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| Porn Users Forum » The truth exposed: Donald J. Trump is Hitler's secret love child. |
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| 05-29-22 02:48am - 844 days | #151 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Donald Trump supporters are geniuses. They closely follow the speeches and tweets and thoughts of our beloved leader-for-life/dictator-of-the-Untied-States-of-Trumperland. Donate $100 to Donald Trump, and he might send you a signed Thank-you note. Donate an extra $1000 and Melania Trump might sign the note. Donate an extra $100,000 and you might spend a night at Donald's estate in Florida. ------ ------ Jan. 6 rioter convicted after telling jurors he’s an ‘idiot’ who didn’t know Congress met at Capitol NBC Universal Ryan J. Reilly and Fiona Glisson May 27, 2022, 9:00 AM WASHINGTON — A New Jersey man with alleged Nazi sympathies who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, tried and failed to convince a jury this week that he didn't know the Capitol building is where Congress meets. Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, who was in the U.S. Army Reserves when he stormed the Capitol, was convicted Friday on all five counts he faced, including a felony charge of obstruction of an official proceeding. Hale-Cusanelli, who has been in jail since Feb. 2021, did not dispute that he entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, and his defense lawyer explicitly admitted that Hale-Cusanelli engaged in criminal activity that day. Video shows Hale-Cusanelli yelling at cops outside the Capitol, entering the Capitol moments after it was breached, waving other members of the mob into the building, and attempting to grab another rioter away from police. But Hale-Cusanelli attempted to defend himself against charges by saying he didn't know that the Capitol was where the House and Senate sit — despite having described himself during the trial as a history buff who closely followed the electoral college certification process. He claimed in testimony on Thursday that he didn't realize that senators and House members were in the Capitol building on Jan. 6. "I know this sounds idiotic, but I'm from New Jersey," Hale-Cusanelli told jurors on Thursday. "I feel like an idiot, it sounds idiotic, and it is." The first count of Hale-Cusanelli's indictment charges that he "attempted to, and did, corruptly obstruct, influence, and impede an official proceeding, that is, a proceeding before Congress, specifically, Congress's certification of the Electoral College vote." Prosecutors had to convince a jury that Hale-Cusanelli acted "knowingly" and not "through ignorance, mistake, or accident." Hale-Cusanelli leaned heavily on the "ignorance" component, telling jurors that — despite his knowledge of the 17th Amendment that provided for direct election of U.S. senators — he had no clue that members of Congress met at the Capitol. "I didn't know the Capitol building was the same as the congressional building," Hale-Cusanelli told a federal prosecutor. Hale-Cusanelli was the fifth Jan. 6 defendant to face a jury trial. The first four defendants to face a jury — Guy Reffitt, Thomas Robertson, Dustin Thompson, and Thomas Webster — were convicted on every count they faced. Hale-Cusanelli's trial unfolded before Judge Trevor N. McFadden, a Trump-appointed judge who acquitted another Jan. 6 defendant during a non-jury trial. McFadden said Friday after the jury's verdict that he was open to giving Hale-Cusanelli a sentencing enhancement because he found the defendant's testimony "highly dubious.” Sentencing is set for Sept. 16. McFadden was the judge who ordered Hale-Cusanelli held until trial, in part based on evidence the prosecution provided illustrating racist comments he made. According to prosecutors, at least 34 of Hale-Cusanelli's colleagues told them that he held "extremist or radical views pertaining to the Jewish people, minorities, and women." A Navy petty officer claimed Hale-Cusanelli once said that "Hitler should have finished the job," prosecutors said. Prosecutors also discovered evidence on Hale-Cusanelli's phone they said shows he has Nazi sympathies and white supremacist views. And back in 2010, prosecutors said, Hale-Cusanelli was one of four people arrested for using a "potato gun" made out of PVC pipe and "emblazoned with the words ‘WHITE IS RIGHT’ and a drawing of a confederate flag" to shoot frozen corn at houses in Howell, New Jersey. Prosecutors also provided photographs where Hale-Cusanelli appeared to be dressed like Hitler.But jurors heard only some evidence of Hale-Cusanelli’s racist comments, including one text that proclaimed that Democrats would steal the election through "n****r rigging." They were not shown all of his texts because McFadden had ruled that including such comments would be prejudicial. Hale-Cusanelli's defense had downplayed the extent of the racist content on his phone, which included evidence that he attended a Black Lives Matter protest "holding what he describes as a 'clipboard full of statistics' that he took with him to the protest hoping someone would 'debate him' about the differences between the races." The government said that Hale-Cusanelli also hosted a "Based Hermes Show" in which he talked about how the U.S. needed "more minority control" instead of gun control. On the stand, Hale-Cusanelli portrayed his offensive remarks as “repugnant” and “disgusting" jokes he exchanged with friends, not the basis of his online identity. “I really like attention and I like talking a lot,” he testified. He called some of his remarks "ironic humor," and claimed, in the final moments of his testimony, that he was half Puerto Rican and half Jewish, and that his comments were "self-deprecating humor" that helped him "cope with how I was raised." In closing arguments, the prosecution described Hale-Cusanelli as "joyful" and "giddy" on Jan. 6, and referred jurors back to comments Hale-Cusanelli had made about hoping for a civil war. "It'll just be one side with guns against another side with dildos and bongs I wonder who will win," Hale-Cusanelli wrote in one message cited by prosecutors. The prosecution also pointed to evidence of how closely Hale-Cusanelli followed politics, calling him an "ardent Trump supporter" who subscribed to the former president's lies about the 2020 election. "The defendant knew exactly what he was doing that day," a federal prosecutor said. "He knew that was the last stand for Trump." Hale-Cusanelli's lawyer, Jonathan Crisp, said his client was "offensive" and was the kind of person who should "just shut up," but that he only had "superficial knowledge about politics." Hale-Cusanelli, Crisp said, "couldn't shut up to save his life, and this is where he is now because of that." Jurors began deliberating Hale-Cusanelli's fate on Friday morning. | |
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| 05-31-22 12:54am - 843 days | #152 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Trump rallies the troops at NRA convention. Says he will be coming after Sleepy Joe Biden and drag his ass out of the White House. Says the Untied States of Trumperland remains firmly behind Trump, and will, on Trump's death, go to his beloved children, especially Ivanka Trump, the one he would be dating if he wasn't her father. ---- ---- Isaac Hayes' Family Furious Trump Used Song For His Jig At Controversial NRA Speech HuffPost Mary Papenfuss May 29, 2022, 5:34 PM Unspecified - 1974: Isaac Hayes performing on the ABC tv series 'Wide World of Entertainment' episode 'Salute to Dr Martin Luther King, Jr'. (Photo by Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images) (Walt Disney Television Photo Archives via Getty Images) The family of the late legendary musician Isaac Hayes has posted an angry tweet lashing former President Donald Trump’s use of one of Hayes’s songs at his controversial speech Friday at the National Rifle Association convention. “The estate and family of Isaac Hayes DID NOT approve and would NEVER approve the use of ‘Hold On I’m Coming’ ... by Donald Trump at this weekend’s NRA convention,” said the tweet. The tweet added: “Our condolences go out to the victims and families of Uvalde and mass shooting victims everywhere.” In a bold display of disrespect, Trump bashed gun control and hailed all firearms in his Friday speech, including the kind of military-style assault weapons that killed 19 children and two teachers in a mass shooting in Uvalde last week. Trump then mangled the pronunciation of victims’ names, which he read interspersed with cheesy funeral toll sounds. Trump wrapped up his speech smiling, with his clenched fists and wooden dance steps to the song “Hold On, I’m Coming,” written by Hayes and David Porter, and recorded in 1966 by rhythm-and-blues duo Sam and Dave. The lyrics — including “Just hold on, I’m coming” — sounded suspiciously like a preening campaign song, shockingly inappropriate as Uvalde prepares to bury the slain children. A long list of musicians — from the Rolling Stones to Black Sabbath, Adele, R.E.M., Rihanna and Aerosmith, and the estates of Tom Petty and Prince — have contacted Trump’s campaign organization to demand he stop appropriating their songs without permission to promote himself. Neither the artists nor songs have anything remotely to do with his positions, they’ve charged. This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. | |
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| 05-31-22 06:21am - 842 days | #153 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Trump praises fifth grade student for bravery. Says this is the kind of boy who will grow up to help make America great again. The boy was arrested and charged with threatening a mass shooting. The boy is 10 years old. But he heard about the recent school shooting in Texas, and decided he wanted to join the fun. So he sent a text message indicating he wanted to kill lots of people. Trump praised the boy for an over-enthusiastic response. Trump, man of action, who previously said that if he was at a school shooting, he would rush in to save the children, even if Trump was unarmed. Because Trump is a hero. And the only reason Trump did not go to Vietnam, where the US was fighting a war, was because Trump had responsibilities to his family. And family comes first. ----- ------ Florida fifth grader arrested, charged with threatening a mass shooting, police say NBC Universal Chantal Da Silva May 30, 2022, 7:03 AM A fifth grade student in Florida was arrested over the weekend and charged with sending a text message threatening to carry out a mass shooting, authorities said. In a statement Saturday, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office said it had learned earlier that day of a "threatening text message" sent by a student at an elementary school. It said its local school threat enforcement team was immediately notified and started investigating. The 10-year-old boy was interviewed and charged later with "making a written threat to conduct a mass shooting," the sheriff's office said. In video shared by authorities, the boy can be seen being led into a police vehicle. “This student’s behavior is sickening, especially after the recent tragedy in Uvalde, Texas,” Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said in a statement, noting that the threat came just days after the deadly school shooting at Robb Elementary School left 19 students and two teachers dead. “Right now is not the time to act like a little delinquent. It’s not funny,” he said. “This child made a fake threat, and now he’s experiencing real consequences.” Marceno said his team “didn’t hesitate one second...NOT ONE SECOND,” to investigate the incident. The remark came as authorities in Uvalde face mounting criticism over their response to the May 24 school shooting after it came to light that they waited roughly an hour for backup instead of immediately moving in on the gunman. | |
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| 05-31-22 06:31am - 842 days | #154 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
The sickos are coming out of the woodwork. Another Florida youth, an 18-year-old, was arrested for posting a message that indicated he wanted to shoot lots of people in a school. ------- ------- Deputies arrest Florida man who threatened a school shooting Associated Press May 30, 2022, 9:27 AM Scroll back up to restore default view. TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Detectives have arrested an 18-year-old Florida man after receiving a tip that he threatened a mass shooting at a school in a social media post. Corey Anderson's post showed him with a handgun, a rifle and a tactical-style vest along with a caption that said, “Hey Siri, directions to the nearest school," Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a news release. Anderson was arrested at his home near Tampa on Sunday, and charged with a written or electronic threat to conduct a mass shooting or act of terrorism. “This type of threat is unacceptable. This man intentionally instilled fear into our community as a sick joke, but be warned, this is no laughing matter,” Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement. The sheriff said his agency will “do everything within our power" to track down anyone who makes school threats. “Protecting our students is our greatest priority," Chronister said. We take school threats very seriously, if you see something suspicious, please contact us immediately.” The arrest came days after an 18-year-old entered an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and fatally shot 19 children and two teachers. The gunman was eventually killed by law enforcement officers some 80 minutes after he entered the classroom in the predominantly Latino community that sits among vegetable fields halfway between San Antonio and the U.S.-Mexico border. In the Florida case, deputies discovered that the weapons in the photo were airsoft guns, the news release said. Anderson was booked into jail and later released on bond, jail records show. Records did not include the name of an attorney who could speak on Anderson's behalf. | |
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| 05-31-22 03:14pm - 842 days | #155 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Donald Trump Jr. says that guns aren't to blame for the Uvalde school massacre. The gunman could have killed all those people with a bat. Or a machete. Or a bomb. Or with his bare hands. All the gunman needed was a small army that would have held down the victims, while the gunman decided how to kill each child, each teacher. And maybe some of the kids or teachers needed to die. They might have done something to set the gunman off. Donald Trump Jr. will run for President of the Untied States of Trumperland, after his father, Dictator for Life, has gone up to heaven. But first we will have Ivanka Trump, the gorgeous woman Donald Trump senior would date, if she wasn't his daughter. She is the one to become President of the Untied States of Trumperland. She probably has more sense than Donald Trump Jr. -------- -------- Donald Trump Jr. says guns aren't to blame for the Uvalde massacre as the gunman could also have killed 19 kids with a bat Sophia Ankel Tue, May 31, 2022 at 6:59 AM·2 min read Donald Trump Jr. commented on the Uvalde school shooting in a Facebook video on Saturday. In the video, he mocked people who would argue that guns are to blame for the mass shooting. He suggested that the shooter could have also killed with other weapons. Donald Trump Jr. argued on Saturday that guns aren't to blame for the massacre at a school in Uvalde, Texas, suggesting that the shooter could have killed children with a bat or a machete. In a video posted on Facebook, Trump Jr. sought to counter those proposing tighter gun laws in the wake of the shooting at Robb Elementary School last week that left 19 students and two teachers dead. "They'll blame it on the guns. They'll blame it on everything, because no one can possibly take responsibility for their actions," he said in the video. He continued by making fun of people who would blame the shooting on the gun but "not the sociopath wielding it." "If it wasn't for the gun, this kid would be a well-adjusted, reasonable individual — he'd be a wonderful human being, right?" he said. "He wouldn't have done the exact same thing with a bat, or a bomb, or some sort of improvised device, or a machete?" Trump Jr. said better targets for blame were an unstable family, mental-health issues, and "crazy teachers." "No one can admit somebody is actually a piece of garbage and screwed up," he said. "We can't have that — that would be mean!" Authorities have said the 18-year-old shooter, who was killed at the school by US Border Patrol agents, bought a military-style rifle a week before the massacre. A CNN report described authorities as saying that the shooter had no history of mental illness, adding that his family and friends described him as a loner. Trump Jr. is among several Republicans who have defended gun ownership in the aftermath of the shooting. His father, former President Donald Trump, said in a speech at the National Rifle Association's annual meeting that leaders should make it "far easier to confine the violent and mentally deranged into mental institutions." | |
