora in the Western Hemisphere, which picked up steam in 2016 and has shown little sign of easing, demonstrated most recently by the more than 14,000 mostly Haitian migrants assembled around a Del Rio bridge. The town has only about 35,000 people.

Of the roughly 1.8 million Haitians living outside their homeland, the United States is home to the most, about 705,000. Significant numbers of people from the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country also have settled in Latin American countries like Chile, where an estimated 69,000 Haitian immigrants reside, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

Nearly all Haitians reach the U.S. on a well-worn route: Fly to Brazil, Chile or elsewhere in South America. If jobs dry up, slowly move through Central America and Mexico by bus and on foot to wait — perhaps years — in northern border cities like Tijuana for the right time to enter the United States and claim asylum.

It is a population that relies little on smugglers and instead moves based on shared experience and information exchanged between the tight-knit community, often via WhatsApp or Facebook, about where it is safest, where jobs are most plentiful and where it is easiest to enter a country. Earlier this year, large numbers showed up in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to cross into El Paso, Texas.

Haitians shifted over the summer to Ciudad Acuña, Mexico, across from Del Rio. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Monday that it was unusually sudden.

Many Haitians began attempting to enter the U.S. in the 1980s by sea. Most of them were cut off by the Coast Guard and perhaps given a cursory screening for asylum eligibility, said David FitzGerald, a sociology professor at the University of California, San Diego and an asylum expert. In 1994, U.S. authorities reached an agreement with Jamaica to anchor ships off its coast to hold shipboard hearings for Haitians intercepted on boats. Attempts by sea waned after a Supreme Court decision allowing forced repatriations without refugee protections.

Tens of thousands of Haitians fled after a devastating earthquake in 2010 to settle in South America. After jobs dried up from the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, many came to Tijuana. President Barack Obama initially allowed them in the U.S. on humanitarian grounds but abruptly began flying them back to Haiti, leaving many stranded on the Mexican border.

Since then, Haitian restaurants and other businesses have sprouted in Tijuana. Haitians have found work at border factories built for U.S. exports and at car washes. One hardscrabble neighborhood is known as “Little Haiti” because so many settled there.

Many Haitians have established at least temporary legal status in Mexico, Brazil and elsewhere. Some have spouses or children from their adopted countries.

Exile, who joked that he seemed born to be a refugee given his name, said he was interested in getting documents to be able to work in Mexico if his plan to reach the United States fails. He and his pregnant wife had been on the road for 2 1/2 months after he lost his job in Brazil. They had flown there from Haiti a year and half ago amid spiraling crime.

They stayed along Mexico’s southern border with Guatemala for three weeks, and had planned to go to the Texas border. But by the time his family sent money, he heard Tijuana was the safer option with its well-established Haitian community.

“It’s getting complicated, so that’s why I came here where I can hopefully find work and live peacefully, taking care of my family,” Exile said in the restaurant, painted in the colors of the Haitian flag.

He understands the U.S. crackdown in Del Rio, where the Biden administration on Sunday launched an expulsion campaign to Haiti.

“I think people should wait and work in Mexico,” he said. “There are opportunities here, just not as many as in the U.S.”

Pierre Wilthene and his wife agree. They operate the restaurant “Chris Kapab,” or “God Willing” in Creole. They arrived in Tijuana five years ago. The two went to Brazil when the economy was booming ahead of the 2014 World Cup.

“Things are good here,” said Wilthene, who also is vice president of the Association of the Defense of Haitian Immigrants in Tijuana, which helps arrivals find housing, passes along donated furniture, clothing and toys and guides Haitians through Mexico’s health care and public school systems.

Yuliy Ramírez came to Tijuana five years after losing her job in Brazil, where she arrived in 2012. She enrolled in a Tijuana university for a nursing degree.

“Mexico was a good option for me, but I won’t deny that for many they could have a much better life in the U.S.,” Ramirez said.

Many have already lived outside their country for years. About 150,000 Haitians went to Chile from 2014 to 2018, many on charter flights to qualify for a visa, and found work as street vendors, janitors and construction workers. They lived largely in marginalized neighborhoods of the capital and suffered discrimination.

In April, a stricter immigration law took effect, and the Chilean government started massive aerial deportations.

Since then more Haitians have been moving through the Colombian town of Necocli, where migrants catch boat rides to the Panama border to begin the perilous trek through the jungle of the Darien Gap. In July, the town hosted more than 10,000 migrants, nearly all Haitian.

Migrants waiting there stay in hotels or locals’ homes, where they rent rooms for $6 to $10 a night. Large groups sleep under tarps on the beach.

Panama’s Security Minister Juan Pino said Monday that his country was receiving 2,500 to 3,000 migrants daily — mostly Haitians.

From Panama, the migrants usually make their way through Central America aboard a series of buses, offloading to cross Nicaragua stealthily because it does not allow their transit before they reach Guatemala’s border with Mexico, where some apply for asylum in the Mexican city of Tapachula and live in encampments.

Unlike Central Americans, Haitians have generally not been deported from Mexico. So far this year, 19,000 have requested asylum in Mexico, a figure second only to Hondurans. In the previous two years, only about 6,000 Haitians had applied each year.

But most in the past have decided to push on to the United States. Now some are weighing the risks.

The Biden administration plans to ramp up this week to seven flights a day in what may be the swiftest, large-scale American efforts to remove migrants or refugees in decades.

Junior Jean lived in Chile for four years before coming through Mexico to the makeshift camp under the Del Rio bridge.

“Chile was bad for me,” said Jean, 32. “I was sleeping on the street, eating from the trash. That is what we were doing. There is nothing.”

https://apnews.com/article/technology-m ... d2d800f3ce

by ti-amie

Full retweeted thread.


by ti-amie

Speaker Pelosi has one of the best political minds ever.


by ti-amie

by ti-amie Far-Right Boogaloo Admits Posing as BLM Supporter While Shooting Up Minneapolis Cop Station

Rachel Olding
Breaking News Editor
Published Oct. 01, 2021 12:21PM ET

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Sherburne County Jail

A member of the far-right Boogaloo Boys had admitted he traveled from Texas to Minneapolis in the wake of George Floyd’s death and posed as a Black Lives Matter supporter while wreaking havoc on the city. Ivan Harrison Hunter, 24, pleaded guilty Thursday to a single count of rioting. He admitted to firing 13 rounds from an AK-47-style rifle into the 3rd Precinct police station as rioters set the building alight in May 2020. He was then filmed yelling “Justice for Floyd!” Hunter wore a distinctive skull mask during the riot that investigators later matched to a video on his Facebook page.

The Boogaloo movement is an extremist, anti-government, often racist movement that aims to start a second American civil war. Court filings allege Hunter came to Minneapolis with two other Boogaloos and also communicated with Steven Carrillo, a Boogaloo accused of fatally ambushing deputies in California.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/far-right ... ia=desktop

by ti-amie PANDORA PAPERS | A GLOBAL INVESTIGATION
BILLIONS HIDDEN BEYOND REACH


By Greg Miller, Debbie Cenziper and Peter Whoriskey
Oct. 3, 2021

A massive trove of private financial records shared with The Washington Post exposes vast reaches of the secretive offshore system used to hide billions of dollars from tax authorities, creditors, criminal investigators and — in 14 cases involving current country leaders — citizens around the world.

The revelations include more than $100 million spent by King Abdullah II of Jordan on luxury homes in Malibu, Calif., and other locations; millions of dollars in property and cash secretly owned by the leaders of the Czech Republic, Kenya, Ecuador and other countries; and a waterfront home in Monaco acquired by a Russian woman who gained considerable wealth after she reportedly had a child with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Other disclosures hit closer to home for U.S. officials and other Western leaders who frequently condemn smaller countries whose permissive banking systems have been exploited for decades by looters of assets and launderers of dirty money.

The files provide substantial new evidence, for example, that South Dakota now rivals notoriously opaque jurisdictions in Europe and the Caribbean in financial secrecy. Tens of millions of dollars from outside the United States are now sheltered by trust companies in Sioux Falls, some of it tied to people and companies accused of human rights abuses and other wrongdoing.

The details are contained in more than 11.9 million financial records that were obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and examined by The Post and other partner news organizations. The files include private emails, secret spreadsheets, clandestine contracts and other records that unlock otherwise impenetrable financial schemes and identify the individuals behind them.

The trove, dubbed the Pandora Papers, exceeds the dimensions of the leak that was at the center of the Panama Papers investigation five years ago. That data was drawn from a single law firm, but the new material encompasses records from 14 separate financial-services entities operating in countries and territories including Switzerland, Singapore, Cyprus, Belize and the British Virgin Islands.

The files detail more than 29,000 offshore accounts, more than double the number identified in the Panama Papers. Among the account owners are more than 130 people listed as billionaires by Forbes magazine and more than 330 public officials in more than 90 countries and territories, twice the number found in the Panama documents.

As a result, the Pandora Papers allow for the most comprehensive accounting to date of a parallel financial universe whose corrosive effects can span generations — draining significant sums from government treasuries, worsening wealth disparities, and shielding the riches of those who cheat and steal while impeding authorities and victims in their efforts to find or recover hidden assets.

“The offshore financial system is a problem that should concern every law-abiding person around the world,” said Sherine Ebadi, a former FBI officer who served as lead agent on dozens of financial-crimes cases.

Ebadi pointed to the role that offshore accounts and asset-shielding trusts play in drug trafficking, ransomware attacks, arms trading and other crimes. "These systems don't just allow tax cheats to avoid paying their fair share. They undermine the fabric of a good society,” said Ebadi, now an associate managing director at Kroll, a corporate investigations and consulting firm.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business ... e-finance/

More details at the above link.

by ti-amie


by dmforever Speaking for a good friend who does both interpretation and translation, can I just say that she's actually talking about an interpreter. Interpreters interpret spoken language. Translators translate written language. I know that in general use they are used interchangeably, but it's just one of my pet peeves.

Also, this is almost funny. It took so very very little to distract Trump. What level indeed.

Kevin

by ti-amie
dmforever wrote: Mon Oct 04, 2021 7:31 pm Speaking for a good friend who does both interpretation and translation, can I just say that she's actually talking about an interpreter. Interpreters interpret spoken language. Translators translate written language. I know that in general use they are used interchangeably, but it's just one of my pet peeves.

Also, this is almost funny. It took so very very little to distract Trump. What level indeed.

Kevin
Thank you for clarifying the difference.

by dmforever
ti-amie wrote: Mon Oct 04, 2021 9:47 pm
dmforever wrote: Mon Oct 04, 2021 7:31 pm Speaking for a good friend who does both interpretation and translation, can I just say that she's actually talking about an interpreter. Interpreters interpret spoken language. Translators translate written language. I know that in general use they are used interchangeably, but it's just one of my pet peeves.

Also, this is almost funny. It took so very very little to distract Trump. What level indeed.

Kevin
Thank you for clarifying the difference.
I know that it's very picky, but it drives my friend crazy, so I posted in his honor. :) Thanks for not thinking I'm being too nitpicky, or at least not saying it. :)

Kevin

by ponchi101 If we were to think you are a nitpicker simply for one post, that would make us nitpickers too.
Wouldn't it? ;)

by dmforever
ponchi101 wrote: Tue Oct 05, 2021 2:34 pm If we were to think you are a nitpicker simply for one post, that would make us nitpickers too.
Wouldn't it? ;)
I haven't seen a lot of posts that correct the usage of language so I wasn't sure how it would come across, especially since it wasn't tennis related. :)

Kevin

by ti-amie FBI raids Sergeants Benevolent Association headquarters, union chief Ed Mullins' home

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- FBI agents raided the Manhattan headquarters of the NYPD's Sergeants Benevolent Association and the Long Island home of union chief Ed Mullins Tuesday.

No arrests were immediately made, a law enforcement official told ABC News,

"We are at the SBA office conducting activity connected to a law enforcement investigation," an FBI spokesman said.

The spokesman declined to detail the investigation, and a spokesman for the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York declined to comment.

Mullins, who lives in Port Washington, (Long Island) has been a vociferous critic of Mayor Bill de Blasio and once used an expletive to describe the city's former health commissioner after she clashed with police over the distribution of masks.

"It's much to soon to give you a meaningful comment," de Blasio said. "I literally got handed a note in the last 10 minutes or so. All I've been told is, 'The FBI has raided the SBA headquarters and it's in connection with an ongoing investigation,' but we don't have any further detail in that at this moment."

https://abc7ny.com/nypd-sergeants-benev ... /11084388/

by ti-amie This is a statement made by a former Secretary of State for the United States of America.



Meanwhile I wonder what schools his children attended?


by JazzNU I don't even think he believes it. I'm sure West Point was just dying for his input on their instruction. Just trying to get his name out there more as his hopes for a Presidential bid fade from miniscule to non-existent.


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by ponchi101 I thought the whole point of schools was that parents simply are not able to teach their kids everything they need to know.
Specially in a world and age where knowledge grows at an exponential rate.

by ti-amie
ponchi101 wrote: Wed Oct 06, 2021 2:25 am I thought the whole point of schools was that parents simply are not able to teach their kids everything they need to know.
Specially in a world and age where knowledge grows at an exponential rate.
Don't get me started.

by ti-amie

There is a hell of a lot to unpack in that statement. I'll start with children of color can't be Christian?

From the article:
When questioned about her comment, Beeman said, "The statement I made was poorly worded and shown out of context. Guilford students who may have staunch Judeo-Christian values, or simply are conservative thinkers, have been bullied into submission by their teachers and fellow students with left-leaning ideologies."

Former Guilford Chairman Bill Bloss said, "exactly what context would that comment be positive in."

by ponchi101 Plus: is it a ZERO SUM game? "Sorry, you can't have feelings of belonging because, other people have them"-

by mmmm8
ti-amie wrote: Thu Oct 07, 2021 10:30 pm

There is a hell of a lot to unpack in that statement. I'll start with children of color can't be Christian?

From the article:
When questioned about her comment, Beeman said, "The statement I made was poorly worded and shown out of context. Guilford students who may have staunch Judeo-Christian values, or simply are conservative thinkers, have been bullied into submission by their teachers and fellow students with left-leaning ideologies."

Former Guilford Chairman Bill Bloss said, "exactly what context would that comment be positive in."
Translation, children came home with new knowledge and their backwards conservative, potentially racist, pseudo-Christian parents didn't like it and complained.

by ponchi101 ^:clap: :clap: :clap:

by ti-amie

by ti-amie








by mmmm8 Is this an additional "secret gift" from Deutsche? I'm a bit too lazy to read the thing. I thought one of their gifts is that they forgave his giant debt, which included not only the loan on this hotel but a lot of other money he's been owing them for decades?

by ponchi101 I know Deutsche Bank will be devastated to hear this but: I would never have my money in that bank.
And it is not because of their ties to Tiny. They really seem to be as dishonest as an European bank can be.

by mmmm8
ponchi101 wrote: Mon Oct 11, 2021 2:06 pm I know Deutsche Bank will be devastated to hear this but: I would never have my money in that bank.
And it is not because of their ties to Tiny. They really seem to be as dishonest as an European bank can be.
It's tricky because a good friend of mine works at Deutsche Bank. He likes to point out it's a "different" part of DB than all the scandalous parts and I hate to tell him it's still the same company.

by ti-amie

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by ti-amie

by ponchi101 I am not sure what the recipe for a civil war is, but I am sure that one the main ingredients is: "Total wacko-nut jobs, able to buy and own large numbers of high powered weapons with unlimited supplies of ammunition. Be sure to mix with religious/fanatical leaders for extra volatility".

by ti-amie I worry about those who live in states like Tennessee who are not in on the MAGA grift.

It's also interesting to think about what would happen if these lunatics get their wish and recreate the Confederacy, something that would cut them off from all of the assistance they get from blue states. I have to find an article I read from the Guardian about what is happening post Brexit and Boris Johnson's game playing with people's lives. I think something similar would happen if these people got their wish.

by mmmm8 Good to see some diversity and inclusion efforts among the conman community.

by ponchi101 Remember I made a map, prior to the election, to what the USA would look like in 2024, after being split in several countries? As you say, Ti, I would like to see what would happen when the economic engines of CA, NY, WA and the rest of the Northeast coast and West coast would split.

by JazzNU
ti-amie wrote: Tue Oct 12, 2021 10:40 pm

Ahh, the Moonies. That's a throwback.



by ti-amie

by ponchi101 Other than the philosophical aspects: how would your partition the Union. The REP states are roughly contiguous, the DEMS are not.
Also. The REPS are talking separation but it is the DEMS that want to DESTROY America?
Putin will go down in history as one of the most cunning politicians in history. Destroying his main enemy without firing a single shot.

by skatingfan
ponchi101 wrote: Thu Oct 14, 2021 12:34 am Other than the philosophical aspects: how would your partition the Union. The REP states are roughly contiguous, the DEMS are not.
Also. The REPS are talking separation but it is the DEMS that want to DESTROY America?
Putin will go down in history as one of the most cunning politicians in history. Destroying his main enemy without firing a single shot.
I think Putin would consider it just desserts for what happened to the Soviet Union.

by ti-amie


by MJ2004 The first thing I thought of weeks ago when Brian Laundrie disappeared into that Florida swamp was the ending of Adaptation. And now, that appears to have actually been the case. Well, he probably killed himself and was then eaten by the gator, but either way. What a moron.

by ti-amie


Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1
NYT: One of the prosecutors is a public corruption investigator with an expertise in child exploitation crimes, and the other a top leader of the public corruption unit.

by ponchi101 The pace of these investigations is really mind blowing.

by dryrunguy Ah... The Three Stooges... Reunited.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie






by ti-amie

by ti-amie Uh, what fresh hell is this?!




by ti-amie

by JazzNU

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 :champagne: :champagne: :champagne: :champagne: :champagne: :champagne:

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 It will make him more of a hero to his fans.

by ti-amie
ponchi101 wrote: Tue Nov 09, 2021 2:49 pm It will make him more of a hero to his fans.
Meanwhile his siblings continue to tell anyone who will listen that he is not well mentally. I believe that there are 6 of them.

by ti-amie

These people either don't have jobs or are being paid to keep this up by persons or entities unknown.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

And it's not just "over there"


by ponchi101 Great. How do you pick which one? I would say Catholics and Christians might find themselves to be fairly even in numbers,
Also, does he know Islam worships THE SAME GOD?

by dmforever People who say that ALWAYS assume that the one religion will be theirs. Sigh. :(

Kevin

by mmmm8
ponchi101 wrote: Mon Nov 15, 2021 2:58 am Great. How do you pick which one? I would say Catholics and Christians might find themselves to be fairly even in numbers,
Also, does he know Islam worships THE SAME GOD?
The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, obviously


(I would guess there'd be slightly more Christians than Catholics since Catholics are Christians :D :D )

by dryrunguy
mmmm8 wrote: Mon Nov 15, 2021 4:24 pm
ponchi101 wrote: Mon Nov 15, 2021 2:58 am Great. How do you pick which one? I would say Catholics and Christians might find themselves to be fairly even in numbers,
Also, does he know Islam worships THE SAME GOD?
The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, obviously


(I would guess there'd be slightly more Christians than Catholics since Catholics are Christians :D :D )
Not according to a lot of Christians. :)

by ti-amie
dryrunguy wrote: Mon Nov 15, 2021 5:56 pm
mmmm8 wrote: Mon Nov 15, 2021 4:24 pm
ponchi101 wrote: Mon Nov 15, 2021 2:58 am Great. How do you pick which one? I would say Catholics and Christians might find themselves to be fairly even in numbers,
Also, does he know Islam worships THE SAME GOD?
The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, obviously


(I would guess there'd be slightly more Christians than Catholics since Catholics are Christians :D :D )
Not according to a lot of Christians. :)
I was just going to say the same thing. People who talk like this are not including Catholics.

by ponchi101 Four posts and we are already confused. Imagine that at country level. ;)
(And. Yes to the Flying Spaghetti Monster idea :thumbsup: )

by dryrunguy
ponchi101 wrote: Mon Nov 15, 2021 6:53 pm Four posts and we are already confused. Imagine that at country level. ;)
(And. Yes to the Flying Spaghetti Monster idea :thumbsup: )
And to think... They same people who espouse one nation under one god, mandating religious practice, and have trouble muttering a sentence that doesn't include words like liberty or freedom also invariably oppose vaccine mandates, a woman's right to choose, etc. The intellectual laziness is astounding if you take it at face value. But it all makes perfect sense when you look at the concept of advancing liberty and freedom that is restricted to one cultural tribe, or more specifically, "my" tribe.

by ti-amie






by ti-amie They're everywhere!


by ponchi101 Starting with: is the UK really seeing so many young men committing crimes? Incredible non-sequitur.

by JazzNU

by dmforever
ti-amie wrote: Thu Nov 25, 2021 7:41 pm They're everywhere!

Amazingly, he gives DT a run for his money. Wow.

Kevin

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 Sorry, must have missed it. When was there any doubt that these people were not homeless, poor, destitute people? I mean, have you checked the price of an AR-15? Not for the food-stamp crowd.

by ti-amie

For example


by Togtdyalttai
ti-amie wrote: Sun Dec 12, 2021 7:33 pm

For example

I saw that yesterday and was alarmed but not surprised. It hit close to home because my mom was in that very hospital a couple years ago.

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 When they complain about illegals voting, people voting out of state, and all the others, it is such a blatant case of projection.

by ti-amie De Santis is trending on my Twitter TL and not for any good he may have done






by ti-amie

by JazzNU Is the BBC claiming they only just found out about the connection? Or that it slipped their mind that he wasn't an impartial person on this manner? Which lie are they claiming here?

by ti-amie
JazzNU wrote: Thu Dec 30, 2021 10:58 pm Is the BBC claiming they only just found out about the connection? Or that it slipped their mind that he wasn't an impartial person on this manner? Which lie are they claiming here?
Not to worry. The search is on for a suitable scapegoat the person who books guests onto the show. I mean that should take all of an hour? 45 minutes?

by ponchi101 It would have been suitable if they had asked HIM in which manner he was connected.
Other than that: wow, the BBC did that? :shock:
---0---
Sure DeSantis can take a vacation. But leaving somebody in command is usually what is done, right?

by patrick With cases going up tremendously, no word from DeSantis or his next in charge, Nunez. Other than a presser in Miami, I have not seen much of Nunez.

by Owendonovan As a casual observer, I knew of Dershowitz's association.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 sadistic.
The logic is perverse. "We do not provide you with sufficient places to get tested, so you stand in line for hours, and now we use that logic to stop your voting rights".

by ti-amie

by JazzNU

by ti-amie

This didn't just start with Mrs. Thomas. It's been going on ever since he was appointed to the court. He should've been forced out a long time ago but here we are.

by JazzNU Long Dong Silver should've never been appointed in the first place.

by JazzNU Ari at his best



by ti-amie Ari in lawyer mode is always fascinating to watch. The last man who spoke has a very, very good lawyer.

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 The depth at which some people will dig to make a profit out of human suffering is measured in hundreds of Kms. That is vile.

by ti-amie


by ti-amie

by ti-amie


by ti-amie


by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by JazzNU



by JazzNU

by ti-amie Words fail me. Traitoring in broad daylight.

by ti-amie

by JazzNU All real, sadly not hard to believe. Tucker's has been replaying regularly on Russian State TV since it aired.



by ti-amie

by JazzNU No shame. Her dad is rolling in his grave.



by JazzNU

by ti-amie
JazzNU wrote: Thu Mar 03, 2022 5:27 am

by ti-amie




by ti-amie A thread by David Rothkopf via @threadreaderapp

I'm in the middle of finishing up a book on the Trump presidency and how the courage and dedication of many career public servants and Trump political appointees kept us from much worse outcomes that Trump and his inner circle thought.

This is true from immigration to COVID to Russia/Ukraine to elections. My thesis based on 30 years of DC experience is that the vast majority of the people in most administrations are fundamentally good and genuinely seek to serve the American people and the country.

But, I will tell you something--looking at what Trump wanted to do (and often was rebuffed from doing) in retrospect is even more shocking than it was at the time. Because, particularly in international affairs, there was a pattern.

He actively wanted to pull the US out of NATO. He actively attacked the alliance. He pushed a plan to pull U.S. troops out of Europe. He pushed plans to pull U.S. troops out of Asia and the Pacific and out of the Middle East.

He effectively sought to hand Syria to the control of Russia and Russia's allies. He pulled out of arms deals that constrained the Russians. He pulled out of an Iran deal that constrained a key ally of Russia.

He pulled out of multiple international organizations and sought to actively weaken the international order that had been created to contain our enemies and promote the rule of law internationally. He tried to block aid to Ukraine. (You may remember he was impeached for that.)

He pushed to stop holding Russia accountable for 2016 election interference. He made it so hard for his staff to raise issues regarding being tough on Russia that they regularly simply by-passed him. And when they did take a tough stance there was often Hell to pay with the boss.

He celebrated Putin publicly and privately. He offered out of his own mouth Putin talking points on key issues such as Crimea "wanting" to be Russian. Even if you did not know that Putin actively tried to help him be elected (as the intel community unanimously concluded),

even if he did not surround himself with pro-Putin lackeys, even if his businesses were not swimming in Russian money, even if he did not try to block measures to make it harder for the government to stop Russian interference in 2018 and 2020, the record is clear and shocking.

The pattern of behavior is undeniable. The consequences were he to have succeeded in pushing his agenda and some of his wild ideas through would have been disastrous for the US and spectacular for Vladimir Putin. And all this was before the first attempted coup in US history.

All this was before Trump tried to blow up the very foundations of America's system and our strength. If you are a Trump supporter you will have stopped reading long ago, the "Russia Hoax" filter in your brain denying you yet again access to the facts.

But if you look at not just what Trump did but what he tried to do (before he was stopped by good patriotic Americans including many who he had appointed to high positions) and you will see that the core and the primary occupation of Trump when it came to foreign policy was...

...to weaken the U.S., to weaken our alliances, to weaken the international system and to strengthen and often defend the position of Russia. Don't take it from me in this thread. Go read the facts. To me, as I finish this book, as familiar as I am with all of it, it is shocking.

p.s. When I said at the top I was finishing up a book, I meant I was finishing up writing a book rather than reading a book...

p.p.s. I am a collusionist, ok? I believe Trump colluded w/the Russians to seek help getting elected. But that's NOT what is important. What's important, regardless of the reason he was actively systematically weakening us & advancing the Russian agenda, is that he was doing it.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1499 ... 31426.html

by JazzNU The correct thread for Chuck Todd's nonsense. Every time they make scheduling changes to the MSNBC lineup, I'm disappointed.

by ti-amie Senate Republicans threaten to slow efforts to fund federal agencies, deliver aid to Ukraine
With a deadline looming next week to avoid a government shutdown, GOP concerns over federal spending and vaccine mandates imperil funding bill

By Tony Romm
Today at 12:30 p.m. EST

Senate Republicans have issued a series of early threats against a still-forming deal to fund the federal government, signaling that they could delay the package — which may include emergency aid to Ukraine — over concerns about excessive spending and vaccine mandates.

The early warnings, delivered in two letters to Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), could slow lawmakers’ time-sensitive work as Russia’s incursion into Ukraine is intensifying — all while Washington faces a March 11 deadline to fund federal agencies and avoid a government shutdown.

In the first letter, sent Thursday, eight GOP lawmakers complained that “families are feeling the pressure of skyrocketing prices,” which they blamed on “reckless government spending.” In response, they said they “cannot allow another massive spending package to be rushed through Congress without proper consideration and scrutiny.”

The letter demanded “appropriate time” to read and review any funding bill. It also called for an official analysis by the Congressional Budget Office to assess the impact of the legislation on inflation and the federal debt. And it signaled that Senate Republicans could withhold their votes if their terms are not met, potentially slowing debate to a crawl.

“Until we can fully understand what is in any potential [spending] bill, its impact on the fiscal strength of the United States, and how it will influence our nation’s growing inflation crisis, we should not vote on it,” they wrote.

Signing the missive were Republican Sens. Rick Scott (Fla.), Cynthia M. Lummis (Wyo.), Ted Cruz (Tex.), Roger Marshall (Kansas), Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), Mike Braun (Ind.), Ron Johnson (Wis.) and Mike Lee (Utah).

In the second note, sent Friday, 10 Republicans revived their campaign against federal vaccine and testing requirements. Even as public health officials broadly maintain that the policies help curtail the spread of the coronavirus, the GOP lawmakers pledged they would “stand against these mandates until they are discontinued in ambition, design and practice.”

Specifically, the Republicans promised to block lawmakers from forging ahead swiftly to pass the bill if it funds implementation of mandates. They said “at the very least” they would “require a roll-call vote on an amendment that defunds enforcement,” a move Republicans have demanded in other recent government funding fights.

The second missive was signed by some of the same Republicans, plus Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.) and Steve Daines (Mont.).

While it is unclear how far Senate Republicans might take their latest threats, their twin missives added to the challenges facing congressional leaders as they seek to cobble together a long-term government funding deal, a goal that has eluded them for months. Both sides insist they do not want a shutdown, although their bickering — intensified by GOP demands — repeatedly has pushed the country to the brink over the past year.

For now, Democrats and Republicans say they are making progress on a long-term deal, which could include massive increases in spending at key domestic agencies as well as the Pentagon. House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) previously has said that he hopes to hold a vote on the package, known in congressional parlance as an omnibus, as soon as Tuesday, leaving the Senate a short window to act before the March 11 deadline.

Their efforts have gained greater urgency as result of Russia’s intensifying invasion of Ukraine, since lawmakers in both parties see the funding measure as an opportunity to deliver billions of dollars in new humanitarian and military assistance. Senior administration aides this week requested about $10 billion in emergency funding for Ukraine, which some Democrats and Republicans hope to augment with further punishments against Russia, including new limits on imports of Russian oil.

On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed U.S. lawmakers via Zoom and pleaded for more assistance to his war-torn nation. His request included the provision of additional lethal aid, as well as support for a global effort to stop buying Russian oil.

Exiting the call, Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.) said Zelensky’s “call to action must lead to swift passage by Congress of the $10 billion in emergency supplemental aid.”

Cruz, Lee and some other Republicans issuing threats against the spending bill have a history of using government funding battles to advance political objectives. Recently, the duo has forced Democrats to hold a series of ill-fated votes targeting President Biden’s policies requiring coronavirus vaccines and testing, nearly pushing the government to shut down.

Scott, meanwhile, has found himself at odds in recent days with some members of his own party over his economic plan, released in February. That proposal has drawn objections from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), among others, and Scott on Friday fired off an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal criticizing “Beltway cowardice” over government spending.

Earlier in the week, a wider array of Republicans issued the first warnings against the omnibus, telling Democrats they may not be able to support a spending deal that provides billions of dollars in fresh coronavirus aid. The lawmakers said they wanted a fuller accounting of how previous aid had been spent before considering new sums.

The Biden administration has said it needs more than $22 billion to prepare for future waves of the pandemic.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-polic ... -vaccines/

by patrick
ti-amie wrote: Sat Mar 05, 2022 8:03 pm Senate Republicans threaten to slow efforts to fund federal agencies, deliver aid to Ukraine
With a deadline looming next week to avoid a government shutdown, GOP concerns over federal spending and vaccine mandates imperil funding bill

By Tony Romm
Today at 12:30 p.m. EST

Senate Republicans have issued a series of early threats against a still-forming deal to fund the federal government, signaling that they could delay the package — which may include emergency aid to Ukraine — over concerns about excessive spending and vaccine mandates.

The early warnings, delivered in two letters to Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), could slow lawmakers’ time-sensitive work as Russia’s incursion into Ukraine is intensifying — all while Washington faces a March 11 deadline to fund federal agencies and avoid a government shutdown.

In the first letter, sent Thursday, eight GOP lawmakers complained that “families are feeling the pressure of skyrocketing prices,” which they blamed on “reckless government spending.” In response, they said they “cannot allow another massive spending package to be rushed through Congress without proper consideration and scrutiny.”

The letter demanded “appropriate time” to read and review any funding bill. It also called for an official analysis by the Congressional Budget Office to assess the impact of the legislation on inflation and the federal debt. And it signaled that Senate Republicans could withhold their votes if their terms are not met, potentially slowing debate to a crawl.

“Until we can fully understand what is in any potential [spending] bill, its impact on the fiscal strength of the United States, and how it will influence our nation’s growing inflation crisis, we should not vote on it,” they wrote.

Signing the missive were Republican Sens. Rick Scott (Fla.), Cynthia M. Lummis (Wyo.), Ted Cruz (Tex.), Roger Marshall (Kansas), Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), Mike Braun (Ind.), Ron Johnson (Wis.) and Mike Lee (Utah).

In the second note, sent Friday, 10 Republicans revived their campaign against federal vaccine and testing requirements. Even as public health officials broadly maintain that the policies help curtail the spread of the coronavirus, the GOP lawmakers pledged they would “stand against these mandates until they are discontinued in ambition, design and practice.”

Specifically, the Republicans promised to block lawmakers from forging ahead swiftly to pass the bill if it funds implementation of mandates. They said “at the very least” they would “require a roll-call vote on an amendment that defunds enforcement,” a move Republicans have demanded in other recent government funding fights.

The second missive was signed by some of the same Republicans, plus Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.) and Steve Daines (Mont.).

While it is unclear how far Senate Republicans might take their latest threats, their twin missives added to the challenges facing congressional leaders as they seek to cobble together a long-term government funding deal, a goal that has eluded them for months. Both sides insist they do not want a shutdown, although their bickering — intensified by GOP demands — repeatedly has pushed the country to the brink over the past year.

For now, Democrats and Republicans say they are making progress on a long-term deal, which could include massive increases in spending at key domestic agencies as well as the Pentagon. House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) previously has said that he hopes to hold a vote on the package, known in congressional parlance as an omnibus, as soon as Tuesday, leaving the Senate a short window to act before the March 11 deadline.

Their efforts have gained greater urgency as result of Russia’s intensifying invasion of Ukraine, since lawmakers in both parties see the funding measure as an opportunity to deliver billions of dollars in new humanitarian and military assistance. Senior administration aides this week requested about $10 billion in emergency funding for Ukraine, which some Democrats and Republicans hope to augment with further punishments against Russia, including new limits on imports of Russian oil.

On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed U.S. lawmakers via Zoom and pleaded for more assistance to his war-torn nation. His request included the provision of additional lethal aid, as well as support for a global effort to stop buying Russian oil.

Exiting the call, Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.) said Zelensky’s “call to action must lead to swift passage by Congress of the $10 billion in emergency supplemental aid.”

Cruz, Lee and some other Republicans issuing threats against the spending bill have a history of using government funding battles to advance political objectives. Recently, the duo has forced Democrats to hold a series of ill-fated votes targeting President Biden’s policies requiring coronavirus vaccines and testing, nearly pushing the government to shut down.