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| 05-31-22 03:30pm - 842 days | #156 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Donald Trump is threatening the Pulitzer committee with legal action if they don't take back the awards given to the New York Times and the Washington Post for reports on an investigation into Trump's ties to Russia. The reports were false, Trump states, and they have hurt his reputation. Trump is a man of truth and honor and warmth and genuine regard for his fellow humans. Anyone who says otherwise, who implies otherwise, is a low-down, dirty, lying yellow coward. And they deserve to the smashed and put into jail. Only Trump has the right to accuse people of crimes, without any evidence, based on the idea that politicians have the right of free speech. That right is reserved for special people, such as Donald Trump. No one else. Therefore, the Pulitzer committee is guilty of treason, because they gave awards to two news organizations that did not offer praise to Donald Trump. Hail Donald Trump, the greatest, most honestest President of the Untied States of Trumperland we've ever known. ----- ----- Trump threatens Pulitzer committee with legal action if they don't rescind award for Russia probe coverage Ronn Blitzer Tue, May 31, 2022 at 11:40 AM Former President Donald Trump is calling on the Pulitzer Prize Board to revoke prizes awarded to the New York Times and Washington Post in 2018 for their coverage of the Russia investigation, threatening legal action if they do not comply. In a letter to Pulitzer administrator Marjorie Miller, Trump noted that he twice previously made the request, stating that the reporting on the years-long probe was based on false information. "There is no dispute that the Pulitzer Board's award to those media outlets was based on false and fabricated information that they published," the former president said. "The continuing publication and recognition of the prizes on the Board's website is a distortion of fact and a personal defamation that will result in the filing of litigation if the Board cannot be persuaded to do the right thing on its own." Fox News reached out to the Pulitzer Board for comment, but they did not immediately respond. HILLARY CLINTON APPROVED DISSEMINATION OF TRUMP-RUSSIAN BANK ALLEGATIONS TO MEDIA, CAMPAIGN MANAGER TESTIFIES The letter, dated May 27, references "additional recent evidence" and calls on the board "to pay close attention to the developments in the ongoing criminal trial of Michael Sussman [sic], the former attorney for the 2016 Clinton Campaign." Sussmann was accused of lying to the FBI and hiding that he was representing the Clinton campaign when he had a meeting to provide information about Trump. Sussmann was acquitted by a jury on Tuesday. Trump pointed to the revelation at Sussmann's trial that Clinton approved the dissemination of materials to the media alleging a secret communications channel between the Trump Organization and a Russian bank, despite campaign officials not being "totally confident" in the legitimacy of the data. MICHAEL SUSSMANN FOUND NOT GUILTY OF CHARGE BROUGHT BY SPECIAL PROSECUTOR JOHN DURHAM The former president claimed that the Times and Post quickly would have learned that the Clinton campaign's "shameful smears" were false, "had they done even a modicum of journalistic investigation" into the matter. Trump also asked the Board to look at Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz's report detailing problems with the FBI's actions in the early stages of the Russia probe before it was turned over to Special Counsel Robert Mueller. "Together with the publications that have obsessively promulgated disgustingly false attacks against me, you have done all you can to destroy my reputation," Trump said, asking, "how do I get my reputation back?" Fox News' Brooke Singman, Jake Gibson, and David Spunt contributed to this report. | |
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| 06-01-22 07:19am - 841 days | #157 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Russia says if the United States keeps interfering with the Ukraine insurrection, that Russia might be forced to invade the US. However, there is a second possibility: Putin can call on his best buddy, Donald Trump, to take back the White House and put Sleepy Joe Biden in jail, where Biden really belongs, after he stole the White House away from Dictator-For-Life and Most-Honored-Hero-Of-The-Republic-Of-Trumperland, the most glorious and amazing Donald Trump. Can the US and Russia come to blows? Or will Donald Trump come to the rescue? Enquiring minds want to know. However, Biden and Trump are having secret meetings: can they bury the hatchet, or will one of them bury the hatchet in the back of his opponent? Trump is the likely victor in such a contest, because Sleepy Joe Biden seems to have lost the pills that allow him to stay awake during the daytime. ------ ------ Russia says U.S. 'adding fuel to the fire' by sending rockets to Ukraine Reuters June 1, 2022, 5:38 AM LONDON (Reuters) - Russia on Wednesday sharply criticized a U.S. decision to supply advanced rocket systems and munitions to Ukraine, warning of an increased risk of direct confrontation with Washington. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters: "We believe that the United States is purposefully and diligently adding fuel to the fire." When asked how Russia would respond if Ukraine used U.S.-supplied rockets to strike Russian territory, Peskov said: "Let's not talk about worst-case scenarios". U.S. President Joe Biden has agreed to provide Ukraine with advanced rocket systems that can strike with precision at long-range Russian targets as part of a new U.S. package to help Kyiv defend itself in the three-month-old war that began with Russia's Feb. 24 invasion. Washington agreed to supply the rockets, which are capable of hitting targets as far away as 80 km (50 miles), after Ukraine gave "assurances" they will not use the missiles to strike inside Russia itself, senior U.S. officials said. Peskov said Moscow did not trust such assurances. He said it was assessing the risk of rockets being fired into Russian territory and was taking appropriate measures, but that it viewed Washington's step "extremely negatively." He said such supplies would not encourage Ukraine's leadership to resume stalled peace talks. Ukrainian officials have been asking allies for longer-range missile systems that can fire a barrage of rockets hundreds of miles away, in the hopes of turning the tide of the war. U.S. President Joe Biden wrote in an opinion piece in the New York Times: "We have moved quickly to send Ukraine a significant amount of weaponry and ammunition so that it can fight on the battlefield and be in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table." Earlier, state news agency RIA Novosti quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying, when asked about the prospect of a direct confrontation between the United States and Russia: "Any arms shipments that continue, that are on the rise, increase the risks of such a development." | |
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| 06-01-22 07:28am - 841 days | #158 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Support your local police. But sometimes the local police will not cooperate with other police. How can this be? Stand up for your rights, say the police. ------ ------ Uvalde police, school district no longer cooperating with Texas probe of shooting: Sources ABC News JOSH MARGOLIN and AARON KATERSKY May 31, 2022, 6:27 PM The Uvalde Police Department and the Uvalde Independent School District police force are no longer cooperating with the Texas Department of Public Safety's investigation into the massacre at Robb Elementary School and the state's review of the law enforcement response, multiple law enforcement sources tell ABC News. The Uvalde police chief and a spokesperson for the Uvalde Independent School District did not immediately respond to requests for comment from ABC News. MORE: 'Full of victims': Video appears to show Texas 911 dispatchers relaying information from children in classroom According to sources, the decision to stop cooperating occurred soon after the director of DPS, Col. Steven McCraw, held a news conference Friday during which he said the delayed police entry into the classroom was "the wrong decision" and contrary to protocol. Reached by ABC News, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety said, "The Uvalde Police Department and Uvalde CISD Police have been cooperating with investigators. The chief of the Uvalde CISD Police provided an initial interview but has not responded to a request for a follow-up interview with the Texas Rangers that was made two days ago." Last Tuesday's attack, one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history, left 19 children and two adults dead. Uvalde police, school district no longer cooperating with Texas probe of shooting: Sources originally appeared on abcnews.go.com | |
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| 06-01-22 12:20pm - 841 days | #159 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
FBI puts arrests over concerns for the victims. Says you have to take the long-term view. Any victim list is small. Compared to the publicity value of arresting a criminal. FBI also says that they are pure in heart. That is why they didn't investigate rumors that Brett Kanaugh molested women. The thought of a woman being molested sends shudders through the minds of an FBI agent. And Brett Kanaugh likes beer, so he must be a good old boy. The leader of the FBI praises China. Says that they are the best at “lie, cheat and steal their way into global denomination of global sectors.” ---- ---- Associated Press Wray: FBI blocked planned cyberattack on children's hospital ERIC TUCKER and ALAN SUDERMAN Wed, June 1, 2022 at 7:07 AM WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI thwarted a planned cyberattack on a children's hospital in Boston that was to have been carried out by hackers sponsored by the Iranian government, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Wednesday. Wray told a Boston College cybersecurity conference that his agents learned of the planned digital attack from an unspecified intelligence partner and got Boston Children's Hospital the information it needed last summer to block what would have been “one of the most despicable cyberattacks I've seen.” “And quick actions by everyone involved, especially at the hospital, protected both the network and the sick kids who depended on it,” Wray said. The FBI chief recounted that anecdote in a broader speech about cyber threats from Russia, China and Iran, and the need for partnerships between the U.S. government and the private sector. He said the bureau and Boston Children’s Hospital had worked closely after a hacktivist attacked the hospital’s computer network in 2014. Martin Gottesfeld launched a cyberattack at the hospital to protest the care of a teenager at the center of a high-profile custody battle; Gottesfeld later was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The attack against the hospital and a treatment home cost the facilities tens of thousands of dollars and disrupted operations for days. “Children’s and our Boston office already knew each other well — before the attack from Iran — and that made a difference,” Wray said. He did not ascribe a particular motive to the planned attack on the hospital, but he noted that Iran and other countries have been hiring cyber mercenaries to conduct attacks on their behalf. In addition, the health care and public health sector is classified by the U.S. government as one of 16 critical infrastructure sectors, and health care providers such as hospitals are seen as ripe targets for hackers. When it comes to Russia, he said, the FBI is “racing” to warn potential targets about preparatory actions that hackers are taking toward destructive attacks. In March, for instance, the FBI warned that it was seeing increased interest by hackers in energy companies since the start of Russia’s war against Ukraine. Hackers from China have stolen more corporate and personal data from people in the United States than all other nations combined, as part of a broader geopolitical goal to “lie, cheat and steal their way into global denomination of global sectors,” Wray said. The speech took place as the FBI continues to combat ransomware attacks from criminal gangs, a continuing concern for U.S. officials despite the absence of crippling intrusions in recent months. Wray emphasized the need for private companies to work with the FBI to thwart ransomware gangs and nation-state hackers. “What these partnerships let us do is hit our adversaries at every point — from the victims’ networks, back all the way to the hackers’ own computers,” Wray said. The FBI and other federal agencies have been working to assure hacking victims that it is in their best interest to report intrusions and cyber crimes. Many companies attacked by ransomware gangs often do not go to the FBI for a variety of reasons. Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, the top Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, issued a report this year critical of the FBI’s response to some ransomware victims. In two cases, the FBI “prioritized its investigative and prosecutorial efforts to disrupt attacker operations over victims’ need to protect data and mitigate damage,” the report said. One unnamed Fortune 500 company told committee staff that the FBI did not offer any “helpful assistance” when responding to a ransomware attack. Wray, though, cited the FBI's capacity to get a technically trained agent to any victimized company in an hour — “and we use it a lot.” ___ Suderman reported from Richmond, Virginia. | |
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| 06-02-22 08:38pm - 840 days | #160 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Can a cop shoot you if you are protesting, or near a protest? Does a bear shit in the woods? Enquiring minds want to know: how often is a cop held responsible for killing or hurting someone? ----- ----- George Floyd protester sues Florida police over eye injury Associated Press TERRY SPENCER June 2, 2022, 2:01 PM FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A protester who suffered eye damage when a rubber bullet fired by Fort Lauderdale police struck her in the face during a 2020 protest over George Floyd's murder filed a federal lawsuit this week accusing the officer and the department of violating her civil rights. LaToya Ratlieff, 36, is seeking unspecified monetary damages in her lawsuit against Fort Lauderdale, Detective Eliezer Ramos, who fired the rubber bullet, and five other officers for the injuries she suffered on May 31, 2020. She was taking part in a Black Lives Matter protest that drew thousands over Floyd's videotaped slaying six days earlier by a Minneapolis police officer who knelt on his neck for eight minutes. A bystander’s video shows Ratlieff was struck as she choked on tear gas that had been fired by officers and stumbled into a street. She suffered a broken right eye socket, nerve damage to that eye and a 20-stitch gash to her forehead that left a scar. Her attorneys say she also suffers migraines and mental trauma. The round that struck Ratlieff was made of collapsible, hollow foam that is typically filled with a chemical irritant. According to its manufacturer, it is about the size of a golf ball, weighs slightly less and has an initial velocity of 200 mph (320 kph). The rounds are supposed to be aimed at the legs and buttocks as they can be lethal if they hit the head or chest. “Two years ago, I came to Fort Lauderdale to raise my voice against police brutality. Today, I return to do the very same,” Ratlieff said in a statement read by her attorneys at a Thursday news conference outside Fort Lauderdale police headquarters. The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday. “I have every reason to believe that if the same circumstances were repeated today, the risk of someone becoming the victims of brutality at the hands of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department are as high as they have ever been.” A police department investigation in December cleared Ramos of wrongdoing, saying he was aiming at a man who had thrown a tear gas canister back at officers when Ratlieff walked into his line of fire. The department's then-interim chief also issued an apology to Ratlieff. A department spokesman said this week it does not comment on pending lawsuits. The police investigation put the blame for the violence on some of the protesters, saying they had come to the city looking to start a confrontation with officers. Some bottles and rocks were thrown at officers — but Ratlieff’s attorneys say that only began after an officer pushed a kneeling woman to the ground. The lawsuit alleges that Fort Lauderdale police did not train its officers on how to use the weapons in crowd-control situations and that state law bans the firing of tear gas or rubber bullets into a crowd without first giving a warning to disperse and then ample time to leave. Stuart Ratzan, Ratlieff's lead trial attorney, said the protest had been peaceful and lawful for several hours until police fired without warning. “To open fire on American citizens who are asking you to stop using violence against them — there is no excuse for that," Ratzan said. | |
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| 06-03-22 07:06am - 839 days | #161 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Sneaky Japanese golfer disqualified for using white-out on his club. Officials say you can't use too much white-out on your clubs. I'm not sure how the white-out would affect the travel of the golf ball. But if the white-out would allow the golfer to sneak in extra strokes while people aren't watching, I guess that would be a foul. Only natural wood and elements are allowed in golf. So they should stop using golf balls and start using string or paper to hit with. And the clubs should be made of wood. No metal or plastic or whatever. But President Trump should be allowed to use whatever he wants. He needs all the help he can get. Maybe it would stop him from cheating? Or maybe not. --------- --------- Hideki Matsuyama disqualified from Memorial Tournament for illegal marking on club Yahoo Sports Chris Cwik June 2, 2022, 1:14 PM Scroll back up to restore default view. Hideki Matsuyama was disqualified from the Memorial Tournament on Thursday due to an illegal marking on one of his clubs. It was the first disqualification of Matsuyama's career. The moment was captured on the broadcast. The issue came down to markings on Matsuyama's 3-wood. The club was featured on the @golfWRX Instagram page hours before Matsuyama got disqualified. PGA Tour senior tournament director Steve Rintoul said they actually saw pictures of the club on social media on Thursday morning, which is what prompted them to take a closer look. The club face has white markings that appear to form a circle in the middle of the club. Rintoul explained the the substance on the face of Matsuyama's club was similar to white out. Rintoul said it was an excessive amount of white out, leading the PGA to determine it was a non-conforming club. PGA Tour officials tried to speak with Matsuyama early in the event, and approached him on his second hole of the day. Matsuyama said he had the club on him and used it on the first hole. By the fifth hole, after Rintoul went back to "do our due diligence," it was clear that Matsuyama had to be disqualified. While he said it's OK to have markings on certain parts of clubs, the markings that Matsuyama had were too excessive. "The equipment rules are very specific," Rintoul said. "It's OK to have very small discrete markings on your face for alignment purposes, like a Sharpie dot here and there that aren't going to influence the ball. But that much substance is clearly above what the equipment rules allow." Rintoul said he wasn't sure how long Matsuyama may have been applying the substance to his clubs, but he believes this hasn't been an ongoing thing. "I think we would have learned about it. He's on camera all the time," he said. "He steps on camera all the time. I think this was fresh this week. It's a relatively new 3-wood, it looked like. He was looking for a place to make sure he had the ball centered in the face. They just went about it with like a paper, whiteout brush, and there it was." Before being disqualified, Matsuyama drew attention from fans after this miraculous bridge shot. Matsuyama won the Memorial Tournament in 2014. His biggest tournament win came in 2021, when he became the first Asian professional golfer to win the Masters. The 30-year-old has five top-10 finishes so far this season and two wins, both at the Zozo Championship last fall and at the Sony Open in Hawaii, which marked his eighth career win. "My worst fear — I was hoping he hasn't used it the first tee, hasn't used it the second tee. We were going to get to him before the third tee, which I'm thinking he might use it on the third tee," Rintoul said. "But the damage was done on the first hole, unfortunately. "Just unfortunate set of circumstances for Hideki for sure." Six players are tied for the lead at 5-under after Round 1. | |
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| 06-03-22 07:12am - 839 days | #162 | |
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Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Russia complains about countries helping Ukraine. Says Russia is only invading Ukraine to keep the peace. If any people die, it's not Russia's fault, it's the fault of Ukraine, for not lying down and accepting Russian domination. Mother Russia loves everyone. Just like Donald Trump. And if anyone gets in the way, Russia will obliterate them. With nuclear missiles, if need be. Russia and Trump are planning a big victory celebration, as soon as they kill a few more thousand Ukraine people. | |
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| 06-03-22 11:46am - 839 days | #163 | |
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Former Trump aide charged with contempt. Donald Trump, the fightenest President of the Untied States we've ever known, has expressed sorrow that his former aide is not paying Congress the respect Congress deserves. Trump knows that power is important. That's why he thinks his former aides should help Congress as much as possible. Will Donald Trump pick up the phone and tell his former aides to co-operate with Congress? Enquiring minds want to know. ------ ------ Navarro indicted on contempt charges for defying 1/6 panel Associated Press MICHAEL BALSAMO and ERIC TUCKER June 3, 2022, 12:15 PM WASHINGTON (AP) — Former White House official Peter Navarro was indicted Friday on contempt charges after defying a subpoena from the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Navarro is the second former Trump aide to be charged with contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with the Jan. 6, 2021, investigation. Former White House adviser Steve Bannon was indicted in November. The case against him is pending. Navarro, 72, was charged with one contempt count for failing to appear for a deposition before the House committee. The second charge is for failing to produce documents the committee requested. He is expected to appear in court in Washington later Friday. | |
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| 06-03-22 01:06pm - 839 days | #164 | |
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Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Democrats ganging up on Republicans. Republicans fight back by drawing lots of guns. Republicans say they can do whatever they want with the guns. Enquiring minds want to know: are Republicans to be trusted with guns? Should the guns be taken away from the Republicans? How often does a Republican have to pass a check for suitability to handle dangerous weapons of mass destruction? Did Donald Trump ever pass a test to see if he was qualified to aim nuclear weapons at Washington, in a bid to eliminate Democratic rivals? Enquiring minds want to know: is Donald Trump corrupt? ---- ---- USA TODAY 'Whatever I want with my guns': GOP lawmaker pulls out handguns during House hearing on gun control Candy Woodall Fri, June 3, 2022 at 8:49 AM WASHINGTON – Florida Congressman Greg Steube pulled out multiple handguns during a House Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday aimed at curbing mass shootings. The Republican congressman appeared by video conference from his Florida home, arguing that Democrats are trying to strip Americans' constitutional right to bear arms by restricting the ammunition they use. "Don't let them fool you that they're not attempting to take away your ability to purchase handguns," Steube said. "They are using the magazine ban to do it." The congressman said his Sig Sauer P365 XL comes with a 15-round magazine and would be banned if the Democrats' "Protecting Our Kids Act" passes. The congressman also said the Glock 19 would be banned. He also displayed his Sig Sauer P226 and Sig Sauer 320. Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., holds up his own handgun as he speaks via videoconference as the House Judiciary Committee holds an emergency meeting to advance a series of Democratic gun control measures, called the Protecting Our Kids Act, in response to mass shootings in Texas and New York, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, June 2, 2022. Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., holds up his own handgun as he speaks via videoconference as the House Judiciary Committee holds an emergency meeting to advance a series of Democratic gun control measures, called the Protecting Our Kids Act, in response to mass shootings in Texas and New York, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, June 2, 2022. The display of weapons added to the tension of a legislative hearing packed with partisan and personal broadsides over an issue that has deeply divided Ameicans. As Steube demonstrated his firearms, Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, of Texas, could be heard cutting into his speech. "I hope the gun is not loaded," she said. Steube sharply responded: "I'm at my house. I can do whatever I want with my guns." The congressman also drew criticism from Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif. "This is who Republicans are. Kids are being buried and they're bragging about how many guns they own during our gun safety hearing," he said. "They are not serious. They are a danger to our kids." Candy Woodall is a Congress reporter for USA TODAY. She can be reached at cwoodall@usatoday.com or on Twitter at @candynotcandace. | |
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| 06-06-22 03:49am - 836 days | #165 | |
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Rats deserting a sinking ship. Some GOP politicians are saying that Trump is not Jesus on Earth. That Trump has flaws. That Trump deserved to be impeached for the Capitol riots in January 2021. ----- ----- GOP Rep. Tom Rice says impeaching Trump was 'the conservative vote' ABC News BENJAMIN SIEGEL June 5, 2022, 6:21 AM South Carolina's Tom Rice was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Now, as Rice fights an uphill battle for his political life in the heart of Trump country, he is standing by that choice — calling it “the conservative vote” in an interview with ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl that aired Sunday on "This Week." “I did it then. And I would do it again tomorrow," Rice said. Rice said Trump deserved to be impeached for potentially endangering former Vice President Mike Pence and his family at the Capitol and not acting more quickly to stop the deadly riot as it unfolded last year. “When he watched the Capitol, the ‘People's House,’ being sacked, when he watched the Capitol Police officers being beaten for three or four hours and lifted not one thing or to stop it — I was livid then and I’m livid today about it,” Rice recalled. “And it was very clear to me I took an oath to protect the Constitution.” PHOTO: Rep. Tom Rice speaks with Jon Karl. (ABC News) PHOTO: Rep. Tom Rice speaks with Jon Karl. (ABC News) Trump has vowed vengeance against Rice, endorsing one of his six primary opponents and holding a rally in his district in March. “Right here, in the 7th district, Tom Rice, a disaster,” Trump said to boos. “He’s respected by no one, he’s laughed at in Washington.” A mild-mannered accountant and tax attorney who helped craft the 2017 Republican tax law Trump signed into law, Rice says he voted overwhelmingly in favor of Trump’s agenda in Congress. “If I am a ‘disaster,’ and a ‘total fool’ and I voted with him 169 times out of 184, what does that make him?” he said to Karl. “I was following his lead.” “He's a narcissist, and he’s driven by attention, and he’s driven by revenge,” Rice said of Trump. He also warned his party against rallying around the former president if Trump seeks the Oval Office again, as Trump has often hinted. MORE: Trump has few followers as election claims grow more preposterous: The Note “I think it will hurt us,” Rice said. “We’ll get painted more in the corner of extremism, they'll try to label us as extremist. And he’ll feed that.” Rice criticized Republicans, including GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, of California, for quickly embracing Trump in the weeks after the Capitol attack. He declined to say whether McCarthy should be speaker if Republicans win back the House in November. “I’m not gonna answer that one right now,” he told ABC’s Karl. “We’ll see what happens.” PHOTO: Rep. Tom Rice speaks with Jon Karl. (ABC News) PHOTO: Rep. Tom Rice speaks with Jon Karl. (ABC News) Rice praised Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who also voted to impeach Trump and now serves as the vice chair of the Jan. 6 committee, calling her a “real Republican.” Like