Scott, meanwhile, has found himself at odds in recent days with some members of his own party over his economic plan, released in February. That proposal has drawn objections from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), among others, and Scott on Friday fired off an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal criticizing “Beltway cowardice” over government spending.

Earlier in the week, a wider array of Republicans issued the first warnings against the omnibus, telling Democrats they may not be able to support a spending deal that provides billions of dollars in fresh coronavirus aid. The lawmakers said they wanted a fuller accounting of how previous aid had been spent before considering new sums.

The Biden administration has said it needs more than $22 billion to prepare for future waves of the pandemic.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-polic ... -vaccines/
We can change our country name from United States of America to Divided States of America as Republicans do not want to agree to anything bucking the government in the process led by DeSantis, who had a tantrum to Middleton High School students wearing mask to a presser and Abbott, no comments for him on his transgender policy.

by ponchi101 It will be the downfall of your country. When you get to the state in which one party simply opposes anything and everything the other party proposes, simply because the sole point to be made is to get elected and the best way to get elected is to say the other party does nothing (because you blocked them), eventually you will get to a non-functioning society.
And this ploy of "we need to raise the debt ceiling" and then the other party says "no" is getting tiresome.

by ti-amie VOTER FRAUD!!!! LOCK HIM UP!!!




by ti-amie

by ti-amie Meadows was the former guys Chief of Staff.

by ponchi101 And nothing will be done, because...
I don't know, but nothing will be done.

by ti-amie Colorado clerk is indicted for election tampering and misconduct
Updated March 9, 20221:09 PM ET

BENTE BIRKELAND

A grand jury in Colorado has indicted Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters and her deputy on counts related to election tampering and misconduct.

The indictment of Peters and Deputy Clerk Belinda Knisley on felony and misdemeanor charges stems from an election security breach in their office last year.

In May 2021, Peters allowed an unauthorized person access to the county's voting machines. That person posted sensitive information related to the equipment online.

The 10 counts against Peters include: attempting to influence a public service, criminal impersonation, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, identity theft, official misconduct, violation of duty and failing to comply with the secretary of state.

In a joint statement announcing the indictment, Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubinstein and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said: "This investigation is ongoing, and other defendants may be charged as we learn more information. We remind everyone that these are allegations at this point and that they are presumed innocent until proven guilty."

A request for comment from Peters has not been returned.

The county uses voting equipment from Dominion Voting Systems, the company at the heart of many of former President Donald Trump's conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. Peters subsequently spoke at an event hosted by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a key booster of those conspiracy theories.

Image
Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters is seen in a Feb. 10 booking photo. Peters is under investigation for alleged election security breaches.
Mesa County Sheriff's Department via AP

Peters, a Republican, is running for secretary of state in Colorado, a position that would involve supervising the state's elections. Incumbent Democrat Jena Griswold has been a driving force in the investigation against Peters.

Peters has been removed from her role overseeing elections in Mesa County, a conservative part of western Colorado.

https://www.npr.org/2022/03/09/10854526 ... misconduct

by ti-amie
The tracking data, reviewed by The Washington Post, show the plane started its journey in Texas, flew to Palm Beach on Saturday afternoon and then went to New Orleans. A map of the evening flight shows the plane was over the water when it turned around and went back to New Orleans, heading for Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.

As the jet came in to land, an air traffic controller told the pilot, “There will be vehicles following you down the runway.”

“I appreciate it,” the pilot said, according to recordings archived by LiveATC.net.

The plane belonged to a donor who loaned it to Trump for the evening, according to people familiar with the matter. The plane’s tail number was linked to a Utah-based company that is the trustee for more than 1,400 planes. The donor’s identity could not be immediately verified.

by Owendonovan Imagine the conspiracy theories had that plane gone down.

by dryrunguy
Owendonovan wrote: Thu Mar 10, 2022 2:48 am Imagine the conspiracy theories had that plane gone down.
Hillary emailed the order?

by ti-amie
dryrunguy wrote: Thu Mar 10, 2022 2:49 am
Owendonovan wrote: Thu Mar 10, 2022 2:48 am Imagine the conspiracy theories had that plane gone down.
Hillary emailed the order?

by ponchi101
Owendonovan wrote: Thu Mar 10, 2022 2:48 am Imagine the conspiracy theories had that plane gone down.
I would have still loved to hear them.

by Jeff from TX
ti-amie wrote: Wed Mar 09, 2022 7:23 pm Colorado clerk is indicted for election tampering and misconduct
Updated March 9, 20221:09 PM ET

BENTE BIRKELAND

A grand jury in Colorado has indicted Mesa County Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters and her deputy on counts related to election tampering and misconduct.

The indictment of Peters and Deputy Clerk Belinda Knisley on felony and misdemeanor charges stems from an election security breach in their office last year.

In May 2021, Peters allowed an unauthorized person access to the county's voting machines. That person posted sensitive information related to the equipment online.

The 10 counts against Peters include: attempting to influence a public service, criminal impersonation, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, identity theft, official misconduct, violation of duty and failing to comply with the secretary of state.

In a joint statement announcing the indictment, Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubinstein and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said: "This investigation is ongoing, and other defendants may be charged as we learn more information. We remind everyone that these are allegations at this point and that they are presumed innocent until proven guilty."

A request for comment from Peters has not been returned.

The county uses voting equipment from Dominion Voting Systems, the company at the heart of many of former President Donald Trump's conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. Peters subsequently spoke at an event hosted by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a key booster of those conspiracy theories.

Image
Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters is seen in a Feb. 10 booking photo. Peters is under investigation for alleged election security breaches.
Mesa County Sheriff's Department via AP

Peters, a Republican, is running for secretary of state in Colorado, a position that would involve supervising the state's elections. Incumbent Democrat Jena Griswold has been a driving force in the investigation against Peters.

Peters has been removed from her role overseeing elections in Mesa County, a conservative part of western Colorado.

I could get behind a "Lock her up" chant for this woman and vigorously join the chorus.

by Jeff from TX
ponchi101 wrote: Thu Mar 10, 2022 4:32 am
Owendonovan wrote: Thu Mar 10, 2022 2:48 am Imagine the conspiracy theories had that plane gone down.
I would have still loved to hear them.
I'm sure you can on Gab and some other fine apps.

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 By now, you have to wonder if there is a mole in the USA, or a nest. It is getting to be too much.

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 I'm shocked! SHOCKED!!!! A crypto scam. Who would have thought!

by ti-amie

by ti-amie









P1 of 2 due to link limitations

by ti-amie p2 pf 2










Keri Blakinger @keribla

“This case should be a wake-up call for officials — not just in Texas but all over the U.S. — to realize that many routine conditions of confinement in our nation’s prisons do not measure up to international human rights standards."

by ponchi101
ti-amie wrote: Thu Mar 17, 2022 7:09 pm p2 pf 2

...

“This case should be a wake-up call for officials — not just in Texas but all over the U.S. — to realize that many routine conditions of confinement in our nation’s prisons do not measure up to international human rights standards."
And these would be news TO WHOM?
Next thing: prisons in Latin America, Asia and Turkey are NOT fun. Shocker!

by dmforever In case anyone is looking for a "job"...

https://recruit.apo.ucla.edu/JPF04991?f ... cJiXLp9pjs



If you want to cut to the chase, read the first line under "Position Description"

Kevin

by ti-amie
dmforever wrote: Sat Mar 19, 2022 6:36 pm In case anyone is looking for a "job"...

https://recruit.apo.ucla.edu/JPF04991?f ... cJiXLp9pjs



If you want to cut to the chase, read the first line under "Position Description"

Kevin
I'm sure the line is out the door and down the street for this "job".

by ponchi101 Link has been taken down and routes you to a new listing of real jobs. So, please do tell.

by dmforever I should have screen shot it. They were advertising a an adjunct position in the chemistry department at UCLA in which there was no pay. I forget how they worded it, but they expected people with a PhD to apply, and then teach multiple classes, for free. Mind boggling.

Kevin

by ponchi101 Ok. That is par for the course in job hunting. I remember a few years ago I ran into an ad from Shell, requesting a geophysicist with TWO PhD's, to work in some department, but not as a boss. Which was ridiculous, to say the least. Anybody with two PhD's in any division of physics has tenure at a large university, so no way they would move to Shell.

by dmforever I would say asking someone to work for no pay is much different than asking someone to work in a position for which she is overqualified. Both bad, but not at the same level.

Kevin

by mmmm8
ponchi101 wrote: Fri Mar 11, 2022 1:11 am By now, you have to wonder if there is a mole in the USA, or a nest. It is getting to be too much.
If it's Tulsi Hubbard, the FSB is not doing a very good job of hiding it.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie Jan. 6 Insurrectionist Granted Asylum In Belarus, According To State Media

Image
California man and Jan. 6 Capitol rioter Evan Neumman gives an interview on Belarusian state-owned TV channel Belarus 1 in November, 2021. (Belteleradio/YouTube)

By Cristina Cabrera
|
March 22, 2022 2:07 p.m.

48-year-old Evan Neumann of California, aka the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrectionist who fled to Belarus last year to escape the FBI, has been granted asylum in the eastern European country, according to Belarusian state-owned news agency BELTA.

Neumann “received refugee status in Belarus,” BELTA reported on Tuesday, per Russian news agency Interfax. “The document was handed to him today at the Department of Citizenship and Migration of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Brest Regional Executive Committee.”

Everything’s gone swimmingly, according to Neumann, who ran away from the U.S. in February last year.

“I feel safe in Belarus. I’m calm, I like it in the country,” the refugee reportedly said, per BELTA. “Today I have mixed feelings. I’m glad because Belarus took care of me. I’m upset because I found myself in such a situation that problems arose in my native country.”

Some of those “problems” are the 14 criminal counts Neumann’s been indicted on, which include assaulting police officers and engaging in violence with a deadly or dangerous weapon, after he and the rest of the pro-Trump mob ransacked the Capitol on Jan. 6 last year.

Neumann is now on the FBI’s “Most Wanted” list.

After fleeing from the U.S. on Feb. 16, according to the FBI, the insurrectionist reemerged in November in a state-run Belarus 1 TV segmented titled “Goodbye, America!” during which he recounted a bizarre tale of navigating swamps and feral hogs while traveling from Ukraine to Belarus.

Neumann claimed he faced “torture” in the U.S. as his explanation for seeking refuge in Belarus, a country notorious for torturing its political prisoners.

But Belarus 1 TV heralded Neumann as a brave individual who “sought justice and asked uncomfortable questions” and is “being persecuted” for it.

News of Minsk granting Neumann asylum comes with the backdrop of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which was partially facilitated by the Belarusian government (though Belarus has largely avoided direct involvement in the conflict).

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/jan- ... tate-media

by ponchi101 Get Franz Kafka. Give him a bottle of absinthe, make him smoke some crack, then a few grams of meth, and he would still not be able to come up with (expletive) like this.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 Why does it take so long in America to slap handcuffs and send a criminal somebody to prison? Why?

by dmforever It's amazing how someone can think that no one will know if they do something as public as get online and host a show. Really really mind boggling stupidity.

Pretty sure the judge is going to be majorly pissed off.

Kevin

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ti-amie MEGHAN MCCAIN: Rep. Madison Cawthorn – I am calling your bluff. If powerful Republicans are holding cocaine-fueled DC orgies then you better name names or else stop stoking a dangerous lie
By MEGHAN MCCAIN FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

PUBLISHED: 16:59 EDT, 29 March 2022 | UPDATED: 17:12 EDT, 29 March 2022
Congressman Madison Cawthorn represents a fringe group within the Republican party just as the progressive extremists of The Squad represent a far-left slice of the Democratic party.

These loud, proud, media-obsessed Republicans, including Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert, are first among the most radical and obnoxious figures on the right.

Cawthorn seems more interested in tweeting and going on cable news than working on passing laws or being an active member of his congressional caucus.

At 26-years-old, he is both the youngest member of Congress and the first person to be elected to Congress who was born in the 1990s.

It makes sense that he is more like a Generation Z, social media personality than a traditional member of the House.

In short, he is more interested in serving his self-interests than those of the country.

Recently, Cawthorn stunned fellow lawmakers by calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a ‘thug’ and the Ukrainian government ‘incredibly evil.’

(...)


That brings us to Cawthorn’s recent appearance on the ‘Warrior Poet Society’ podcast, during which he made the wild claim that Washington D.C. is an orgy-filled, cocaine-fueled, House of Cards-esque working environment.

For anyone without a Netflix subscription, House Of Cards is a series that portrays Washington lawmakers, their staff and enablers as manipulative criminals and sexual deviants.

But according to Cawthorn, truth is stranger than fiction and ‘sexual perversion’ is rampant in the nation’s capital.

‘Being kind of a young guy in Washington, where the average age is probably 60 or 70 — and I look at all these people, a lot of them that I’ve looked up to through my life…,’ he told the podcast host. ‘Then all of a sudden you get invited to ‘Oh hey -- we’re going to have a sexual get-together at one of our homes, you should come.’

‘What did you just ask me to come to?,’ he continued, in intimation of his apparent shock. ‘And then you realize they’re asking you to come to an orgy.’

Oh wow – that is shocking.

But wait – there’s more.

‘Or the fact that there are some of the people leading on the movement to try and remove addiction in our country,’ he continued, ‘and then you watch them do a key bump of cocaine right in front of you. And it’s like, this is wild.’

Ok – it’s time to name names Mr. Cawthorn.

You are not someone who is reaching across the aisle to create bipartisan relationships for the betterment of America.

So, the obvious question is, who are you talking about?

It would be wildly irresponsible to speculate about individuals but one of the most disarming parts of his claim is that he is talking about people in their 60s and 70s whom he has ‘looked up to’ his entire life.

Who could that be?

One would assume he is talking about the most senior elected members of the Republican Party and people at high levels within the Republican leadership.

Now, I am not a prude, and I am not here to tell people what they can and cannot do in the privacy of their own bedrooms, but these are some serious allegations.

Cocaine is still an illegal drug in the United States of America.

I believe we have a right to know who Cawthorn is talking about.

This kind of behavior is also not only illegal but it is beneath the dignity of the code of ethics that members of Congress take when they are elected to office.

Constituents have a right to know if the people they have elected to represent them are spending their time getting high and participating in orgies, like some kind of Stanley Kubrick movie, instead of trying to address the deeply alarming problems plaguing this country.

Reportedly, top Republicans in Congress are also upset with these allegations.

(...)

If these allegations are false – they only fuel a rising tide of confusion among a misled part of the American public. That makes them potentially dangerous.

Either Cawthorn is a fabulous and outlandish liar or the Republican Caucus has some explaining to do.

I understand why members of Congress are angry and want him to name names to clear their own.

But if Cawthorn is so alarmed and disgusted with this behavior then he should be the first to expose those behind it.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... l-who.html

by ponchi101 I completely believe everything he says about DC.
I will never believe he said NO to an invitation to a cocaine fueled orgy.

by ti-amie
ponchi101 wrote: Wed Mar 30, 2022 2:05 am I completely believe everything he says about DC.
I will never believe he said NO to an invitation to a cocaine fueled orgy.
How would he know what a key bump was if he's as innocent and naive as he makes himself out to be.

For those of us who don't ski in that environment:




by ti-amie





Alayna Treene
@alaynatreene
More McCarthy: "In the interview, he claims he watched people do cocaine. Then when he comes in he tells me, he says he thinks he saw maybe a staffer in a parking garage from 100 yards away."

3:16 PM · Mar 30, 2022·Twitter Web App

by ponchi101 Oh, the richness of Kevin McCarthy calling somebody a liar.

by ti-amie Police Found 5 Fetuses in Anti-Abortion Activist’s Home
Washington D.C. police raided the home of Lauren Handy, 28, who is also facing federal charges for blocking access to an abortion clinic.
By Caitlin Cruz and Susan Rinkunas


When Washington, D.C., police raided the townhouse where anti-abortion activist Lauren Handy lives and removed red biohazard bags and coolers yesterday, she declined to tell a local news reporter what was in the evidence bags, but noted that “people would freak out when they heard.” Today, police said they found five human fetuses.

The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) confirmed to Jezebel that, yesterday, officers responded to a tip that there was “biohazard material” in a home on the 400 block of 6th Street, SE, in Capitol Hill. An MPD spokesperson said in a statement that “upon further investigation, MPD located five fetuses inside a residence at the location. The fetuses were collected by the DC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. This is currently a pending investigation.” It’s not clear where or when or how or why Handy obtained the fetuses.

But yesterday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced an indictment of Handy, 28, of Alexandria, Virginia—who has called herself a “Catholic anarchist” and has invaded clinics in Virginia and Michigan—along with eight others on felony charges. The group is charged with “conspiracy against rights” and with violating the FACE Act, a federal law that protects people’s ability to enter abortion clinics, connected to allegedly invading a D.C.-area abortion clinic on October 22, 2020, and refusing to leave.

Handy is alleged to have made an appointment at the clinic as “Hazel Jenkins” in the days leading up to the group’s trip to Washington Surgi-Clinic, the abortion clinic said to be at the center of the federal indictment. (The clinic is not named in the indictment). Before the clinic opened, Handy approached a clinic staff member, mentioning she had an appointment under the name Hazel Jenkins.

Then, the indictment alleges, co-defendant Jonathan Darnel started a Facebook event called “No one dies today” with the note “Starting soon! Tune in!”

When a clinic staffer opened the front door, Handy and seven other co-defendants pushed it open and burst into the waiting room. The indictment alleges this caused one clinic staffer to sprain their ankle. Handy is alleged to have led the action to block the clinic doors with chairs from the waiting room. Paula “Paulette” Harlow allegedly brought a chain and rope to tie five of the co-defendants together, further obstructing the clinic.

While this was happening inside, Darnel was outside the clinic, broadcasting on Facebook Live. “We have people intervening physically with their bodies to prevent women from entering the clinic to murder their clinic,” Darnel said, according to the indictment.

The DOJ said that if the defendants are convicted of the offenses, they each face up to a maximum of 11 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $350,000.

Jezebel has reached out to Mary Manning Petras, who is listed as Handy’s public defender. The Department of Justice and a representative at Washington Surgi-Clinic declined our request for comment.

https://jezebel.com/police-found-5-fetu ... 1848733935


I.Do.Not.Understand.


by ti-amie

Because of course.

by ponchi101
ti-amie wrote: Thu Mar 31, 2022 8:16 pm Police Found 5 Fetuses in Anti-Abortion Activist’s Home
Washington D.C. police raided the home of Lauren Handy, 28, who is also facing federal charges for blocking access to an abortion clinic.
By Caitlin Cruz and Susan Rinkunas


...

https://jezebel.com/police-found-5-fetu ... 1848733935


I.Do.Not.Understand.

No need to understand. Enough just to know how morbid this thing is.

by ponchi101
ti-amie wrote: Thu Mar 31, 2022 8:44 pm

Because of course.
I feel soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo sorry for Shealah. Soooooooooooooo sorry.
This man's pathology for money is truly unbelievable.

by ti-amie

by Owendonovan
ti-amie wrote: Thu Mar 31, 2022 8:16 pm Police Found 5 Fetuses in Anti-Abortion Activist’s Home
Washington D.C. police raided the home of Lauren Handy, 28, who is also facing federal charges for blocking access to an abortion clinic.
By Caitlin Cruz and Susan Rinkunas


When Washington, D.C., police raided the townhouse where anti-abortion activist Lauren Handy lives and removed red biohazard bags and coolers yesterday, she declined to tell a local news reporter what was in the evidence bags, but noted that “people would freak out when they heard.” Today, police said they found five human fetuses.

The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) confirmed to Jezebel that, yesterday, officers responded to a tip that there was “biohazard material” in a home on the 400 block of 6th Street, SE, in Capitol Hill. An MPD spokesperson said in a statement that “upon further investigation, MPD located five fetuses inside a residence at the location. The fetuses were collected by the DC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. This is currently a pending investigation.” It’s not clear where or when or how or why Handy obtained the fetuses.

But yesterday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced an indictment of Handy, 28, of Alexandria, Virginia—who has called herself a “Catholic anarchist” and has invaded clinics in Virginia and Michigan—along with eight others on felony charges. The group is charged with “conspiracy against rights” and with violating the FACE Act, a federal law that protects people’s ability to enter abortion clinics, connected to allegedly invading a D.C.-area abortion clinic on October 22, 2020, and refusing to leave.

Handy is alleged to have made an appointment at the clinic as “Hazel Jenkins” in the days leading up to the group’s trip to Washington Surgi-Clinic, the abortion clinic said to be at the center of the federal indictment. (The clinic is not named in the indictment). Before the clinic opened, Handy approached a clinic staff member, mentioning she had an appointment under the name Hazel Jenkins.

Then, the indictment alleges, co-defendant Jonathan Darnel started a Facebook event called “No one dies today” with the note “Starting soon! Tune in!”

When a clinic staffer opened the front door, Handy and seven other co-defendants pushed it open and burst into the waiting room. The indictment alleges this caused one clinic staffer to sprain their ankle. Handy is alleged to have led the action to block the clinic doors with chairs from the waiting room. Paula “Paulette” Harlow allegedly brought a chain and rope to tie five of the co-defendants together, further obstructing the clinic.

While this was happening inside, Darnel was outside the clinic, broadcasting on Facebook Live. “We have people intervening physically with their bodies to prevent women from entering the clinic to murder their clinic,” Darnel said, according to the indictment.

The DOJ said that if the defendants are convicted of the offenses, they each face up to a maximum of 11 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $350,000.

Jezebel has reached out to Mary Manning Petras, who is listed as Handy’s public defender. The Department of Justice and a representative at Washington Surgi-Clinic declined our request for comment.

https://jezebel.com/police-found-5-fetu ... 1848733935


I.Do.Not.Understand.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/05/us/f ... ngton.html
"Anti-abortion activists claimed on Tuesday that five fetuses that were removed from an apartment in Washington last week had been in a box containing a total of 115 that the driver of a medical waste truck voluntarily allowed them to take from his dolly outside an abortion clinic."
"The two women said that a Roman Catholic priest said Mass, and that they read aloud names that they gave to the fetuses before 110 of them were buried, with a priest present, at a location they declined to disclose."

by ti-amie
Owendonovan wrote: Thu Apr 07, 2022 1:58 am
ti-amie wrote: Thu Mar 31, 2022 8:16 pm Police Found 5 Fetuses in Anti-Abortion Activist’s Home
Washington D.C. police raided the home of Lauren Handy, 28, who is also facing federal charges for blocking access to an abortion clinic.
By Caitlin Cruz and Susan Rinkunas


When Washington, D.C., police raided the townhouse where anti-abortion activist Lauren Handy lives and removed red biohazard bags and coolers yesterday, she declined to tell a local news reporter what was in the evidence bags, but noted that “people would freak out when they heard.” Today, police said they found five human fetuses.

The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) confirmed to Jezebel that, yesterday, officers responded to a tip that there was “biohazard material” in a home on the 400 block of 6th Street, SE, in Capitol Hill. An MPD spokesperson said in a statement that “upon further investigation, MPD located five fetuses inside a residence at the location. The fetuses were collected by the DC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. This is currently a pending investigation.” It’s not clear where or when or how or why Handy obtained the fetuses.

But yesterday, the U.S. Department of Justice announced an indictment of Handy, 28, of Alexandria, Virginia—who has called herself a “Catholic anarchist” and has invaded clinics in Virginia and Michigan—along with eight others on felony charges. The group is charged with “conspiracy against rights” and with violating the FACE Act, a federal law that protects people’s ability to enter abortion clinics, connected to allegedly invading a D.C.-area abortion clinic on October 22, 2020, and refusing to leave.

Handy is alleged to have made an appointment at the clinic as “Hazel Jenkins” in the days leading up to the group’s trip to Washington Surgi-Clinic, the abortion clinic said to be at the center of the federal indictment. (The clinic is not named in the indictment). Before the clinic opened, Handy approached a clinic staff member, mentioning she had an appointment under the name Hazel Jenkins.

Then, the indictment alleges, co-defendant Jonathan Darnel started a Facebook event called “No one dies today” with the note “Starting soon! Tune in!”

When a clinic staffer opened the front door, Handy and seven other co-defendants pushed it open and burst into the waiting room. The indictment alleges this caused one clinic staffer to sprain their ankle. Handy is alleged to have led the action to block the clinic doors with chairs from the waiting room. Paula “Paulette” Harlow allegedly brought a chain and rope to tie five of the co-defendants together, further obstructing the clinic.

While this was happening inside, Darnel was outside the clinic, broadcasting on Facebook Live. “We have people intervening physically with their bodies to prevent women from entering the clinic to murder their clinic,” Darnel said, according to the indictment.

The DOJ said that if the defendants are convicted of the offenses, they each face up to a maximum of 11 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $350,000.

Jezebel has reached out to Mary Manning Petras, who is listed as Handy’s public defender. The Department of Justice and a representative at Washington Surgi-Clinic declined our request for comment.

https://jezebel.com/police-found-5-fetu ... 1848733935


I.Do.Not.Understand.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/05/us/f ... ngton.html
"Anti-abortion activists claimed on Tuesday that five fetuses that were removed from an apartment in Washington last week had been in a box containing a total of 115 that the driver of a medical waste truck voluntarily allowed them to take from his dolly outside an abortion clinic."
"The two women said that a Roman Catholic priest said Mass, and that they read aloud names that they gave to the fetuses before 110 of them were buried, with a priest present, at a location they declined to disclose."

by ponchi101 They buried 110, but could not find "space" for the last 5?

by ti-amie

by ti-amie Here's the story translated by Google from the German

Vaccination boss Berger kidnapped according to report: alleged perpetrator shot in Wallisellen
The 38-year-old man killed in Wallisellen ZH is said to have kidnapped vaccination chief Christoph Berger. This is confirmed by informed sources in a "Tamedia" report.

Published: 08.04.2022, 18:03
Updated: 2022-04-08 23:16

On Wednesday evening, April 6, there was an exchange of gunfire with the police in Wallisellen. The man involved and his companion died. The 38-year-old German was previously wanted for a kidnapping the previous week.

Now the case takes a politically explosive turn: the victim of the kidnapping is said to have been Christoph Berger, head of the Federal Vaccination Commission (EKIF). This is reported by the " Tagesanzeiger " and refers to informed sources.

The 28-year-old Swiss woman who was shot died from a bullet from the gun of the 38-year-old man accompanying her. He thus presumably killed his companion. The police then shot the man because he "suddenly" opened fire when he was arrested.

The following is officially known: on March 31, the German allegedly kidnapped a man and threatened him with a gun. However, he let his victim go that same night. It is still officially unclear what the 38-year-old's motive was for this kidnapping.

According to the media report, the alleged perpetrator was a “gun nut and vaccine skeptic”. According to the "Tagesanzeiger", the police seized various weapons and ammunition when they searched the man's apartment. The man is also said to have been in close contact with Corona conspiracy theorists and "Flat Earthlers" (Flat Earth conspiracy thesis: the earth is flat).

This happened in Wallisellen:
Image

As the public prosecutor announced on Friday, the institute for forensic medicine and the forensic institute were able to determine that the 28-year-old woman died from a bullet from the gun of her 38-year-old companion. The 38-year-old was a German who lived in Wallisellen ZH.

As the authorities previously announced, the police in a neighboring canton also arrested a 34-year-old Swiss man. This is said to have something to do with a kidnapping on March 31, in which the 38-year-old is said to have been the kidnapper.

The shot fired by the police in Wallisellen is now also being investigated. This is common in such cases, wrote the public prosecutor. The authorities did not provide any further information about the deceased. (sda)

https://www.watson.ch/amp/!102474550

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 They will never go to prison.
They will never stop the grift.
They will be back in the WH in 2024, and we have not seen anything yet.

by dave g
ponchi101 wrote: Mon Apr 11, 2022 12:30 am They will never go to prison.
They will never stop the grift.
They will be back in the WH in 2024, and we have not seen anything yet.
I will disagree with the third statements, but not the second. I am not sure about the first statement.

by ti-amie








by ti-amie

by ponchi101 Almost two decades in TAT (starting at 1.0). And my conclusion is that the American justice system in a complete joke.

by ti-amie Our justice system was not designed for the ongoing stress test that is happening to it. The level of alleged criminality, the interconnection of all the players who lie at the drop of a hat makes things difficult.

I understand why so many feel that that crime family should just be rounded up and thrown in a dungeon somewhere never to be seen again. I get it.

There was another conviction of an insurrectionist today though. Small things.

by ponchi101 I will use an example that is not related to Tiny or his mob family.
When Bill Clinton lied under oath, there were no repercussions. He was slapped with an impeachment, but kept his title and presidency. Also, during his trial, at that infamous moment in which he was asked "did you have sex with Ms. Lewinsky?" and he replied "it depends on what you mean by sex", he should have been slapped with contempt of court, because the question was something everybody would understand. He simply played his usual chicanery.
The US system is geared to never have a rich person face real consequences. You can appeal the system into a final stand-still, and never go to prison. The best lawyers know how to stall everything, so justice is never served. Jury selection and manipulation allows them to also have the most inept people deciding on the outcome.
I stand. The system really fails not only to deliver justice on too many occasions, it fails to do so depending on your level of wealth.
I know you are not the only country (Venezuela has basically NO justice system) but the USA should above all that.

by dryrunguy There's a point to be made here about who owns WHAT and who owns WHOM... And how that sad reality has morphed into a dysfunctional system of executive, legislative, and judicial governance... But beyond that, I can't quite articulate it.

by Owendonovan Subway shooting in Brooklyn where one of, if not the first, police officers show up and asks people to call 911 because his radio doesn't work. None of the security cameras at the station were working either. A bit pathetic. Thankfully the weather is nice enough to ride a bike again in the city.

by ti-amie


by ti-amie

by dryrunguy I guess I'll put this here. Figured it was a joke. According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, it's not: https://www.courier-journal.com/story/n ... 403378001/. For the record, Bri Mott isn't afraid to laugh at stupidity.


by ponchi101 Why do these thieves crooks criminals servants get to call themselves HONORABLE?
I bet there are plenty of people that will pay the fee. PT Barnum was wrong in only one thing: there is not one sucker born every minute. It takes much less.

by ti-amie Wait that's not a joke?! Isn't his boy Baffert banned?

Alternate reply: "Grifters gonna grift". I mean Jared just put $2b into their off shore accounts really? That's enough to make me wait until Dry posts the video here.

by dryrunguy
ti-amie wrote: Fri Apr 22, 2022 2:50 am Wait that's not a joke?! Isn't his boy Baffert banned?

Alternate reply: "Grifters gonna grift". I mean Jared just put $2b into their off shore accounts really? That's enough to make me wait until Dry posts the video here.
"Not an open bar" is the only part that is a joke--by Bri. What makes it funny is that it would be totally believable. :)

by ti-amie




by ti-amie




by ponchi101 Trump, party, job and your own ass before country.
When did your country become such a nest of traitors? All these guys and people like Dr. Birx, all afraid of losing their jobs but not thinking for one moment about what would be best for the nation.
Ah, I forgot. The book deal. I forgot.

by ti-amie

You might have to click on the image to see the complete response.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ti-amie When I and my coworkers stood in silence on the West Side Highway after the second plane hit the WTC this is the picture from Buffalo that got to me. The photographer captured that stunned silence after witnessing something unfathomable.

Image
A crowd gathers as police investigate after a shooting at Tops Market in Buffalo, New York, on Saturday. Joshua Bessex / AP

by ti-amie


Meanwhile...

Image
A man is detained following a mass shooting in the parking lot of TOPS supermarket, in a still image from a social media video in Buffalo, New York, U.S. May 14, 2022. (Reuters)

by ti-amie Today





by ti-amie
US national news
·
LIVE
Multiple people shot at a church in Orange County, California, officials say
Deputies in Orange County, California, responded to reports of a shooting at Geneva Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods on Sunday. One person was killed and five others were injured, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said. The suspect is in custody and a weapon was recovered at the scene.
Also via Twitter

by ponchi101 But of course, now is not the time to talk about gun control.
It is basically hopeless for the USA, in that aspect. Sorry to state the obvious.

by ti-amie Apparently the shooting in Cali was at a retirement community...

There aren't a lot of details yet though...

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ti-amie


by ti-amie Probably?


by ti-amie

It seems that none of these men have ever shared space with women.

by ponchi101
ti-amie wrote: Wed May 18, 2022 10:02 pm

It seems that none of these men have ever shared space with women.
Sorry, Ti, but it is not "It seems". It is CLEAR this men have never LISTENED to women, much less spoken with them.
I have three friends that have had abortions in their lives. One common thread: they (who are not mutual friends) talked to me about how it was, at the time, the most excruciating decision in their lives.
These men seem to believe that having an abortion is something women decide in the same way they decide what color should they die their hair.
Also: SECONDS AWAY? What does the doctor do? Push the kid back?
Basically infuriating.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie There is no way to fix this.


by ponchi101 Well, from my TOTALLY PARTIAL position, I guess that says a lot from where a lot of problems come from.

by ti-amie Well they say the truth will set you free...


by dryrunguy I don't have a gif for how bad that was.

by ponchi101 The most terrible part? He looks downright decent and respectable compared to the republicans after him.
But that was as bad a Freudian slip as it can be.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by JazzNU

by ti-amie




by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ti-amie I'm just gonna leave this here because maybe Dante Alighieri will have to create a new ring in that fiery place he detailed for us.
Ms Boebert was shown praying for the death of President Biden a day or two ago. Today this dropped. All I've got to say is Ted Cruz?! And someone related to the Koch family was her pimp?


by ponchi101 I know she is a lunatic. The woman is as evil as can be.
But those are huge accusations, and I am surprised that they would surface now, after she already was elected for one term. So, although I would not be surprised if they were true, I would like to see confirmation from some other source.
As I say, this is huge. Or, because they are republicans, will mean nothing to her voters. You know them.

by dryrunguy These accusations are nothing. Many voters don't care what she does to attain wealth. The scummier you are about it, the more some seem to admire it.

As for the sex work and two abortions, that's no big deal, either. All she has to do is say she was once living in sin but then she found Jesus and he has forgiven her. And so should we.

That's how this works.

by ponchi101
dryrunguy wrote: Wed Jun 15, 2022 3:35 pm These accusations are nothing. Many voters don't care what she does to attain wealth. The scummier you are about it, the more some seem to admire it.

As for the sex work and two abortions, that's no big deal, either. All she has to do is say she was once living in sin but then she found Jesus and he has forgiven her. And so should we.