Rice, Cheney drew Trump's wrath for criticizing him and is contending with her own primary challenge. “She’d be a great speaker,” Rice said. “She is very conservative and I think she’s a fearless leader.” But before November, Rice needs to defend his seat in Congress on June 14, when he’ll face off against six other candidates — including Trump-endorsed state Rep. Russell Fry — for the Republican nomination. The crowded field makes it unlikely that any of the candidates will win more than 50% of the vote and avoid a runoff later this month between the top two finishers, Jerry Rovner, the Republican party chairman in Rice’s district, told ABC News. Rovner, who is officially neutral in the primary but critical of Rice's position on impeachment, said Rice's vote could be a “major problem with a lot of constituents” given Trump’s popularity in the area. “He could vote 800 times the way they [want him to] vote, but the one thing he voted on that got the press, they were very upset about,” Rovner said of Rice. “And that’s really what it comes down to.” MORE: Kellyanne Conway says she 'never' lied to Trump about outcome of 2020 election Rice’s balancing act was on full display at a recent forum in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where some voters who had previously supported him walked out when he defended his impeachment vote. “He’s a traitor, and I just don’t trust him,” Lyne Vail told ABC News. "If you can’t back your party, he’s not going to back you or me.” Billy Zevgolis, a Myrtle Beach businessman and undecided voter, said he also disagreed with Rice's impeachment vote. “Right now, Trump is our guy,” he told ABC News. “I don’t like his personality, but his politics are right on the money. His values are aligned with mine.” Rice hopes he can convince enough voters to overlook his stance on Trump's impeachment even if they don’t agree with it. He could also benefit from the state’s open primaries, which allow Democrats and independents to vote in the GOP race. Even if he loses, Rice has “absolutely” no regrets, he said. “You know that, like your obituary, the first sentence is going to be 'Tom Rice, who was a Republican member of Congress, voted to impeach Donald Trump,'” Karl told him. “So be it," he said. "I'll wear it like a badge. So be it." GOP Rep. Tom Rice says impeaching Trump was 'the conservative vote' originally appeared on abcnews.go.com | |
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| 06-06-22 03:57am - 836 days | #166 | |
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Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Putin warns the West: Do not interfere with our war in Ukraine. If you get in the way, we will bury you. Putin is meeting with Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un (Glorious Leader of North Korea) and other people of importance) on how best to invade the Untied States of Trumperland and other areas of resistance. Donald Trump is central to these plans, since he has inside information on the defenses of the Untied States obtained while he was president. Donald Trump has a hard-on for Sleepy Joe Biden, who stole the Whtie House away from Donald, the true owner of the Whtie House. ------- ------- Putin warns West: Russia will strike harder if longer-range missiles supplied Reuters June 5, 2022, 7:07 AM LONDON (Reuters) -President Vladimir Putin warned the West that Russia would strike new targets if the United States started supplying Ukraine with longer-range missiles, the TASS news agency reported on Sunday. If such missiles are supplied, "we will strike at those targets which we have not yet been hitting," Putin was quoted as saying in an excerpt of an interview with Rossiya-1 state television channel. Putin did not name the targets Russia planned to pursue if Western countries began supplying Ukraine with longer-range missiles. He said the "fuss" around Western weapon supplies to Ukraine was designed to drag out the conflict. Ukraine has been seeking Multiple Rocket Launch Systems (MLRS) such as the M270 and M142 HIMARS to strike troops and weapons stockpiles at the Russian forces' rear. U.S. President Joe Biden announced plans this week to give Ukraine precision HIMARS rocket systems after receiving assurances from Kyiv that it would not use them to hit targets inside Russia. Although Russian officials have warned that the U.S. decision to supply Ukraine with advanced rocket systems could exacerbate the conflict, Putin said it would not bring on any fundamental changes on the battlefield. "We understand that this supply (of advance rocket systems) from the United States and some other countries is meant to make up for the losses of this military equipment," Putin said. "This is nothing new. It doesn't change anything in essence." In an excerpt of the same interview aired on Saturday, Putin boasted that Russian anti-aircraft forces have shot down dozens of Ukrainian weapons and are "cracking them like nuts." (Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge) | |
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| 06-06-22 04:00am - 836 days | #167 | |
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Students of color push back on calls for police in schools Associated Press ANNIE MA June 5, 2022, 8:17 AM Graduating senior from Enloe High School Malika Mobley has concerns about proposed increases in police presence in schools following the recent Texas school shooting, Thursday, June 3, 2022, in Raleigh, N.C. To reassure students and educators following the mass shooting at a Texas elementary school, districts around the country pledged to boost security measures and increased the presence of law enforcement on campus. (AP Photo/Chris Seward) Graduating senior from Enloe High School Malika Mobley has concerns about proposed increases in police presence in schools following the recent Texas school shooting, Thursday, June 3, 2022, in Raleigh, N.C. To reassure students and educators following the mass shooting at a Texas elementary school, districts around the country pledged to boost security measures and increased the presence of law enforcement on campus. (AP Photo/Chris Seward) Graduating senior from Enloe High School Malika Mobley has concerns about proposed increases in police presence in schools following the recent Texas school shooting, Thursday, June 3, 2022, in Raleigh, N.C. To reassure students and educators following the mass shooting at a Texas elementary school, districts around the country pledged to boost security measures and increased the presence of law enforcement on campus. (AP Photo/Chris Seward) Graduating senior from Enloe High School Malika Mobley has concerns about proposed increases in police presence in schools following the recent Texas school shooting, Thursday, June 3, 2022, in Raleigh, N.C. To reassure students and educators following the mass shooting at a Texas elementary school, districts around the country pledged to boost security measures and increased the presence of law enforcement on campus. (AP Photo/Chris Seward) 1 / 4 Students of color push back on calls for police in schools Graduating senior from Enloe High School Malika Mobley has concerns about proposed increases in police presence in schools following the recent Texas school shooting, Thursday, June 3, 2022, in Raleigh, N.C. To reassure students and educators following the mass shooting at a Texas elementary school, districts around the country pledged to boost security measures and increased the presence of law enforcement on campus. (AP Photo/Chris Seward) ASSOCIATED PRESS After the mass shooting at a Texas elementary school, schools around the country pledged to boost security measures and increased the presence of law enforcement on campus — partly to reassure parents and students. But police inside schools can make some students more uneasy, not less. Especially for Black students and other students of color, their personal experiences with policing can leave them feeling unsafe and alienated from school when they see officers on campus. High school senior Malika Mobley has seen three different school resource officers patrolling the campus in Raleigh, North Carolina. Once on the way home from school, Mobley saw officers detain a visibly distraught classmate and push the student into the back of a police vehicle. “They were crying, ‘Why are you doing this to me? I didn’t do anything,'” said Mobley, co-president of Wake County Black Student Coalition. “I was just forced to stand there and couldn't do anything.” Since 2020, the student group has advocated for eliminating police officers from school buildings in favor of investing in counselors and support staff for students. “We don’t see police presence as part of the solution,” Mobley said. “If you really think about why police don’t make us safer, you can draw connections to all types of tragedies that impact the most marginalized among us.” Police officers have a regular presence at schools across the country in recent decades, often in the form of school resource officers, who are tasked with building relationships with young people to promote trust of law enforcement, providing security, and enforcing laws. Critics say having armed police on campus often results in Black students being disproportionately arrested and punished, leading to what they call the school-to-prison pipeline. Researchers have found that Black students report feeling less safe around police officers than their white peers and that officers in predominantly Black school districts were more likely to view students themselves to be threats. Black students and other students of color also are disproportionately likely to have negative interactions with police in schools, ranging from referrals to law enforcement to being arrested or restrained, said Katherine Dunn, director of the Opportunity to Learn program at the Advancement Project. Since 2007, the Advancement Project has documented at least 200 instances of officers at schools assaulting students, she said. “It shows all the physical harms that young people experience by police," she said. "It's also the experience of being degraded and made to feel like a criminal because you have to walk down the hallway to your class with several armed cops, who are not there for your safety, who you see arrest your friends, assault your friends.” In 2018, after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, the state Legislature passed laws mandating public schools to have either law enforcement or armed personnel present on campuses. A study of the law's impact by F. Chris Curran, a University of Florida professor, found the expanded police presence was followed by an increase in school arrests and the number of reported behavioral incidents. He said there are many factors to consider in deciding the role police play in schools. “I'd like to see that conversation include thoughtful considerations of potential benefits, decreasing certain kinds of behaviors, but also the potential unintended consequences, if that's increasing the likelihood students are arrested or potentially increasing racial disparities in discipline and arrest rates,” Curran said. While there are examples of school resource officers who have intervened in incidents of gun violence, Curran said, the presence of law enforcement does not always guarantee that shootings or other violence won't occur, or that the officer would be immediately effective at stopping the perpetrator and minimizing casualties. In a statement issued this week on best practices for school security in the wake of the Uvalde, Texas, shooting, the National Association of School Resource Officers emphasized the importance of having “a carefully selected, specifically trained SRO on its campus whenever school is in session.” The nonprofit group has rejected criticism that officers contribute to a school-to-prison pipeline. Officers who follow its best practices, it says, do not arrest students for disciplinary issues that would be handled ordinarily by educators. As elsewhere around the country last week, the police presence was increased outside schools across North Carolina to provide reassurance to families in the wake of the Uvalde, Texas shooting. Wake County schools have 75 school resource officers, drawn from several local law enforcement agencies. The Wake County Black Student Coalition's campaign to remove the officers stemmed partly from student accounts of bad experiences with officers, including a 2017 incident where a school resource officer was filmed picking up a Black girl and slamming her to the ground, said Chalina Morgan-Lopez, a high school senior who is co-president of the student group. “I think it's a reasonable response to want more officers in schools, especially from people who genuinely do feel protected by law enforcement, even though that's not my lived experience," Morgan-Lopez said. "But I think people need to take into account ... that officers do in fact do more harm than they do good." Last summer the school system made several changes to its school resource officer program, including a new process for fielding grievances involving officers and adjustments to training to prepare them better for the school environment, said Lisa Luten, a spokesperson for the school system. The review was based on community feedback the district sought in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement, Luten said. “This is not a new conversation for us," she said. “That certainly brought it back to light.” ___ Ma, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, writes about education and equity for AP’s Race and Ethnicity team. Follow her on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/anniema15 ___ The Associated Press’ reporting around issues of race and ethnicity is supported in part by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content. | |
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| 06-06-22 04:04am - 836 days | #168 | |
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Over 50 feared dead in Nigeria church attack, officials say Associated Press CHINEDU ASADU June 5, 2022, 12:23 PM ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Gunmen opened fire on worshippers and detonated explosives at a Catholic church in southwestern Nigeria on Sunday, leaving dozens feared dead, state lawmakers said. The attackers targeted the St. Francis Catholic Church in Ondo state just as the worshippers gathered on Pentecost Sunday, legislator Ogunmolasuyi Oluwole said. Among the dead were many children, he said. The presiding priest was abducted as well, said Adelegbe Timileyin, who represents the Owo area in Nigeria’s lower legislative chamber. “Our hearts are heavy," Ondo Governor Rotimi Akeredolu tweeted Sunday. “Our peace and tranquility have been attacked by the enemies of the people.” Authorities did not immediately release an official death toll. Timileyin said at least 50 people had been killed, though others put the figure higher. Videos appearing to be from the scene of the attack showed church worshippers lying in pools of blood while people around them wailed. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said “only fiends from the nether region could have conceived and carried out such dastardly act,” according to a statement from his spokesman. “No matter what, this country shall never give in to evil and wicked people, and darkness will never overcome light. Nigeria will eventually win,” said Buhari, who was elected after vowing to end Nigeria’s prolonged security crisis. In Rome, Pope Francis responded to news of the attack. “The pope has learned of the attack on the church in Ondo, Nigeria and the deaths of dozens of worshippers, many children, during the celebration of Pentecost. While the details are being clarified, Pope Francis prays for the victims and the country, painfully affected at a time of celebration, and entrusts them both to the Lord so that he may send his spirit to console them,” the pope said in a statement issued by the Vatican press office. It was not immediately clear who was behind the attack on the church. While much of Nigeria has struggled with security issues, Ondo is widely known as one of Nigeria's most peaceful states. The state, though, has been caught up in a rising violent conflict between farmers and herders. Nigeria's security forces did not immediately respond to questions about how the attack occurred or if there are any leads about suspects. Owo is about 345 kilometers (215 miles) east of Lagos. “In the history of Owo, we have never experienced such an ugly incident," said lawmaker Oluwole. “This is too much.” | |
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| 06-06-22 10:10am - 836 days | #169 | |
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Russian President Vlad Putin has the same name as Dracula, the greatest warrior the world has ever known. That is why Putin is trying to take over the world. With the help of Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un, Dictator for Life of North Korea, Putin will soon invade the Untied States of Trumperland, where he will declare victory in less than 10 days. Stay tuned for updates on when Putin will invade. There could be shortages of bread and water in both the Untied States and in Puerto Rico, where Senator Ted Cruz will be hiding. Also, Putin has announced that it has fired underwater supersonic hydroplane missiles at the NATO forces in the Baltic Sea. They will explode shortly. ------ ------ Russia-Ukraine war latest: NATO kicks off U.S.-led war games in Baltic Sea Yahoo News Niamh Cavanagh June 6, 2022, 7:15 AM LONDON — It has been 102 days since Russia began its brutal invasion of Ukraine. Despite tensions rising, NATO began naval exercises in the Baltic Sea along with aspiring members Finland and Sweden. Spain and the U.K. promised Kyiv weaponry, and Russian President Vladimir Putin retaliated with a warning that Moscow would hit new targets if it continued. NATO’s war games Large warship beneath cloudy skies against a background of a city skyline. Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge of the U.S. Navy in a harbor in Stockholm, Sweden, on Friday. (Reinaldo Ubilla/NurPhoto via Getty Images) On Sunday, NATO kicked off a two-week naval exercise in the Baltic Sea that includes more than 7,000 marines, airmen and sailors from 16 countries including Finland and Sweden — who officially applied to the international alliance last month. Over 45 ships and more than 75 aircraft are also taking part in the Baltic operations coined BALTOPS 22. The U.S.-led games, which began in 1972, are reportedly not in response to any specific threat. “In past iterations of BALTOPS we’ve talked about meeting the challenges of tomorrow,” Vice Adm. Gene Black, commander of the Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO and U.S. 6th Fleet, said. “Those challenges are upon us — in the here and now.” He added: “BALTOPS 22 highlights our past investments and shows our collective partnership and capabilities as we recognize the importance of ‘freedom of the seas’ and the vital role the Baltic plays in European prosperity.” Putin’s warning Vladimir Putin. Vladimir Putin delivers an address to the participants of the Bolshaya Peremena All-Russian contest for school students through a video link on June 1. (Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik/AFP/AFP via Getty Images) Putin issued a stark warning on Sunday that the military would strike new targets if the West continued to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles. Speaking on Russian-state TV, Rossiya-1, the Kremlin leader said: “We will strike at those targets which we have not yet been hitting.” However, Putin did not specify what those targets were. Military assistance The Ukrainian military is expected to receive more weapons from both Spain and Britain. On Sunday, the Madrid-based newspaper El Pais reported that government sources in Spain said that Leopard battle tanks and antiaircraft missiles would be sent to Ukraine in a bid to step up Spain’s military support to the country. Meanwhile, the U.K. is expected to donate several M270 multiple launch rocket systems — which can strike targets up to 50 miles away. Despite Putin’s warning, the U.K.’s defense secretary, Ben Wallace, argued that the assistance is justified. “As Russia’s tactics change, so must our support to Ukraine,” he said. “If the international community continues its support, I believe Ukraine can win.” Zelensky visits frontline Volodymyr Zelensky, wearing a T-shirt and cargo pants, looks into the eyes of a service member as he shakes the hand, near five other service members, all wearing battle fatigues. Working trip of the President of Ukraine to the Zaporizhzhia region and Donbas on Sunday. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited soldiers on the frontlines in the east of Ukraine on Sunday. He met troops in the Donbas region and met with fighters in Lysychansk, which is situated across from Severodonetsk — where Ukrainians are fighting back against Russian forces. “I want to thank you for your great work, for your service, for protecting all of us, our state,” Zelensky told soldiers. “I am grateful to everyone. Take care of yourselves!” | |
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| 06-07-22 03:16am - 835 days | #170 | |
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Although Donald Trump is not a lawyer, he is an expert in how to make a deal. So he has offered to step in on Neve Campbell's side to ensure she gets her fair salary in the Scream 6 movie. Donald Trump is famous for knowing how to treat women. His classic remark, that he's allowed to grab women by the pussy because he's famous, shows the power of the Trump brand. Once the producers of the Scream franchise realize that Donald Trump has entered negotiations on Neve Campbell's side, they will fold and give her the salary she deserves. ---- ---- Neve Campbell out of 'Scream 6' over salary dispute: 'Did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise' Yahoo Celebrity Raechal Shewfelt June 6, 2022, 2:32 PM Neve Campbell won't be playing Scream's original victim, Sidney Prescott, in next year's Scream 6. "Sadly, I won't be making the next Scream film," Yahoo Entertainment confirmed that she said, as first reported by Deadline. "As a woman I have had to work extremely hard in my career to establish my value, especially when it comes to Scream. I felt the offer that was presented to me did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise. It's been a very difficult decision to move on. To all my Scream fans, I love you. You've always been so incredibly supportive to me. I'm forever grateful to you and to what this franchise has given me over the past 25 years." Neve Campbell has starred in the Scream franchise since it premiered in 1996. (Photo: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Los Angeles Confidential) Campbell, who currently stars on Netflix's series The Lincoln Lawyer, portrayed Prescott in the first three films in the horror franchise, released between 1996 and 2000, before returning for Scream 4 in 2011 and in this year's Scream. The next installment, 2023's Scream 6, is expected to co-star Courteney Cox, another original cast member, as well as Hayden Panettiere, who also starred in Scream 4. (Campbell was not involved in the Scream TV series, which aired from 2015 to 2019.) The latest Scream movie cost $25 million to make and brought in $140 million at the worldwide box office, according to Variety. While Campbell did not specify the salary that she was offered, she mentioned in an October 2020 conversation with Jamie Lee Curtis, who played Michael Myers's victim Laurie Strode in the successful Halloween franchise, for that publication, that it had not been on par with what the men in smash hit franchises had been paid. "The industry has no problem when a man makes millions of dollars on something that's a franchise," Curtis said. "We as a society go, 'Good on ya!' But then if a woman says, 'Well, I would like that same piece of the pie,' I think people would think you’re being greedy, or you're not being grateful. As if somehow we as women have to be just grateful for the opportunity. Which we already explained we are!" To which Campbell responded, "We would like to make equal." "We have both worked for many, many, many years to continue our careers," Curtis said. "At some point it's OK to say, 'No, I'm going to get paid this or I'm not going to be able to play in your sandbox.' Campbell said then that she "did all right" with Scream 3, but did not get a back-end deal, which would have given her a cut of the movie's profits. | |
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| 06-07-22 11:58am - 835 days | #171 | |
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Donald Trump exposed as man who schemed to take the White House from Sleepy Joe Biden. ------ ------ The Hill Email shows fake Trump electors in Georgia told to conduct plan in ‘secrecy’ Monique Beals Mon, June 6, 2022 at 8:26 PM A Trump campaign staffer instructed a group of Republicans in Georgia who were planning to cast Electoral College votes for former President Trump to conduct the plan in “complete secrecy,” according to an email obtained by media outlets. The Washington Post and CNN reported Monday evening that the email, written by Trump campaign Georgia operations director Robert Sinners, instructed the fake electors to tell security at the state capitol that they had appointments with two state senators. “I must ask for your complete discretion in this process,” Sinners wrote. “Your duties are imperative to ensure the end result — a win in Georgia for President Trump — but will be hampered unless we have complete secrecy and discretion,” Sinners wrote. The Post reported that the email was sent on Dec. 13, 2020, and instructed the electors not to “mention anything to do with Presidential Electors or speak to the media.” The Hill has reached out to a representative for Trump and to the former president’s campaign for comment. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in January that the Department of Justice was investigating fake electors who supported Trump. Fake documents were sent to the National Archives in December alleging electors for the Electoral College supported Trump in seven states President Biden had won. People from Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin have since been subpoenaed to appear before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack for their involvement with the alleged scheme. The Jan. 6 committee is likely to highlight the newly uncovered email by a former Trump campaign staffer to fake electors during a prime-time hearing on Thursday, the Post noted. Sinners said in a statement that he was working on behalf of senior campaign officials and senior Republicans in the state and was “advised by attorneys that this was necessary in order to preserve the pending legal challenge,” according to the Post. Attorneys for Trump had for months after the 2020 election embarked on an ineffective legal campaign across the country in an attempt to overturn Biden’s victory, which ultimately failed. Sinners now works for Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R), who recently fended off a Trump-backed primary challenger after Raffensperger refused to take up the former president’s effort to overturn the presidential election in the state, and he added that his “views on the matter have changed significantly from where they were on December 13th.” | |
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| 06-08-22 12:33am - 835 days | #172 | |
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Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Trump and his allies reveal the truth: black people are the ones who kill people. Guns are not responsible. It's the black people. And we only need one door to enter a school. Too many doors, and we get people dying. Sell more guns to the cops and teachers, and we can stop the violence. Let's make America great again. Make America white. And free. And now we have a black woman on the Supreme Court. She will bring America down. ---- ---- Trump-backed Senate candidate Blake Masters blames gun violence on Black people NBC Universal Janelle Griffith June 7, 2022, 8:19 AM Blake Masters, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Arizona who was recently endorsed by former President Donald Trump, said on a podcast this year that "Black people, frankly" are to blame for America's gun violence problem. "We do have a gun violence problem in this country, and it's gang violence," Masters said on "The Jeff Oravits Show" in April. "It's gangs. It's people in Chicago, St. Louis shooting each other. Very often, you know, Black people, frankly. And the Democrats don't want to do anything about that." Masters also claimed Democrats "are weak on crime" and "don't like the Second Amendment" because "it frankly blocks a lot of their plans for us." During the same podcast, when asked what he thought about President Joe Biden's Supreme Court nominee Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman confirmed to the court, Masters said she was "a horrible pick" and that she was an "affirmative action candidate." Masters did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday. Masters has promoted Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. He has also repeatedly echoed the "great replacement theory" — a white supremacist conspiracy theory that there is a plot to diminish the influence of white people in the U.S. — by baselessly claiming that Democrats want to grant amnesty to thousands of immigrants in order to "make them voters." Last month, a white, 18-year-old gunman who is believed to have subscribed to the "great replacement theory" opened fire at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, killing 10 people and injuring three, almost all of them Black, authorities said. Authorities have described the incident as a racially motivated hate crime. Less than two weeks later, a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers and injured more than a dozen others at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. A number of Republicans have singled out large cities when questioned about whether stricter gun laws would prevent mass shootings. During a news conference about the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott pointed to Chicago as an example of why tough gun laws fail to prevent gun violence. Abbott blamed the shooting on a mental health crisis. "We need to realize that people who think that, 'Well, maybe if we could just implement tougher gun laws, it's going to solve it,' Chicago and L.A. and New York disprove that thesis," Abbott said at a May 25 news conference. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot both condemned his remarks. "Shame on you, @GovAbbott," Pritzker tweeted, linking to a report that a majority of guns used in Chicago crimes came from outside of Illinois. "Don't feed into the false narrative about Chicago and Illinois — it's an excuse that politicians like you hide behind to stop the federal legislation we need to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people." "You are lying about Chicago and what actually perpetuates gun violence. The majority of guns used in Chicago shootings come from states with lax gun laws," Pritzker added. "Do better. You have 19 kids and two teachers who deserve our best." | |
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| 06-08-22 12:29pm - 834 days | #173 | |