That's how this works.
Indeed. The famous "The Lord works in mysterious ways".

by patrick Who worse? Boebert or Greene?

by ponchi101 Greene. But only in the sense that dying by falling into a volcano is worse than death by fire.

by ti-amie Sex work shouldn't be condemned although I doubt too many parents would want their child to end up in that profession. As was pointed out on TAT1.0 there are sex workers who cater to the disabled community for example.

Still, if I'm the pimp and Ted Cruz called I'd be like the drug dealers when they see Keith Richards is calling.

Also the hypocrisy but as has been said for some it won't matter because she's found religion.

by ponchi101 There are reports already that there is no evidence this is true. It may take a while to find out what has really happened.

by dryrunguy
ponchi101 wrote: Wed Jun 15, 2022 7:17 pm There are reports already that there is no evidence this is true. It may take a while to find out what has really happened.
And that's the thing, too. If someone just made these accusations up, it merely perpetuates, reinforces, and legitimizes the victim complex so many folks on the far right have mastered because it resonates so profoundly with their cult.

There's another angle to this, too. It's reasonable to assume that, if someone made these allegations up, they are probably someone on the opposite end of the political spectrum. It looks bad. Really bad. And while I am always on the side of exposing hypocrisy (the abortion allegations), why is it that person chose sex work as the second point of the allegation? It wasn't an accident. Sex workers are still fair game for ostracism and demonization--regardless of whether they do it by choice or by force. So if a political opponent made this up, shame on them for going there. They should know better. Yet, they clearly don't.

by ti-amie The only reason this got traction and I posted it is that these are the same people that started the Madison Cawthorn ball rolling. There are very serious implications to these revelations and I think that is why the only big denial has been Ted Cruz and people are tiptoeing around the story.

We'll see.

by JazzNU I don't think most who consider themselves liberal care even a little bit about her potentially having two abortions. Although more might care that she was an escort or a hooker, most would still not care. It's that she's been loudly crowing about blocking access to abortion for all women and also shaming women who aren't damn near virgins that makes it an issue. It's about the hypocrisy. Same as it was for Madison.

It's also about her Cruz and Koch connections. And the money, her pervy husband and the job he's unqualified to have.

And asking if Boebert or MTG is worse is like asking Satan or the Devil, but the correct answer is still that Lauren is worse. MTG's damn near a silent figure in comparison at this point.

by JazzNU
ti-amie wrote: Wed Jun 15, 2022 10:06 pm The only reason this got traction and I posted it is that these are the same people that started the Madison Cawthorn ball rolling. There are very serious implications to these revelations and I think that is why the only big denial has been Ted Cruz and people are tiptoeing around the story.

We'll see.
Every part of this isn't fake. Some parts could be of course, but not every single thing. She's part of the Explore Talent group of "models" and there's no getting rid of those profile snapshots no matter how hard any of that group tries. Could what has been alleged be more salacious than what she actually did? Yes, but is it all false? The "model" that looks suspiciously close to an escort and being a kissing cousin to other GOP women who have inexplicably risen in the party has been known for awhile. SugarDaddyMeet (hilarious name) is new I think and blatantly being an escort is new, but it's hardly a stretch from what was known before.

by JazzNU
dryrunguy wrote: Wed Jun 15, 2022 9:55 pm
There's another angle to this, too. It's reasonable to assume that, if someone made these allegations up, they are probably someone on the opposite end of the political spectrum.
It's the GOP that's taking them out. Same as they did Madison.


Image

by dryrunguy
JazzNU wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 1:22 am
dryrunguy wrote: Wed Jun 15, 2022 9:55 pm
There's another angle to this, too. It's reasonable to assume that, if someone made these allegations up, they are probably someone on the opposite end of the political spectrum.
It's the GOP that's taking them out. Same as they did Madison.


Image
This crossed my mind, too. Can't dismiss it.

by JazzNU

by ti-amie

by ti-amie southpaw
@nycsouthpaw
“A grocery store worker accused of assaulting R. Giuliani at a Staten Island supermarket on Sunday had the charges against him reduced after the emergence of video footage that appeared to show him patting Mr. Giuliani on the back with an open palm rather than striking him.”
8:09 PM · Jun 27, 2022

by mmmm8
ti-amie wrote: Tue Jun 28, 2022 12:15 am southpaw
@nycsouthpaw
“A grocery store worker accused of assaulting R. Giuliani at a Staten Island supermarket on Sunday had the charges against him reduced after the emergence of video footage that appeared to show him patting Mr. Giuliani on the back with an open palm rather than striking him.”
8:09 PM · Jun 27, 2022
The video of the "assault"


by Oploskoffie
ti-amie wrote: Tue Jun 28, 2022 12:15 am southpaw
@nycsouthpaw
“A grocery store worker accused of assaulting R. Giuliani at a Staten Island supermarket on Sunday had the charges against him reduced after the emergence of video footage that appeared to show him patting Mr. Giuliani on the back with an open palm rather than striking him.”
8:09 PM · Jun 27, 2022
"The worker, Daniel Gill, had been charged with second-degree assault, a felony, in the immediate aftermath of the episode. Prosecutors later reduced the charges to third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, third-degree menacing and second-degree harassment."

Seriously? Three seperate charges, for that?? Correction: ANY charges??

by ponchi101 Third degree assault. If that is so, the way I greet my friends is voluntary manslaughter.
Typical. "I am trying to overthrow the government, and that is fine, but pat me on the back, and I sue you".

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 Why is this totally not-surprising?
(The DONATE link).

by ti-amie I was surprised to see that her death is under investigation by the NYPD.

Also, Tiny and his spawn used her death to get out of depositions they were supposed to do today in NYC but Tiny is holding a rally somewhere tonight. Her three children are, I hope mourning the loss of their mother.

by patrick
ti-amie wrote: Fri Jul 15, 2022 10:27 pm I was surprised to see that her death is under investigation by the NYPD.

Also, Tiny and his spawn used her death to get out of depositions they were supposed to do today in NYC but Tiny is holding a rally somewhere tonight. Her three children are, I hope mourning the loss of their mother.
Why am I not shocked. He will use any and all the delay tactics. They will not do a deposition until September at the earliest

by Owendonovan
dryrunguy wrote: Wed Jun 15, 2022 3:35 pm These accusations are nothing. Many voters don't care what she does to attain wealth. The scummier you are about it, the more some seem to admire it.

As for the sex work and two abortions, that's no big deal, either. All she has to do is say she was once living in sin but then she found Jesus and he has forgiven her. And so should we.

That's how this works.
At least in the 90's politicians had to go to a 12 step treatment center for anything politicians did wrong, now they just claim Jesus.

by Owendonovan 1 down, 8 to go.

by ponchi101
Owendonovan wrote: Sat Jul 16, 2022 1:29 pm 1 down, 8 to go.
You lost me, Owen. :?:

by Owendonovan
ponchi101 wrote: Sat Jul 16, 2022 2:18 pm
Owendonovan wrote: Sat Jul 16, 2022 1:29 pm 1 down, 8 to go.
You lost me, Owen. :?:
Immediate members of that crass, dangerous family.

by ponchi101
Owendonovan wrote: Sun Jul 17, 2022 10:14 am
ponchi101 wrote: Sat Jul 16, 2022 2:18 pm
Owendonovan wrote: Sat Jul 16, 2022 1:29 pm 1 down, 8 to go.
You lost me, Owen. :?:
Immediate members of that crass, dangerous family.
Got it.
Actually, she was the most harmless.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by patrick Do they remember World War II, Vietnam War, Afghanistan, Iraq and etc....?

by ti-amie
patrick wrote: Fri Jul 29, 2022 1:14 am Do they remember World War II, Vietnam War, Afghanistan, Iraq and etc....?
They truly don't care.

by Owendonovan
patrick wrote: Fri Jul 29, 2022 1:14 am Do they remember World War II, Vietnam War, Afghanistan, Iraq and etc....?
It's not happening to them, they don't care. I also don't know exactly who or what they actually do care (in a human empathetic way) about. I wish nothing good for these people.

by ponchi101
Owendonovan wrote: Fri Jul 29, 2022 2:11 am
patrick wrote: Fri Jul 29, 2022 1:14 am Do they remember World War II, Vietnam War, Afghanistan, Iraq and etc....?
It's not happening to them, they don't care. I also don't know exactly who or what they actually do care (in a human empathetic way) about. I wish nothing good for these people.
They care about the lobbyists outside their door. Or on speed dial #2 (yes, these guys most likely have flip phones).


by ponchi101 Serious here.
Other than the usual band of suspects (Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao, all the Korean Kims, etc), has there ever been a more disgusting person than Tiny? I mean, again, other than Caligula, Genghis Khan, those types.
I would say Chavez but just because I am so biased.

by patrick No. Got Russian help in 2016 then screaming "Bloody Murder" in 2020 forward

by patrick No. Got Russian help in 2016 then screaming "Bloody Murder" in 2020 forward

by Owendonovan
ti-amie wrote: Fri Jul 29, 2022 11:15 pm

There is no bottom.

Image

Image

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... ourse.html
Hopefully that plot gets filled quickly.

by ti-amie Republicans block cap on insulin costs for millions of patients
GOP senators move to strip a $35 price cap on insulin under private insurance from the Inflation Reduction Act
By Evan Halper and Tony Romm
August 7, 2022 at 10:57 a.m. EDT

Republican lawmakers on Sunday successfully stripped a $35 price cap on the cost of insulin for many patients from the ambitious legislative package Democrats are moving through Congress this weekend, invoking arcane Senate rules to jettison the measure.

The insulin cap is a long-running ambition of Democrats, who want it to apply to patients on Medicare and private insurance. Republicans left the portion that applies to Medicare patients untouched but stripped the insulin cap for other patients. Bipartisan talks on a broader insulin pricing bill faltered earlier this year.

The Senate parliamentarian earlier in the weekend ruled that part of the Democrats’ cap, included in the Inflation Reduction Act, did not comply with the rules that allow them to advance a bill under the process known as reconciliation — a tactic that helps them avert a GOP filibuster. That gave the Republicans an opening to jettison it.

“Republicans have just gone on the record in favor of expensive insulin,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). “After years of tough talk about taking on insulin makers, Republicans have once against wilted in the face of heat from Big Pharma."

Some Republicans did support the price cap in the 57-43 vote for the measure, but not enough joined Democrats in support of it to meet the threshold for passage.

More than 1 in 5 insulin users on private medical insurance pay more than $35 per month for the medicine, according to a recent analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Some 7 million Americans require insulin daily. A Yale University study found that 14 percent of those insulin users are spending more than 40 percent of their income after food and housing costs on the medicine.

Despite an adverse ruling from the chamber’s parliamentarian, Democrats opted to keep the full price cap provision in the bill anyway. That gave Republicans, led in debate by Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), an opening for a challenge on the Senate floor. Democrats would have needed 60 votes — their entire caucus plus the support of 10 GOP members — to beat back that challenge. They came up short.

The fight was a policy loss for Democrats, but it was also a political win, as lowering the price of drugs like insulin is popular with voters.

"The only way it doesn’t pass is if folks on the other side of the aisle decide to block it,” said Sen. Raphael G. Warnock (D-Ga.), who had previously put forward legislation calling for a price cap.

GOP lawmakers had earlier tried to offer their own, more scaled-back version of an insulin price limit, but Democrats rejected it as too narrow.

“The cost of insulin isn’t just out of control, it is devastating people," Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said on the Senate floor, imploring the GOP not to strip the price cap from the bill. "This should not be a hard vote to cast.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2 ... -congress/

by dryrunguy Maya Angelou said it best. The only problem is... This isn't the first time.

by Owendonovan https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3ppy5/ ... -rage-cage

The surreal scene around the cage in the CPAC exhibit hall was only made more bizarre when security guards began parting the crowds for extreme-right Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. The “jail guards” unlocked the cage and allowed her in. She hugged Straka, before falling to her knees in front of the chair he was sitting on. They clasped hands and prayed together.

by ti-amie
Owendonovan wrote: Mon Aug 08, 2022 1:22 pm https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3ppy5/ ... -rage-cage

The surreal scene around the cage in the CPAC exhibit hall was only made more bizarre when security guards began parting the crowds for extreme-right Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. The “jail guards” unlocked the cage and allowed her in. She hugged Straka, before falling to her knees in front of the chair he was sitting on. They clasped hands and prayed together.
:vomit:

I saw the cosplay pics. I'm still not quite over it.

by ti-amie





I think this all came out thanks to a FOIA request. That resignation letter should've come out during the second impeachment trial.

by ti-amie And this.


by ti-amie @itscaitlinhd
Aggregated by @threadreaderapp

1/ I've spent the last 18 months investigating how our government reached the point of taking children away from their parents as a way to discourage migration to the United States. Here's my story about how and why it happened, and who's responsible.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/ar ... on/670604/

2/ Beyond the answers to those initial questions, I came away with a new understanding of the government processes and procedures that exist to prevent bad policies from being implemented--systems that in this case, were dismantled, disempowered or ignored.

3/It's easy to blame family separations on a few hawks and a chaotic administration, but they were co-signed by dozens of high ranking political appointees and bureaucrats. Some actively supported the idea, but many simply declined to push back, figuring that someone else would.

4/The implications cannot be overstated. At press time, the parents of 185 separated children still had not been found. Even those who have been reunified remain, in many cases, profoundly traumatized. Both parents and children are struggling with severe mental illness.

5/For years we've been told that separations were done humanely and without incident. That's not true. Neris González, a Salvadoran consular worker, recalls kids being physically pulled back and forth between their parents and agents; she worried some might get hurt.

6/She says the CBP processing center where she worked was virtually locked down while separations were underway. No one outside of government was allowed in to see what was going on.

7/González can still hear the children's ear-piercing screams. She recalls getting ready to leave the facility at the end of the day. The children hugged and clung to her, begging her not to leave them in the detention center alone.

8/When I asked government officials how this could have happened, many told me they had no idea how badly awry separations would go. But government records show the opposite-everything that went wrong was documented in advance warnings. Still, the administration forged ahead.

9/This piece is the continuation of a body of work by many reporters who helped to uncover family separations before they were publicly acknowledged, during the many months when government officials were misleading congress and the public about what they were doing.

11/There are too many to name, but among them @JuliaEAinsley @lomikriel @jacobsoboroff @gingerthomp1 @mariasacchetti @NickMiroff @DLind @JonathanBlitzer @Haleaziz and of course, @nixonron @mirjordan @shearm and @juliehdavis. The list goes on and on. Please add to it.

12/And the work is ongoing. @iamfannygarcia and @NaraMilanich are recording the oral histories of separated families to ensure that their stories are preserved. washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…

13/This story couldn't have happened w/out my brilliant colleagues, starting w/ the unparalleled @SStossel. @AndrewAoyama's research was indispensable, as was a copy and checking army, plus our photo, art and experimental storytelling departments. I'm so lucky to work with them.

by ponchi101
ti-amie wrote: Mon Aug 08, 2022 8:44 pm ...



I think this all came out thanks to a FOIA request. That resignation letter should've come out during the second impeachment trial.
Great. But I am still puzzled by the inevitable "It is with great regret that I present my resignation". No, it is with great pride. "I will not surrender my duty to the USA, and I will fight you all the way to ensure your agenda will not come to fruition".
Is that so hard to write?

by dryrunguy
ponchi101 wrote: Mon Aug 08, 2022 10:25 pm
ti-amie wrote: Mon Aug 08, 2022 8:44 pm ...



I think this all came out thanks to a FOIA request. That resignation letter should've come out during the second impeachment trial.
Great. But I am still puzzled by the inevitable "It is with great regret that I present my resignation". No, it is with great pride. "I will not surrender my duty to the USA, and I will fight you all the way to ensure your agenda will not come to fruition".
Is that so hard to write?
Actually, yes. That would be very difficult, and dangerous, to write. We're talking about a former President who had a well-decorated track record for destroying people who opposed him or stood up to him--with a high degree of success. I don't blame him one bit.

That said, as it was worded, I'm pretty sure he landed on 45's permanent (expletive) List. That's risky enough.

by ponchi101 This is a military man. If he is intimidated by this fat ass, you guys are in more problems than we know.

by ti-amie An interesting breakdown of media coverage of the search done at Mar-a-Lago by the FBI.











P 1/2

by ti-amie





P2/2

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 Is that a new low? Threatening a hospital?
No, right? They have gone lower than that. It is just that I can't recall.

by ti-amie

by skatingfan
ponchi101 wrote: Thu Aug 18, 2022 7:08 pm Is that a new low? Threatening a hospital?
No, right? They have gone lower than that. It is just that I can't recall.
In the early to mid '90's they were shooting doctors who performed abortions, now it's threats against doctors who treat transgender children, so no this is not new.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

Casablanca shocked

by ti-amie Trump's Truth Social has trademark application denied as setbacks pile up

Emily Peck
Sara Fischer

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) refused Donald Trump's application for a trademark for "Truth Social," the name of his social media company earlier this month. A trademark lawyer in Washington surfaced the filing on Thursday.

Why it matters: The trademark refusal is just the latest setback for the former president's social media app and its parent company, which have been beset by a raft of issues over the past few months.

What's happening: The USPTO found two other companies who already use the Truth Social wording, which would create what's known as "likelihood of confusion" if Trump also got the mark.

Typically, when a company files for a trademark — the distinct brand-name it wishes to use exclusively — lawyers vet the term to make sure there's no conflicts.
"Ideally, you would pick a name where this wasn't going to happen," said Josh Gerben, a trademark lawyer in Washington, D.C., who tweeted the PTO filing.
But sometimes if a client really wants a name, the company will forge ahead, despite what the lawyers say.
This doesn't spell the end for the trademark. Trump can appeal, which trademark lawyers believe is likely. Initial refusals aren't uncommon and there are a couple moves the company can make to clear this hurdle. Axios reached out to Truth Social for comment and has not yet heard back.

The big picture: Truth Social and the SPAC looking to take its parent company public have faced enormous legal and technical challenges ever since the app was announced last October.

Last week, Digital World Acquisition Group (DWAC), the blank check company that plans to merge with the parent company Truth Social to take it public, looked to delay its earnings report
The week before it asked shareholders to approve an extension of its merger agreement by a year.
The Truth Social app missed its launch deadline, putting thousands of users on a waitlist for weeks.
The SPAC is under investigation by the SEC for possibly negotiating their deal prior to DWAC going public, which is illegal if true.
An investor sued the SPAC's CEO last year claiming fraud.
There's been confusion regarding whether or not certain members of the board are still on the board.

https://www.axios.com/2022/08/25/trump- ... ark-denied

by ti-amie Saying the quiet part out loud...


by JazzNU

by JazzNU
ti-amie wrote: Fri Aug 26, 2022 1:44 am Saying the quiet part out loud...


Top Replies


Brian Tyler Cohen
@briantylercohen
Replying to @RepJimBanks

Republicans would like you to know that they need you to be poor so they can exploit that poverty to use you for wars, and then when you come back they’ll vote against funding your healthcare.


Olivia Julianna
@0liviajulianna
Replying to @RepJimBanks

“Greatest recruitment tool” you mean predatory practices that target low income students?


NotTheRealTraceyDelaney
@TraceyDelaney
Replying to @RepJimBanks

“How will we convince poor people to go die in our wars if they can afford to educate themselves out of poverty??” - Rep. Jim Banks

by ti-amie Mayor's office allows Trump's company to host Saudi-tied golf tournament in NYC
2022/08/26

NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump’s company has gotten the green light to host a golf tournament in the Bronx sponsored by the Saudi Arabian government, infuriating relatives of 9/11 victims already fuming over a similar event held at a Trump course in neighboring New Jersey last month.

The Trump Organization recently secured the permit from Mayor Eric Adams’ administration to hold the women’s tournament at its Ferry Point course in Throgs Neck this October, a city official familiar with the matter confirmed to the Daily News on Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity. The permit was first reported by The New York Times.

The Aramco Team Series tournament is in part bankrolled by the Saudi government, and the event’s title sponsor, Aramco, is the kingdom’s state-owned oil producer.

Word of the Ferry Point permit comes on the heels of Trump drawing a barrage of criticism from 9/11 families for hosting the LIV Golf Series, another Saudi-tied golf tournament, at his course in Bedminster, New Jersey, in July.

U.S. intelligence has determined that Saudi government funding paved the way for the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks on the World Trade Center, and Brett Eagleson, founder of the 9/11 Justice, said both Trump and Adams should be ashamed if the Aramco event moves ahead.

“As far as we’re concerned, we’re telling Mayor Adams not to bother to come to ground zero if he does not cancel this event, not to bother showing up to any ground zero or memorial events,” Eagleson, whose father died in the 9/11 attacks, told The News.

But Nick Paolucci, a spokesman for the city Law Department, said the city had no choice but to approve the Ferry Point permit due to the terms of its contract with the Trump Organization.

“The city is obligated to follow the terms of the Trump Ferry license agreement and cannot unreasonably withhold approval of this tournament,” Paolucci said.

That explanation was cold comfort for Eagleson.

“If they can’t legally stop it, make a public statement they don’t support it,” he said. “This is just egregious and in your face in New York City.”

Asked for a response to Eagleson’s rebuke, Adams spokesman Fabien Levy said, “While we disagree with the values of the Trump Organization, we cannot legally block their application.”

The Trump Organization’s application for the Aramco golf tournament permit was reviewed by the top echelons of Adams’ administration, with City Hall chief of staff Frank Carone holding meetings about the matter on April 25 and May 4, according to records released by the city in response to a Freedom of Information Law request.

Levy said Carone’s meetings on the Trump permit were “internal” and only involved other city government officials.

Dennis McGinley, whose brother died on the 89th floor of the South Tower after the hijackers crashed into the downtown Manhattan skyscrapers, said he felt a depressing sense of deja vu upon hearing of October’s Trump tournament in the Bronx.

“Here we go again,” McGinley said. “It’s even closer to ground zero than Bedminster was. Another punch to the gut. The hits keep coming. Is anyone listening?”

A spokeswoman for the Trump Organization did not return a request for comment Friday.

The Trump Organization’s control of the Ferry Point course became a flash point last year, when former Mayor Bill de Blasio moved to terminate all city contracts with the former president’s company, citing his incitement of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

But a judge ruled this past April that the city had wrongfully terminated the Trump Organization’s contract and allowed the company to keep running the golf course. De Blasio succeeded in terminating several other Trump contracts in the city, though, including the company’s longtime management of the Wollman ice skating rink in Central Park.

———

© New York Daily News


https://nordot.app/935977008168730624

by ti-amie

by Owendonovan
ti-amie wrote: Fri Aug 26, 2022 8:27 pm Mayor's office allows Trump's company to host Saudi-tied golf tournament in NYC
2022/08/26

NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump’s company has gotten the green light to host a golf tournament in the Bronx sponsored by the Saudi Arabian government, infuriating relatives of 9/11 victims already fuming over a similar event held at a Trump course in neighboring New Jersey last month.

The Trump Organization recently secured the permit from Mayor Eric Adams’ administration to hold the women’s tournament at its Ferry Point course in Throgs Neck this October, a city official familiar with the matter confirmed to the Daily News on Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity. The permit was first reported by The New York Times.

The Aramco Team Series tournament is in part bankrolled by the Saudi government, and the event’s title sponsor, Aramco, is the kingdom’s state-owned oil producer.

Word of the Ferry Point permit comes on the heels of Trump drawing a barrage of criticism from 9/11 families for hosting the LIV Golf Series, another Saudi-tied golf tournament, at his course in Bedminster, New Jersey, in July.

U.S. intelligence has determined that Saudi government funding paved the way for the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks on the World Trade Center, and Brett Eagleson, founder of the 9/11 Justice, said both Trump and Adams should be ashamed if the Aramco event moves ahead.

“As far as we’re concerned, we’re telling Mayor Adams not to bother to come to ground zero if he does not cancel this event, not to bother showing up to any ground zero or memorial events,” Eagleson, whose father died in the 9/11 attacks, told The News.

But Nick Paolucci, a spokesman for the city Law Department, said the city had no choice but to approve the Ferry Point permit due to the terms of its contract with the Trump Organization.

“The city is obligated to follow the terms of the Trump Ferry license agreement and cannot unreasonably withhold approval of this tournament,” Paolucci said.

That explanation was cold comfort for Eagleson.

“If they can’t legally stop it, make a public statement they don’t support it,” he said. “This is just egregious and in your face in New York City.”

Asked for a response to Eagleson’s rebuke, Adams spokesman Fabien Levy said, “While we disagree with the values of the Trump Organization, we cannot legally block their application.”

The Trump Organization’s application for the Aramco golf tournament permit was reviewed by the top echelons of Adams’ administration, with City Hall chief of staff Frank Carone holding meetings about the matter on April 25 and May 4, according to records released by the city in response to a Freedom of Information Law request.

Levy said Carone’s meetings on the Trump permit were “internal” and only involved other city government officials.

Dennis McGinley, whose brother died on the 89th floor of the South Tower after the hijackers crashed into the downtown Manhattan skyscrapers, said he felt a depressing sense of deja vu upon hearing of October’s Trump tournament in the Bronx.

“Here we go again,” McGinley said. “It’s even closer to ground zero than Bedminster was. Another punch to the gut. The hits keep coming. Is anyone listening?”

A spokeswoman for the Trump Organization did not return a request for comment Friday.

The Trump Organization’s control of the Ferry Point course became a flash point last year, when former Mayor Bill de Blasio moved to terminate all city contracts with the former president’s company, citing his incitement of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

But a judge ruled this past April that the city had wrongfully terminated the Trump Organization’s contract and allowed the company to keep running the golf course. De Blasio succeeded in terminating several other Trump contracts in the city, though, including the company’s longtime management of the Wollman ice skating rink in Central Park.

———

© New York Daily News


https://nordot.app/935977008168730624
Oh Eric, you're not doing much to quell the feeling many NYers have that you're a shady character.

by Owendonovan
ti-amie wrote: Tue Aug 30, 2022 3:10 am
No sympathy for those who choose to vote against their own interests. Sympathy is reserved for those who didn't vote for these GOP shrills.

by ti-amie

by skatingfan
Owendonovan wrote: Tue Aug 30, 2022 4:49 pm No sympathy for those who choose to vote against their own interests. Sympathy is reserved for those who didn't vote for these GOP shrills.
But Jackson votes Democratic.

by ti-amie
skatingfan wrote: Wed Aug 31, 2022 12:28 am
Owendonovan wrote: Tue Aug 30, 2022 4:49 pm No sympathy for those who choose to vote against their own interests. Sympathy is reserved for those who didn't vote for these GOP shrills.
But Jackson votes Democratic.
And that's why the state government - run by the GQP - doesn't care. I read somewhere that the Feds are going to step in.

by skatingfan
ti-amie wrote: Wed Aug 31, 2022 12:50 am And that's why the state government - run by the GQP - doesn't care. I read somewhere that the Feds are going to step in.
Single party rule in any jurisdiction is not good.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie Tiny went on a rampage on his social media site that's barely hanging on to the rim of the porcelain receptacle. It was pretty bad. It came after the judge they hand picked allowed the DOJ to submit a 40 page filing after his Keystone Cops lawyers filed for a Special Master almost two weeks too late. The normal filing is usually 20 pages max.

by ponchi101 And Truth Social has been suspended from Google Play, because it was not following guidelines regarding violent language.
That is 40% of the US population (using Android).
As Apple's guidelines are a bit more strict, you can expect that app will be dropped soon too.

by Owendonovan
skatingfan wrote: Wed Aug 31, 2022 12:28 am
Owendonovan wrote: Tue Aug 30, 2022 4:49 pm No sympathy for those who choose to vote against their own interests. Sympathy is reserved for those who didn't vote for these GOP shrills.
But Jackson votes Democratic.
Because it's majority black, neighboring white republican counties don't have this issue. White flight.

by Owendonovan West Point Has a K.K.K. Plaque Mounted Above Entrance to Science Hall
For decades, the students at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York have walked beneath a panel of three bronze plaques mounted at the entrance of Bartlett Hall Science Center that includes an image of a hooded figure and the words “Ku Klux Klan” written below it, according to findings in a report released by a congressional panel on Monday.
But the commission said that recommending the removal of the plaque fell outside of its scope because the Ku Klux Klan, founded by former Confederate soldiers, emerged after the Civil War. The panel flagged the item for review in its report, and included a picture.

It's still hanging up.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/30/nyre ... s-kkk.html

by ti-amie I can't like that post Owen but damn.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 And: NOTHING. EVER. HAPPENS.
What else do they need to find to indict this man (because this is obviously about this man) and start a trial?

by Owendonovan
ponchi101 wrote: Thu Sep 01, 2022 10:38 pm And: NOTHING. EVER. HAPPENS.
What else do they need to find to indict this man (because this is obviously about this man) and start a trial?
Sometimes makes me think maybe there's something I should be getting away with without apparent consequence. (not sure what that something would be as I'm not a criminal)

by ti-amie


by ti-amie

by Owendonovan How isn't this human trafficking? I don't know how I'm supposed to respect any republican.

by ponchi101 The only thing that I would say does not make it human trafficking is that it was not done for profit, i.e. the humans trafficked were not "sold" or "traded" upon arrival. But that would be a very thin line, as they were obviously used for a political motive.
Devil's advocate. De Santis is really, really trying to take the mantel of "Main Lunatic of the GOP". He might succeed.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie


by ti-amie

by ti-amie




by ponchi101 BTW.
The photo of the lady with the cap that has the blue stripe and the stars. That is a cap that features the Venezuelan flag (yellow, blue and red, with stars along the blue stripe). It is associated with the people AGAINST the regime; so, that lady has, at a minimum, already gone through one migration, leaving Venezuela. Her accent also tells me she was not born in the USA.
She could be a neighbor of mine (back home).

by ti-amie

by ti-amie It's a shame it takes stunts by Republicans for the US media to focus on what is happening close to home and fueling migration.


by ponchi101 I do not want to sound cynical.
But if the idea is that when a Venezuelan immigrant is "captured", s/he will be relocated to Martha's Vineyard, or any other "Northern" location, and this will DETER these immigrants...
I got some bad news for you, sunshine.

EDIT. Heavily edited because the original post was a mess.

by Owendonovan Maybe sanctuary states should bus all their sexual predators, murderers, and violent criminals to TX, FL, and AZ upon release from prison?

by patrick
ponchi101 wrote: Sat Sep 17, 2022 12:34 am I do not want to sound cynical.
But if the idea is that when a Venezuelan immigrant is "captured", s/he will be relocated to Martha's Vineyard, or any other "Northern" location, and this will DETER these immigrants...
I got some bad news for you, sunshine.

EDIT. Heavily edited because the original post was a mess.
Correct. Venezuela immigrants will be thinking this is a very good way to escape their homeland issues. This will increase the number of people on the border.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by Owendonovan
ti-amie wrote: Mon Sep 19, 2022 9:53 pm
"This is what republicans do", might be a useful soundbite for democrats, but they wonuldn't ever use it. (sigh)

by ponchi101 The dems surely don't know how to win elections. Not only should they have that as a soundbite, they should have the website, the instagram account, the Twitter account and a freaking podcast with that name.

by ti-amie This is an interesting take on why much of the MSM is not raging about a reporter for the NYT sitting on the knowledge that TFG had stolen classified documents for several years.




by ti-amie He's responding to this:



This is another response to what Haberman did.


by ponchi101 But isn't that what all people related to Tiny, or that have worked for Tiny, are all about? The WH Chief of Staff that did not tell the public how lunatic he is, UNTIL he wrote his book. The Sec of Defense that did not speak out about what he saw, until HE got his book deal. Scaramucci, now making the rounds all over TV because NOW he can tell about the madness.
They all take a Hippocratic Oath. Just that in their case, it is an oath to be hypocrites. That's all. You have not one single patriot left in your country.
And yes, you are not alone. That is a truly scarce commodity.

by ti-amie



by Owendonovan
ti-amie wrote: Tue Sep 27, 2022 11:50 pm


Little do they know, they are the beast, along with every other republican in Alabama. That "good book" of grooming sure sends a lot of people down some strange, dangerous paths.

by ponchi101 I had never seen it that way. Indeed, they are The Beast, which would make perfect sense. What better way for The Beast to be effective that for it not to know its condition? :thumbsup:

by ti-amie

by ti-amie More on the shenanigans in Alabama




2.

Alabama GOP chair refused to show license to vote. That became a problem for poll workers.
Voter ID law disenfranchised GOP chair's own family.
https://www.al.com/news/2022/09/alabama ... rkers.html
Wahl's brother testified in 2015 that their family believes photo ID is the mark of the beast foretold in Revelation. Alabama does not have a religious exemption to its voter ID law.

3.

Alabama GOP chair’s family believed voter ID was mark of the beast, brother said in deposition
Brother testified for NAACP-backed court challenge after family denied vote
https://www.al.com/news/2022/09/alabama ... ily-said-v

At one point a bill to add a religious exemption was introduced, but the bill died after the sponsor said it wouldn't apply to Muslims.

4.

AL lawmaker proposes voter photo ID law amendment for religious objections
The Alabama legislature is considering amending its photo voter ID law. It would allow people not to show a photo ID if they have a religious objection to being photographed.
https://www.waff.com/story/34701545/al- ... bjections/
Wahl has blamed one poll worker in particular, a retired engineer named Clyde Martin. However, his brother's testimony shows the family's troubles at the polls go back years, before Martin was ever a poll worker.

5.
At least twice, Wahl has voted using an unusual ID that could be mistaken for a state employee ID. (It's not.) The badge identifies him as a media representative for Alabama State Auditor Jim Zeigler.

At least twice, Wahl has voted using an unusual ID that could be mistaken for a state employee ID. (It's not.) The badge identifies him as a media representative for Alabama State Auditor Jim Zeigler.

6.
State employee IDs are issued by the Finance Department. Finance Department officials have said they never gave Wahl such an ID and state IDs look different than what Wahl presented at the polls.

7.
After first saying he didn't make the ID, Wahl now says he made the ID on a third-party printer with Zeigler's permission so he could set up email blasts for the State Auditor's office.

8.
Wahl said he used the ID the first time because he had left his wallet behind. The second time, he said, he wanted to make a point.

9.
“It does not meet the standard of any voter ID requirements listed under 17-9-30,” Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill told me last week.

10.
At first, State Auditor Jim Zeigler said he authorized an ID so Wahl could participate in an investigation by his office. More recently, his story has changed to match Wahl's.

11.
In a written statement, Zeigler said he gave his blessing to Wahl having an ID to set up email services with third-party vendors. That's the last he heard of it, Zeigler wrote.

12.
I attempted to reach Zeigler for follow-up questions, but he did not answer his cell phone or return a voicemail message left.

13.
I also asked Wahl what the barcode was for on his ID. State employee IDs do not use barcodes. Wahl said he didn't know what it was for, even though he made it.

14.
Wahl has blamed poll workers for picking on him, but their concerns about his ID now appear validated.

15.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ti-amie I really didn't know where this fit so I put it here.









Garrett M. Graff @vermontgmg
8) I asked @senatorleahy about this incident when I interviewed him at @bearpondbooks earlier this month, if he knew the joggers ever, and he said, "You don't understand—I didn't *want* to know who they were." …

9) tl;dr: Leahy ends up voting against the war because some corner of the intel world tracked when he was out exercising, intercepted him, and pointed him to secret intelligence reports.

Dean Gloster @deangloster
Replying to @vermontgmg
Not-so-fun fact: The U.S. intelligence community and State Department knew it was a disaster to go to war with Iraq, because it would make Iran a regional superpower and give Al Queda what it wanted--a U.S. vs. Iraq war to supposedly unite Islam against the West and secularism.

by ti-amie Spy Twitter is very interesting at times.

by ponchi101 Of course, WORST president of the USA is no longer a contested category, but if you take that guy out, W was also pretty abhorrent.
Just that the bar was lowered so much afterwards...

by dryrunguy
ponchi101 wrote: Fri Oct 14, 2022 9:28 pm Of course, WORST president of the USA is no longer a contested category, but if you take that guy out, W was also pretty abhorrent.
Just that the bar was lowered so much afterwards...
That's the thing. At the time, everyone knew Bush and Cheney were knowingly lying about pretty much everything. Everyone thought we had reached the bottom of the barrel.

Today, we look back on it, and in comparison to what we've witnessed since, Bush and Cheney were complete and utter pansies. Every now and then, I have actually caught myself looking back to those days with a really twisted and inexplicable sense of longing. Go figure.

by ti-amie The trauma the country has been through since a certain person entered the race in 2015 has made all of us look back with, if not fondness, a sense of how naive we were.

by skatingfan
ponchi101 wrote: Fri Oct 14, 2022 9:28 pm Of course, WORST president of the USA is no longer a contested category, but if you take that guy out, W was also pretty abhorrent.
Just that the bar was lowered so much afterwards...
And Putin has been following the Bush administration playbook with disinformation about Ukraine - things in Ukraine just turned badly for Russia faster than they did for the US in Iraq.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie A Trump Political Committee Bought $131,000 Worth Of Books. Four Days Later, Jared Kushner’s Hit The Best-Seller List
Zach EversonForbes Staff
I’m a staff writer at Forbes, reporting on money and politics.
Oct 16, 2022,03:29pm EDT

One of Donald Trump’s political committees spent $158,000 on books just weeks after the release of Jared Kushner’s memoir.

“Breaking History: A White House Memoir” hit book shelves on Aug. 23. Two weeks later, the Save America Joint Fundraising Committee, which raises money for two Trump PACs, paid retailer Books-A-Million $131,000 for “collateral:books,” according to a campaign filing made Saturday with the Federal Election Commission.

On Sept. 11, four days after that bulk purchase, Kushner’s book appeared for the first time on the New York Times best sellers list.

On Sept. 22, Save America purchased another $27,000 worth of books. “Breaking History” spent five weeks on the best-seller list before falling off.

Spokespeople for Save America did not immediately respond to questions about whether the book purchases covered Kushner’s memoir. But it seems likely that it did. Save America Joint Fundraising Committee is currently offering copies of Kusher’s book in exchange for donations of $75 or more.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacheverso ... f749587c77

by ponchi101 The entire bunch is so insecure :rofl:

by ti-amie

Image

And they will vote for the conman again.

From Snopes:
Why Was the Post Removed?
The Reddit post was deleted within 24 hours by u/alyrenna123. By that point, it showed a score of more than 150,000 points. For any readers who aren’t familiar with how Reddit works, this number of points indicated that it was an extremely popular post among the website’s users. It likely appeared on the front page of the website for a number of hours.

“I honestly didn’t expect that post to blow up the way it did. I posted it for (expletive) and giggles and it hit 150k in 12 hours and I freaked out,” u/alyrenna123 told us during our chat. “I kept getting death threats and people saying they would ‘dox’ me. My supervisor saw the post, and while I did not post anything worthy of being punished, [said] it would be in my best interest to take it down.”

The Origins of the ‘Gold’ Trump $5,000 Bill
Reddit commenters pointed to the fact that similar “gold” $5,000 bills with Trump’s picture on them were available on eBay for a very small price.

For example, one listing showed a 100-count of “gold” $1,000 bills with Trump‘s image for $32 with free shipping. Many of the listings displayed their country of origin as China.

This story will be updated should any further information come to light.
Sources:

alyrenna123. “I Work at a Bank, a Couple Just Came in Wanting to Cash This and Claimed It Was Real Gold and Legal Tender.” r/facepalm via Reddit.com, 18 Oct. 2022, www.reddit.com/r/facepalm/.

eBay. https://www.ebay.com.


Jordan Liles
Published 19 October 2022

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/bank- ... 5000-bill/

by ti-amie

by patrick Why am I not surprised as he heads to a Monday debate vs Crist

by ti-amie With these people every accusation is an admission.

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 Love the reply. Great way to deal with the entire lunacy.
It won't matter. If I use my loony friend N as a sample, when he sends me crazy stuff and I reply pointing out the logical fallacies, I can hear the BOINK against the bubbles' wall.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie Assailant shouted ‘Where is Nancy?’ in break-in at speaker’s home, attack on Paul Pelosi
By Eugene Scott, Leigh Ann Caldwell, Perry Stein, Paul Kane and Lisa Bonos
Updated October 28, 2022 at 3:16 p.m. EDT|Published October 28, 2022 at 9:01 a.m. EDT

The husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was violently assaulted during an early-morning break-in at the couple’s San Francisco home by an assailant who was searching for the speaker and shouted, “Where is Nancy?,” according to a person briefed on the case.

San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said at a news conference that police responded at 2:27 a.m. Friday to a break-in at the Pelosi home. They found the assailant, who grabbed a hammer from Paul Pelosi and attacked him in front of police.

Paul Pelosi, 82, was taken to a hospital and is expected to make a full recovery, according to the speaker’s office.

Police arrested 42-year-old David Depape and he will be charged with attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse and burglary, according to Scott. Depape also was taken to a hospital.

The assailant was looking for the House speaker and, before assaulting Paul Pelosi, shouted, “Where is Nancy, where is Nancy?” according to an individual who was briefed on the attack. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe details.

Those details were a chilling echo of the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol when a pro-Trump mob could be heard chanting, “Nancy, Nancy” and “All we want is Pelosi” as they ransacked the building, overwhelmed police and sought to stop the counting of electoral college votes in Joe Biden’s win.

Nancy Pelosi, who has been fundraising and campaigning with Democrats around the country ahead of the midterm elections, was in Washington at the time, according to U.S. Capitol Police.

The speaker, who is second in line to the presidency, has a security detail provided by Capitol Police. Paul Pelosi, however, doesn’t receive protection from Capitol Police or any other government entity when he is not with the speaker, according to three people familiar with the security protocol.

“The Speaker and her family are grateful to the first responders and medical professionals involved, and request privacy at this time,” Drew Hammill, a spokesman, said.

The U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement that it is assisting the FBI and San Francisco police in investigating the break-in and attack.

“Special Agents with the USCP’s California Field Office quickly arrived on scene, while a team of investigators from the Department’s Threat Assessment Section was simultaneously dispatched from the East Coast to assist the FBI and the San Francisco Police with a joint investigation,” U.S. Capitol Police said.

A law enforcement official familiar with the investigation said it is still too early to determine a motive for the attack. But the official said investigators are examining all indicators of a potential motive, including the suspect’s social media accounts. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk frankly about the probe.

In July 2013, Depape participated in a demonstration against a citywide ordinance banning public nudity, according to an account of the event posted online by nudist activist Gypsy Taub. Videos posted on YouTube of the event show naked protesters marching through San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood.

The speaker, who had been in Zagreb, Croatia, earlier this week for a forum on Crimea and in Washington on Tuesday to meet with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, was in San Francisco on Wednesday morning for an event at the Golden Gate Bridge before returning to Washington.

President Biden spoke to Nancy Pelosi to “express his support after this horrible attack,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

“The President is praying for Paul Pelosi and for Speaker Pelosi’s whole family,” Jean-Pierre said. “He is also very glad that a full recovery is expected. The President continues to condemn all violence, and asks that the family’s desire for privacy be respected.”

Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement that he conveyed his concerns in a call with the speaker, describing the attack as a “dastardly act.”

Other congressional leaders also expressed their shock and outrage while wishing Paul Pelosi a speedy recovery. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) tweeted, “Horrified and disgusted by the reports that Paul Pelosi was assaulted in his and Speaker Pelosi’s home last night.

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), the No. 2 Republican in the House, echoed those comments in his own tweet, writing: “Disgusted to hear about the horrific assault on Speaker Pelosi’s husband Paul. Grateful for law enforcement’s actions to respond,” Scalise said. “Let’s be clear: Violence has no place in this country. I’m praying for Paul Pelosi’s full recovery.”

Scalise was gravely wounded in 2017 when a gunman opened fired as Republicans were practicing for a Congressional Baseball Game.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) says he contacted the speaker, per a statement from his spokesman, Mark Bednar. “Leader McCarthy reached out to the Speaker to check in on Paul and said he’s praying for a full recovery and is thankful they caught the assailant,” the statement said.

But not every politician focused solely on the violent attack and Paul Pelosi’s health.

Campaigning with Virginia GOP House candidate Yesli Vega, Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) condemned the violence but then suggested that Republican voters would send the House speaker back home to be with her husband.

“Listen, I want to stop for a minute and — listen — Speaker Pelosi’s husband had a break-in last night in their house and he was assaulted. There’s no room for violence anywhere, but we’re going to send her back to be with him in California. That’s what we’re going to go do,” Youngkin said.

The crowd cheered.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who was recently threatened at her home, said Speaker Pelosi “was very sympathetic to the need to get additional security for members.”

“She really recognizes the changed threat to members in this environment and particularly after January 6,” Jayapal said, referring to the 2021 attack on the Capitol.

Jayapal added that the need for security for family members “has been an ongoing concern” because family members don’t receive protection, and that it has been a challenge because such arrangements must be approved in the appropriations process by both parties.

Paul Pelosi owns Financial Leasing Services, a San Francisco-based real estate and venture capital investment and consulting firm. He met his wife while studying at Georgetown University. She was a student at Trinity College at the time. The Pelosis have been married for 59 years and have five children.

Paul Pelosi was in the news in August when he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence and causing injury stemming from a May car crash in Northern California.

In 2021, the Pelosi home in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood was spray-painted and a pig’s head was left on the sidewalk in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day. The incident was apparently in criticism of Congress over insufficient coronavirus pandemic relief.

Dalton Bennett contributed to this report.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... ce=twitter

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 Words matter. And this is a direct result of the demonization of the "others" in politics.

by ti-amie

by Owendonovan NewsCorp, trump and the GOP are 100% responsible for this. I'm able to see their point of view and it's irrational, dishonest, and a load of crap.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie Brooklyn Nets condemn Kyrie Irving’s promotion of antisemitic film
Nets owner disappointed Irving backed antisemitic work
Irving, 30, could be in final season with Brooklyn club

Associated Press
Sat 29 Oct 2022 18.20 BST

Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai said Friday he is disappointed that Kyrie Irving appears to support a film “based on a book full of antisemitic disinformation”.

The Nets’ star guard posted a link for the film “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America” on Twitter on Thursday. The synopsis on Amazon said the film “uncovers the true identity of the Children of Israel.”

Tsai and the Nets reacted quickly to the latest trouble stirred up by Irving, who had previously supported the idea of the Earth being flat and last month on social media shared an old clip from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

“I want to sit down and make sure he understands this is hurtful to all of us, and as a man of faith, it is wrong to promote hate based on race, ethnicity or religion,” Tsai wrote on Twitter regarding Irving.

Irving was unavailable for most of the Nets’ home games last season because he refused to be vaccinated against Covid-19, as was mandated in New York City. The Nets then declined to give him a contract extension this summer, meaning Irving could be in his final season with the team.

“The Brooklyn Nets strongly condemn and have no tolerance for the promotion of any form of hate speech,” the team said in a statement. “We believe that in these situations, our first action must be open, honest dialogue. We thank those, including the ADL, who have been supportive during this time.”

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/ ... 1667067763




by ti-amie

by ti-amie


by Owendonovan Kyrie can go jump off the edge of the earth he thinks is flat.

by ponchi101 Find Abdul Jabbar's comments on Kyrie from a couple of weeks ago. As always, Kareem was completely spot on.

by ti-amie Then there was this during a CFB game.


by ti-amie I'm tired.

by ponchi101 Truly can't think of any intelligent comment, opinion or concept about this. It is that mind boggling, to me.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by Owendonovan Elon Musk, in a Tweet, Shares Link From Site Known to Publish False News
On Saturday, Hillary Clinton, the former first lady and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, posted a tweet assailing Republicans for spreading “hate and deranged conspiracy theories” that she said had emboldened the man who attacked Ms. Pelosi’s husband, Paul, inside the couple’s home in San Francisco early Friday.

In a reply to Mrs. Clinton’s tweet, Mr. Musk wrote, “There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye” and then shared a link to an article in the Santa Monica Observer. The article alleges that Mr. Pelosi was drunk and in a fight with a male prostitute.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/30/busi ... sband.html

I hope twitter tanks, it's quickly becoming the cesspool Musk has promised it will be.

by ti-amie I'm really tired.

by ti-amie
Owendonovan wrote: Sun Oct 30, 2022 11:35 pm Elon Musk, in a Tweet, Shares Link From Site Known to Publish False News
On Saturday, Hillary Clinton, the former first lady and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, posted a tweet assailing Republicans for spreading “hate and deranged conspiracy theories” that she said had emboldened the man who attacked Ms. Pelosi’s husband, Paul, inside the couple’s home in San Francisco early Friday.

In a reply to Mrs. Clinton’s tweet, Mr. Musk wrote, “There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye” and then shared a link to an article in the Santa Monica Observer. The article alleges that Mr. Pelosi was drunk and in a fight with a male prostitute.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/30/busi ... sband.html

I hope twitter tanks, it's quickly becoming the cesspool Musk has promised it will be.
Duty To Warn 🔉
@duty2warn

After the outrage on Twitter, Elon Musk deleted his misinformation tweet about the attack on Paul Pelosi.
“He may own the company but when he’s faced with all our voices he doesn’t want the trouble.”
—Reed Galen

by Jeff from TX
ti-amie wrote: Sun Oct 30, 2022 11:58 pm I'm really tired.
I think a lot of us can understand your feeling on some level. I personally want to thank you and all of our posters' efforts to keep us informed on "stuff" that would otherwise slip by as well as giving us opinions and facts to consider about a wide range of topics in our world (and giving us some fun contests to participate in as well :D ). You are appreciated by this man in Arizona.

by ponchi101 Ti's work is so completely appreciated. Lately, I just find myself puzzled by some of the tweets and posts; I can't express anything because there are, on so many occasions, no words for me to say.
But it is the sole way to keep up with the lunacy. As tough as it is, and as tired as Ti gets (and some of us too).

by ti-amie

by Owendonovan
ti-amie wrote: Thu Nov 03, 2022 10:43 pm
Well it's too late now to convince a considerable amount of his audience that it wasn't true.

by ti-amie

by texasniteowl So very many things I just do not understand these days. But in the end does it all come down to: where did a sense of basic decency go?

Some of the election denier candidates do have so much going for them. Some of them are intelligent, polished, charismatic, etc., but they choose to have their legacy be this?

I just don't have words.

by ti-amie

by ponchi101
texasniteowl wrote: Fri Nov 04, 2022 8:05 pm So very many things I just do not understand these days. But in the end does it all come down to: where did a sense of basic decency go?

Some of the election denier candidates do have so much going for them. Some of them are intelligent, polished, charismatic, etc., but they choose to have their legacy be this?

I just don't have words.
On November 6, 2016, I "jokingly" put in the IN MEMORIAN thread (TAT1.0) a post that said:
"In Memorian.
Decency. 4,000 BC - Nov 6 2016.Passed away after a long disease. Survived by two siblings, Common Sense and Empathy, both in critical conditions".

But we need a sociologist to properly answer your question, not some of my idiotic attempts at cynicism.

by texasniteowl
ponchi101 wrote: Fri Nov 04, 2022 9:05 pm
On November 6, 2016, I "jokingly" put in the IN MEMORIAN thread (TAT1.0) a post that said:
"In Memorian.
Decency. 4,000 BC - Nov 6 2016.Passed away after a long disease. Survived by two siblings, Common Sense and Empathy, both in critical conditions".

But we need a sociologist to properly answer your question, not some of my idiotic attempts at cynicism.
"Joke" or not...it feels true.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 Why is that news? And why single out Afghanistan? The same issues happen in Pakistan and several other Muslim countries.
This situation is exactly the status-quo prior to the 2002 invasion.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 And yet, Latinos in Florida vote republican.
My fellow brainless citizen.

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 They are all home free.
Best thing that the Jan 6 can do it make a massive dump of all material already in their hands to the media, and allow the media to publish it.
Because that is how you throw away two years of work because you wanted it to be so perfect, you now don't even get it to be good.

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 She makes Hershel look like Nobel Prize material.
Well, Valedictorian. But she is like Exhibit A of why people that run for public office must have some credentials.

by skatingfan
ponchi101 wrote: Fri Nov 18, 2022 1:01 am She makes Hershel look like Nobel Prize material.
Well, Valedictorian. But she is like Exhibit A of why people that run for public office must have some credentials.
This is what happens in a two-party system. Running unopposed to a seat in Congress is ridiculous.

by ti-amie Neil McMahon @NeilMcMahon
Trump's lawyer.


by ponchi101 No. I'm sorry. That is NOT what she is saying.
She is not saying that they deserved to die BECAUSE there is not proof they were Christians. She is saying that, IF they were not Christians or had not accepted Christ in their lives, NOW they are suffering eternal damnation.
To me, it is an equally sick proposition; the idea of eternal damnation is one of the sickest ideas in the religious cannon of the Abrahamic religions. And yes, it is insane, but this woman is simply repeating what the religions says. She is not saying they deserved to die for not being Christians. For example, according to the Christian cannon, if I were to die tomorrow, I would reap eternal damnation because I do not believe in their story. That simple.
I understand where she is going. GAY = EVIL. That is what the Bible states. But when Mr Chapman twists her words, he is not making any points for the liberal/secular sector that understands that the equality above is what is truly evil.
It is a completely non-helpful logic.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ti-amie The tl;dr on the big news from Hunter Biden's laptop.


by ti-amie

by ti-amie Heidi Przybyla
@HeidiReports@journa.host
Porno pics
#TWITTERGATE

RT @DavidAFrench@twitter.com

Musk is referring here to Biden team requests to remove pornographic pictures of Hunter. Biden was not president in 2020, and therefore there was no government involvement in his campaign's requests. The First Amendment is not implicated when only private actors are involved.
Elon Musk
@elonmusk
Replying to
@elonmusk
and
@micsolana
If this isn’t a violation of the Constitution’s First Amendment, what is?
https://journa.host/@HeidiReports/109450253035153763

by Owendonovan When does Elon come out as Q?

by patrick GOP taking control of House, which starts in January, has the media/social media already concentrating on Hunter Biden instead of the current issues at the moment during the last days of the Democrats controlling both chambers and President. GOP game plan of wasting time is working so far with big time help from Manchin and Sinema.

by ponchi101 I repeat: the committees investigating Trump and all the others have to make a massive dump of data in the next DAYS/HOURS before the GOP takes over and covers every track.
Let the American public and media have the data.
And Hunter Biden: send that frigging laptop to the office of McCarthy, and say so.
"Here you have it. Let me know if you like the porn".

by skatingfan
ponchi101 wrote: Sun Dec 04, 2022 3:18 pm I repeat: the committees investigating Trump and all the others have to make a massive dump of data in the next DAYS/HOURS before the GOP takes over and covers every track.
Let the American public and media have the data.
And Hunter Biden: send that frigging laptop to the office of McCarthy, and say so.
"Here you have it. Let me know if you like the porn".
Just for the record, the FBI has the laptop, and has had it for almost 3 years.

by ti-amie Also for the record not only the "libtard" media like the New York Times and Washington Post passed on posting the pics. The notoriously radical leftist New York Post - a Murdoch rag - did as well. This is more performative "news" for the Q faithful.

by ti-amie







Max Kennerly @MaxKennerly

That's it in a nutshell. The right-wing is still chaffed that "Hunter Biden's laptop" didn't work that Swift Boat magic, and they're (a) emotionally stuck on it and (b) desperate to manipulate as much media as it takes to ensure it works next time.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie Nick Schwellenbach
@schwellenbach


"More than 300 individuals on a leaked membership list of the far-right militia group the Oath Keepers described themselves as current or former employees of the Department of Homeland Security" - @POGOwatchdog reports
https://www.pogo.org/investigation/2022 ... list-shows

“This probably represents that the tip of the iceberg as far as federal law enforcement officers that have been involved in or supported the activities of far-right, militant groups like the Oath Keepers” fmr FBI agent Mike German (@RethinkIntel) told @POGOwatchdog

We found at least 2 current Secret Service agents who were members at the Oath Keepers at one point - including one who told the Oath Keepers that he is "a member and instructor on the Presidential Protective Division’s Counter Assault Team"

A Border Patrol agent - who said he teaches "advanced firearms and tactics" - told the Oath Keepers that “Most Border Patrol Agents are Oath Keepers, we just haven’t signed up yet.”
(He said he let his membership lapse & distanced himself from the group)

A former Secret Service agent whose name appears on the Oath Keepers membership list had his security clearance revoked by another agency for leaking confidential investigative information (there's no public info linking that to the Oath Keepers)

“It’s men like this on the inside who can and do provide information to expose what's going on,” Stewart Rhodes, founder & leader of the Oath Keepers wrote on his group’s blog in 2009, also noting that one of his friends works at DHS

"Law enforcement agents who have associations with groups that seek to undermine democratic governance pose a heightened threat because they can compromise probes, misdirecting investigations or leaking confidential investigative information to those groups"

.@DHSgov published a report in March 2022 that found that "the Department has significant gaps that have impeded its ability to comprehensively prevent, detect, and respond to potential threats related to domestic violent extremism within DHS.”

A number of the people on the leaked list we communicated with said they signed up initially thinking the group's aims were laudable, but then later decided not to maintain their involvement. Some said the group was too extreme

The Oath Keepers is just one militant group that causes concerns & the list @POGOwatchdog examined is 7 years old.

Our story recounts that the founder of the white supremacist group, The Base, formerly worked for DHS's Office of Intelligence & Analysis
We talked to Daryl Johnson (@DTAnalytics), author of DHS's 2009 report on far-right domestic terrorism threats

“This threat didn’t recede. It’s grown every year,” he told POGO. “We’re in a much more dangerous position now, and it’s not going to abate anytime soon.”
• • •

by ti-amie

by ti-amie TheGentYYC
@TheGentYYC@mastodon.social
"#MAGA pastor declares right to vote must be taken from the people so #Republicans can win elections

A pro-Trump #Mississippi pastor is calling for stripping the right of the people to elect their U.S. Senators by creating what he says would be an #ElectoralCollege for each state, so Republicans can start winning elections again."

https://www.rawstory.com/stroke-of-genius-

by ti-amie

Some of the details of this scam are off the chain.

A Florida pastor and his son are facing federal fraud charges after being arrested for an alleged scheme that yielded millions from federal COVID-19 relief funds.

Evan Edwards and his son Joshua Edwards, 30, were taken into custody Wednesday from their home in New Smyrna, Florida, a coastal city some 50 miles northeast of Orlando. They are accused of attempting to bilk the government out of more than $8 million dollars in funds through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was launched as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES ACT) in March 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic was taking hold throughout the country.

The arrest comes almost two years after a federal civil complaint was filed in December 2020 implicating the entire family — Joshua, Evan, Evan’s wife Mary Ann Edwards, and daughter Joy Edwards — in the scheme.

Evan Edwards, who was born in Canada with the name Ian Heringa, had allegedly established the nonprofit Aslan International Ministry in Ohio in 2005. For years, he ran a Christian ministry operation in Turkey, a predominately Muslim country, before relocating to Florida.

Evan and Joshua Edwards allegedly began their federal aid fraud scheme as early as April 3, 2020, claiming that they needed millions of dollars in funds for payroll and other operating costs for the ministry.

According to prosecutors, nearly everything on the defendants’ loan application — signed by Joshua Edwards on behalf Aslan Ministry — was a lie, including claims that Aslan had more than $2.7 million in average monthly payroll costs, 486 employees, and past annual revenues of nearly $52 million in 2019 and $48 million in 2018. Although the application requested $6.9 million in loans, they were ultimately granted $8.4 million, according to court documents.

n truth and fact, as the conspirators then and there well knew, ASLAN’s average monthly payroll expenses were significantly lower,” the complaint says. This is likely because the “actual number of employees” at Aslan Ministry was “significantly lower [than 486], or entirely nonexistent.”

(...)

Starting in September 2020, federal investigators had found multiple clues that something was amiss: the Aslan Ministry offices in Florida, for example, were empty and showed no signs of ever having been occupied when investigators went to the listed address in September 2020. The family residence in New Smyrna Beach was similarly empty when agents executed a search warrant at the house days later.

“The residence appeared to have been cleared out, and no persons or vehicles were located at the residence,” the 2020 complaint said.

The family was found the next day, however, when the Edwards’ car — a Mercedes SUV — was spotted speeding on an interstate. Florida authorities pulled the car over, and found all four members inside. Evan said that the family was on the way to Texas for a conference, but could not provide any specifics.

What officials found next sounds like something out of a movie, complete with a bag used for concealing signals from mobile devices so they could not be traced:

Evan was in the front passenger seat with an opened box containing a laser printer on his lap. Also in plain view was an open, dark colored Faraday bag containing what appeared to be multiple laptops and tablets. In the rear passenger seat were two clear garbage bags containing what appeared to be shredded documents. In the rear cargo area, multiple suitcases were stacked from floor to the ceiling, along with a document shredder. The only viable seats in the vehicle that could be occupied were the front driver and passenger seats along with the rear driver side passenger seat and the rear center seat. The remainder of the vehicle was packed tightly with back packs and luggage.


A search of the vehicle revealed multiple backpacks containing external hard drives and USB drives, a shredder with a receipt showing it was purchased hours after U.S. Secret Service agents had tried to interview the Edwards at their home, business records, financial documents, credit cards, and “laptops, tablets, and a SunPass transponder which were packed into a Faraday bag inside another Faraday bag.”

Investigators also found evidence that the Edwards had each received $2,000 for Covid-19 relief from the Government of Canada, as well as another attempt to apply for yet another PPP loan for Aslan. The family members were taken into custody on an unrelated immigration charge, but released the next day.

Nevertheless, the investigation yielded results for the government: in April 2021, the Justice Department announced that it had recovered $8.4 million from the family.


https://lawandcrime.com/crime/florida-p ... nd-scheme/

by Owendonovan Men of the cloth(groomers) really shining bright here.

by ti-amie


by ponchi101 You have to admit he has been successful; whatever people may think, he was president of the USA, and is a wealthy man.
Yet, his level of insecurity is off the scale. A mouse is more self-assured than this man.

by ti-amie



Adam Mordecai, may or may not be notable
@advodude
14. This has nothing to do with his run for president. He licensed his brand to another Grifter. (Or possibly created a separate grift org to protect the money from being taken from the Trump Org which recently was found to have committed fraud.)
15. Tremendous Grift! HUGE GRIFT!

Image

by ti-amie

Dan Vanman 🇺🇦☮️
@dan_vanman
I am guessing that a lot of addresses in some pretty authoritarian places but a bunch.

by ponchi101 If you buy any of these cards, YOU DESERVED TO BE FLEECED.
So, this time, it is not a scam. It would be what such a person deserves.

by ti-amie

Well at least they changed the tuxedo photo to white tie from black tie... :lol:

I agree with the person who mused that this is an excellent way to launder money.

by ti-amie






by ti-amie This is what he's peddling to young men and boys.

https://twitter.com/christapeterso/stat ... 0770607105

Nada Lemming (parody)@nada_lemming
Replying to
@christapeterso
It’s basic pimp 101

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 He has a problem with the concept of NEVER. You know, NEVER means NEVER; it does not mean IMMEDIATELY AFTER YOU READ IT.

by ti-amie University: Student stabbed on bus because she is Asian
January 14, 2023

Image
This photo provided by Bloomington Police Department shows Billie Davis. Davis has been charged after an 18-year-old Indiana University student repeatedly was stabbed in the head on a public bus in an attack the school says was because the victim is Asian. The victim told investigators she was standing and waiting for the exit doors to open on a Bloomington Transit bus Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023 when another passenger began striking her in the head, Bloomington police said in a release. (Bloomington Police Department via AP)

BLOOMINGTON, Indiana (AP) — A 56-year-old woman has been charged after an 18-year-old Indiana University student repeatedly was stabbed in the head on a public bus in an attack the school says was because the victim is Asian.

The victim told investigators she was standing and waiting for the exit doors to open on a Bloomington Transit bus Wednesday afternoon when another passenger began striking her in the head, Bloomington police said in a release.

Bus surveillance footage showed no interaction between the two women prior to the attack.

A witness who also was riding the bus followed the woman’s attacker and contacted police, who later arrested Billie R. Davis of Bloomington. Davis has been charged with attempted murder and aggravated battery, according to court records.

The victim was treated at a hospital for multiple stab wounds. Her name was not released.

Court documents show Davis said the victim was targeted because of her race, according to WNDU-TV.

Citing court records, WRTV-TV reports that Davis told police she stabbed the woman multiple times in the head with a folding knife, because it “would be one less person to blow up our country.”


Records did not list an attorney representing Davis.

https://apnews.com/article/crime-indian ... ce=Twitter

by dryrunguy These Biden voters, I tell ya... :shock: :shock: :shock:

by ti-amie
dryrunguy wrote: Mon Jan 16, 2023 1:56 am These Biden voters, I tell ya... :shock: :shock: :shock:
That smirk!

by ti-amie Remember the supply chain issues (that still exist but let's ignore that)


by Owendonovan If anyone says they like this man, they're lying.

Trump declares himself the winner of his own club championship - in the Trumpiest way ever
The former president said he played a strong round two days before the tournament, and decided that would count as his first-round score.

Donald Trump has declared himself a winner … again.

Trump announced on his social media platform on Tuesday that he won the Senior Club Championship at Trump International Golf Club in unincorporated West Palm Beach last weekend, despite not playing the first round of the tournament.

Members arrived the second day surprised to see Trump with a five-point lead, according to the Daily Mail. But Trump never played the first round as he was attending a funeral in North Carolina of ardent supporter Lynette Hardaway, known by the moniker “Diamond” of the conservative political commentary duo Diamond and Silk.

Trump told tournament organizers he played a strong round on the course Thursday, two days before the tournament started, and decided that would count as his Saturday score for the club championship. That score was five points better than any competitor posted during Saturday's first round.
https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/spo ... 835418007/

by ponchi101 A 5 yo trapped in the body of a 70-something. Amazing.

by Owendonovan
ponchi101 wrote: Thu Jan 26, 2023 5:50 pm A 5 yo trapped in the body of a 70-something. Amazing.
Kindergarteners would tear him to shreds if he tried to pull a stunt like that on them, yet here we adults are......

by ti-amie

by dryrunguy I'm missing something. Why mention he is not trans or a drag queen? Is that designed to point out that transpeople and drag queens are generally not a threat to children (which is true)? Or was he known for being anti-trans/gender affirming? Or both?

by ti-amie
dryrunguy wrote: Tue Jan 31, 2023 10:59 pm I'm missing something. Why mention he is not trans or a drag queen? Is that designed to point out that transpeople and drag queens are generally not a threat to children (which is true)? Or was he known for being anti-trans/gender affirming? Or both?
I think the poster was referencing your first point for those in the back.
As for part two of your post :?:

by ti-amie There are a few of these almost every day. I don't post them all. With the RWNJ's every accusation is projection and or an admission.

by ti-amie

by Owendonovan Owner of Construction Firm Pleads Guilty in Fatal Wall Collapse
Finbar O’Neill insisted on piling dirt against the structure at a Hudson Valley job site even after being warned against it several times, prosecutors said.

A New Jersey construction company executive has pleaded guilty to federal charges of violating safety rules at a Hudson Valley work site where a worker was killed when a concrete wall collapsed in 2017, officials said.

The executive, Finbar O’Neill, the principal owner of Onekey, LLC, endangered workers’ safety at the site by taking shortcuts and sidestepping safety regulations, prosecutors said. The negligence led to the death of Maximiliano Saban, an employee of a subcontractor on the job, prosecutors said. A second worker was injured.

The guilty plea, entered on Thursday, “should serve as a reminder to all businesses that failure to comply with safety regulations endangers their workers and unfairly disadvantages business that are following the rules,” Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement.
Mr. O’Neill, whose company was the general contractor on the project, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of willful violation of regulations resulting in a death, prosecutors said. He faces up to six months in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 when he is sentenced in May. The company pleaded to the same charge and faces a fine of up to $500,000.

Wait a minute here, someone dying from your negligence that has been pointed out to you is only a misdemeanor?
What if you've demonstrated yourself to be a less than upstanding citizen?


Mr. O’Neill’s lawyer, Scott A. Resnik, said that his client and the company hoped that the plea “can help bring closure to this incident, for not only themselves, but also for the family of the construction worker who passed away as a result of the accident in 2017.”

The charges against Mr. O’Neill, which were filed in July, nearly five years after Mr. Saban’s death, were not the first criminal accusations he has faced in New York.

About 20 years ago, he pleaded guilty to helping Manuel Gonzalez, a Bronx parking lot manager, launder money for a former state senator who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to take bribes.

In 2009, he was indicted on corruption charges in a scheme that prosecutors said involved contractors working with leaders of a carpenter’s union to steal millions of dollars from the union and its benefit funds. Prosecutors said that those charged in the case had paid members cash wages below union scale without benefits; had hired undocumented workers and nonunion workers and had skipped making contributions to the benefit funds.

After pleading guilty, Mr. O’Neill said he would “spend the rest of my life living with the consequences of my actions and working to repair the damage I had caused to others and to myself and to my family,” according to a transcript of the proceeding.

Yup, you get to live your life with barely a consequence.

In the case that led to his guilty plea this week, prosecutors said Mr. O’Neill was told that the wall, which was holding back a large pile of dirt, was unsafe and could collapse and kill someone and that he “responded that he did not care.”