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Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Donald Trump, the wealthiest President of the Untied States of Trumperland we've ever known, has a problem in reporting foreign gifts. But not to worry. Trump has so much money, he doesn't need to report gifts, even though the law says he's supposed to. The gifts included a bottle of whiskey worth $5,800, which Japanese officials gave then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo before it mysteriously vanished. If the gifts vanished mysteriously, then no one can be blamed. And you can't sue the government for fraud: because that's just politics as usual. ---- ---- House panel probes 'serious deficiencies' in Trump’s accounting of foreign gifts NBC Universal Zoë Richards June 7, 2022, 2:30 PM A House committee on Tuesday announced an investigation into former President Donald Trump over his administration's apparent failure to properly record gifts from foreign government officials as required by law. House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., sent a letter Monday to the National Archives seeking documents about "mismanaged gifts" received from foreign government officials while Trump was in office. She said the committee's concerns stem from information recently provided by the State Department. “These revelations raise concerns about the potential for undue influence over former President Trump by foreign governments,” Maloney wrote. The committee said that in a briefing last month on the tracking and reporting process for White House gifts, the State Department informed it of "serious deficiencies in that process during the Trump Administration." CNN first reported on the investigation. In April, the State Department said missing data from the White House prevented it from compiling a satisfactory accounting of gifts foreign governments presented to Trump and other U.S. officials in 2020. Trump accepted multiple gifts from foreign sources Maloney said in her letter that the Trump administration's failed tabulation of gifts may have threatened U.S. national security and foreign policy interests and may have violated the Constitution’s emoluments clause, which prohibits the president from keeping gifts for personal use if they exceed the "minimal value," which is currently $415. Trump accepted multiple gifts from foreign sources in 2020, but the gifts appear to be missing from the State Department’s list of foreign gifts, which it's required to compile. After gifts disappeared from the State Department vault in the final weeks of Trump's presidency, the State Department's Office of the Inspector General said it would investigate whether some of Trump's political appointees had taken taxpayer-funded presents home with them, noting that the dollar value of the missing gifts was "significant." The gifts included a bottle of whiskey worth $5,800, which Japanese officials gave then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo before it mysteriously vanished. In her letter, Maloney cited other gifts, such as a Louis Vuitton golf bag and photographs from French President Emmanuel Macron allegedly valued at more than $8,200 and a gold-framed portrait of Trump from the prime minister of Vietnam valued at more than $3,000. Maloney requested all documents and communications related to foreign gifts received by Trump, his family members and White House staff members by June 20. A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment. House Democrats have launched other investigations into the Trump administration after his presidency ended. While he was in office, congressional Democrats tried unsuccessfully to sue Trump over alleged violations of the emoluments clause, arguing that he broke the law with his businesses, particularly with Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. | |
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| 06-08-22 12:40pm - 834 days | #174 | |
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Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
The FBI is being sued for $1B+ over Nassar. Former Olympic gymnasts say the FBI didn't do its job. The FBI knew, in 2015, that Nassar was accused of molesting gymnasts. But did nothing to stop him. The FBI is proud and strong. That's why they whitewashed Brett Kanvanaugh in his Supreme Court investigation. Molesting women is a man's duty, the FBI says, standing proud with Donald Trump, the man who says if you're a real man, grab women by the pussy. ----- ----- Simone Biles, others seek $1B-plus from FBI over Nassar Associated Press ED WHITE June 8, 2022, 4:40 AM DETROIT (AP) — Former Olympic gymnasts, including gold medalist Simone Biles, are among dozens of assault victims who are seeking more than $1 billion from the FBI for failing to stop sports doctor Larry Nassar, lawyers said Wednesday. There's no dispute that FBI agents in 2015 knew that Nassar was accused of molesting gymnasts, but they failed to act, leaving him free to continue to target young women and girls for more than a year. "It is time for the FBI to be held accountable,” said Maggie Nichols, a national champion gymnast at Oklahoma in 2017-19. Under federal law, a government agency has six months to respond to the tort claims filed Wednesday. Lawsuits could follow, depending on the FBI’s response. The Justice Department said in May that it would not pursue criminal charges against former FBI agents who failed to quickly open an investigation. The approximately 90 claimants include Biles, Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney, all Olympic gold medalists, according to Manly, Stewart & Finaldi, a California law firm. "If the FBI had simply done its job, Nassar would have been stopped before he ever had the chance to abuse hundreds of girls, including me,” said former University of Michigan gymnast Samantha Roy. Dr. Larry Nassar. (AP) Dr. Larry Nassar. (AP) Indianapolis-based USA Gymnastics told local FBI agents in 2015 that three gymnasts said they were assaulted by Nassar, a team doctor. But the FBI did not open a formal investigation or inform federal or state authorities in Michigan, according to the Justice Department's inspector general, an internal watchdog. Los Angeles FBI agents in 2016 began a sexual tourism investigation against Nassar and interviewed several victims but also didn’t alert Michigan authorities, the inspector general said. Nassar wasn’t arrested until fall 2016 during an investigation by Michigan State University police. He was a doctor at Michigan State. The Michigan attorney general’s office ultimately handled the assault charges against Nassar, while federal prosecutors in Grand Rapids, Michigan, filed a child pornography case. He is serving decades in prison. The FBI declined to comment in April when a smaller batch of claims was filed, referring instead to Director Christopher Wray’s remarks to Congress in 2021. “I’m especially sorry that there were people at the FBI who had their own chance to stop this monster back in 2015 and failed. And that’s inexcusable,” Wray told victims at a Senate hearing. Michigan State University, which was also accused of missing chances over many years to stop Nassar, agreed to pay $500 million to more than 300 women and girls who were assaulted. USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee made a $380 million settlement. | |
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| 06-08-22 05:42pm - 834 days | #175 | |
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NY Republican has conspiracy posts under his name. Denies he posted them. Says that he is innocent. He is just like Trump, the most honest Republican the world has ever seen. The GOP is the party of the loonies, rich and poor, who will defend America against the Evil Invaders From Outer Space. ------- ------- NY House candidate posts about mass shooting conspiracies Associated Press MICHELLE L. PRICE June 8, 2022, 1:00 PM NEW YORK (AP) — A New York Republican running to represent a congressional district that includes suburbs of Buffalo, New York, shared and deleted a conspiracy-laden Facebook post suggesting a racist mass shooting in Buffalo and other mass killings were part of a plot to take away people's guns. The lengthy June 1 post shared by Buffalo developer Carl Paladino said in almost every mass shooting, including the shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo last month and a shooting at a Texas elementary school, “there are strange occurrences that are never fully explained.” The post also included theories about CIA mind-control and the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and John Lennon, and vaccines. Reached on his cellphone Wednesday by The Associated Press, Paladino said “That’s all water under the bridge,” and “I didn’t write it,” before hanging up. He did not answer a call back. The politician on Tuesday initially told The Buffalo News and WIVB-TV in interviews that he did not personally make the post and it was posted by someone else who had access to his account. But in a follow-up interview with the Buffalo News on Wednesday, he changed his story and said, “Yes, I did it.” “I just didn’t remember the fact that I published it; I couldn’t remember. It was written by Jeff Briggs, a good friend from Rochester. I published it because he is a friend,” he said. Video: NYC mayor urges Congress to pass gun safety bills Paladino told the newspaper that on Wednesday he recalled that he only “scanned” the post before sharing it and that he sometimes passes on materials with which he does not agree. He said he does not subscribe to the “conspiracy theories” in the post but accepted some of its points. It was not clear which points he accepted. Paladino was on the Buffalo School Board in December 2016 when he wrote that he wanted to see President Barack Obama dead of mad cow disease and first lady Michelle Obama “return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla.” Amid an uproar, he said the comments, published in the local Artvoice newspaper, were not meant for publication but he called them “inappropriate” nevertheless. The state education commissioner removed Paladino from the Buffalo School Board soon after for disclosing confidential school board business. During his unsuccessful run for governor in 2010, Paladino apologized for forwarding emails to friends that included racist jokes and pornography. Paladino is now running in a district currently held by Republican Rep. Chris Jacobs, who announced last week he would not seek reelection after facing backlash from his own party for voicing support for new gun control measures. Jacobs, in the wake of recent mass shootings, said he would vote for a federal assault weapons ban and other measures if he had a chance and expressed support for limiting magazine capacity, banning body armor for civilians and raising the age limit to purchase semi-automatic weapons to 21. Jacobs currently represents New York’s 27th Congressional District, but was running for the newly redrawn 23rd District. Before his comments on gun control, he was considered a favorite in the new district, which includes large swaths of new voters, including rural counties. Shortly after Jacobs announcement last week that he would not run, Paladino was endorsed by New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, a member of GOP leadership and rising star in the party. Stefanik’s campaign did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on Paladino's post. ___ Associated Press writer Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, New York contributed to this report. | |
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| 06-08-22 06:08pm - 834 days | #176 | |
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Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Memphis Tennessee politicians object to police escort for Donald Trump, citing Trump's habit of not paying for the police escort. That's one reason Donald Trump is so rich: he's an expert at stiffing people he owes money to. ------- ------- HuffPost Memphis Politicians Object To Police Escort At Trump Rally, Citing Unpaid Bills Mary Papenfuss Mon, June 6, 2022 at 6:18 PM Members of the city council of Memphis, Tennessee, object to the city paying for police to escort Donald Trump to a nearby rally later this month because the former president doesn’t pay his bills. “He’s notorious for not paying,” Democratic City Council Member Martavius Jones noted last week to NBC affiliate Action News 5 in Memphis. “When you talk about these rallies, there are huge expenses that various jurisdictions have to pay, and these expenditures are not being reimbursed by the Trump campaign or Trump organization,” he added. The Center for Public Integrity reported in 2020 that Trump owed nearly $2 million at that time to 14 different police agencies and local governments for the services they provided at his rallies. Albuquerque, New Mexico, officials were so frustrated last year with a long-overdue $211,000 debt owed by the Trump campaign that they sent the bill directly to the former president’s Mar-a-Lago resort. El Paso, Texas, officials told KXAN-TV just last month that they’re still awaiting a $570,000 payment for the cost of a Trump reelection rally in 2019. The Trump rally on June 18 will be held in Southhaven, Mississippi, which is about a 20-minute drive from the Memphis airport. Jones and fellow Council Member JB Smiley, who’s running for Tennessee governor, plan to introduce a resolution Tuesday to the full council asking the Memphis Police Department not to provide any manpower or other resources for Trump’s appearance. “As we know, the Memphis Police Department is already experiencing a shortage of officers to patrol our communities. I do not believe that it is a prudent use of police manpower and Memphians’ taxpayer dollars to escort the former president to an event in Mississippi,” Smiley said in a statement. “He’s no longer the president. He has a Secret Service detail, I think that’s sufficient,” Smiley told Action News. Larry Ward, a spokesperson for Trump’s rally organizer, The American Freedom Tour, said the councilmen’s proposal is “mean-spirited, partisan, preposterous and penurious.” A Memphis Police Department spokesperson told Action News 5 that if the police are “asked to assist any federal partner regarding the safety of a group or individual, we will assist.” This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. Related... Actually, 10 Cities Are Reportedly Waiting For Trump Campaign To Pay $841,000 In Rally Bills Trump Should Cough Up His Debt To El Paso Before He Tours Border: Judge Albuquerque Sends Overdue $211,000 Trump Campaign Bill Direct To Mar-a-Lago Tucson Mayor Calls Out Trump Over $80,000 Rally Debt Before New Superspreader Event Trump set to undergo questioning in July in NY civil probe Associated Press | |
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| 06-09-22 11:55am - 833 days | #177 | |
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Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