Why would he care?

The piles of dirt, placed where buildings were to be constructed and called “surcharge piles,” were initially designed by engineers to slope at 45 degree angles, and the plans did not include a wall, prosecutors said.

Mr. O’Neill, without consulting engineers, decided that workers would begin building next to one of the piles, which was about 15 feet high, and ordered that a concrete wall be built to contain the dirt. Even as the dirt pressed against the wall, prosecutors said, Mr. O’Neill continued to pile on more.

People working at the site, including the superintendent, advised Mr. O’Neill several times that the wall was a hazard, prosecutors said, but he was indifferent. He was warned on the day of Mr. Saban’s death as well, prosecutors said. When the wall fell, Mr. Saban ran but could not get clear before being killed, prosecutors said.

“They knew the wall was a hazard, but they failed to correct it,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing.

Mr. Saban’s widow filed a wrongful-death suit against Mr. O’Neill’s companies and the subcontractors her husband worked for. The case was settled for an undisclosed amount in 2020.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/03/nyre ... lapse.html

by ti-amie ^ Sigh

by ti-amie More performative politics from the GQP and a good clap back


by ti-amie


by JazzNU

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by Ainsley
ti-amie wrote: Mon Feb 27, 2023 10:57 pm
For the 'tactical athlete". What an F-ing Joke.

by ponchi101 Like I have said before. How small can your pecker be?
Also. It says "Perce|eption Brand" first, and then the tag is "perceeptionbrand".
For the tactical (and literate challenged) athlete, indeed.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie Wow they brought receipts in Tennessee.

https://twitter.com/Timodc/status/1633657456479059968

Image

by ti-amie

Lee Waddell
@Lawaddell11
Replying to
@LakotaMan1
“He is very excited to be a father. My mom was 18 when she had me, which inspired me to be a mother when I was 18 years old.” And here I thought it was a bottle of Boone’s Farm that inspired her

by ti-amie Instead of better gun laws we get this.


by ponchi101 My apologies for the insult, but the USA is becoming some alternative reality. And not the good one.
That is sick.

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 An internet sperm bank?
How can I tie this to a joke about pornhub? It is just there!

by Owendonovan
ti-amie wrote: Wed Mar 15, 2023 10:43 pm Instead of better gun laws we get this.

Oh, Honey.

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 People talk about Nixon, and rightly so. About W and Bush I, and rightly so. About Tiny.
Nobody talks about Reagan. About the Contra affair; about Grenada. About trickle down economics, about the frenzy to deregulate anything and everything and allow any company in the USA to set shop in China and allow their rise.
Him and Tatcher. The two most important politicians in the last quarter of the 20th century. In the negative way.

by ti-amie Litzz11
@Litzz11@mastodon.world
Qanon follower booby-trapped her home (as one does!) and everything was fine until a door-to-door salesman accidentally stepped on a tripwire.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/3akz7k/col


https://mastodon.world/@Litzz11/110072344796627872

by ti-amie You guys might not believe this but there are at least one or two of these a week. None involving any of the current GQP boogey men though.


by skatingfan 270 days? :ax

by ti-amie

by ti-amie



by ponchi101 I am not wearing those stilettos and MY feet hurt. Ouch! Too much.
(And I do like heels)

by ti-amie




Image

by ponchi101 In which alternate universe the person that proceeds to "inspect" the genitalia of a minor does NOT get (properly so) charged with multiple counts of sexual crimes, including, of course, pedophilia?

by Owendonovan
ponchi101 wrote: Thu Apr 06, 2023 1:29 am In which alternate universe the person that proceeds to "inspect" the genitalia of a minor does NOT get (properly so) charged with multiple counts of sexual crimes, including, of course, pedophilia?
Exactly, who is this sick law benefiting, some pedo in Kansas with some legislative power? I can tell you this, if an LGBTQ person introduced this nonsense they'd likely be jailed.

by Owendonovan
ponchi101 wrote: Wed Apr 05, 2023 8:09 pm I am not wearing those stilettos and MY feet hurt. Ouch! Too much.
(And I do like heels)
They're about 2-3cm from pointe.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by JazzNU
ti-amie wrote: Wed Apr 05, 2023 10:15 pm

So, when DeSantis was proposing something in this realm with requiring menstrual cycle records in Florida a few months ago, the Michigan AG was on and was talking about how disgusting it was. And she said it was stuff out of the Nasser playbook. I submit that is the right framing with making this appear appropriately creepy and predatory for general public, but parents in particular, to see they need to put a stop to this BS right now.

by ti-amie

by mmmm8 A couple fun facts.

1. In case you may not be aware, the term "globalist" is often a stand-in for "Jew" in anti-semitic materials. This is a well-known fact for Russians because it was a big part of Nazi propaganda (It was written in Russian on leaflets they dropped in Ukraine, for example)
https://www.ajc.org/translatehate/globalist

2. Viktor Bout spent the very vast majority of his life outside of Russia. He was born it what it now Tajikistan and has spent most of his military service in Africa and ran his business out of the Middle East and Belgium, before the US.

by Suliso The term Globalist in Latvia is usually (in the right circles) connected with Soros, LBGT and wokism. Jews I guess too, but less strongly than in Russia.

by mmmm8
Suliso wrote: Fri Apr 14, 2023 6:50 pm The term Globalist in Latvia is usually (in the right circles) connected with Soros, LBGT and wokism. Jews I guess too, but less strongly than in Russia.
The outcry against Soros is also a well-known anti-semitic implicaton as Soros is Jewish

by ti-amie I had just about talked myself out of an evening cocktail...





Elmo is already doing this on the Texas/Mexico border.

by ti-amie This is not from The Onion


by ti-amie

by ti-amie I hate to post this kind of thing but this is what is going on in Tennessee.


by Owendonovan ‘We Will Hunt You’: Ugandans Flee Ahead of Harsh Anti-Gay Law
The bill, passed last month, calls for life in prison for anyone engaging in same-sex relations. President Yoweri Museveni congratulated lawmakers for their “strong stand” against L.G.B.T.Q. people.

April 20, 2023
Updated 5:21 p.m. ET
In a spartan safehouse with flimsy curtains and no furniture northwest of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, people from neighboring Uganda clung to the few valuables they could snatch while fleeing harsh new legislation targeting them back home.

A gay man clutched the white rosary that he took to church every Sunday. A transgender woman brought her favorite shimmering blue dress. A lesbian couple clenched the one smartphone that held photos from happier days, going on dates and dancing in clubs.

They began leaving after Uganda’s Parliament passed a sweeping anti-gay bill in late March that threatens punishment as severe as death for some perceived offenses, and calls for life in prison for anyone engaging in same-sex relations.

“The government and the people of Uganda are against our existence,” said Mbajjwe Nimiro Wilson, a 24-year-old who fled with a single backpack days after a hostile crowd, including children, cornered him as he bought groceries near a gay shelter in the capital, Kampala.

“They kept saying, ‘We will hunt you. You gays should be killed. We will slaughter you,’” he said. “There was no option but to leave.”

The bill, which passed 387 to 2, punishes anyone who leases property to gay people and calls for the “rehabilitation” of those convicted of being gay. President Yoweri Museveni, who has commended the bill, sent it back to Parliament on Thursday for “improvement,” his party said in a statement.

The president congratulated lawmakers and religious leaders on what he called their “strong stand” against L.G.B.T.Q. people. “It is good that you rejected the pressure from the imperials,” he said, a reference to Western countries, in footage released by the public broadcaster. He spoke hours after the European Parliament denounced the bill.

The legislation follows a groundswell of anti-gay rhetoric that has swept African countries in recent years, including in Ghana, Zambia and Kenya. Last month, lawmakers from more than a dozen African countries gathered in Uganda and promised to introduce or pass measures in their own countries that they said would protect the sanctity of the family and children against “the sin of homosexuality.”

Same-sex acts were already considered illegal under Uganda’s penal code, but the bill introduces far harsher penalties and vastly extends the range of perceived offenses. And while anti-gay rhetoric has long existed in Uganda, it has taken a severe turn in the past year, with authorities removing rainbow colors from a park and parents charging into a school because they thought a gay person taught there.

The latest move to target L.G.B.T.Q. people in Uganda has drawn support from local Christian and Muslim groups, and for years the financial and logistical backing of some conservative evangelical groups in the United States. One of the key organizers of the parliamentary conference in Uganda last month was Family Watch International, an Arizona-based organization that spreads anti-L.G.B.T.Q. and anti-abortion stances, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The Ugandan bill has drawn condemnation from human rights groups and the United Nations, and the Biden administration has called it “one of the most extreme” anti-gay measures anywhere in the world.

Senator Bob Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, said the United States should reduce military aid and introduce sanctions against the government of Mr. Museveni, who has been in power for almost four decades. The East African nation, a close security ally of the United States, receives more than $950 million annually in health and development assistance.

After months of campaigning against it, gay rights activists in Uganda are now planning to challenge the measure in court if it is signed.

“What this law does is give homophobia a legal basis and framework,” said Fox Odoi-Oywelowo, a former senior counsel to Mr. Museveni, and one of two lawmakers who opposed it. Many lawmakers mocked Mr. Odoi-Oywelowo, accusing him of receiving money to promote what they said was an immorality of the West.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/20/worl ... lgbtq.html

by ponchi101
Owendonovan wrote: Fri Apr 21, 2023 1:13 am The latest move to target L.G.B.T.Q. people in Uganda has drawn support from local Christian and Muslim groups, and for years the financial and logistical backing of some conservative evangelical groups in the United States. One of the key organizers of the parliamentary conference in Uganda last month was Family Watch International, an Arizona-based organization that spreads anti-L.G.B.T.Q. and anti-abortion stances, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
How (expletive) unusual...
Senator Bob Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, said the United States should reduce military aid and introduce sanctions against the government of Mr. Museveni, who has been in power for almost four decades. The East African nation, a close security ally of the United States, receives more than $950 million annually in health and development assistance.
Reduce? REDUCE? How about eliminate?
And where do those $950MM go? Because it looks like nothing like development.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie Image

Flexghost.
@flexghost@mastodon.social
Domestic terrorist Daniel Perry shot a BLM protester four times in the chest. He wrote about wanting to kill BLM protesters beforehand. He later admitted to killing a homeless man

And now it’s discovered he was texting children for sex

This is the man Greg Abbott wants to pardon.

This is Texas.

https://www.texasobserver.org/daniel-pe ... tt-foster/

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/14/us/daniel-


by ti-amie What a charmer.

by ti-amie Prince Harry suit against Murdoch reveals secret Prince William payoff

By Karla Adam
Updated April 25, 2023 at 10:43 a.m. EDT

LONDON — Prince William was paid a “very large sum” by Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper group to settle phone-hacking claims, according to court documents submitted Tuesday by the legal team of his younger brother, Prince Harry.

Harry is suing Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers (NGN) at the High Court in London for unlawful acts — including hacking his voice mails — that he alleges were committed on behalf of the Sun and the now-defunct News of the World tabloids from 1994 until 2016. The hearing is to determine whether the case should go to trial.

In documents submitted to the court, Harry’s legal team alleged there was a secret payment from Murdoch’s company to William. The submission doesn’t reveal the amount, nor the details of what William alleged happened, but said that NGN had settled with William “for a very large sum of money in 2020.”

The news of the payout to William surfaced after Murdoch’s Fox News agreed to pay an eye-popping $787.5 million in a defamation settlement with Dominion Voting Systems.

Harry claimed that the payment to his older brother was part of a secret deal between NGN and Buckingham Palace not to bring any further legal action against the Murdoch papers until other outstanding phone-hacking litigation was settled. NGN denies that there was a secret deal.

Kensington Palace, on behalf of Prince William, and Buckingham Palace, on behalf of King Charles III, declined to comment. It’s unclear whether Harry is on speaking terms with either his brother or father. He detailed his fractured relationship with them in his best-selling memoir, “Spare,” in which a major area of contention was his perception of the palace’s lack of action in the face of negative tabloid stories.

Harry says the deal was made because the palace wanted to keep members of the royal household from having to testify in court. In his witness statement, Harry said the royals wanted to avoid recounting “specific details of private and highly sensitive voice mails” in court, and he referenced the “intimate telephone conversation that took place between my father and stepmother in 1989, while he was still married to my mother.”

He was thought to be referring to the Sun newspaper’s “Tampongate” story published after the paper obtained a 1989 phone recording of an intimate conversation between then Prince Charles and Camilla.

NGN has previously paid out huge sums after journalists at its News of the World publication were jailed for phone hacking. The company is seeking to have Harry’s case dismissed because he waited too long to file suit. Harry’s side counters that the reason for the delay was the secret deal between the palace and NGN.

“It is important to bear in mind that in responding to this bid by NGN to prevent his claims going to trial, the claimant has had to make public the details of this secret agreement, as well as the fact that his brother, His Royal Highness, Prince William, has recently settled his claim against NGN behind the scenes,” the court filings said.

Harry is involved in several legal battles with British media groups. Last month, he caught the press off-guard when turned up in person for his case against the publisher of the Daily Mail. He is also scheduled to give evidence in a claim against the publisher of the Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror over phone-hacking allegations. That case is set to begin a few days after the May 6 coronation of King Charles.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/20 ... t-murdoch/

by Owendonovan Gunman Kills Five People in Texas Home, Authorities Say
Three others were wounded and the gunman remained at large, officials said. The attack on Friday night started after the man was asked to stop shooting in his yard, the authorities said.
By Euan Ward and Jesus Jiménez
April 29, 2023
A man who was asked to stop shooting in his yard because of the noise fatally shot at least five people, including an 8-year-old child, late on Friday night at a home north of Houston, the authorities said.

Four people were pronounced dead at the scene in Cleveland, Texas, which is about 45 miles northeast of Houston, and a fifth person died at a hospital, the San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office said.
Officials said they believed they knew the identity of the gunman, who they said had fled the area and remained at large
Sheriff Greg Capers of San Jacinto County said his office received a harassment complaint from the neighbors around 11:30 p.m. on Friday.
He said investigators believed the gunman was drinking and firing shots in his yard when the victims walked over to ask him to stop because they had a young baby who was trying to sleep.
“He said, ‘I’ll do what I want to in my front yard,’” Sheriff Capers said of the gunman.
Sheriff Capers told reporters that the gunman was known to “frequently” fire an AR-15 in his front yard. It was unclear what type of firearm the gunman used in the shooting.
When deputies responded, they found multiple gunshot victims, Sheriff Capers told reporters.
A man and three women were killed, he said. The gender of the 8-year-old was not immediately known. Two victims were found by the front door, he said, and another in the living room.
Sheriff Capers added that the bodies of two women were found in a bedroom on top of two children, both of whom survived.
“Everybody that was shot was shot from the neck up, almost execution-style,”
Sheriff Capers said.

The victims were all from Honduras, the sheriff said, adding that 10 people were inside the home at the time of the shooting.
An arrest warrant has been issued for the gunman, the sheriff’s office said in a statement on Saturday morning.

How many of complaints about this man shooting his gun off would have been enough to remove his guns from him? What is the bar? Is there a bar? WTF?

by ti-amie It's Texas Owen. Everyone there is free to do whatever they when it comes to firearms. I mean who doesn't stay up at night dreaming about shooting your neighbors execution style with a AR-15?

/sarcasm

They have released his name.

by ti-amie


You can not fix stupid.

by Owendonovan I'd be more concerned with the sloppy penmanship.

by ti-amie The story from the WaPo on shady dealings by TFG, his family and sycophants is long and I know people are busy. Here's the tl;dr

Image

If you like true crime stuff here's an example of criming in plain sight and trying to bully your way past the guardrails.

by ti-amie Trust linked to porn-friendly bank could gain a stake in Trump’s Truth Social
ES Family Trust offered $8 million in loans to Trump Media in an unusual deal criticized for conflicts of interest
By Drew Harwell, Matt Bernardini and Matei Rosca
May 13, 2023 at 7:00 a.m. EDT

An obscure financial entity with connections to a Caribbean-island bank that bills itself as a top payment service for adult entertainment sites would gain a sizable stake in former president Donald Trump’s media company if its merger deal proceeds, according to internal documents a company whistleblower has shared with federal investigators and The Washington Post.

Yet the role ES Family Trust would assume in Trump Media and Technology Group has never been officially disclosed to the Securities and Exchange Commission or to shareholders in Digital World Acquisition, the special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, that has proposed merging with Trump’s company.

The companies also have not disclosed to shareholders or the SEC that Trump Media paid a $240,000 finder’s fee for helping to arrange the $8 million loan deal with ES Family Trust — or that the recipient of that fee was an outside brokerage associated with Patrick Orlando, then Digital World’s CEO.

Where ES Family Trust obtained the money, and who is behind the trust, remain publicly unknown, omissions that unnerved some of Trump Media’s top executives when they first learned of the loan in late 2021, according to Will Wilkerson, a whistleblower who at the time was the company’s executive vice president of operations.

Republican members of Congress and Trump supporters have complained for months that the SEC’s year-long delay in approving the merger has been fueled by anti-Trump bias and a “woke political agenda.” Trump Media’s primary business is the social media site Truth Social.

But the financial tangle offers a possible explanation for why the SEC has yet to approve the deal, said Michael Ohlrogge, a New York University law professor who studies SPACs. He called the deal unusual and rife with questionable decisions and potential conflicts of interest.

“This is definitely something that could cause problems,” he said. “At a minimum, if the SEC knew about this loan, it would insist that it be disclosed to [Digital World] shareholders. … And the company didn’t even do that.”


Representatives for Trump Media and Digital World did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

In a statement last month, a Trump Media spokeswoman said a Post report then on the company was based on “discredited hit pieces, defamatory allegations and false statistics” but did not dispute any specific claims. Digital World’s interim chief, Eric Swider, who assumed the role in March, said in emails last month that The Post report included “inaccuracies” but did not say what they were.

Messages sent to ES Family Trust’s only known trustee and an associated email account yielded no response. A person who answered a phone number listed for the bank that transmitted the loan, Paxum Bank, said the company declined to comment. Representatives for the bank’s owner, Anton Postolnikov, did not respond to requests for comment.

A spokesman for Trump’s 2024 campaign declined to comment.

A lifeline appears

Digital World has faced a troubled path since pledging to merge with Trump Media in October 2021, an announcement that sparked a massive trading frenzy. Almost immediately, the company faced suspicions that Digital World had held merger talks with Trump Media before going public, a possible violation of SEC rules.

Digital World told investors last month that it was cooperating with investigators from the SEC, Justice Department and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra) but did not provide details on what was being examined. The federal agencies and Finra, an industry group, declined to provide more detail.

The ongoing investigation has halted Digital World’s ability to merge with Trump Media and unlock more than $1 billion in investor funds. Digital World’s board fired Orlando as chairman and chief executive in March, saying in an SEC filing that the company was facing “unprecedented headwinds” and that his “departure enables the Board to appoint new leadership, which it believes will restore confidence to the shareholders.” Orlando did not respond to requests for comment.

In a separate SEC filing last month, the company said that, by the end of last year, it had just $989 in cash on hand and more than $17 million in debts. Most SPACs don’t rack up anything close to this level of debt, Ohlrogge said, because “the normal costs of running a SPAC, finding a target and negotiating with that target are not very expensive.”

In late 2021, the frozen merger was also raising concerns inside Trump Media over its ability to pay the bills, Wilkerson recalled. Then, he said, Orlando revealed he had made a breakthrough: a loan deal worth up to $8 million from an entity called ES Family Trust.

In a convertible promissory note dated Dec. 23, 2021, Trump Media was offered the money in exchange for agreeing to “automatically” convert the loan principal into “shares of Company Stock” once the merger with Digital World occurred, according to a copy of the document reviewed by The Post. The document does not say precisely how much stock ES Family Trust would receive. Trump estimated last month that the company, of which he owns 90 percent, is worth between $5 million and $25 million.

The document included blanks for signatures from Wilkerson’s fellow co-founders at Trump Media, Wes Moss and Andy Litinsky, as well as Angel Pacheco, the trust’s only named trustee.

Moss signed it, according to a copy reviewed by The Post, but Litinsky declined after expressing concerns that the company hadn’t undertaken enough due diligence on where the money had come from, Wilkerson said. Litinsky and Moss did not respond to requests for comment. Both men were on the company’s board at the time but left last year amid a company shake-up.

Pacheco also did not sign the document, a copy shows, and Wilkerson’s attorneys have not found a more updated document in a trove of 150,000 records they’ve shared with investigators. The money was sent anyway.

A wire transfer document dated that same day shows that $2 million was sent to Trump Media by Paxum Bank, whose main office is on the small Caribbean island of Dominica. A separate wire transfer document, dated Feb. 17, 2022, shows Trump Media being paid another $6 million by ES Family Trust.

No names, addresses or details are listed for ES Family Trust except for Pacheco’s name. Pacheco’s LinkedIn account says he has been a director at Paxum Bank Limited since 2019 and has “international payment expertise.” Pacheco did not respond to requests for comment.

In January 2022, Trump Media agreed to pay a cash referral fee — equal to 3 percent of the $8 million loans, or $240,000 — to a Houston-based brokerage firm called Entoro Securities, according to a referral fee agreement and an Entoro invoice provided by Wilkerson.

The referral fee agreement names “Anton Postolnikov and affiliated entities” as “Introduced Parties” who participated in the deal. Orlando is a registered broker at Entoro, according to a database run by Finra, and Orlando’s LinkedIn profile says he has been a managing director there since 2020.


Unease over the money

Questions around the sudden influx of cash fueled unease inside the company for months, Wilkerson said, but the executives ultimately decided against giving it back, deeming it too critical to keeping the business afloat.

It’s unclear how closely anyone inside Trump Media looked into ES Family Trust or Paxum at the time of the loans.

An attorney working with Trump Media, John Haley, sent a brief email about the first $2 million in December 2021 to Donald Trump Jr., before the former president’s son joined the company’s board, saying there was “no guaranty that these will get signed and funded, but we remain hopeful,” according to a copy of the correspondence shared by Wilkerson.

Trump Jr. responded, “Thanks John much appreciated. d,” the email shows. Trump Jr. and Haley did not respond to requests for comment.

A month after the second payment, Trump Media executives still knew little about the origin of the money. On March 8, 2022, the company’s chief financial officer, Phillip Juhan, sent an email to the then-chief legal officer of another Orlando-run firm, Benessere Investment Group, seeking contact information for anyone at ES Family Trust.

The information, Juhan wrote, was needed by the company’s outside auditors, BF Borgers, which required a confirmation statement from all noteholders who had lent Trump Media money. Trump Media had only Pacheco’s name, Juhan wrote.

The response from the Benessere executive, Alexander Monje, was a single sentence: “Hey Philip, it is ESFAMILYTRUST@PROTONMAIL.COM,” with no other names or addresses attached, according to a copy of the exchange shared by Wilkerson. Proton Mail is an encrypted email service based in Switzerland.

Juhan, Monje and BF Borgers did not respond to requests for comment. Emails sent to the Proton Mail address yielded no response.

Digital World did not tell investors about the $8 million in loans or Entoro’s referral fee in its filings submitted to the SEC, a review of public documents shows. Ohlrogge said the SEC could insist the loans should have been disclosed to investors, given that the concerns over its origins and Orlando’s finder’s fee could affect the value of the shares.

“The right way for him to have done this is to say: ‘I know this transaction looks potentially bad and may be enriching me at the expense of [Digital World] shareholders, but I really think it’s ultimately in their best interest,’” Ohlrogge said. “That’s the right way to do it. And he didn’t do anything of the sort.”


‘#1 trusted … for the adult industry’

The Post has been unable to find any registration documents for ES Family Trust. ES Family Trust has made no public statement.

Postolnikov, whose name appeared on the referral-fee document, is an owner of Paxum Bank and employs Pacheco, ES Family Trust’s named trustee. Postolnikov said in a 2018 federal court filing that he is “the principal of Paxum Bank,” and a company statement in March called him its “primary owner.”

Paxum itself remains a mystery. The company has promoted itself online as a way for video streamers of adult content to coordinate financial transactions across international borders and, in 2021, Paxum’s then-chief executive, Andrei Octav Moise, told BCAMS Magazine, a trade publication for the business of live webcam models, that the bank was “proud and happy to be considered the #1 trusted payment service for the adult industry!”

On Thursday, Moise insisted that he wasn’t familiar with Paxum’s activities or the Trump Media transaction and said he “never had any job or [ownership] or any control” in the bank. On Friday, the adult-industry trade publications AVN and Xbiz reported that Moise had decided to push for a sale of Paxum and would be “retiring” from the industry. He was quoted as saying, “It has been both a privilege and a pleasure to lead the development of Paxum into one of the premier global payment platforms.”

Before Paxum, Postolnikov worked as an entrepreneur in Russia, running a now-defunct online car-rental company in St. Petersburg, according to PitchBook, a corporate database. In 2016, he bought Dek-Co, a London-based payments firm, according to his online profile. In British business filings last year, Dek-Co said he is “the shareholder” of Paxum and Dek-Co’s chief executive and “ultimate controlling party.”

It’s unclear when Postolnikov moved to the United States. In the past two years, he has invested millions of dollars in luxury real estate on Fisher Island, a private enclave off the coast of Miami Beach that Bloomberg in 2020 named “America’s richest Zip code.” Miami-Dade property records show that a company he owns bought two waterfront condos: one for $6 million in April 2021 and another for $7 million in December 2021.

Postolnikov, in March 2021, also gave $30,000 to the reelection campaign of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), according to a contribution list published last year by the political committee Friends of Ron DeSantis.

DeSantis representatives did not respond to an email asking whether DeSantis and Postolnikov had a personal or business relationship. The governor filed a notice this week that he is no longer associated with the committee, a standard move due to his expected shift toward a presidential primary campaign in which he would compete against Trump.

Postolnikov is the nephew of Alexander Smirnov, a former deputy justice minister in the Russian government, according to a 2016 report by Delovoy Peterburg, a Russian business newspaper. Smirnov became general director of the state-controlled maritime company Rosmorport in 2021, according to published reports.

Postolnikov and his aunt, Smirnov’s wife, Elena Smirnova, previously worked together at Russia’s United Bureau of Credit History, according to Delovoy Peterburg. There is no evidence that Smirnov or Smirnova are involved in the Trump Media deal.

The Guardian reported in March that federal prosecutors in New York have been investigating whether the Trump Media loans violated money-laundering statutes, which mandate that companies and investment advisers take steps to learn basic information about their lenders and clients.

After the Guardian’s report, an online news outlet in Dominica called Nature Isle News published a response attributed to an unnamed firm representing Paxum and Postolnikov. That response said Postolnikov was a U.S. citizen and had for two years “been the subject of false media smears that have originated in Russia, all to blackmail Anton into paying bitcoin to remove the stories from the internet.”

The statement denied that Paxum and Postolnikov are “in any manner involved in ‘money laundering’ or loaning out Russian funds” and said that Paxum’s compliance department ensures all transactions adhere to money-laundering rules.

Trump Media’s chief executive, the former Republican congressman Devin Nunes, said in a lawsuit after the Guardian report that “the entire story is fabricated” and that neither he nor the company’s leaders had been involved in the transaction. Nunes did not respond to requests for comment.


Carlisle Jno Baptiste, the Nature Isle News’ managing editor, said a Paxum lawyer sent him the response after he asked the company for comment on the Guardian’s report. Baptiste said Paxum has an office in the center of Roseau, the island’s capital, but that it had rarely been a topic of local conversation before the money-laundering claims arose.

“There’s a lot of talk about that now,” he said.

‘Basically my life savings’
Company-SPAC mergers are traditionally quick and straightforward affairs, according to a 2020 presentation by lawyers at the firm Morgan Lewis. A SPAC submits a merger registration document called an S-4; the SEC reviews it and asks further questions, often within 30 days; the company sends in answers in an amended filing, the SEC responds within 14 days, and the whole process generally wraps up within a matter of months.

Digital World’s S-4, however, has been in limbo since May 16, 2022, SEC records show. The most recent correspondence from the SEC to Digital World, in August, was a terse boilerplate letter in which an agency official said, “We remind you that the company and its management are responsible for the accuracy and adequacy of their disclosures,” public SEC records show.

That delay has become the focus of Trump Media CEO Nunes and other Trump allies, who argue that biased regulators at the SEC have delayed the merger in hopes of suffocating Trump’s company and fueling a political witch hunt.

“The SEC and [SEC Chair Gary] Gensler have been holding this up. The guy clearly has a grudge against us, against Trump,” Nunes said last month on the right-wing news channel Newsmax. “This is a major scandal that’s brewing at the SEC: their willingness to play politics and discriminate against people who like our little company, our start-up company … [and] are being wiped out.”

At a House Financial Services Committee hearing last month, Gensler told Republicans who were grilling him about the delay that SEC officials were working to make sure all merger filings “are accurate and in compliance with the law.”

But Republicans weren’t calmed. The SEC is “focused on a woke political agenda rather than focused on their job,” Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), chair of the House Administration Committee, which oversees House management matters and U.S. Capitol security, said in a recent interview with John Solomon of the conservative media outlet Just the News.

Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.) wrote last week in the Washington Examiner, another conservative outlet, that the delay was hurting “blue-collar people,” including “the millions of conservative investors who have put their hard-earned money into this project.”

Neither Steil nor Meuser responded to a request for comment from The Post.

Tom Sas, the 40-year-old founder of a cloud-computing start-up in Chicago who says he twice voted for Trump for president, counts himself among the injured.

In October 2021, when Digital World’s merger announcement sparked a stock-market frenzy, Sas bought nearly 1,200 shares at $70. Then, while listening to investing YouTubers predict that the stock could go to $300, he said, he felt a deep fear of missing out, saying, “FOMO hit me hard.”

He entered a market order to buy thousands more shares, expecting he would get them at $90, but the stock’s volatility led to a halt in trading. When the stock came back online, he said, his order was unexpectedly filled at the stock’s all-time high, $175 a share, draining his entire account.

All in all, he spent more than $516,000 in cash on Digital World shares, according to investment account documentation he provided. “This was basically my life savings,” he said, adding that he doesn’t own any property and drives a 2011 Ford Fiesta. Digital World shares now trade for about $13.


Sas said he was initially excited about the prospect of Truth Social being a “true, non-biased news outlet” and that he hopes “the people running Trump Media, if they see some things not going right, they get in there and fix it.”

He echoed other supporters of Digital World and Trump in blaming a “biased” SEC for stalling the merger. “I’m left holding the bag now, hoping something goes through and it doesn’t collapse,” he said.

Magda Jean-Louis contributed to this report.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/technolo ... questions/

by ti-amie



by ti-amie


by skatingfan Hey, at least they're wearing masks. :lol:

by ponchi101 Every time some organization uses the word "Patriot" in their name...
Or "Democratic" (see, North Korea, Republic of Congo, East Germany).

by ti-amie





:o



Below is via @threadreaderapp

12/ Another lesson:

Some blue check #OSINT-branded accounts repeated the Pentagon explosion without doing OSINT.

Folks, there are webcams pointed at the DC skyline.

And the buildings pictured don't exist.

Their tweets added credibility & further sped the lie.

13/ Exercise: ask yourself how disinformation like this plays out in the context of a real high stakes moment.

Like, say, a report of an attack on the president with realistic pictures / video /audio...a few hours before polls close on Election Day 2024.

We are unprepared.
13/ Generative AI basically brought the wind machine to Twitter's hurricane of disinformation.

Verification is only going to get harder.

by ponchi101 Why is there the assumption that this was done for political gains? Look at the market drops; somebody, and most likely they did, must have made a killing during that drop.

by Owendonovan Twitter and AI combined, 2 things I loathe.

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 I know nothing about this woman. I do not know her material or output.
But banning a book, any book, is Orwellian.
That a very slippery and very steep slope.

by Owendonovan
ponchi101 wrote: Wed May 24, 2023 12:04 am I know nothing about this woman. I do not know her material or output.
But banning a book, any book, is Orwellian.
That a very slippery and very steep slope.
She is the young woman who authored and then read this stirring poem at Joe Biden inauguration. It was beautiful, unlike these Christofacists. I wish these book banning ignoramuses were the people who followed Jim Jones.

by mmmm8 The fact that a single person's request, misnaming the work, can get a published work of historical importance banned from a public institution is absolutely insane.

by dryrunguy She used the word "indoctrinate"? Seriously? And the irony and cognitive dissonance of that word choice would be completely lost on her.

by ti-amie

by Owendonovan
ti-amie wrote: Tue May 30, 2023 8:37 pm
Is Tulsi Gabbard there to greet her at the airport?

by ti-amie

by mmmm8
ti-amie wrote: Tue May 30, 2023 8:37 pm
They held a press conference with her and one of the "panelists" was Maria Butina (the convicted spy). Reade said she will be asking for Russian citizenship.

I don't think her initial allegations against President Biden were driven by Russia. I think she is a (likely unwell) person who ran out of usefullness to the far right in the US and has now struck a deal to be used for domestic propaganda/distraction in Russia.

by ti-amie
mmmm8 wrote: Mon Jun 05, 2023 5:40 pm
ti-amie wrote: Tue May 30, 2023 8:37 pm
They held a press conference with her and one of the "panelists" was Maria Butina (the convicted spy). Reade said she will be asking for Russian citizenship.

I don't think her initial allegations against President Biden were driven by Russia. I think she is a (likely unwell) person who ran out of usefullness to the far right in the US and has now struck a deal to be used for domestic propaganda/distraction in Russia.
That actually makes sense. The grift in the US was over so she's chosen new paymasters.

by ti-amie I woke up in a Bladerunner scenario here in NYC. At 1p it was so dark I had to put the lights on. If I go anywhere near a window I smell smoke. They're now saying to deal with the smoke if you have to go outside wear these.



Also LaGuardia airport is shut down.


by ti-amie

by ti-amie People who have experienced this in California have been very helpful.

https://firesmoke.ca/forecasts/current/


by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 That is insane.

by ti-amie I think we'll be like this for the rest of the week.


by ti-amie

The levels are between 344 - 400 now.
Baseball has been cancelled in NYC and Philly.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by patrick
ti-amie wrote: Wed Jun 07, 2023 8:57 pm

The levels are between 344 - 400 now.
Baseball has been cancelled in NYC and Philly.
If someone wanted to send state resources he should send people to Canada instead of Texas/New Mexico

by ti-amie I know it used to be the case in Canada, at least in Quebec, that when it snowed it was left to melt until spring. How were these fires left to burn for so long? I know most of them were caused by lightning but how have they gone on for so long? I started smelling smoke in the air last Saturday night.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by Owendonovan I've never seen smoke this thick in NY, if you have breathing issue, you're definitely feeling it.

by skatingfan
ti-amie wrote: Wed Jun 07, 2023 9:13 pm I know it used to be the case in Canada, at least in Quebec, that when it snowed it was left to melt until spring. How were these fires left to burn for so long? I know most of them were caused by lightning but how have they gone on for so long? I started smelling smoke in the air last Saturday night.
It's not the same fires. The first fires were in Nova Scotia, and they started 10 days ago, and then a week ago fires started in Quebec, and now in Ontario. In the mean time we haven't had significant rain during that period to wash the smoke out of the air, and the blocking pattern of warm air in the west is causing the smoke to circulate around the Northern US, and Eastern Canada.

by ti-amie The only reason they close NYC schools is because of a blizzard or a hurricane.
By Justine McDaniel
General Assignment reporter
New York City Public Schools will operate remotely on Friday, the district announced. Only some schools were scheduled to be in session; those that are will provide virtual instruction for students. The rest have a previously scheduled clerical day, and staff will work remotely.

The district also worked remotely Thursday, which was a scheduled day off for students.
via Washigton Post

Also, The NY Racing Authority has cancelled all races today. The Belmont Stakes is scheduled for Saturday.

The sun was out but now there's this eerie twilight.

Washington DC is on a purple alert for their air quality, or lack thereof.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie Some more images

Image
Buildings in the Philadelphia skyline shrouded in smoke from Canada wildfires in Camden, New Jersey, US, on Thursday, June 8, 2023. The US Northeast will continue to breathe in choking smoke from fires across eastern Canada for the next few days, raising health alarms across impacted areas. Photographer: Hannah Beier/Bloomberg (Hannah Beier/Bloomberg News)

Image
Fire risk in Canada as of June 8. (Natural Resources Canada)

Image
The Washington Monument is obscured by smoke from Canadian wildfires as groups gather near the U.S. Capitol Reflecting Pool on Thursday. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

Image
The Pentagon, made hazy by wildfire smoke, as seen from the air on Thursday in Arlington. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post)

Image
Smoke from Canadian wildfires casts a haze over the Mall, enveloping the Washington Monument and other landmarks, on Wednesday. (Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)

by ti-amie Image
How bad has the wildfire smoke been in your area? Use this tool to find out.
By Veronica Penney, Niko Kommenda, Naema Ahmed and John Muyskens

by ponchi101 I know, I know, I know. This is indeed a disaster, but...
Some of the shots are beautiful. Pardon the superficiality (and I hope everybody affected is doing well).

by ti-amie You were saying Ponchi? One of the most beautiful pictures I've seen of either the Brooklyn Bridge or Manhattan Bridge (?) and yet so deadly.

Image
Juan Arredondo for the NY Times

by ti-amie

by ti-amie You can just read the live chyron/crawl.






by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ashkor87
ponchi101 wrote: Mon Dec 21, 2020 6:58 pm I have "followed" Tiny since the 80's, when Doonesbury started covering his charade. And I have always wondered what is it that people see in him. He is truly a bag of the worst qualities a human being can be. And yet, he swoons large crowds. He has gotten away with anything and everything always. And I have always wondered: why can't people see what I, a damn foreigner that has not dog in this fight, can so easily detect?
And I draw a blank. Then again, I always asked the same question about Chavez. Why were so many people not able to see the real person?
Guess that is the reason I am an emigrant.
People who always felt guilty about their own racism, their xenophobia, misogyny, felt empowered because Trump made it ok to be all that ..simple as that..

by ponchi101
ti-amie wrote: Mon Jun 19, 2023 8:45 pm
Kenndy is a hero in the loony circles. He "exposes the truth". My loony friend N told me he would buy me Kennedy's book, so I could learn. I told him I felt that Kennedy was a quack, and it seems that that was the end of a friendship (from his side, not mine).
The cults. Once you question their leaders(s), they simply can't be with you. I find it sad.

by ti-amie Aggregation by @threadreaderapp

Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D
@RVAwonk
Wow. OceanGate, the company that owns the missing submersible, fired an employee a few years ago after he filed safety complaints against them. The employee specifically said the sub was not capable of descending to such extreme depths before he was fired.

Missing Titanic Sub Once Faced Massive Lawsuit Over Depths It Could Safely Travel To
Court documents reveal a former OceanGate employee had several safety complaints over the tourist submersible—and then he was fired.
https://newrepublic.com/post/173802/mis ... -oceangate

(!!) The submersible “was only built to a certified pressure of 1,300 meters, although OceanGate intended to take passengers down to depths of 4,000 meters. […] OceanGate refused to pay for the manufacturer to build a viewport that would meet the required depth of 4,000 meters.”
Image
We haven’t even gotten to the worst part:

“Paying passengers wouldn’t know or be informed about Lochridge’s concerns, according to his complaints. They also wouldn’t be informed ‘that hazardous flammable materials were being used within the submersible.’”
Image

Oh and when the former OceanGate employee expressed his concerns about the “safety and quality” of the submersible and its materials, the company told him that the technology to carry out certain safety tests didn’t even exist.

Image


https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1671 ... 74016.html

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

This ain't right...


by ti-amie This is the sort of vile ish Elmo is allowing on his site. I saw it last night and was horrified.

https://twitter.com/anyamrch/status/1671287760735334403

by ponchi101 w.
o.
w.

by ti-amie David August
@davidaugust@mastodon.online
It is unclear if the #Titan had any emergency locator beacon at all, an EPIRB.

If they could surface, they may have no way to tell anyone where they are (and according to #Oceangate the hatch cannot be opened from inside).

The cost of an EPIRB can be less than $1,000 from Amazon (about €910).

From this US Coast Guard word document: https://www.dco.uscg.mil/Portals/9/CG-5 ... eacons.doc

#TitanicSub #submarine #submersible

Image

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 Sorry. EPIRBS can go for much cheaper than that. In EVERY lifeboat of every registered ship in the world there is an EPIRB.
If they did not put one there...

by ti-amie
ponchi101 wrote: Wed Jun 21, 2023 7:58 pm Sorry. EPIRBS can go for much cheaper than that. In EVERY lifeboat of every registered ship in the world there is an EPIRB.
If they did not put one there...

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 And: how do you actually KILL yourself inside of that thing? Don't think they took cyanide pills with them.

by ti-amie It's a horrific situation no matter how you look at it. The pressure down there, if the vessel imploded, maybe, mercifully, killed them at once so no one suffered. The families have more than enough grounds for legal action.

The bad juju around this wreck, the depth at which the ship settled, all scream "NO" but here we are.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie


by ashkor87 Meanwhile El Nino has delayed the onset of the rains here, hundreds dying fron the heat..I am staying home until after sunset, like the denizens of darkness!

by ponchi101 High temperatures here in Colombia too. For us in Bogota, it simply means highs in the low 20°C (70°F)

by ponchi101
ti-amie wrote: Thu Jun 22, 2023 1:42 am

...
With... pillows? :?

by ti-amie The latest


by ti-amie Getting ahead of the Coast Guard presser at 3p Eastern.



I wonder what agreements the deceased signed before getting into this death trap.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie Just so you know what the latest RW conspiracy theory is...


by ti-amie Meanwhile back on Earth 1





Did it simply fall apart as soon as it went past the level at which it was "designed" to operate?

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 Why is it so difficult to understand the physics? It will IMPLODE first, but then it will rebound because of the force of the implosion.
Think about like an atomic explosion, in reverse. The initial explosion pushes away a huge volume of air, creating a vacuum there. But the vacuum will then fill in (because it can't stay as a vacuum) and a huge volume of air will rush in.
(The mushroom is formed when all the air rushing in pushes out again, and, not being able to go down, goes up).
This thing imploded and the exploded.
That's going to be one very hard, but very interesting, investigation.

by ti-amie They've been tiptoeing around that fact Ponchi. They knew what had happened from the minute the submersible lost contact. The tragedy gave a lot of agencies a chance to utilize equipment that was semi-idle most of the time (to my knowledge). They wanted to make sure everyone who needed to know knew while they crafted statements for the public. This thing should never have been making these dives and all the people now posting about how they took the trip and nothing happened to them should be thanking their lucky stars.

by ti-amie Navy sensors heard implosion of Titan submersible, officials say
By Alex Horton and Dan Lamothe
June 22, 2023 at 7:55 p.m. EDT

Image
The Titan submersible, operated by OceanGate Expeditions, in an undated photo. (OceanGate Expeditions/Reuters)

U.S. Navy acoustic sensors detected the likely implosion of the Titan submersible hours after the vessel began its fatal voyage on Sunday, U.S. Navy officials said on Thursday, a revelation that means the sprawling search for the vessel came as senior officials already had some indication the Titan was destroyed.

Debris from the submersible, operated by the private firm OceanGate, was discovered Thursday on the seabed of the Atlantic Ocean about 1,600 feet from the Titanic, the doomed ocean liner that the Titan’s passengers had set out to explore. Coast Guard Rear Adm. John Mauger said the debris was discovered underwater by a remotely operated vehicle, four days after it set out from Newfoundland.

A senior Navy official said in a statement Thursday evening that the service conducted an analysis of acoustic data “and detected an anomaly consistent with an implosion or explosion” in the general vicinity of where the Titan was operating when it stopped communicating.

“While not definitive, this information was immediately shared with the Incident Commander to assist with the ongoing search and rescue mission,” the statement said. “This information was considered with the compilation of additional acoustic data provided by other partners and the decision was made to continue our mission as a search and rescue and make every effort to save the lives on board.”

Another Navy official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said that the service does not typically share such information publicly until the search for survivors ends. The information gathered, this official said, is a “data point.”

The story was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

Paul Zukunft, a retired Coast Guard admiral, said that until it’s “absolutely conclusive” that no one has survived a disaster, the service always will continue searching for survivors.

“We’re making every attempt that if there’s a surface recovery; we are there,” he said. “Nothing would be worse in cold water, and now there’s no one on the surface or in the air to locate these folks.”

Zukunft, who led the Coast Guard as commandant from 2014 to 2018, drew a parallel with a search the Coast Guard carried out after the 2015 sinking of the container ship El Faro, which got caught in Hurricane Joaquin while traveling from Florida to Puerto Rico and sunk. Navy acoustic sensors detected an implosion in that sinking, he said, but the U.S. government continued searching for several days in case there were any survivors. Thirty-three people died.

In other cases, Zukunft said, the Coast Guard has launched searches in the Pacific after fishermen in Micronesia do not return home. They have been known to survive weeks lost at sea on small boats, relying on fish they catch and rainwater.

“For one or two people, we will literally spend millions of dollars in attempts to rescue these folks,” he said.

The acoustic detection was one significant piece of information, but the search had to continue to exhaust all possibilities, said Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“They suspected what happened but couldn’t be sure,” he said. “What you’re looking at is just lines on a graph. And if you try to convince people you weren’t doing a search because the lines on a graph indicated an implosion, that wouldn’t be acceptable to many.”

The United States has used a network of devices to detect undersea noises for decades. The fact that the Titan’s implosion was detected this way isn’t surprising, Cancian said. “I would be surprised if they hadn’t heard it.”

The U.S. military has recovered vessels and downed aircraft at depths similar to the Titan, but Zukunft doubted that will occur in this case. It would be a “very costly undertaking” to do so, he said, and there was no recorder on the Titan to learn more about the disaster.

“The Titan,” he said, “now has five members interred on the debris field.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national ... y-sensors/

by Owendonovan I can sympathize with the loss to those families. Deep sea diving, like space travel, for fun, gives you no option but a horrible death when something goes wrong for $250,000 or more.

by ponchi101 Agree. But this company has to be investigated, and the design of this submarine has to be analyzed by a lot of engineers.
If the previous posts about an employee calling out faults and design issues with the submarine are correct, I don't see a way that this does not lead to some criminal charges.

by Owendonovan 5 Deaths at Sea Gripped the World. Hundreds of Others Got a Shrug.
Many see harsh realities about class and ethnicity in the attention paid to the Titan submersible and the halfhearted attempts to aid a ship before it sank, killing hundreds of migrants. But there are other factors.
Humans can be so gross.

On one vessel, five people died on a very expensive excursion that was supposed to return them to the lives they knew. On the other, perhaps 500 people died just days earlier on a squalid and perilous voyage, fleeing poverty and violence in search of new lives.

After contact was lost with the five inside a submersible descending to the Titanic, multiple countries and private entities sent ships, planes and underwater drones to pursue a faint hope of rescue. That was far more effort than was made on behalf of the hundreds aboard a dangerously overcrowded, disabled fishing trawler off the Greek coast while there were still ample chances for rescue.
And it was the lost submersible, the Titan, that drew enormous attention from news organizations worldwide and their audiences, far more than the boat that sank in the Mediterranean and the Greek Coast Guard’s failure to help before it capsized.

The submersible accident, at the site of a shipwreck that has fascinated the public for more than a century, would have captivated people no matter what. But it occurred right after the tragedy in the Mediterranean, and the contrast between the two disasters, and how they were handled, has fueled a discussion around the world in which some see harsh realities about class and ethnicity.

Some see? Some? Who exactly doesn't?

Aboard the Titan were three wealthy businessmen — a white American, a white Briton and a Pakistani-British magnate — along with the billionaire’s 19-year-old son and a white French deep-sea explorer. Those on the fishing boat — as many as 750, officials have estimated, with barely 100 survivors — were migrants primarily from South Asia and the Middle East, trying to reach Europe.
“We saw how some lives are valued and some are not,” Judith Sunderland, acting deputy director for Europe at the group Human Rights Watch, said in an interview. And in looking at the treatment of migrants, she added, “We cannot avoid talking about racism and xenophobia.”
At a forum in Athens on Thursday, former President Barack Obama weighed in, saying of the submersible, “the fact that that’s gotten so much more attention than 700 people who sank, that’s an untenable situation.”
Status and race no doubt play a role in how the world responds to disasters, but there are other factors as well.
Other stories have been followed in minute detail by millions of people, even when those involved were neither wealthy nor white, like the boys trapped deep in a flooded cave in Thailand in 2018. Their plight, like that of the submersible passengers, was one-of-a-kind and brought days of suspense, while few people knew of the migrants until they had died.
And in study after study, people show more compassion for the individual victim who can be seen in vivid detail than for a seemingly faceless mass of people.
But the disparity in apparent concern shown for the migrants versus the submersible passengers prompted an unusually caustic backlash in online essays, social media posts and article comments.
Laleh Khalili, a professor who has taught about international politics and the Middle East at multiple British universities, wrote on Twitter that she felt sorry for the 19-year-old, but that “a libertarian billionaire ethos of ‘we are above all laws, including physics’ took the Titan down. And the unequal treatment of this and the migrant boat catastrophe is unspeakable.”
Many commenters said they could not muster concern — some even expressed a grim satisfaction — about the fates of people on the submersible who could afford to pay $250,000 apiece for a thrill. Before the U.S. Coast Guard said on Thursday that the vessel had imploded and the five were dead, jokes and the phrase “eat the rich” proliferated online.
ADVERTISEMENT

That schadenfreude partly reflects the rising anger in recent years at economic inequality, at the wealthy themselves and at the growing sense that the economy works only for those at the top, said Jessica Gall Myrick, a communications professor at Pennsylvania State University, whose specialty is the psychology of how people use media.
“One of the functions of humor is it helps us bond with people socially, so people who laugh at your joke are on your team and those who don’t aren’t on your team,” she said in an interview. Expressions of anger, she said, can serve the same purpose.

For human rights advocates, their anger is directed not at the rich but at European governments whose attitudes toward migrants have hardened, not only doing little to help those in trouble at sea but actively turning them away, and even treating as criminals private citizens who try to rescue migrants.
“I understand why the submersible captured attention: It’s exciting, unprecedented, obviously connected to the most famous shipwreck in history,” said Ms. Sunderland, of Human Rights Watch. “I don’t think it was wrong to make every effort to save them. What I would like is to see no effort spared to save the Black and brown people drowning in the Mediterranean. Instead, European states are doing everything they can to avoid rescue.”

The chasm between the two tragedies was particularly noted in Pakistan, home to many of those who died on the fishing trawler, and to Shahzada Dawood, the tycoon aboard the Titan. It highlighted Pakistan’s extreme divide between the millions who live in poverty and the ultrarich, and the failure of multiple governments over many years to address unemployment, inflation and other economic woes.
“How can we complain about the Greek government? Our own government in Pakistan did not stop the agents from playing with the lives of our youth by luring them to travel on such dangerous routes,” said Muhammad Ayub, a farmer in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, whose younger brother was on the fishing vessel that capsized and is believed to have died.
One factor that made the two maritime disasters very different is the degree of familiarity — though that in no way explains the lack of effort to aid the migrants before their boat sank. It is not just that some people are indifferent to the suffering of migrants — it is also that migrant drownings in the Mediterranean have become tragically frequent.
The rescues of a few people in Turkey who had survived more than a week under the rubble of a powerful earthquake in February — unusual victories amid an unusual disaster — drew the kind of global attention rarely given to the millions of refugees from Syria’s civil war who, for a decade, have lived not far away.

In 2013, the deaths of more than 300 migrants in another boat disaster off the Italian island of Lampedusa produced an outpouring of concern and increased rescue patrols. When Syrian asylum seekers began trying to reach Europe in enormous numbers in 2015, some governments and people portrayed them as alien, undesirable, even dangerous, but there was also considerable interest and empathy. The wrenching image of a drowned 3-year-old washed up on a beach had an especially profound effect.

Years and countless migrant boat calamities later, the deaths are no less appalling but attract far less attention. Aid workers call it “compassion fatigue.” The political will to help, always spotty and precarious, has waned with it.
“No one cared about the several hundred people” who drowned in the Mediterranean, said Arshad Khan, a student of political science at the University of Karachi. “But,” he added, “the United States, the United Kingdom and all the global powers are busy finding the billionaire businessman who spent billions of rupees to view the wreckage of the Titanic in the sea.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/23/worl ... -boat.html

by ponchi101 I have seen jokes about the Titan submarine.
I have not seen any jokes about the Mediterranean wreck.
I have seen comments about the Titan being "some billionaires getting what they deserved".
I have not seen comments like that for the other tragedy.

What did people expect? That the US Coast guard would receive a distress call from the Titan crew and say "(expletive) it, you guys are billionaires, you figure it out."

by ti-amie There were side by side interior photos of the submersible James Cameron uses/d and this tin can. The differences are shocking. I'm still trying to find it again.

by ti-amie
Julia Ioffe
@juliaioffe
·
5h
"Aides said he talked about Ivanka Trump's breasts, her backside, and what it might be like to have sex with her, remarks that once led (former Chief of Staff) John Kelly to remind the president that Ivanka was his daughter.”

Now accepting apologies.
Ex-staffer describes Trump fantasizing about sex with Ivanka
Adam Nichols
June 28, 2023, 7:07 AM ET

https://www.rawstory.com/ivanka-trump-2661978066/

by ponchi101 The sickening thing is: you can so easily believe this.

by ti-amie
ponchi101 wrote: Wed Jun 28, 2023 8:02 pm The sickening thing is: you can so easily believe this.
It's been reported on before. He was making sexual remarks about her when she was thirteen. I don't know why people are losing it when the story is old.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 The same Rebekah that was involved in the controversy about C19 data in Florida?

by skatingfan
ponchi101 wrote: Wed Jul 19, 2023 12:10 am The same Rebekah that was involved in the controversy about C19 data in Florida?
Yup, that's her. Good catch.

by ti-amie Leprosy cases in central Florida account for nearly 20% of national cases. What to know
Brandon Girod
Pensacola News Journal

Hansen’s disease has never been common in the U.S., with most cases previously involving people who immigrated from leprosy-endemic areas. But the new report shows that about 34% of the reported cases between 2015 and 2020 were locally acquired.

The report concludes that a growing body of evidence suggests central Florida may represent an endemic location for leprosy and recommends that physicians consider leprosy in the appropriate clinical context in patients who have traveled to the area, even in the absence of other risk factors.

The CDC hopes that local physicians can help identify and reduce the spread of the disease through their efforts to report cases and their support in further research to assess routes of transmission.

What is Hansen's disease (leprosy)?
Leprosy is a disease that primarily infects the skin and nerves in the skin, though it can sometimes infect other parts of the body like the lining in the airway passages of the nose, according to the Florida Department of Health. It has been around for thousands of years, with the earliest known records appearing in China and India around 600 B.C.

Despite its biblical description, the disease is not easily spread and about 95% of people have natural protective immunity, according to the FDOH. Leprosy can be easy to treat, especially if it’s addressed early. However, going without treatment can result in permanent nerve damage.

The disease is caused by Mycobacterium leprae, which is a slow-growing type of bacteria. It can often take years for signs and symptoms to develop following exposure because of this bacteria. Once the first sign of infection appears, it can take anywhere between two weeks to months for it to progress.

What are the signs and symptoms of leprosy?
Early signs of leprosy include pale or slightly red areas or rash on the body that is often associated with a loss of sensation in the affected area, according to the FDOH.

Other symptoms include:

Loss of feeling in hands and feet
Dry, stiff and sometimes painful skin in the affected area
Thinning of the eyebrows and eyelashes (if the face is involved)
Nasal congestion is sometimes reported
If the disease goes untreated, weakness in the muscles of the hands and feet can also occur.

Can leprosy be treated or cured?
Leprosy is a curable disease. Doctors prescribe antibiotics to patients with leprosy. Patients are typically no longer infectious after a few days of antibiotics, but the treatment lasts between one to two years due to the bacteria's slow growth.

Is leprosy contagious?
Leprosy is contagious and can be transmitted by untreated people infected with the disease, however, most people have natural protective immunity. Exposure to people infected with leprosy should still be avoided, especially among family members as protective immunity is genetic.

How is leprosy transmitted or contracted?
How leprosy is transmitted isn't fully known due to how uncommon it is. Scientists do know it's not spread through casual contact, sexual transmission or from mother to fetus. The prevailing theory is that high levels of the bacteria are developed in a person's nose and are spread to others not immune through prolonged contact.

Leprosy in armadillos
A genetic study conducted at the National Hansen's Disease Program found that armadillos in the southern U.S. develop a high number of M. leprae bacteria. Transmission between animals to humans is low, but the program advises that people still take proper precautions around armadillos.

https://www.pnj.com/story/news/2023/07/ ... 481451007/

by ti-amie MeidasTouch
@MeidasTouch
Virginia GOP official puts up large penis sign with Biden's face on it at youth baseball game for young kids to take photos with. He also erected a "F—k Biden" inflatable air dancer sign near the field.

https://twitter.com/MeidasTouch/status/ ... 5927839930

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

Apparently she was vaping, singing/talking out loud, and refused requests to leave until security was called. Apparently she also used the "do you know who I am" card. Her companion had to hold onto her to stop her from running back inside.

by Owendonovan
ti-amie wrote: Fri Aug 18, 2023 9:46 pm MeidasTouch
@MeidasTouch
Virginia GOP official puts up large penis sign with Biden's face on it at youth baseball game for young kids to take photos with. He also erected a "F—k Biden" inflatable air dancer sign near the field.

https://twitter.com/MeidasTouch/status/ ... 5927839930
I hope the police were called for child abuse, because that's what it is.

by ponchi101 Abuse? Or should this be molesting?
(Serious question. And I wonder if any of the parents there should be filing charges).

by ti-amie The party of family values delivers again. First, Boebert.

Lauren Boebert says she ‘fell short of values’ after Beetlejuice groping video
Congresswoman issues apology after being kicked out of performance of musical in Denver for inappropriate behavior

The US congresswoman Lauren Boebert has issued an apology after being kicked out of a performance of the musical Beetlejuice in Denver for inappropriate behavior, an experience she has called “difficult and humbling”.

Boebert, a Republican representative for Colorado, and a male guest accompanying her were ejected from the musical on 10 September for vaping, recording video and disturbing other patrons during the Sunday performance. Video also showed them eagerly groping each other while in their seats.

Boebert and her campaign manager initially denied that she was vaping and said she was removed for being too loud. But surveillance video obtained by the Denver television station 9News show the congresswoman openly vaping during the performance.

Two sources also confirmed to 9News that Boebert was vaping, a prohibited action that ushers attempted to address with her several times.

A pregnant woman reportedly confronted Boebert and asked the congresswoman to stop vaping, the New York Post reported. But Boebert refused.

“These people in front of us were outrageous,” the unnamed woman said to the Post. “I’ve never seen anyone act like that before.”

The CCTV video also shows Boebert’s guest fondling her breasts after they had taken their seats for the musical performance. Boebert is also seen petting her guest’s crotch in the venue whose patrons often include children and their families.

Boebert and her date were later removed by security in the second act of the musical as their disruptive behavior continued.

The CCTV footage showed a blurred out gesture which Boebert flashed at theater security as she was escorted out. Business Insider reported that the gesture appeared to be a middle finger.

According to a report of the confrontation from theater security, Boebert and her guest reportedly became argumentative with officials. “Do you know who I am?” the congresswoman allegedly asked, according to the theater security report.

Boebert apologized for her behavior in a Friday evening statement.

“The past few days have been difficult and humbling, and I’m truly sorry for the unwanted attention my Sunday evening in Denver has brought to the community,” Boebert said in the apology, as reported by the Colorado Sun.

Boebert added that her “public and difficult divorce” has created a “challenging personal time for me and my entire family”.

“I’ve tried to handle it with strength and grace as best I can, but I simply fell short of my values on Sunday,” Boebert said.

Boebert filed for divorce from her husband, Jayson, in May. The couple had been married for nearly 20 years.

Boebert’s disturbance at the musical was first confirmed on Tuesday, though the congresswoman initially attempted to suggest she was removed from the theater for enjoying the performance too much.

On X, formerly known as Twitter, Boebert wrote that she “[pleaded] guilty to laughing and singing too loud!”

The Colorado congresswoman is in her second term after narrowly being re-elected in 2022.

She is one of the most far-right representatives in Congress, widely known for bigoted statements she has made against LGBTQ+ people, Muslims and other marginalized communities.

A report from the LGBTQ+ news outlet Advocate noted that the man who accompanied her to Beetlejuice was a Democrat named Quinn Gallagher who is the proprietor of a bar that has hosted LGBTQ+ events and drag performances, which have often been targets of the political right.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... uice-video


Video


by ti-amie And Governor Noem...

Governor Kristi Noem, “God-Fearing” Family Woman, and Corey Lewandowski, Trump Creep, Reportedly Had “Yearslong” Affair
It’s always the ones who insist that marriage is “a special, God-given union between one man and one woman” that forget how to count.

BY KENZIE BRYANT
SEPTEMBER 15, 2023

The Daily Mail has published an explosive report that South Dakota governor Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski, a former Donald Trump aide, have been having a secret affair “for years”—at least since 2019. Noem’s spokesperson told the tabloid, “This is so predictable that you would attack Governor Noem less than a week after she endorsed Donald J. Trump as the 47th President of the United States.” Neither have denied the Daily Mail’s reporting, and Vanity Fair has reached out to both of them for further comment.

A “family values” Republican, Noem has three children with her husband, Bryon. They’ve been married for over 30 years. Lewandowski married his wife, Alison, in 2005, and they have four children.

Lewandowski has a reputation of being just one of the many characters that Trump can’t quit. Trump’s original campaign manager, Lewandowski was fired in June 2016 after “a series of incidents that the Trump family worried had cast the candidate in a negative light.” These may have included, but were not limited to, aggressively handling a reporter and protester, reportedly calling a coworker a “(expletive) bitch,” and reportedly calling a staffer to yell at him as the staffer’s grandmother was having her Last Rites read. Soon, though, Trump brought Lewandowski back in the fold.

Noem stoked speculation that she’s angling to be Trump’s running mate for 2024 with an early endorsement of the indicted man for president. Trump received her endorsement onstage in North Dakota last week, where a Trump-Noem 2024 graphic reportedly appeared on a screen behind them. “I will do everything I can to help him win and save this country,” Noem said when introducing the former president.

The Daily Mail claimed it has a long list of receipts including “stays at luxury resorts where their intimacy was observed and noted.” They allegedly took private planes on donors’ dimes, and would disappear frequently. Rumors of their alleged affair surfaced briefly in 2021, via far-right conservative website American Greatness, but Noem issued a strong rebuke of the story. She said it was “total garbage and a disgusting lie,” and she was “proud of the God-fearing family” that she raised with her husband. Lawyers for Lewandowski dismissed the allegations as “rumors.”

Lewandowski became a key adviser to Noem by 2019, and they would travel frequently together. Per the Daily Mail, “In the months leading up to the 2020 election, Noem and Lewandowski became virtually inseparable companions on the Trump campaign trail. By then, their relationship was an open secret at the White House and among high-level GOP lobbyists and political consultants.”

However, after a scandal in which Lewandowski allegedly propositioned a donor’s wife at a Benihana, he was supposedly cut loose from Noem’s team. “Corey was always a volunteer, never paid a dime (campaign or official),” Ian Fury, Noem’s communications director, said in a statement at the time. “He will not be advising the governor in regard to the campaign or official office.” The Daily Mail claimed this was not true. Lewandowski continued working for Noem, and she would, according to a source, “make excuses for his behavior and apologize to staffers for him.”

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/09 ... ong-affair

by ti-amie Here's the link to the Daily Fail article. I'm not removing my ad blocker

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... ffair.html

by ti-amie Those demands for Boebert and Noem to resign are deafening aren't they?

The CCTV in that Denver theatre is almost movie grade. It seems that they were going to let her slide with just the vaping but she tried to throw them under the bus for lying so they released the entire video. I think she dropped out of school at 16 and it seems that mentally she's still about that age.

by texasniteowl I need to preface this by saying that in spite of my username, I don't live in Texas any longer. But I can't believe Paxton was acquitted on all 16 charges. There are lots of great things about Texas. But the Republican party in Texas is not one of them.

by patrick Agree on Boebert as she was encouraging her date to perform the message

by ti-amie
texasniteowl wrote: Sat Sep 16, 2023 6:39 pm I need to preface this by saying that in spite of my username, I don't live in Texas any longer. But I can't believe Paxton was acquitted on all 16 charges. There are lots of great things about Texas. But the Republican party in Texas is not one of them.
Wait WHAT?!

by ponchi101 One problem is: these news are TOTALLY unsurprising. So there is so little to comment.
BTW. I mentioned this years ago. But, why do female GOP legislators all look straight out of a dominatrix line up?

by texasniteowl
ti-amie wrote: Sat Sep 16, 2023 7:07 pm
texasniteowl wrote: Sat Sep 16, 2023 6:39 pm I need to preface this by saying that in spite of my username, I don't live in Texas any longer. But I can't believe Paxton was acquitted on all 16 charges. There are lots of great things about Texas. But the Republican party in Texas is not one of them.
Wait WHAT?!
yep.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/16/politics ... index.html

by ti-amie I made a vow years ago never to step foot into Texas and to this day I haven't. Talk about a s**thole...

by texasniteowl or here is an editorial from the Dallas Morning News: https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/edit ... servatism/

by texasniteowl
ti-amie wrote: Sat Sep 16, 2023 8:46 pm I made a vow years ago never to step foot into Texas and to this day I haven't. Talk about a s**thole...
Paxton is truly criminal. Abbott is disgusting. edit: the less said about Cruz the better

I was never a George Bush fan, but in hindsight...that was a highlight?

by ti-amie
texasniteowl wrote: Sat Sep 16, 2023 8:51 pm
ti-amie wrote: Sat Sep 16, 2023 8:46 pm I made a vow years ago never to step foot into Texas and to this day I haven't. Talk about a s**thole...
Paxton is truly criminal. Abbott is disgusting. edit: the less said about Cruz the better

I was never a George Bush fan, but in hindsight...that was a highlight?
I understand and sadly agree.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie There is a horrific story out of Pennsylvania tonight. A man, apparently radicalized by RW media, murdered his father who works for the Federal Government. He then posted a video in which he ranted against the government and President Biden. He has been captured. The video has since been taken down.

Image
Handout / The Associated Press

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2 ... n-youtube/

by ti-amie

The story was broken by Russian media.

by ponchi101 What surprises me is that he is at the ballet, not that he is in Moscow.

by ti-amie

And the people who spew these lies are all safely at home with their families, and fully vaxxed.

by Owendonovan Do these people think they can go to court and think they are fully justified and get off?

by ti-amie
Owendonovan wrote: Sat Feb 10, 2024 2:02 am Do these people think they can go to court and think they are fully justified and get off?
Think is doing a lot of work here Owen. :D

by ti-amie

Image

This man committed the biggest Medicare fraud in US history and is a sitting Senator.

by ti-amie Marcelo Rochabrún
@mrochabrun
New: The story of the poor indigenous Peruvians working —sometimes even for free— helping the world’s richest person sell $9,000 vicuña sweaters

It is the finest wool in the world, but in the Andes, they see none of the wealth

Image

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2024 ... Vh4GIrLUxY

by ponchi101 Get organized. Become a cooperative. Follow the model of Colombia's Juan Valdez.

by Owendonovan Not the train I commute daily on, but one I often use. There's some kind of something going on about 10% of the time I spend on the subway system. I got into a small row just yesterday because a woman (who is a regular on this train at the same time as me) wouldn't make space for people to sit, so I sat halfway on her until she moved over. She was yelling that she worked all day so she's entitled, others chimed in that they all worked today, she sounded foolish. She did not and has not appeared to have any kind of mental illness. This is my dilemma, allowing her to take up 3 seats is wholly unacceptable to me and most everyone else riding the subway, who should be correcting this situation, me? The macho man below who instigated this shooting seems to have got what he had coming to him.

Man Is Critically Wounded in a Shooting on a Subway Train in Brooklyn
A video shows how a verbal dispute between two men on a moving A train turned into a fight. One of the men grabbed a gun from the other and shot him, the police said.
A man was in critical condition Thursday night after being shot in the head on a subway train as it arrived at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn station in Downtown Brooklyn during the Thursday evening rush hour, the authorities said.

The shooting occurred after a 32-year-old man boarded a northbound A train at the Nostrand Avenue stop at about 4:45 p.m., Michael Kemper, the Police Department’s Chief of Transit, said at a news conference.

As the train left the station, the man was confronted by a 36-year-old man who witnesses described as acting in an “aggressive and provocative” manner, Chief Kemper said.

What started as a verbal confrontation quickly become a physical fight, the chief said, with the 36-year-old man displaying either a knife or razor blade at one point. Eventually, he pulled out a gun, Chief Kemper said.

The men began grappling, and the 32-year-old man grabbed the gun and shot the other man several times, Chief Kemper said. He said he did not believe the two men knew each other.