FBI arrests Ryan Kelley, GOP candidate for Michigan governor. The GOP is the party that wants to make America great again, by taking the White House away from Sleepy Joe Biden and giving it to Donald Trump. And if the US voters voted for Biden instead of Trump, fuck the US voters. Trump deserves the White House. ----- ----- FBI arrests Ryan Kelley, GOP candidate for Michigan governor, for his role in Capitol riot Yahoo News Christopher Wilson June 9, 2022, 9:54 AM Ryan Kelley, a Republican candidate for governor in Michigan, was arrested Thursday morning and charged with participating in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. After the execution of a search warrant on his home in Allendale, Mich., Kelley was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor, according to U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. The arrest comes hours before the committee investigating the events of Jan. 6 is set to hold its first public hearing. While the real estate broker had downplayed his involvement in the violence at the Capitol, analysis of multiple videos show Kelley on the steps outside the building rallying the crowd. Last summer, the Michigan Democratic Party promoted a video of Kelley at the time, saying, “Come on, let’s go! This is it! This is — this is war, baby!” Ryan Kelley at the podium, with a column in the background. Ryan Kelley, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, speaks a rally on Feb. 8 outside the Michigan Capitol in Lansing to conservative activists demanding a new investigation into former President Donald Trump's loss in the 2020 presidential race. (Jake May/The Flint Journal via AP) “As far as going through any barricades, or doing anything like that, I never took part in any forceful anything,” Kelley told MLive in March 2021, after launching his campaign. “Once things started getting crazy, I left.” According to the statement of facts supporting the criminal complaint against Kelley, the FBI first began receiving tips about Kelley’s involvement in the weeks after the violence of Jan. 6. The document states that an FBI agent interviewed Kelley in an attempt to confirm his identity. Kelley has been charged with knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, knowingly engaging in an act of physical violence against person or property in a restricted building or grounds and willfully injuring or committing any depredation against a property of the United States. Kelley is among the many Michigan GOP members challenging Democratic incumbent Gretchen Whitmer in this fall’s midterm election. Five potential candidates were disqualified for submitting too many fraudulent signatures, but Kelly is likely to be one of five remaining Republicans on the ballot for the August primary. His previous experience of office was on his local township’s planning commission. Kelley also helped organize armed protests against Whitmer’s COVID measures and fought to keep a Confederate statue in the Union state. "To me that’s one step closer to being able to tear down other things that represent our history, like the Constitution. And that’s a scary thing, right?" Kelley told WWMT news in June 2020, during the protests following the death of George Floyd. "We need to celebrate our history, to remember our history, and why the freedom of slavery happened. It’s because it’s wrong in every capacity. So if we continue to tear down things like this and erase our history, when do we erase the Constitution?" The rioters got within 2 doors of Vice President Mike Pence's office. See how in this 3D explainer from Yahoo Immersive. | |
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| 06-09-22 12:10pm - 833 days | #178 | |
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Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Hollywood's top execs are hoarding the gold in Hollywood. Warner Bros. Discovery Chief Executive David Zaslav took home $246 million in compensation for 2021. But not to worry: It's only money. And Donald Trump, the man who knows how to make a deal, is coming to Hollywood to make sure that women are treated the way they should be. Donald is a firm supporter of women's rights. ---- ---- WrapPRO The Essential Source for Entertainment Insiders Top row, from left: Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings, Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch, Paramount CEO Bob Bakish, and Disney CEO Bob Chapek. Bottom row, from left: Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, and Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav. (Getty Images, Christopher Smith/TheWrap) Why Hollywood CEOs Could Face a Payday Reckoning Next Year by Joe Bel Bruno | June 9, 2022 @ 6:00 AM Rebuking exorbitant chief executive pay is destined to be on the table at next year’s shareholder meetings amid lackluster earnings and a looming recession Hollywood quietly achieved a record this year when it comes to the lucrative compensation packages awarded to CEOs running all the nation’s major television, movie, and streaming businesses — but it’s becoming clear that come next year, shareholders will take CEOs to task where it really hurts: their paychecks. Hardly an eyebrow was raised when Warner Bros. Discovery Chief Executive David Zaslav took home $246 million in compensation for 2021, more than six times his 2020 pay (and well above his all-time high of $156.1 million in 2014). It was the most money paid to a studio CEO for one year’s work — and higher than the combined paychecks for the CEOs of Disney, Netflix, Paramount, Comcast, Lionsgate and Fox. Continue reading There’s growing sentiment that shareholders who have been begrudgingly complacent with $20 million to $50 million paydays seen in the past will soon change their tune. Exorbitant pay can be somewhat tolerated for companies making cash hand over fist, but those days might be coming to an end and a day of reckoning approaching. “Compensation at $246 million is going to be hard to explain regardless of if they are making money,” one top investment executive at a major state pension fund that owns shares of both Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery in its portfolio told TheWrap. “We’ve had to grin and bear it for the most part when the company is making money. But, how do you explain a high compensation level when the company isn’t performing well?” Managers of most pension funds must adhere to rules over the kind of companies they invest in for the retirement plans of public workers, this exec said, and there are bylaws and mandates about executive compensation levels. For example, a CEO might not surpass a certain amount unless the company is hitting similar performance for revenue and profit. These institutional investors are the biggest target for shareholders rights groups, who in years past tried to build a coalition of investors for proxy battles on such hot-button issues as executive compensation. Earlier this year, three of those groups — Institutional Shareholder Services, Glass Lewis & Co., and Egan-Jones Proxy Services — recommended that clients reject Discovery’s compensation proposal for Zaslav despite closing the blockbuster $43 billion merger with WarnerMedia. ISS called out the cable content provider as having “a long history of poor pay practices” and the 2021 amount was “disproportionate to company performance.” Why Warner Bros. Discovery Chief David Zaslav Could Fill Entertainment’s Celebrity CEO Void Also Read: Why Warner Bros. Discovery Chief David Zaslav Could Fill Entertainment’s Celebrity CEO Void Though all three declined to comment about future actions in the entertainment space, several fund managers told TheWrap they believe the shareholder rights groups will mount an even bigger campaign to curb top execs’ pay packages in 2022. While recent shareholder meetings were held online in abbreviated sessions due to COVID-19, they’re expected to be held in public again next year and that will have a huge impact. Last week, Netflix’s annual meeting clocked in at 17 minutes and only had three investors take the virtual floor to introduce votes on shareholder proxy proposals. There was also no question and answer time, which can balloon general meetings to all-day affairs. “Those can be sideshows, but from a financial standpoint we’re still looking in general at media and entertainment companies who have been untethered from reality for the last decade,” LightShed Partners analyst Rich Greenfield said. “They have been unhinged from reality for so long that I’m almost numb to it, it’s in so many ways disturbing but nobody seems to care.” Why No One Has Jumped at Buying ‘Bite-Sized’ Netflix Right Now Also Read: Why No One Has Jumped at Buying ‘Bite-Sized’ Netflix Right Now There’s a perfect storm brewing that could draw attention to how much CEOs are paid, Greenfield said. Stock performance, the future of Hollywood’s streaming ambitions and how much advertising business can be drummed up during an expected downturn in the economy will all factor into how the sector performs. Entertainment conglomerates would be especially hard hit as TV advertisers reduce budgets, families cancel summer vacations to Disney World and Universal studios and more disruption ahead for streaming services. “It’s about the downturn and how they navigate it,” Greenfield said. “Shareholders want to see returns.” Wall Street may have more pain in store for the nation’s biggest entertainment players whose stock prices have been pummeled this year. The S&P 500 Media and Entertainment index, a key barometer for the sector, is already down 33% since last August’s all-time high. Disney stock continues to flounder this year after CEO Bob Chapek came under sharp attack when the company announced his compensation package had doubled to $32.5 million. Why Disney CEO Bob Chapek Gets Both an A and an F on His 2nd-Year Report Card Also Read: Why Disney CEO Bob Chapek Gets Both an A and an F on His 2nd-Year Report Card This angered investors and employees since Chapek, whom disgruntled Disney staff started to call “Paychek” as a nickname, had made a series of major fumbles over the last year. The missteps ranged from alienating top talent like Scarlett Johansson, who sued the studio over her backend deal for the routed-to-streaming film “Black Widow,” to flubbing the company’s public response to Florida’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill that now has become law. There was even speculation Chapek’s contract wouldn’t be renewed next year, and that former CEO Bob Iger would come back in. The company, and Iger, rejected that speculation. The Economic Policy Institute reported that the median CEO compensation for U.S. companies reached $20 million in 2021, up 31% from the previous year. Much of that was due to a jump in stock awards and cash bonuses that were activated when the stock market surged. The amount is a 31% increase from the previous year, and registers at 254 times more than the average worker made last year, according to the Equilar 100, which offers a broad look at CEO compensation among the largest companies by revenue. Here’s a look at how several of Hollywood’s chief executives fared during 2021. Paramount Global President and CEO Bob Bakish made $20 million in 2021. Sumner Redstone, the media mogul who built an entertainment empire with CBS and Viacom, was an executive known for keeping people guessing (even famously announcing that his daughter Shari Redstone would never succeed him, and then later appointing her to do just that). Paramount Global President and CEO Bob Bakish, who credits Redstone with his success in the media world, must have learned a thing or two about keeping people guessing. This year he’s both hinted the company could be for sale and believes Paramount Global’s content factory makes it a rival to Disney. Either way, shareholders have to appreciate that Bakish’s compensation of $20 million is among the lowest of Hollywood’s top CEOs. He’s still under pressure to jumpstart the company’s streaming assets for success as a standalone company — or push further into content to make Paramount too hard to pass up for a potential buyer. Shares of the company are down 27% this year, despite billionaire stock picker Warren Buffet’s $2.6 billion investment and reports of a sale. Disney CEO Bob Chapek made $32.5 million in 2021. Well, this year escalated quickly. It has only been four months since Disney CEO Bob Chapek was embroiled in multiple controversies at once: backlash over Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, backlash after coming against the “Don’t Say Gay” bill from Gov. Ron DeSantis, backlash from LGBTQ employees and groups upset he didn’t do enough. With all this backlash, about his $32.5 million 2021 payday, calls for his firing resulted in a very combative first full year as CEO since Iger retired. The noise has quieted down, but Chapek faces a pretty tough end of the year. Disney has already warned that its next two quarters will come in lower than expectations (the first half did better than the company expected, leaving the back half more uncertain). It will also be a tough slog for Chapek to collect a big compensation package for 2022 considering the stock price is down 40% in the past year, a stunning drop for a Dow Jones industrial average component. Lionsgate Entertainment CEO made $19.1 million in 2021. | |
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| 06-09-22 01:32pm - 833 days | #179 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
This is not right: a police officer has the right to defend himself. And this officer was charged with second-degree murder, just because he shot a black man in the back of his head. The mistake the officer made, was not getting all evidence of the shooting, and reviewing it before it was allowed out of his jurisdiction. However, the case will go to court, where the police officer can establish his innocence. Can Donald Trump, defender of the poor, testify at the trial, in the police officer's defense? Everyone knows that Trump is a fan of law and order. Except when the laws apply to Trump. ---- ---- Michigan officer charged with murder in Lyoya shooting Associated Press JOHN FLESHER and ED WHITE June 9, 2022, 12:19 PM GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan police officer who killed Patrick Lyoya, a Black man, with a shot to the back of his head has been charged with second-degree murder. Prosecutor Chris Becker announced charges Thursday against Grand Rapids Officer Christopher Schurr, weeks after Lyoya was killed following a chaotic traffic stop on April 4. The 26-year-old Lyoya was on the ground when he was killed. The shooting was recorded on video by a bystander. “The death was not justified or excused ... by self defense,” Becker said, referring to an element of second-degree murder. Schurr, who is white, told Lyoya that he stopped his car because the license plate didn’t match the vehicle. Roughly a minute into the stop, Lyoya began to run after he was asked to produce a driver’s license. Schurr caught him quickly, and the two struggled across a front lawn. The officer demanded that Lyoya “let go” of Schurr’s Taser before he fired the fatal shot. Becker said he consulted experts from outside Michigan about the use of force in the case. Attorney Ven Johnson in Detroit with at least one member of Lyoya’s family present said the prosecutor called Johnson and the family about two minutes before making the announcement that the officer is being charged. “You will not see any celebration on behalf of the Lyoya family,” Johnson said. The Grand Rapids police chief released video from four different sources on April 13. Attorneys for Lyoya’s family have called the death an “execution.” Grand Rapids, population about 200,000, is 160 miles (260 kilometers) west of Detroit. Schurr has been a police officer since 2015. His personnel file shows no complaints of excessive force but much praise for traffic stops and foot chases that led to arrests and the seizure of guns and drugs. The shooting turned into an immediate crisis for police Chief Eric Winstrom, who was a commander in Chicago before taking charge in Grand Rapids early in March. At a community forum in April, Winstrom said he wanted to put more emphasis on officers knowing how to turn down the heat during tense situations. “I guarantee that we can do more,” he said. “Actually, that’s one of the things I’ve already reached out to my colleagues to say, ‘Hey, I need some curriculum, because we are going to beef it up.’” ___ White reported from Detroit, and Corey Williams in Detroit contributed. | |