Footage of the fight posted to social media shows that the 36-year-old man repeatedly threatens the 32-year-old man, standing over him and saying “I will beat you up” before the younger man stands up and the two circle around each other. As the fight escalates, other passengers move to the opposite end of the train, but one woman stays back.

The video shows that as the two men tussle on a pair of subway seats, the woman also becomes involved, appearing to fumble in her purse for something and then stab the 36-year-old in the lower back as he stands over the younger man, pummeling him. Another rider, wearing a blue sweatshirt and a yellow neon vest, attempts to intervene and briefly separates the men before the fight resumes.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/14/nyre ... oklyn.html

by ponchi101 I would like to see a study about "public etiquette" nowadays. Is it gong down, or is it better?
For example: I really dislike people that are talking on their smartphone at full blast. I don't need to listen to their conversations. But, even worse: people listening or watching shows on a smartphone, with no earphones. I find it rude.
Are we losing that battle, when in public?

by ti-amie The video is available. I feel for the passengers who were trapped in the car because they've stopped making it possible to open the doors between the cars anymore.

No charges will be filed against the man who shot the aggressor in the head. The aggressor is not expected to survive per media reports.

As for Adams and Hochul's stunt with putting the National Guard in the subways this shows that mayhem can break out anywhere at any time. There is a police station at this stop. Who knows where the aggressor got on the train? This is why stunts like this don't work in NYC.

That said, as a native NY'er people who live in Brooklyn are always ready to fight. I'm not including the recently gentrified areas of course. I'm talking about the folks who were there before the gentrifiers and who are still there.

by Owendonovan
ponchi101 wrote: Fri Mar 15, 2024 7:01 pm I would like to see a study about "public etiquette" nowadays. Is it gong down, or is it better?
For example: I really dislike people that are talking on their smartphone at full blast. I don't need to listen to their conversations. But, even worse: people listening or watching shows on a smartphone, with no earphones. I find it rude.
Are we losing that battle, when in public?
Feels that way, especially with the smartphone noise and bluetooth speakers. I always want to ask those people; How did you get to the point where you feel your actions have no effect on anyone else? Do you know that NOBODY wants to hear what you're putting out yet we all can hear it? Why does it feel as if, when you receive the appropriate look of irritation from people around you because of your noise intrusion, you're ready to fight over it? It's almost exclusively men and some idiotic impressions of "disrespect".

by ti-amie Raw Milk’s Risks Don’t Stop Right-Wing Commentators From Defiantly Pushing It
On sites like Infowars, Gab and Rumble, federal concerns about raw milk are seen as overreach, but there are serious health risks and no scientifically proven benefits.

Image
Public health officials have long warned Americans of the severe health risks that can come with drinking raw milk.Credit...Alexandra Genova for The New York Times

By Santul Nerkar
May 24, 2024
Updated 1:21 p.m. ET
Health officials are warning Americans not to drink raw milk as bird flu spreads through American cows. But some media figures and influencers are misleadingly suggesting that the product is safe or even healthier than traditional milk. And sales are growing.

Commentators on sites like Infowars, Gab and Rumble have grown increasingly vocal about raw milk in recent weeks. They see the government’s heightened concerns about the dangers as overreach.

“They say: ‘Bird flu in milk! Bird flu in milk! Oh, it’s the scariest thing!’” Owen Shroyer said on the April 29 episode of his “War Room” podcast from Infowars. He added: “They’ll just make raw milk illegal. That’s what this is all about.”

Public health officials have long warned Americans of the severe health risks that can come with drinking raw milk instead of pasteurized milk, which is heated to kill bacteria, viruses and other germs. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found more than 200 disease outbreaks linked to unpasteurized milk from 1998 to 2018, leading to 2,645 illnesses, 228 hospitalizations and three deaths.

In the United States, there have been only three reported human cases of this avian flu virus, which has led to the death of 90 million of the nation’s farmed birds and recently spread to cows. None of these human cases have yet been tied to drinking milk, but a study published on Friday found that milk contaminated with the virus was rapidly making mice sick.

Contrary to claims, there’s little or no evidence that drinking raw milk provides health benefits, including protection from certain infectious diseases, said Dr. Megin Nichols, the deputy director of the Division of Foodborne, Waterborne and Environmental Diseases at the C.D.C. The Food and Drug Administration says pasteurizing milk kills the virus.

The F.D.A. said in a statement that there are no scientifically proven benefits to drinking raw milk and that “the health risks are clear.”
The sale of raw milk is illegal or heavily restricted in around two dozen states, and the F.D.A. bans the interstate sale of raw milk. But a growing number of states allow producers to sell raw milk directly to consumers.

Sales of raw milk at grocery stores and other retailers in early May rose more than 20 percent from a year earlier, though they remain a tiny share of overall milk consumption, according to NielsenIQ, a market research firm.

Right-wing commentators aren’t the only proponents of raw milk. For years, wellness influencers have promoted raw milk as a healthier alternative to pasteurized milk, misleadingly claiming that drinking it will confer immunity to diseases like E. coli and salmonella.

Matt Gertz, a senior fellow at Media Matters, a left-leaning watchdog that looked at the trend this month, said raw milk promotion had been intensifying on the right since the start of the bird flu outbreak.

“What you have is a bunch of right-wing influencers who know that they can build substantial audiences and retain their audiences and excite their audiences by telling them that what medical authorities are saying about raw milk, about bird flu, is not credible,” Mr. Gertz said.

Eviane Leidig, a postdoctoral researcher at Tilburg University in the Netherlands who researches extremist movements, said the consumption of raw or unprocessed foods had emerged as a rallying cry on parts of the political right. Pasteurized milk, which these groups falsely claim is injected with dangerous chemicals, is referred to as “state-approved milk.”

“The consumption of raw milk, raw meat and raw eggs is a right-wing subculture that has been growing in popularity over the last few years,” Dr. Leidig said.

Todd Callaway, a professor in the department of animal and dairy science at the University of Georgia, said that modern dairy farms had made raw milk safer to drink than it once was, but that “it’s still not a great idea” to drink raw milk, which may still contain dangerous germs. Nearly all store-bought milk is pasteurized.

“I don’t know that a lot of people understand what pasteurization is,” Dr. Callaway said. “It’s just heat treatment. There are no chemicals being pumped in.”

Santul Nerkar is a reporter covering business and sports.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/24/busi ... ation.html

by dryrunguy Raw milk goes great with an ivermectin chaser.

by ponchi101 My looney friend that beliefs in all conspiracy theories came to me with PROOF that ti was all a hoax because Chris Cuomo has now accepted that Joe Rogan was right. And (I almost quote here): long covid as an euphemism for "vaccine damage".
You almost wish them a really bad disease that will have to be cured by al things Pfizer. ;)

by ti-amie
dryrunguy wrote: Sat May 25, 2024 5:59 pm Raw milk goes great with an ivermectin chaser.
Image

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 The tumor in her head keeps getting bigger. It is the sole explanation.
(And yes, if she has a tumor in her brain I simply will not care less. This woman is some sort of evil manifestation on earth).

by Owendonovan Alex Jones Is Finally Screwed

For a while there, it seemed as if Infowars founder Alex Jones was successfully stalling the payments to the Sandy Hook families, to whom he owes close to $1.5 billion in damages for defamation and emotional distress for lying about the murder of their loved ones. Nearly a year after the judgment came down in 2022, he was still spending lavishly on housekeepers and keeping up his boat, even as the families he defamed did not see a penny. In the midst of his personal bankruptcy, he was fighting to keep his control of Infowars, in part to retain his $1.5 million salary there.
But late on Thursday, Jones finally buckled when he filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy to liquidate his assets — meaning that he is going to sell his ownership stake in the parent company behind Infowars, the conspiracy site that brought him fame and millions as he peddled misinformation and dietary supplements.
The move is a major win for the Sandy Hook families, who filed an emergency motion in federal bankruptcy court on Sunday claiming that Jones and his company had “failed to demonstrate any hope of beginning to satisfy” their claims. They had asked the court to change the case from a Chapter 11 bankruptcy — one that involves restructuring — to a Chapter 7, which means liquidation. Beyond losing his stake in Infowars, Jones recently got court permission to sell off his game ranch to pay the defamation penalty for claiming that the 2012 elementary-school shooting was a government hoax carried out by crisis actors. Twenty young children and six adults were killed in the attack.
On June 14, Jones will have his next hearing in bankruptcy court to determine how to move forward. Meanwhile, he has gone into bunker mode in his on-air shows. “All we’re trying to do is save America, and they’re (expletive) us over, over and over again,” he said over the weekend. “And it’s just so sick. It’s sick, it’s sick. I want to leave, because it’s going to be over, folks.”
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article ... ement.html

Please leave, and take all your listeners with you, please.

by Owendonovan
ponchi101 wrote: Wed Jun 05, 2024 10:26 pm The tumor in her head keeps getting bigger. It is the sole explanation.
(And yes, if she has a tumor in her brain I simply will not care less. This woman is some sort of evil manifestation on earth).
In some kind of sadistic way, I'd like to be in a room of her constituents, who voted for her, moving from group to group to hear what it is they all talk about.

by ti-amie
But late on Thursday, Jones finally buckled when he filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy to liquidate his assets — meaning that he is going to sell his ownership stake in the parent company behind Infowars, the conspiracy site that brought him fame and millions as he peddled misinformation and dietary supplements.
The move is a major win for the Sandy Hook families, who filed an emergency motion in federal bankruptcy court on Sunday claiming that Jones and his company had “failed to demonstrate any hope of beginning to satisfy” their claims. They had asked the court to change the case from a Chapter 11 bankruptcy — one that involves restructuring — to a Chapter 7, which means liquidation. Beyond losing his stake in Infowars, Jones recently got court permission to sell off his game ranch to pay the defamation penalty for claiming that the 2012 elementary-school shooting was a government hoax carried out by crisis actors. Twenty young children and six adults were killed in the attack.
Image

by ti-amie


:lol:

It's AI but hey...

by ponchi101 He always looks like his hemorrhoids are flaring.

by ti-amie Irony is dead.


by ti-amie Somewhere Noem is breathing a sigh of relief...


by ti-amie

by Owendonovan This is one of the ways moneyed folk like to express male immaturity, sick "practical jokes".

by Owendonovan I'm not buying this for one second. You don't get to the Gold medal match and then not make weight. I read nothing but insincerity from Modi. I hope she can leave India.


Indian Wrestler Vinesh Phogat Is Disqualified From Gold Medal Match
Indian officials said she failed to make her weight class by a few grams. Last year, she was the face of a protest against a powerful Indian sports official.
The Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat was disqualified from competing in a gold medal bout at the Paris Olympics after she failed to make weight by just a few grams, the Indian Olympic Association said on Wednesday.
Phogat, who became one of the faces of high-profile protests against a powerful sports official accused of sexually harassing female wrestlers in India last year, was scheduled to compete against Sarah Hildebrandt of the United States for a gold medal in the 50-kilogram weight class on Wednesday.
But early Wednesday morning, the Indian Olympic Association announced on X that “despite the best efforts by the team through the night, she weighed in a few grams over 50 kilograms this morning.”
Early last year, Phogat was one of three Indian wrestlers who accused Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, then the president of India’s wrestling federation, of sexual harassment. Phogat, along with Olympic medalists Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik, staged a series of public protests against Singh on behalf of seven young female wrestlers who had reported being harassed.
They staged a protest camp that was violently dismantled by the police, and they were dragged to detention. Later, the wrestlers threatened to throw their medals, including two Olympic bronzes, into the Ganges River.
The Olympics website now says that Hildebrandt will compete against Cuba’s Yusneylis Guzmán Lopez, who had lost to Phogat in the semifinal, for the gold medal.
Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, said that Phogat’s “setback hurts.” In a statement on X, he said, “I wish words could express the sense of despair that I am experiencing.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/07/worl ... tling.html

by ashkor87 I think she will be fine ..there will be a nice blame-game but nothing else. She is still a heroine in India, takes more than one bad loss.

by Owendonovan
ashkor87 wrote: Wed Aug 07, 2024 3:45 pm I think she will be fine ..there will be a nice blame-game but nothing else. She is still a heroine in India, takes more than one bad loss.
I think Indian officials won't let her compete because she burned them.

by ashkor87
Owendonovan wrote: Wed Aug 07, 2024 4:18 pm
ashkor87 wrote: Wed Aug 07, 2024 3:45 pm I think she will be fine ..there will be a nice blame-game but nothing else. She is still a heroine in India, takes more than one bad loss.
I think Indian officials won't let her compete because she burned them.
Could happen, but in these matters the voice of the public is still loud enough to be heard. The PM has asked Usha (head of the Indian Olympic Committee) to lodge a strong protest..seems like the appropriate response...
(Yes, Usha is a common name in India ..literally it means the dawn)

by Owendonovan It's probably too late now. No way you're going to mess up your gold medal chances by a few grams.

by ponchi101 How much are "a few grams"? 5? 25? 200?

by ashkor87
ponchi101 wrote: Wed Aug 07, 2024 5:22 pm How much are "a few grams"? 5? 25? 200?
I believe 100

by ashkor87 I read in passing that the wrestler in question normally competes in the 53 kg class, this was 50 kg. ..but I know nothing about wrestling .

by Owendonovan A dejected Vinesh Phogat announced her retirement from wrestling via a social media post on Thursday morning. "Wrestling won match against me, I lost... Your dreams and my courage are shattered. I don't have any more strength now. Goodbye Wrestling 2001-2024. I will forever be indebted to all of you. Sorry,"

https://www.hindustantimes.com/sports/o ... 32780.html

by ponchi101 That is pretty sad.

by ti-amie NoelCaslerComedy🌙
@caslernoel

There really was a ‘fake Melania’ and the real Melania really was an escort and neither of those stories were worthy of investigation by the MSM.

by ti-amie Speaking of Elmo...


by ti-amie

by Owendonovan Anytime they get grifted and don't know it, I enjoy the moment.

by ti-amie Dave Rubin, Benny Johnson, Tim Pool Exposed as Working For Alleged Russian Influence Operation in New DOJ Indictment
Sarah Rumpf Sep 4th, 2024, 6:01 pm

A new Department of Justice indictment unsealed on Wednesday accuses a Tennessee-based content company with several high profile right-wing personalities on its roster of being part of a Russian influence operation, working to infiltrate U.S. media with the Kremlin’s propaganda.

The indictment does not identify the company by name, “but descriptions in the indictment match those of Tennessee-based Tenet Media,” reported The Tennessean.

Tenet Media’s website declares “fearless voices live here,” and describes itself as “a network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues.” Creators currently listed on the site and featuring in videos on its YouTube channel include Dave Rubin, Benny Johnson, Tim Pool, Lauren Southern, Tayler Hansen, and Matt Christiansen.

According to a DOJ press release regarding the unsealed indictment Wednesday, two Russian nationals, Kostiantyn Kalashnikov, 31, also known as Kostya, and Elena Afanasyeva, 27, also known as Lena, were charged with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva were employed by RT, formerly known as Russia Today, a Russian state-controlled media outlet, according to the indictment, which describes how RT has launched several “covert projects” that are “designed to shape public opinion” in the U.S. and other Western countries, including this alleged “funding and direction of a Tennessee-based online content creation company.”

The indictment goes on to allege that the defendants “have deployed nearly $10 million, laundered through a network of foreign shell entities, to covertly fund and direct” that Tennessee company.

Comments from top DOJ and FBI officials sharply denounced the alleged criminal scheme as “[c]overt attempts to sow division and trick Americans into unwittingly consuming foreign propaganda”and to “illegally manipulate American public opinion by sowing discord and division” by “co-opt[ing] online commentators by funneling them nearly $10 million to pump pro-Russia propaganda and disinformation across social media to U.S. audiences.”

The indictment alleges that Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva directed the scheme from Moscow using multiple fake identities and shell companies, funneling nearly $10 million to secretly finance and direct the activities of the Tennessee company, which included posting video content on multiple social media platforms that included TikTok, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube. Since the company launched in November 2023, the indictment alleges, it has posted nearly 2,000 videos that have more than 16 million views just on YouTube.

From the DOJ press release:
Many of the videos posted by U.S. Company-1 contain commentary on events and issues in the U.S., such as immigration, inflation, and other topics related to domestic and foreign policy. While the views expressed in the videos are not uniform, most are directed to the publicly stated goals of the Government of Russia and RT — to amplify domestic divisions in the United States.

In order to carry out RT’s secret influence campaign in the United States, Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva operated under covert identities at U.S. Company-1. Posing as an outside editor, Kalashnikov edited U.S. Company-1 content, monitored U.S. Company-1’s funding and hiring, and introduced Afanasyeva as a member of his purported editing team. Using the fake personas Helena Shudra and Victoria Pesti, Afanasyeva posted and directed the posting by U.S. Company-1 of hundreds of videos. Afanasyeva also collected information from and gave instructions to U.S. Company-1 staff. For example, after the March 22, 2024, terrorist attack on a music venue in Moscow, Afanasyeva asked one of U.S. Company-1’s founders to blame Ukraine and the United States for the attack, writing: “I think we can focus on the Ukraine/U.S. angle. . . . [T]he mainstream media spread fake news that ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack yet ISIS itself never made such statements. All terrorists are now detained while they were heading to the border with Ukraine which makes it even more suspicious why they would want to go to Ukraine to hide.”

…U.S. Company-1 never disclosed to its viewers that it was funded and directed by RT. Nor did U.S. Company-1 or its two founders register with the Attorney General as an agent of a foreign principal.
Both Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva remain at large. The charges against them are conspiracy to violate FARA, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

“The Justice Department will not tolerate attempts by an authoritarian regime to exploit our country’s free exchange of ideas in order to covertly further its own propaganda efforts, and our investigation into this matter remains ongoing,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland.

Johnson tweeted a statement responding to the indictment, which was unsealed, not “leaked” as he stated:
A year ago, a media startup pitched my company to provide content as an independent contractor. Our lawyers negotiated a standard, arms length deal, which was later terminated. We are disturbed by the allegations in today’s indictment, which make clear that myself and other influencers were victims in this alleged scheme. My lawyers will handle anyone who states or suggests otherwise.
Pool also posted a statement:


My statement regarding allegations and the leaked DOJ Indictment

Should these allegations prove true, I as well as the other personalities and commentators were deceived and are victims. I cannot speak for anyone else at the company as to what they do or to what they are…

— Tim Pool (@Timcast) September 4, 2024
Rubin has not yet posted his own statement but did retweet Pool’s and shared a tweet from another user with a screenshot of the indictment saying it accused Lauren Chen and her husband of having “intentionally deceived the influencers mentioned below (seemingly Dave Rubin and Tim Pool) regarding the source of the funding.”

https://www.mediaite.com/crime/dave-rub ... ndictment/

by ashkor87 What kind of father buys an AR15 as a Christmas gift for a 13 year old son? Really? Probably calls himself a Christian too..Wonder what Jesus would have said

by Owendonovan Imagine being told this, having no idea it happened. I can't imagine.

Woman in France Testifies Against Husband Accused of Bringing Men to Rape Her
Gisèle Pelicot spoke of the horror of being told by the police that they had evidence her husband had drugged her for years and brought men into their home to join him in raping her.
If the sight of dozens of men accused of raping her, including her husband of many decades, upset Gisèle Pelicot, she did not let it show. She swept into a packed courtroom on Thursday with steely poise, her face composed, her eyes dry beneath sunglasses. Her adult children trailed behind her.

Then, she took the stand and told the court how the life she had built over five decades had quickly unraveled one morning in late 2020, when the police summoned her to a station in southern France. There, they told her that the man she considered the love of her life had been drugging her for almost a decade and inviting strangers to come into their home and join him in raping her while she was comatose.

Under French rules, Ms. Pelicot, 71, could have avoided letting the trial play out in the public eye and chosen to keep it behind closed doors. Instead, she decided it was important for all of France to hear her story and to place the shame on the accused men, rather than on her.

“So when other women, if they wake up with no memory, they might remember the testimony of Ms. Pelicot,” she said in a calm, controlled voice. “No woman should suffer from being drugged and victimized.”
She added, “We must address this scourge.”

The trial in Avignon, which has just started and is scheduled to take four months, has already shaken France. Everything about it seems almost too shocking to absorb — how long Dominique Pelicot is accused of drugging his wife, how ordinary and loving the couple seemed in their retirement, and how many men are accused of raping her.

There are so many men on trial that the court had to build a second glass box in the courtroom for those in custody. They include firemen, soldiers, truck drivers, an IT expert. They range in age from 26 to 74. Many are in stable relationships and have children.
Image

In her testimony, she said, “We must address this scourge.
Mr. Pelicot has pleaded guilty to all the charges against him, including aggravated rape and drugging. He is also accused of violating the privacy of his wife, daughter and two daughters-in-law on suspicion of illegally recording, and at times distributing, intimate photos of them. If he is found guilty, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

He hopes to use the trial to explain himself to his now ex-wife and estranged children, according to his lawyer, Béatrice Zavarro.
Standing at a lectern before the row of judges in the courtroom, Ms. Pelicot never showed much emotion. She referred to her former husband formally, as “Monsieur Pelicot.”

As she told it, they fell madly in love at just 19 and were soon married. They’d had three children; seven grandchildren. They’d been together, through some illness, financial problems, and even at least one fleeting affair, but made it through.

Ms. Pelicot told the court that she had trusted him implicitly and said they had what she considered a normal sex life.

“I thought we were a strong couple,” Ms. Pelicot said. “We had everything to be happy.”

After she retired in 2013, they moved from the Paris region to Mazan, a small town in southern France.

There, she said, her husband supported her through a strange, undiagnosed illness. She was losing her hair, losing weight and, most worryingly, losing her memory of some nights and days, she told the courtroom. She would sometimes awake in the morning with no recall of saying goodbye to her children, watching a movie or getting into bed, she said.
These gaps — which she described as “total blackouts” — frightened her so much, she had stopped driving.

“I was persuaded I had the beginnings of Alzheimer’s or a brain tumor,” she said. She had also suffered gynecological problems.

Her husband drove her to appointments with specialists — one of whom did a CT scan of her brain. She was never given a satisfactory explanation.

“I could not have imagined for a single second that I had been drugged,” she said, though later she recalled he once gave her a beer that glowed mint green before he threw it in the sink. She said she now believes he was doing “trials” of ways to drug her.

The reality of what prosecutors say was happening was discovered by chance, after Mr. Pelicot was caught trying to film under women’s skirts in a grocery store. Ms. Pelicot forgave him, thinking it was a rare slip in a 50-year marriage.
Only later would she learn that Mr. Pelicot had been caught doing the same thing earlier, in 2010, and was let off with just a fine, prosecutors said. It was a warning sign she said she never got to see. She said she would have been more vigilant had she known.

“I lost 10 years of my life,” she said. “Those are years I will never get back.”

Mr. Pelicot sat apart from the other accused men in a separate glass box and cast his eyes down throughout his wife’s testimony. He had met most of those men on a notorious, unmoderated French website implicated in more than 23,000 police cases in France that was shut down in June.

He has argued to the police and through his lawyer that all the men knew his wife had been drugged into submission, and followed the rules he established to ensure she didn’t wake up. He filmed the scenes, storing more than 20,000 digital videos and photographs that the police used to track down the accused.

Though one of her lawyers had earlier told The New York Times that the first time she would see those videos would be during the trial, Ms. Pelicot said in court that she had gathered the strength to watch videos in May that would be used as evidence in the trial. It was then, she decided, she needed the trial to be open.

Most of the men on trial have been accused of rape with “many aggravating circumstances,” one being the use of drugs to put her to sleep. Many have pleaded not guilty. Some say they were tricked into having sex with a drugged woman, lured by her husband for a playful three-way encounter and told she was pretending to sleep because she was shy.
Ms. Pelicot responded to those statements in court saying, “They knew exactly what they were doing and what shape I was in.” She noted that one of the accused was diagnosed with H.I.V., though she later tested negative.

She described her bedroom as a “torture chamber.”

“I don’t know how I survived,” she said. “I ask myself how I am standing before you.”

In the days after meeting the police and seeing some of the shocking photos that her husband had kept, Ms. Pelicot said she contemplated suicide. But with the help of her children and friends, she began to slowly gather the shards of her broken life and identity. She sold most things in the home in Mazan and moved elsewhere.

She has divorced her husband and while she is keeping her married name for the trial, she intends to take up her maiden name as soon as it is over, she said.

Notably, since the day she stepped into the police station, she said she has not had a single blackout.
While she seemed strong, and described herself like a boxer who repeatedly stood back up after being knocked down, she also told the court, “inside, there is a field of ruins.”

“I will try to rebuild my life,” she said. “I don’t know how.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/05/worl ... imony.html

by ashkor87 I don't get it- the infamous second amendment clearly states that the aim is 'a well regulated militia' - that means police, army etc., not private individuals!

by ponchi101 It ends with:
the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

The Constitution of the USA is a historic document. It set down incredibly high standards for the era, and it brought forward the idea that republics were to be governed by written law, not the whims of the rulers.
It is and was an important document.

It is also very poorly written. It was written over 250 years ago by the brilliant men of that time, but that time has passed. Like all historical documents that are still applied, it would need a good revision. For example, the Constitution does not say a single word about the environment, the rights of non-human species, or further elaborates on religions and cults. In many ways, it is outdated.
But this is precisely the wrong time in history to try to edit it. So, you have to live with the idea that the constitution allows people to own weaponry that was inconceivable at the time of its writing.
Which is lunacy.

by ponchi101
Owendonovan wrote: Fri Sep 06, 2024 3:53 am Imagine being told this, having no idea it happened. I can't imagine.

...

“So when other women, if they wake up with no memory, they might remember the testimony of Ms. Pelicot,” she said in a calm, controlled voice. “No woman should suffer from being drugged and victimized.”
She added, “We must address this scourge.”

...

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/05/worl ... imony.html
This is indeed a horrific case. And the husband and friends shall be given life sentences. It is that simple.
And please, understand that I am truly asking. Have there been any other cases such as this? It seems to me that by saying scourge, this woman is implying that this happens regularly.

by ashkor87
ponchi101 wrote: Fri Sep 06, 2024 3:04 pm It ends with:
the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

The Constitution of the USA is a historic document. It set down incredibly high standards for the era, and it brought forward the idea that republics were to be governed by written law, not the whims of the rulers.
It is and was an important document.

It is also very poorly written. It was written over 250 years ago by the brilliant men of that time, but that time has passed. Like all historical documents that are still applied, it would need a good revision. For example, the Constitution does not say a single word about the environment, the rights of non-human species, or further elaborates on religions and cults. In many ways, it is outdated.
But this is precisely the wrong time in history to try to edit it. So, you have to live with the idea that the constitution allows people to own weaponry that was inconceivable at the time of its writing.
Which is lunacy.
You can't take one phrase without the one before it.

by ti-amie This is one of the most horrific stories I have ever heard. I think that she is one of the most courageous women on the planet, someone truly deserving of our sincere thoughts and prayers.

There is a similar case in South Korea, and there are reports of Telegram rooms or whatever they're called dedicated to men doing this to their wives and daughters.

by ti-amie 2 Virginia Guardsmen Are Running a Rural Anti-Government

Military.com | By Steve Beynon
Published September 05, 2024 at 2:14pm ET

Two Virginians run a local county-approved militia, one that has made overt threats against the government. They also both happen to be top-performing noncommissioned officers in the Virginia Army National Guard, serving the very government one of them has repeatedly warned is drifting toward tyranny.

It's a seemingly contradictory set of roles that likely runs afoul of new Army rules that explicitly prohibit anti-government behavior -- for soldiers both on active duty and in the Guard.

Staff Sgts. Daniel Abbott and Alexandra Griffeth jointly run the Campbell County Militia, which operates in the rural surroundings of Lynchburg, Virginia, with Abbott serving as the militia's commander and having ties to other similar groups in the region.

The militia, which appears to be mostly white based on photos posted to its public-facing social media, was formed roughly five years ago, following a rise in other similar groups in Virginia after a Democratic wave of victories in the state and gun control fights.

In 2020, Campbell County's board of supervisors officially recognized Abbott's militia in a six to one vote to serve "as a barrier against a tyrannical government."

Military.com reviewed several hours of recordings of meetings of the Campbell County Militia published on social media sites, most of which featured Abbott as a key speaker either at militia training or at public events to recruit for the group. The publication found a pattern of Abbott issuing overt threats against the federal government and making it clear that his militia's mission is to potentially wage war.

"Our own government is the greatest threat to our safety and security," Abbott said at one event earlier this year. "Power is akin to force. I would argue there are only two [forces] man has direct access to. One of those is violence … [and] the threat of violence."

Abbott and Griffeth declined multiple interview requests for this story.

By being part of the National Guard, the pair likely have relatively easy access to vehicles, weapons, ammunition and other military resources.

"There is no easier way to sabotage the U.S. than having access to equipment," Kris Goldsmith, an Iraq war veteran who runs Task Force Butler, a nonprofit that researches and tracks extremism online, told Military.com.

Virginia National Guard spokesman A.A. Puryear declined to comment on whether there is an active investigation into the two soldiers, but said that "the Virginia National Guard will investigate any reports of service members being involved in extremist activity and take appropriate action based on the results of the investigation."

In June, Army Secretary Christine Wormuth issued a new policy clarifying that soldiers are forbidden from participating in radical causes, including anti-government activity. The new rule set came after a congressional mandate and careful consideration by Army staff looking to codify that extremism within the ranks is forbidden and -- more importantly -- defining what that means.

Specifically, the new set of rules explicitly states that threats of violence against the government are prohibited, saying that any actions that include "advocating, engaging in, or supporting the overthrow of the government … by force or violence, or seeking to alter the forms [of government] by unconstitutional or other unlawful means, such as sedition" are not permitted.

"Active participation in extremist activities can be prohibited even in some circumstances in which such activities would be constitutionally protected in a civilian setting," Wormuth penned in a memo at the time of the policy's release. "Extremism calls into question a soldier's ability to follow orders from, or effectively lead and serve with, persons of diverse backgrounds, and it prevents maximum utilization and development of the Army's most valuable asset -- its people."

The National Guard should have been aware of Abbott's role with the militia, and its message. Since at least 2020, he has been mentioned in or interviewed by at least half a dozen media outlets, ranging from local radio to The New York Times -- though it doesn't appear his status as a Guardsman was previously reported. In the interview with that paper, Abbott insisted his militia is not an extremist organization, but said the purpose is to prevent governments from "being able to impose their will on people who didn't want their will."

The New York Times' reporting at the time said the spike in the militia movement in Virginia largely centered around historically red regions in the country becoming more diverse, but was also fueled by racial grievances and shifting power structures. "Not everyone saw this fight as just about gun policy. It was also about power," the paper reported.

Abbott holds both infantry and horizontal construction engineer job qualifications, according to his service record.

Griffeth serves as a battalion-level administrator in the state; she is also a combat engineer and infantryman. It's common in the National Guard for soldiers to hold multiple specialties. She is also one of the state's best shooters, competing and winning at least one marksmanship competition last year.

In the militia, Griffeth has a leadership role in its tactical training, including rifle marksmanship. She also appears with Abbott at recruiting events, making direct appeals to listeners to become part of their organization.

"There is a place for women, children [and] teens," she said to a group of potential recruits, according to a recording reviewed by Military.com.

At the heart of the Campbell County Militia is a sustained public relations campaign. Its social media accounts mostly post photos of the group doing community service, such as picking up litter or volunteering at a food pantry. Extremist groups often partake in charity causes or public service that is divorced from their prime objective.

The Ku Klux Klan, for example, has a long track record of charity work and public service to build relationships with local municipalities and fuel positive public relations campaigns. In the early 1920s, the Klan's Madison, Wisconsin, chapter served as a formal reaction force for local officials to respond to natural disasters and helped law enforcement combat bootleggers during Prohibition.

"These are [public relations] stunts to whitewash, to earn the goodwill from local officials and garner good press," Goldsmith said. "This is also a recruiting tactic."

Abbott has been clear, nonetheless, about the purpose of the militia.

"This is a military organization; this is force of arms," he said in a meeting recorded earlier this year.

The organization's social media presence also features a steady diet of anti-immigrant rhetoric and suggestions of impending violence.

"Biden keeps letting them in, policy cannot keep you safe," one social media post from the militia's Facebook account said earlier this year. "Time to get trained up for the time is coming."

Abbott is among the highest-profile Guardsmen in his state; in 2023, he was named as the Virginia National Guard's noncommissioned officer of the year. He also competed in the Guard's Best Warrior Competition that year in Alaska against other top performers across the service component. During that competition, he wore his militia's patch, which is seemingly inspired by the Army infantry's cross rifle insignia. The militia's logo is also heavily inspired by the 75th Ranger Regiment scroll.

Virginia has seen a rise in militia activity and other far-right groups since just before the pandemic. That follows a decade of the state population becoming more diverse. In 2010, 70% of Virginians identified as white, according to that year's census. In 2020, just 60% identified as white.

The Virginia National Guard, currently commanded by Maj. Gen. James Ring, has a record of slow-rolling booting out soldiers tied to anti-government violence or rhetoric.

Jacob Fracker, who was the first service member charged after being a part of the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was not removed from the Virginia Guard until more than a year after he was initially arrested and publicly admitted to taking part in the riot, posting images of himself in the Capitol. Fracker, a corporal at the time, was an infantryman assigned to the 116th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 29th Infantry Division.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the name of the Virginia National Guard's commander and the spelling of Griffeth's name.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/202 ... litia.html

by ashkor87 https://www.thedailybeast.com/georgia-g ... -at-school

Bullying is very common in schools, apparently..we didn't see much of it where I went to school..is it unique to the US? Aggression, humiliation of the weak...considered ok to do?

by ponchi101 Then you live in indeed a superior society.
Bullying has been common always (my personal, unschooled, un-researched opinion). How to deal with bullies? You stand up and hit them. Physically.
And I do mean that.
Ivan Lendl once said that when he was in school, there was a kid that missed one year and returned. He was the biggest kid in class, and started bullying the others. Until he bullied Lendl, who beat him up.
End of bullying.

by ti-amie
ashkor87 wrote: Sun Sep 08, 2024 8:14 am https://www.thedailybeast.com/georgia-g ... -at-school

Bullying is very common in schools, apparently..we didn't see much of it where I went to school..is it unique to the US? Aggression, humiliation of the weak...considered ok to do?
The only culture that seems to be putting its school bullying problem in front of the world via its TV dramas is South Korea. If you want to see one based on something that really happened watch "The Glory". Horrific and yet you can't look away.

by Owendonovan
ashkor87 wrote: Sun Sep 08, 2024 8:14 am https://www.thedailybeast.com/georgia-g ... -at-school

Bullying is very common in schools, apparently..we didn't see much of it where I went to school..is it unique to the US? Aggression, humiliation of the weak...considered ok to do?
I don't know if it's unique, but as a gay kid, not out, I was tormented daily basically from kindergarten to my last day of 12th grade. There was no relief to be found, none. "That's what you get for acting that way" was the response to my pleas for help. I started kindergarten in 1971, so being gay was still classified as a mental illness. My town was basically 99% catholic, so I was never going to be me in that town, so I ran out of there right to California after graduation and never looked back. So yes, bullying is pervasive in the USA. Gay people continue to be bullied by the GOP, always have been, alway will. We're good negative fodder during elections.

by ashkor87 Sounds terrible...best to be home-schooled then..neither I nor my son ever even saw this kind of bullying in our schools...very sad to hear it is pervasive...

by Owendonovan I'd be fine with kicking kids out of school for bullying. First time you're warned, second time you're out. Parents can figure it out from there as they're likely the cause.

by ti-amie Art Candee 🍿🥤
@ArtCandee
Oh snap!!!!

The Department of Justice announced today in a DOJ press release that "Dallas Humber, 34, of Elk Grove, California, and Matthew Allison, 37, of Boise, Idaho — leaders of the Terrorgram Collective, a transnational terrorist group — were charged with a 15-count indictment for soliciting hate crimes, soliciting the murder of federal officials, and conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. Humber and Allison were arrested on Friday by law enforcement officials."

They were "dedicated to attacking America’s critical infrastructure, targeting a hit list of our country’s public officials, and carrying out deadly hate crimes — all in the name of violent white supremacist ideology."

Image

by ti-amie

Very rape adjacent IMO

by Owendonovan
ti-amie wrote: Wed Sep 11, 2024 9:16 pm

Very rape adjacent IMO
Gross. As if Taylor needs or wants ANYTHING from that sleezeball.

by ashkor87 Wonder if he can be charged with a crime for this.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie
Enough Alrighty
@enough_alrighty

Never forget this guy lost his security clearance for being a gambling addict. Then he started a MAGA dating site that flopped because it didn’t work & no women wanted to be on it.
Idaho woman documents horrific 19-day miscarriage after state’s near-total abortion ban blocked her from getting treatment
‘It’s a cruel and unusual punishment to have to carry around a dead baby’

Shweta Sharma
Tuesday 03 January 2023 07:41 GMT

An Idaho woman who documented her 19-day miscarriage on TikTok has said the state’s near-total abortion ban was a punishment for her to carry her dead baby inside her.

Carmen Broesder, 35, posted a series of videos, including audio and pictures to document her excruciating and infuriating experience of active miscarriage and said doctors twice rejected a surgery on her as she continued to suffer cramps and bleeding.

Ms Broesder was six weeks pregnant when an emergency room in Idaho diagnosed her miscarrying her baby on 8 December, according to hospital documents shared on TikTok.

She continued to bleed, battling intense pain and the blood loss intensified on 13 December. She said an ultrasound technician had said that her painful cramps were more like contractions.

“I’ve been actively miscarrying since the 8th,” she said in one of her videos. “I have gone to a doctor and this is my second visit to the ER.

“If you’re wondering why women’s rights matter, I’m just going to f***ing bleed out on this table before somebody comes and actually helps me. This is my life. Nobody actually is coming to help. They’re always going to send me home.”

Idaho completely banned abortions on 25 August 2022 preventing medical professionals from providing abortions with limited exceptions in the case of rape and incest. The state had so-called trigger laws which went into effect after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade in June last year.

Ms Broesder said she was not seeking an abortion and she and her boyfriend were trying to conceive following the birth of their 16-month-old daughter.

She requested doctors to perform dilation and curettage (D&C), a medical procedure to remove unwanted tissues from inside the uterus to clean the uterine lining after a miscarriage or abortion.

“The baby is dead,” Ms Broesder told Insider, recalling her experience. “It’s a cruel and unusual punishment to have to carry around a dead baby.”

In one of her videos, she recorded herself crying as she feared she might die.

On 16 December, after days of bleeding, she returned to a different doctor for the third time on the recommendation of a TikTok follower. She said she was first denied D&C procedure but later perform a pap procedure on her, removing the remaining parts of the fetus that were stuck in her cervix.

They gave her a medication that is used to induce labor and treat postpartum bleeding, according to hospital documents Broesder shared on TikTok.

She continued to bleed for the next week and a half before she passed something “rather big and painful,” Ms Broesder told Insider.

Her posts on TikTok went viral with one video receiving more than 90,000 likes and hundreds of comments. She said she hoped sharing her ordeal with people could inspire changes in the restrictive abortion laws.

Ms Broesder said she is fully recovered now and it took almost 19 days to pull through her ordeal.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 54982.html

by ti-amie

by ti-amie Apparently TFG has never met a member of the cobra chicken family. He's saying people are walking off with them to cook and eat.


by ti-amie

by ponchi101 It is whatever comes through his mind. His deranged mind.
He is senile.

by ti-amie

He deleted his tweet and got rid of the account of the man who was arrested for firearms violations.


by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ti-amie
ti-amie wrote: Mon Sep 16, 2024 7:56 pm

He deleted his tweet and got rid of the account of the man who was arrested for firearms violations.

JustVent
@JustVent6
🚨BREAKING!🚨

This morning, Ryan Wesley Routh appeared in federal court and was ONLY charged with federal gun crimes.

This constitutes the only evidence against him.

Ryan is facing charges of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

He made a brief appearance in federal court in West Palm Beach.

He WAS NOT charged with the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

I repeat:

He WAS NOT charged with the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

by ponchi101 I'm sorry.
But as much as you can hate Elon, he is not threatening Biden nor Kamala. The context is different.
He is asking why there have been two events involving Trump* and no incidents on other lives. It can be interpreted as the same question further above: why are registered Trump voters performing these acts against him, which is very strange.

You can hate Elon as much as any. As a matter of fact, if I were king for a day, he would be behind bars but for other reasons. But keep the conversation clear. Muddying the waters is what the other gang does.
Off Topic
* I don't even want to write the words in case some authority picks up our forum as a possible threat too

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ti-amie
WOW: At the press conference with law enforcement just now they admitted Trump's golf game yesterday was NOT on Trump's public schedule. In fact he WAS Not supposed to be there. They have NO info the ALLEGED assassin knew Trump would be there. This is causing more questions, not less.

by ti-amie
ti-amie wrote: Sat Sep 14, 2024 11:32 pm

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 And the wind dies at night (because there is no solar power to heat airmasses and make the displacement).
And he is stating the obvious, because some people can't understand that most of the Northern hemisphere would need not only enough solar power to power their cities, they would also need enough storage cells to store power for the long winter nights.

by ti-amie
ponchi101 wrote: Fri Sep 20, 2024 5:16 pm And the wind dies at night (because there is no solar power to heat airmasses and make the displacement).
And he is stating the obvious, because some people can't understand that most of the Northern hemisphere would need not only enough solar power to power their cities, they would also need enough storage cells to store power for the long winter nights.
And here I was thinking he was just making sure the money from the oil and gas industries kept flowing. Thanks for the information.

by ti-amie

by ponchi101
ti-amie wrote: Fri Sep 20, 2024 9:27 pm
ponchi101 wrote: Fri Sep 20, 2024 5:16 pm And the wind dies at night (because there is no solar power to heat airmasses and make the displacement).
And he is stating the obvious, because some people can't understand that most of the Northern hemisphere would need not only enough solar power to power their cities, they would also need enough storage cells to store power for the long winter nights.
And here I was thinking he was just making sure the money from the oil and gas industries kept flowing. Thanks for the information.
He probably was. The two things are not exclusive.
People have to see something. The price of oil has not gone up, as was expected, in years. It sits currently around $75/BBl. And the oil companies are making huge profits but they are not setting up the price; they are taking the price.
We know. Climate change is real, and it keeps happening. But the believe that installing a billion solar panels and a billion wind mills will be the solution is a mirage. As I said before, you need a way to store that power because the sun sets, and the wind dies at night. A city like Stockholm would need, in the peak of winter, enough solar power and wind to power itself through 8 hours of daylight (or less) and THEN store enough power for 16 hours of night (or more). Electricity is cheap to generate but very expensive to store.
We need a mixed solution. As an example, you could make electrically powered airplanes, but they would be super heavy (less people to carry) and would take days to charge. So that industry will not switch to electrical power any time soon. As won't many others.

by ti-amie
Danny 🇺🇸
@danzu72
I miss the time before social media when we never knew how truly stupid celebrities were


Image

Image

by skatingfan I wonder if this comes from the idea that to be mixed race in America means being black & white, and it's something that was pushed on Naomi Osaka because her mother was Japanese she was not mixed race, and not black either.

by ti-amie
skatingfan wrote: Sat Sep 21, 2024 10:51 pm I wonder if this comes from the idea that to be mixed race in America means being black & white, and it's something that was pushed on Naomi Osaka because her mother was Japanese she was not mixed race, and not black either.
Interesting. I grew up with a woman whose father was Chinese and her mother African-American. She had a hard time.

I also attribute her ignorance to being raised in a religious environment that didn't believe anything published outside of the bubble. Witnesses are not considered Christians.

ETA: It seems that all of her brothers support TFG too.

by ti-amie

The backlash was fast and negative towards her comments. I guess her manager/brother Randy, who is a MAGAt, realized the damage that was done to the only one of them bringing in money these days and closed the barn door after the horse was gone.

Update:


by ti-amie

by ti-amie Melania Trump was paid for a rare appearance at a political event. It’s not clear who cut the unusual six-figure check
By Pamela Brown, Jeremy Herb and Shoshana Dubnow, CNN

Washington
CNN

Melania Trump has barely been seen on the campaign trail this year. One of the few times she has appeared at a political event, she’s received a six-figure paycheck – a highly unusual move for the spouse of a candidate.

The former first lady spoke at two political fundraisers for the Log Cabin Republicans this year, and she was paid $237,500 for an April event, according to former President Donald Trump’s latest financial disclosure form. The payment was listed as a “speaking engagement.”

Trump’s latest disclosure form said Melania Trump was paid by the Log Cabin Republicans for the April fundraiser. But it’s a mystery who actually cut the check: Charles Moran, president of the Log Cabin Republicans, told CNN earlier this month the group did not put up the money for her to speak, and the disclosure form did not give any more information about the source of the payment.

Ahead of the other fundraiser in July for the conservative LGBTQ group, a person familiar said at least one request was made to a donor about a similar payment. It’s unclear whether Melania Trump was ultimately paid. The campaign has not put out the financial disclosure for that period. The source told CNN that Ric Grenell, former ambassador to Germany and a Trump ally, was the one who made the request on behalf of Melania Trump. Sources said Grenell has also helped the former first lady with other business ventures.

Campaign finance and government ethics experts say a payment to a presidential candidate’s spouse to appear at political fundraisers in an election is unusual, ethically questionable and should, at the very least, be properly noted in the disclosure forms.

“It seems pretty self-serving. From my own general observation, I’m not used to seeing that,” said Virginia Canter, the chief ethics counsel at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics.

If the organization did not in fact make the payment to Melania Trump, the former president’s financial disclosure form may run afoul of ethics rules because it should have listed the sponsor who paid Melania Trump and not just where she spoke, Canter said.

“You could indicate that payment was for a speaking engagement for the Log Cabin Republicans, but you also need to report who the source of the payment was, otherwise you can’t assess for the conflicts of interest, and it wouldn’t be in compliance with the rules,” she said. “It should have properly been reported so that the source of the income is listed for the honorarium.”

Sources supportive of Melania Trump who attended the Log Cabin Republican events and didn’t know she got paid for at least one of them defended her, saying it’s her right to decide how to spend her time and to get paid for her time. One person close to Melania Trump said she has decided “my best and highest use is where I am,” adding that “she’s a priceless, timeless asset” for Donald Trump.

A spokesperson for Melania Trump declined to comment in response to CNN’s questions.

Records show Melania Trump was also paid $250,000 for a Log Cabin Republican event in December 2022, one of three payments for $250,000 or more that she received for speaking that month, just after the former president announced he was running for reelection, according to Donald Trump’s prior year financial disclosure form. One of the events took place in Florida, and the other was for a California group, Fix California, which was founded by Grenell. Grenell did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The former first lady was also paid $155,000 by a Trump-aligned super PAC – called Make America Great Again, Again – for a speech she gave in Palm Beach, Florida, in December 2021, before Trump was a candidate.

She has a history of appearing at Log Cabin Republican events – in 2021 she was also the guest of honor at the group’s annual Spirit of Lincoln Gala.

The fundraising appearances also underscore how Melania Trump has been sparingly on the campaign trail this year. In addition to the two Log Cabin Republican appearances, she’s appeared alongside her husband at a  fundraiser hosted by billionaire investor John Paulson in Palm Beach and she made a brief appearance at the Republican National Convention, though she did not speak like she did in 2016. There’s no indication that she was paid for the appearance at Paulson’s fundraiser.

“She’s been so disconnected with this campaign and so absent that I could see her saying, ‘If I’m going to put my time in, I will get paid for this,’” said Stephanie Grisham, a former Trump White House press secretary and top aide to Melania Trump who has become a critic of the former president. “Even when we were in the White House, she was always so concerned about people making money off of her because she felt it was money she should be earning.”

Grisham said that, while in the White House in 2018, Melania Trump instructed her staff to direct a gift shop by the White House to stop selling Melania Trump memorabilia, such as bobbleheads, without permission.

“She was outraged. She didn’t like they were making money off of her,” Grisham said.

Donald Trump’s financial disclosures also show that the former first lady earned more than $330,000 over the past year for a licensing agreement for the sale of digital trading cards, or NFTs. Her website sells jewelry and other collectibles.

In addition, the former first lady is releasing a memoir next month and embarking on a promotional tour, which is separate from the campaign. In a series of short videos promoting her book on X, she’s made rare remarks on the attempted assassination of her husband in Butler, Pennsylvania, the 2020 election results and her history as a nude model.

“I can’t help but wonder, why didn’t law enforcement officials arrest the shooter before the speech?” she said in one of the videos, referencing the gunman who fired at and wounded Trump at a rally on July 13 before being taken down by the Secret Service.

Melania Trump is not the only Trump family member to get paid while in the political spotlight. Kimberly Guilfoyle received a $60,000 speaking fee for introducing her fiancé, Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr., at the “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6, 2021, ahead of the insurrection at the US Capitol. Her speech was less than three minutes.

Speaking and appearance fees for events outside of political fundraisers for former government officials are not unheard of.

Former President Bill Clinton and former first lady Hillary Clinton collected more than $153 million in paid speeches from 2001 to the time the former secretary of state launched her 2016 presidential campaign. Former President Barack Obama reportedly made $400,000 from a single speech at a Wall Street health conference in 2017, attracting criticism from members of his own party at the time. And in the two years after he left the vice presidency and before launching his presidential campaign, Joe and Jill Biden made a combined $15.6 million, primarily from book deals and speaking engagements.

But officials for Jill Biden, Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush and Bill Clinton say they did not get paid for any fundraising appearances during a political campaign.

The president’s son, Hunter Biden, was scrutinized for selling pieces of artwork, each priced at $85,000, at a Manhattan art gallery last spring while his father was a candidate for reelection.

By all accounts, the Log Cabin Republican fundraisers this year were a success. Grenell posted on X in July that the former first lady “opened her NYC Penthouse tonight to raise money” for the group.

“It’s the first campaign event ever held at the Trump residence,” he wrote. “And we raised $1.4 million in one night. Our goal is to get 50% of the gay vote for Donald Trump.”

At the April Mar-a-Lago event where Melania Trump spoke, the organization launched its “Road to Victory” program to target voters in swing states, according to Politico.

CNN’s Fredreka Schouten contributed to this report.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/23/politics ... index.html

by Owendonovan “It’s the first campaign event ever held at the Trump residence,” he wrote. “And we raised $1.4 million in one night. Our goal is to get 50% of the gay vote for Donald Trump.”

50% of the gay vote don't hate themselves as much as the Log Cabin republicans do.

by mmmm8
ponchi101 wrote: Sat Sep 21, 2024 3:24 pm
ti-amie wrote: Fri Sep 20, 2024 9:27 pm
ponchi101 wrote: Fri Sep 20, 2024 5:16 pm And the wind dies at night (because there is no solar power to heat airmasses and make the displacement).
And he is stating the obvious, because some people can't understand that most of the Northern hemisphere would need not only enough solar power to power their cities, they would also need enough storage cells to store power for the long winter nights.
And here I was thinking he was just making sure the money from the oil and gas industries kept flowing. Thanks for the information.
He probably was. The two things are not exclusive.
People have to see something. The price of oil has not gone up, as was expected, in years. It sits currently around $75/BBl. And the oil companies are making huge profits but they are not setting up the price; they are taking the price.
We know. Climate change is real, and it keeps happening. But the believe that installing a billion solar panels and a billion wind mills will be the solution is a mirage. As I said before, you need a way to store that power because the sun sets, and the wind dies at night. A city like Stockholm would need, in the peak of winter, enough solar power and wind to power itself through 8 hours of daylight (or less) and THEN store enough power for 16 hours of night (or more). Electricity is cheap to generate but very expensive to store.
We need a mixed solution. As an example, you could make electrically powered airplanes, but they would be super heavy (less people to carry) and would take days to charge. So that industry will not switch to electrical power any time soon. As won't many others.
So how is Stockholm aiming to be carbon-neutral/positive by 2040? (Also, the whole of Denmark by 2045, they are progressing so well they moved the goal up from 2050).

by ponchi101 As I said, a mixed solution. They are looking at nuclear and, for example, I read that Stockholm is using a system in which they are transferring heat from the subway system, generated by the human mass running through it, to the neighboring areas downtown.
Again, I know I sound like I am against solar or wind. I am not. But it is not a panacea that will solve everybody's problems. Example. Today, I am in Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina. It is coastal city, with lots and lots of wind. They installed a few wind turbines around the city, which then broke down because the wind is so strong that the turbines could not handle the stress of it. So, in a case of not doing things well, they let those turbines breakdown and have not been replaced by the proper ones.
I am surprised that nobody thought of that; it is not as if Comodoro was not known for its strong winds.

About Denmark. I read that some of their plans include a tax levied on agricultural emissions, as well as a heavy tax on air travel. Denmark is also a country where your sales tax on cars is 100%, so they rely on public transport a lot. But then again, it is a country of less than 6 million, with a dwindling population. I have to be an a**hole and wonder if Denmark believes it will be able to cut down emissions because by 2045, its population will be down to 4.

by ti-amie


by ti-amie The Canal Street Vendors Association would like a word... :lol:

by ti-amie

by mmmm8
ti-amie wrote: Thu Sep 26, 2024 7:08 pm The Canal Street Vendors Association would like a word... :lol:
...In the back of the shop behind the curtain :)

by dryrunguy The NY Times just sent this out via email. The full article is paywalled.

::

Judge Unseals New Evidence in Jan. 6 Case Against Trump

According to testimony, an aide alerted Donald Trump that Mike Pence had been rushed to a secure location in the hope that he would take action to ensure Pence’s safety. Trump looked at the aide and said only, “So what?”

by ti-amie
dryrunguy wrote: Wed Oct 02, 2024 9:15 pm The NY Times just sent this out via email. The full article is paywalled.

::

Judge Unseals New Evidence in Jan. 6 Case Against Trump

According to testimony, an aide alerted Donald Trump that Mike Pence had been rushed to a secure location in the hope that he would take action to ensure Pence’s safety. Trump looked at the aide and said only, “So what?”
Of course the NY Times did this. I found a thread, written in plain English, that breaks down what Smith filed.

by ti-amie ‘No Former First Lady Has Ever Done That’: CNN Stunned After Melania Asked $250,000 For Interview
Last updated: October 3, 2024 9:57 am
Staff Writer

In a surprising turn of events, CNN has revealed that Melania Trump, the former first lady, requested a hefty $250,000 for an interview ahead of the release of her memoir, “Melania,” set to publish on October 8. The request, communicated through her publisher, Skyhorse Publishing, has raised eyebrows in the media landscape, with experts noting that such demands are unprecedented for a former first lady.

Nearly two months ago, CNN reached out to Skyhorse to arrange an interview, only to receive an unusual response last week. An email included a “Confidentiality and Nondisclosure Agreement” outlining strict terms for the interview, alongside the hefty fee. CNN did not sign the agreement.

In a follow-up inquiry regarding the substantial fee, Skyhorse Publishing claimed the demand was sent in error. Tony Lyons, the president of the publishing house, stated, “Neither Neither Melania nor anyone from her team knew anything about the NDA, and the document that was sent reflected an internal miscommunication.” He added that had CNN signed the NDA, they would have engaged further with Melania’s team to discuss the specifics of the interview.

Typically, media outlets have strict guidelines against paying public figures for interviews, especially when it involves the spouse of a political candidate. This request, particularly given its high price tag, has sparked conversations about the Trump family role in the media landscape.

The financial request aligns with Melania’s previous speaking engagements, as records show she was compensated $237,500 for a speech at a Log Cabin Republicans event in April, one of three payments for $250,000 or more that she received for speaking that month as disclosed by former President Donald Trump’s latest financial filings. Additionally, she received $250,000 for a similar event in December 2022.

Mrs. Trump’s NDA specified that any CNN employees involved in the interview would need to sign the agreement, with a breach carrying penalties of $100,000. The document also outlined that the payment would cover not only the interview itself but also licensing for photos and excerpts from her memoir.

“This is totally unprecedented. No former first lady has ever done that,” commented Kate Anderson Brower, author of “First Women: The Grace and Power of America’s Modern First Ladies.”

Anita McBride, director of The Legacies of America’s First Ladies Initiative at American University, added that while former first ladies have traditionally received significant fees for book deals, requesting payment for a news interview is highly unusual.

“Melania Trump’s approach reflects her desire to navigate her own path without being constrained by past practices,” McBride noted.

So far, Melania has only participated in interviews with Fox News, including a recent exclusive with Ainsley Earhardt, which was her first sit-down in two years. This lack of broader media engagement further highlights the unusual nature of the payment request.

As political spouses are often viewed as part of a unified entity with their candidates, this situation raises questions about the financial dynamics within the Trump household, especially considering their reported prenuptial agreement.

“It’s super suspect that a political figure’s spouse would want to be paid for something like this,” McBride concluded, emphasizing the unexpected nature of the request amidst an already unconventional media rollout.

https://dailyboulder.com/no-former-firs ... interview/

by ti-amie You know what's funny about this Melania situation? Everyone, and I'm not being funny, has known for how many years now that when you see her with TFG the check has cleared but not one major news outlet has ever reported that fact. Instead they've gone along with the fantasy of her actually living with him and being his wife. They ignored the fake Melania's too. Noel Casler is the only one off the top of my head who has always said that there were Melania stand ins and have been for years.

All she's doing here is making them publicly complicit in the grift she's been running for years.

As they say don't hate the player hate the game.

by ponchi101 The sound of the masses running to buy Melania's autobio (totally written in its entirety by herself)
🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗

(with a foreword by Xaviera Hollander)

by dryrunguy
ponchi101 wrote: Thu Oct 03, 2024 10:48 pm The sound of the masses running to buy Melania's autobio (totally written in its entirety by herself)
🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗

(with a foreword by Xaviera Hollander)
Are we absolutely certain it wasn't originally written by Michelle Obama?

by ti-amie

by ti-amie

by ponchi101 but that is not how his cult sees it...

by ti-amie Trump secretly sent covid tests to Putin during 2020 shortage, new book says
“War,” by Bob Woodward, traces how Trump and Biden responded to international crisis and concludes that Trump is worse than Nixon, the president exiled by the Watergate scandal.

By Isaac Stanley-Becker
October 8, 2024 at 8:56 a.m. EDT

As the coronavirus tore through the world in 2020, and the United States and other countries confronted a shortage of tests designed to detect the illness, then-President Donald Trump secretly sent coveted tests to Russian President Vladimir Putin for his personal use.

Putin, petrified of the virus, accepted the supplies but took pains to prevent political fallout — not for him, but for his American counterpart. He cautioned Trump not to reveal that he had dispatched the scarce medical equipment to Moscow, according to a new book by Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward.

Putin, according to the book, told Trump, “I don’t want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me.”


Four years later, the personal relationship between the two men appears to have persisted, Woodward reports, as Trump campaigns to return to the White House and Putin orchestrates his bloody assault on Ukraine. In early 2024, the former president ordered an aide away from his office at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and residence in Florida, so he could conduct a private phone call with the Russian leader, according to Woodward’s account.

The book does not describe what the two men purportedly discussed, and it quotes a Trump campaign official casting doubt on the supposed contact. But the unnamed Trump aide cited in the book indicated that the GOP standard-bearer may have spoken to Putin as many as seven times since Trump left the White House in 2021.


These interactions between Trump and the authoritarian leader of a country at war with an American ally form the basis of Woodward’s conclusion that Trump is worse than Richard M. Nixon, whose presidency was undone by the Watergate scandal exposed a half-century ago by Woodward and his Washington Post colleague Carl Bernstein.

“Trump was the most reckless and impulsive president in American history and is demonstrating the very same character as a presidential candidate in 2024,” Woodward writes in the book, “War,” which is set to be released Oct. 15.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said, “None of these made-up stories by Bob Woodward are true,” issuing a string of personal attacks on the author and saying Trump didn’t give him an interview for the book. Cheung argued that the book “either belongs in the bargain bin of the fiction section of a discount bookstore or used as toilet tissue.”

With publication on the eve of the presidential election, Woodward, who has chronicled the successes and failures of U.S. presidents for 50 years, concludes that Trump is unfit for office while President Joe Biden and his team, mistakes notwithstanding, exhibited “steady and purposeful leadership.” Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, makes several appearances in the narrative, with Woodward presenting her as a shrewd and loyal No. 2 to Biden but not an influential voice in his administration’s foreign policy.

The book is Woodward’s fourth since Trump’s upset victory in 2016. It focuses principally on the twin wars consuming Biden’s national security team — Russia’s all-out war in Ukraine, which began in February 2022, and Israel’s campaign against Hamas and other Iranian-backed proxies since the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023.

The book also examines the long shadow cast by Trump over the foreign conflicts of the past four years and over the bitter U.S. political environment in which they have unfolded. And it includes candid assessments by Biden of his own missteps, including his decision to make Merrick Garland attorney general. Reacting to the prosecution of his son Hunter — by a special prosecutor named by Garland amid partisan recriminations over the Justice Department’s prosecution of Trump — the president told an associate, “Should never have picked Garland.”

Woodward reveals how Biden weighed his fate before exiting the presidential race in July, including over lunch earlier that month with Antony Blinken, his secretary of state. Blinken, reports Woodward, warned Biden in the private dining room off the Oval Office that everyone’s legacy is reduced to a single sentence — and that, if he continued to campaign and lost to Trump, that would be his legacy.

Still, Blinken believed at the end of the meal that the president was leaning toward staying in the race, underscoring how unpredictable Biden’s decision-making remained until the final moment.

(...)

As for Trump’s own decision-making process on foreign affairs when he was commander in chief, the book shows how he took in a wide range of viewpoints, including from people without relevant expertise. During a high-level meeting about Afghanistan held at one point in the Situation Room, Trump went around the table to ask everyone’s opinion.

“Mr. President, I’m the notetaker,” one person deflected.

“Oh, no,” Trump replied, “if you’re in this room, you’re talking.” The notetaker briefly shared her views.

(...)

...the book also shows how the Biden administration did little to alter its policy toward Israel even as senior U.S. officials abandoned their belief that the government in Jerusalem was operating in good faith. Already in the days after Oct. 7, Blinken’s impression of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s approach was: “It doesn’t matter how many people die. I have a mission to eradicate Hamas and it doesn’t matter how many Palestinians die. It doesn’t matter how many Israelis die.”

(...)

At the same time, support for the Biden administration’s Middle East policy came from unexpected places, the book reveals. Before the Oct. 7 attacks, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a loyal Trump lieutenant and shape-shifter who went from an outspoken critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to a trusted interlocutor, had relayed information to Biden about prospects for the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. Graham believed normalization was best completed under Biden, arguing that congressional Democrats would be reluctant to lend support to a Trump-sponsored initiative. Graham promised he could deliver the Republican votes.

After Oct. 7, Graham continued to engage with the crown prince. During a March visit by the senator to Riyadh, which is recounted by Woodward, Graham proposed a phone call with Trump, so the crown prince pulled out a burner phone labeled “TRUMP 45.” In earlier meetings, the crown prince had brandished other such devices, including one labeled “JAKE SULLIVAN” for Biden’s national security adviser.

During the March call with Trump, conducted by the crown prince over speakerphone while Graham was present, the former president teased the senator for once calling for the Saudi royal’s ouster over the assassination of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, which the CIA concluded Mohammed had ordered. Graham brushed it off, professing to have been wrong about the autocrat.

The royal court in Riyadh, however, is not the comparison Graham uses when describing visits to Trump’s residence at Mar-a-Lago. According to Woodward, the senator invokes an even more brutal form of authoritarianism.

“Going to Mar-a-Lago is a little bit like going to North Korea,” the book quotes Graham as saying. “Everybody stands up and claps every time Trump comes in.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... tin-biden/

by ti-amie Image



I say this with all sincerity: I do not understand

by ponchi101 You already believe in a imaginary being that rules your life absolutely.
Believing in Tiny is just one step more.
(And I know that sounds insulting to believers, but the people in Mega Chuches have ZERO critical thinking. Otherwise, they would not be there).

by Owendonovan Those tax-free mega church leaders all get caught with their pants down one way or another eventually. I'd love to see what effect taxing churches would have on the "spiritual" aspect of churchgoing.

by ti-amie

by ti-amie Jerod MacDonald-Evoy
@JerodMacEvoy
Just in:

The man who Tempe Police arrested for shooting at the DNC Office in Tempe and for placing anti-Democrat signs with white powder was found to have 120 guns (some loaded), 250,000 rounds of ammo, body armor and a grenade launcher at his house. Story later today.

Image

60-year-old Jeffery Michael Kelly was arrested yesterday in connection to the above mentioned incidents. During an initial appearance before the court today the Maricopa County Attorney's Office sought a $1 million cash bail citing him as a "danger" to the public.

ATF and local law enforcement served a search warrant on his home and found the guns, ammo, etc... They also found a vehicle that matched the vehicle in the incidents.

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by ti-amie

by Owendonovan Israeli Soccer Fans Injured in Attacks Linked to Antisemitism in Amsterdam
The police said dozens of people had been arrested amid violence tied to a soccer game between Dutch and Israeli teams. Israel said it would help bring home its citizens.

The Israeli government said on Friday that it would help bring home citizens injured in Amsterdam after bursts of violence tied to a soccer game between a Dutch and an Israeli team that Israeli and Dutch officials described as antisemitic attacks.

The police in Amsterdam said in a statement on Friday that it had launched an investigation into multiple outbreaks of violence, and that five people had been hospitalized and 62 arrested. The statement did not say what had touched off the violence, the exact circumstances of which remained unclear.

The Dutch police said earlier that the clashes, which began Thursday, took place in areas where people had gathered, some in support of the Israeli team and others to protest its arrival, creating a tense atmosphere.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said at least 10 Israeli citizens had been hurt in the violence and two others were missing. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that his government would help in “providing civilian aviation solutions” for injured Israelis, and that he had spoken with Prime Minister Dick Schoof of the Netherlands.

A spokeswoman for the Israeli airline El Al said that it would “operate on short notice rescue flights” free of charge from Amsterdam to Tel Aviv starting Friday afternoon.
This feels a bit dramatic to me.

Gideon Saar, Israel’s newly appointed foreign minister, said he would travel to the Netherlands on Friday to meet with his Dutch counterpart as well as with Israelis and members of the Jewish community.

The police did not comment on the reports that people were missing. Mr. Schoof said in a statement early Friday that there had been antisemitic attacks on Israelis in Amsterdam, calling them “completely unacceptable.”

He added that the situation had calmed and that he had told Mr. Netanyahu in their phone conversation that the perpetrators would be found and prosecuted.

Earlier on Friday, the Israeli government said it would send military planes to rescue its citizens, but Mr. Netanyahu’s office said later that “it was decided that deploying a professional rescue team to the Netherlands was unnecessary.”

Videos circulating on social media and a video distributed by The Associated Press provide a glimpse of the tensions in the hours leading up to the violence. In the A.P. clip, dozens of men wearing scarves with the colors of the Israeli soccer club, Maccabi Tel Aviv, are seen gathering on Thursday at Amsterdam’s central Dam Square, where flares are being lit amid a heavy police presence.

Later, in nighttime footage that has circulated on social media and was verified by The New York Times, a large group of men wearing similar Maccabi paraphernalia are seen being escorted by police at Amsterdam’s Centraal train station. Riding down escalators, they are heard using expletives in an anti-Arab chant in Hebrew.
What do we call this? Any chance this was considered provocative or antagonistic?

The Israeli Embassy in the Netherlands said that hundreds of Maccabi fans, who were in Amsterdam to see their team play against Ajax, Amsterdam’s soccer team, were being ambushed for hours on Thursday evening into early Friday.

“Mobs chanted anti-Israel slogans and proudly shared videos of their violent acts on social media — kicking, beating, even running over Israeli citizens,” the embassy said on social media.

As the attacks went on, Israel warned its citizens in Amsterdam to stay off the streets and remain in their hotel rooms. Maccabi Tel Aviv warned people not to show Israeli or Jewish symbols outside, and to fly back to Israel as soon as they could.

“Our main goal is the safe and quick return of the fans to Israel,” the team wrote on social media.

Videos on social media showed violent clashes on the city’s streets. One video verified by Reuters captured a crowd of more than a dozen men appearing to attack someone near the city center early Friday. The crowd dispersed when emergency sirens could be heard.

Isaac Herzog, Israel’s president, wrote on social media that the images and videos of the violence were of the sort that “we had hoped never to see again.”

The Dutch police said that some of the unrest took place at or near the Johan Cruyff Arena, where the soccer game was played.

Hundreds of Maccabi supporters had gathered in Amsterdam’s center early Thursday afternoon, where the atmosphere was initially tense but gradually became calmer, the police said in the statement. Ten people were arrested there before the game, the police said, mostly on charges of disrupting the public order.

At another square called Anton de Komplein, which is near the stadium, people protesting the arrival of Maccabi Tel Aviv clashed with the police after trying to make their way to the stadium. Amsterdam’s mayor, Femke Halsema, had earlier prohibited the protest from happening at the stadium and ordered it to take place at that square.

About 30 people were arrested in that confrontation on charges of disrupting the public order and setting off fireworks at the police, the police said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/08/worl ... acked.html

by dryrunguy