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| 06-09-22 06:30pm - 833 days | #180 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
GOP says everyone bears responsibility for the Jan. 6 2021 attack. Therefore, no one is to blame. Therefore, any member of the GOP must be arrested for treason. This includes crazy Republican Congressmen and Republican Senators. Justice for all. Arrest all Republicans. Put them in jail. If we have the funds, pay for people to help their minds. But transfer them to prison, once we have enough prisons to hold all Republicans. End of story. ---- ---- McCarthy says 'everybody in the country' bears responsibility for Jan. 6 attack Yahoo News David Knowles June 9, 2022, 12:38 PM As the Jan. 6 select committee prepares to unveil some of the findings of its investigation into the riot at the Capitol by those who sought to overturn the results of the 2020 election, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Thursday offered his spin on who was to blame for the attack: everyone. During a news conference on Capitol Hill, McCarthy was asked whether he still agreed with his own public and private comments following the Jan. 6 riot that former President Donald Trump bore some of the responsibility for the violence. “Look, I’ve answered that many times,” McCarthy responded. “I thought everybody in the country [bore] some responsibility based on what has been going on — the riots in the streets, the others." (He has made similar claims in the past.) The attack itself was committed by a mob of then-President Donald Trump's supporters, who stormed the Capitol in an attempt to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the Electoral College. So far, 306 of the 860 charged in connection with the riot have pleaded guilty. A number of Capitol Police officers were assaulted during attack, which followed Trump holding a nearby rally and urging his fans to “fight like hell” on behalf of his false claim that the election was stolen. McCarthy’s comment was an apparent reference to the protests that gripped the country following the police killings of Black Americans in several cities in 2020. The violence that occurred in those demonstrations has provided Republicans with a line of argument to suggest that the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was simply part of a larger pattern. Last week, five Republicans — Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and Sen. Mike Lee of Utah — sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding to know why, since the Department of Justice has charged 510 individuals in connection with the Jan. 6 riot, there hasn't been a similar effort to prosecute those who protested racial injustice. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., at a news conference on Thursday. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images) The letter states that “the potential unequal administration of justice with respect to certain protesters is particularly concerning.” Three of the senators — Cruz, Scott and Tuberville — voted to object to the certification of the Electoral College votes on Jan. 6. While all of the senators who sent the letter said they “fully support” to hold the Jan. 6 rioters accountable, they also expressed their worry that the administration of “unequal justice” regarding violent Black Lives Matter protesters. Other Republicans have gone even further, suggesting that the protests over racial injustice were far worse than what transpired on Jan. 6. On Wednesday, Washington Commanders football coach Jack Del Rio told reporters, “I see the images on TV. People’s livelihoods are being destroyed, businesses are being burned down — no problem. And then we have a dust-up at the Capitol, nothing burned down ... and we’re going to make that a major deal.” Meanwhile, Trump continues to frame his efforts as legitimate despite the courts, state audits and independent investigations repeatedly dismissing his election conspiracies as baseless. On Thursday, Trump touted the events of that day in Herculean terms. “The Unselect Committee didn’t spend one minute studying the reason that people went to Washington, D.C., in massive numbers, far greater than the Fake News Media is willing to report, or that the Unselects are willing to even mention, because January 6th was not a protest, it represented the greatest movement in the history of our Country to Make America Great Again,” Trump wrote in a statement. “It was about an Election that was Rigged and Stolen, and a Country that was about to go to HELL..& look at our Country now!” Donald Trump Donald Trump in Casper, Wyo., last month. (Chet Strange/Getty Images) A Yahoo News/YouGov poll released on May 25 found that 63% of Republicans still believe Trump's claim that the election was rigged against him, down from 69% who said they believed that falsehood when asked in January. As for McCarthy, his views would seem to have shifted more dramatically. In April, the New York Times revealed that McCarthy said that Trump “bears responsibility for his words and actions” leading up to and on Jan. 6. Additionally, McCarthy told Republican colleagues that Trump had personally told him that “he does have some responsibility for what happened and he’d need to acknowledge that,” and that McCarthy was considering telling Trump that it was his “recommendation you should resign.” McCarthy aims to be House speaker after the November elections and likely needs Trump’s support for his bid to be successful. He initially denied the report in the Times, but admitted to it after the Times published audio of his comments. | |
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| 06-10-22 12:37pm - 832 days | #181 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Donald Trump reveals the truth: He's the real President of the Untied States of Trumperland. Sleepy Joe Biden, and the Democrats from Hell, stole the White House from God's annointed son on Earth, Donald Trump. Former Attorney General William Barr is a low-down dirty coward and liar. The Jan. 6 2021 riots were not riots, but a demonstration by loyal subjects of the Untied States to prevent Evil Democrats from destroying our beautiful nation. Because Donald Trump, affectionately known as General Bonespurs, pleaded for the demonstrators to remain peaceful, he unknowingly let the Foul Democrats stab him in the back, and take the Whitest House away from him. ---- ---- Trump rails against Barr and Jan. 6 committee’s primetime hearing Yahoo News Dylan Stableford June 10, 2022, 11:17 AM Hours after the Jan. 6 committee said it had uncovered evidence that former President Donald Trump was at the center of the conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election, Trump lashed out at the panel’s primetime presentation. In posts Friday on his fledgling social media platform Truth Social, Trump downplayed the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol by a violent mob of his supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, and denied he incited it. “The so-called ‘Rush on the Capitol’ was not caused by me, it was caused by a Rigged and Stolen Election!” he fumed. Trump railed against former Attorney General William Barr, who was shown on video testifying to the bipartisan committee that he had told Trump repeatedly that his election fraud claims were “bulls***.” President Trump and his post on social media. (Photo Illustration: Yahoo News; photo: AP, via Truth) President Trump and his post on social media. (Photo Illustration: Yahoo News; photo: AP, via Truth) “Bill Barr was a weak and frightened Attorney General who was always being ‘played’ and threatened by the Democrats and was scared stiff of being Impeached,” Trump wrote in one post. “How do you not get impeached? Do nothing, or say nothing, especially about the obviously RIGGED & STOLEN Election.” “The Democrats hit pay dirt with Barr,” Trump continued. “He was stupid, ridiculously said there was no problem with the Election, & they left him alone.” In another post, Trump referred to Barr as a “coward” who had specifically refused to investigate his claims of “rampant” fraud in Philadelphia. The former president did not offer evidence to support his claims. A makeshift gallows with an orange noose frames the U.S. Capitol. A noose hangs on makeshift gallows on Jan. 6, 2021, as supporters of then-President Donald Trump storm the Capitol. (Photo by Andrew Caballero/AFP via Getty Images) Trump disputed the assertion by Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the committee’s vice chair, who said that testimony from his aides will show Trump was not concerned that his supporters were threatening Vice President Mike Pence’s life on Jan. 6. According to Cheney, when Trump learned they were chanting “Hang Mike Pence!” he said, "Maybe our supporters have the right idea," adding that Pence “deserves” it. “I NEVER said, or even thought of saying, ‘Hang Mike Pence,’” Trump wrote. “This is either a made up story somebody looking to become a star, or FAKE NEWS!” A large screen shows Ivanka Trump, with members of the Jan. 6 committee seated at the hearing beneath it. The videotaped testimony of Ivanka Trump appears on a video screen during Thursday's hearing of the Jan. 6 committee. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) Trump also seemed to shrug off video of testimony by his daughter and adviser, Ivanka Trump, who told the committee that she agreed with Barr that there was no evidence to support her father’s claims of election fraud, and that she “accepted” his loss. “Ivanka was not involved in looking at, or studying, Election results,” Trump wrote. “He had long since checked out and was, in my opinion, only trying to be respectful to Bill Barr and his position as Attorney General (he sucked!).” _____ The rioters got within 2 doors of Vice President Mike Pence's office. See how in this 3D explainer from Yahoo Immersive. | |
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| 06-10-22 12:46pm - 832 days | #182 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
White supremacists are revealing the truth: the CIA and the FBI, tasked with upholding the law, are behind the mass shootings that are terrifying our nation. The CIA and the FBI hold weapons of mass destruction. But they are killing people in the name of the law. Can no one stop them????? ---- ---- White supremacists are riling up thousands on social media Associated Press AMANDA SEITZ June 10, 2022, 10:46 AM Scroll back up to restore default view. WASHINGTON (AP) — The social media posts are of a distinct type. They hint darkly that the CIA or the FBI are behind mass shootings. They traffic in racist, sexist and homophobic tropes. They revel in the prospect of a “white boy summer.” White nationalists and supremacists, on accounts often run by young men, are building thriving, macho communities across social media platforms like Instagram, Telegram and TikTok, evading detection with coded hashtags and innuendo. Their snarky memes and trendy videos are riling up thousands of followers on divisive issues including abortion, guns, immigration and LGBTQ rights. The Department of Homeland Security warned Tuesday that such skewed framing of the subjects could drive extremists to violently attack public places across the U.S. in the coming months. These type of threats and racist ideology have become so commonplace on social media that it’s nearly impossible for law enforcement to separate internet ramblings from dangerous, potentially violent people, Michael German, who infiltrated white supremacy groups as an FBI agent, told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. “It seems intuitive that effective social media monitoring might provide clues to help law enforcement prevent attacks," German said. “After all, the white supremacist attackers in Buffalo, Pittsburgh and El Paso all gained access to materials online and expressed their hateful, violent intentions on social media.” But, he continued, “so many false alarms drown out threats.” DHS and the FBI are also working with state and local agencies to raise awareness about the increased threat around the U.S. in the coming months. The heightened concern comes just weeks after a white 18-year-old entered a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, with the goal of killing as many Black patrons as possible. He gunned down 10. That shooter claims to have been introduced to neo-Nazi websites and a livestream of the 2019 Christchurch, New Zealand mosque shootings on the anonymous, online messaging board 4Chan. In 2018, the white man who gunned down 11 at a Pittsburgh synagogue shared his antisemitic rants on Gab, a site that attracts extremists. The year before, a 21-year-old white man who killed 23 people at a Walmart in the largely Hispanic city of El Paso, Texas, shared his anti-immigrant hate on the messaging board 8Chan. References to hate-filled ideologies are more elusive across mainstream platforms like Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and Telegram. To avoid detection from artificial intelligence-powered moderation, users don’t use obvious terms like “white genocide” or “white power” in conversation. They signal their beliefs in other ways: a Christian cross emoji in their profile or words like “anglo” or “pilled,” a term embraced by far-right chatrooms, in usernames. Most recently, some of these accounts have borrowed the pop song “White Boy Summer” to cheer on the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion on Roe v. Wade, according to an analysis by Zignal Labs, a social media intelligence firm. Facebook and Instagram owner Meta banned praise and support for white nationalist and separatists movements in 2019 on company platforms, but the social media shift to subtlety makes it difficult to moderate the posts. Meta says it has more than 350 experts, with backgrounds from national security to radicalization research, dedicated to ridding the site of such hateful speech. “We know these groups are determined to find new ways to try to evade our policies, and that’s why we invest in people and technology and work with outside experts to constantly update and improve our enforcement efforts,” David Tessler, the head of dangerous organizations and individuals policy for Meta, said in a statement. A closer look reveals hundreds of posts steeped in sexist, antisemitic, racist and homophobic content. In one Instagram post identified by The Associated Press, an account called White Primacy appeared to post a photo of a billboard that describes a common way Jewish people were exterminated during the Holocaust. “We’re just 75 years since the gas chambers. So no, a billboard calling out bigotry against Jews isn’t an overreaction,” the pictured billboard said. The caption of the post, however, denied gas chambers were used at all. The post’s comments were even worse: “If what they said really happened, we’d be in such a better place,” one user commented. “We’re going to finish what they started someday,” another wrote. The account, which had more than 4,000 followers, was immediately removed Tuesday, after the AP asked Meta about it. Meta has banned posts that deny the Holocaust on its platform since 2020. U.S. extremists are mimicking the social media strategy used by the Islamic State group, which turned to subtle language and images across Telegram, Facebook and YouTube a decade ago to evade the industry-wide crackdown of the terrorist group’s online presence, said Mia Bloom, a communications professor at Georgia State University. “They’re trying to recruit,” said Bloom, who has researched social media use for both Islamic State terrorists and far-right extremists. “We’re starting to see some of the same patterns with ISIS and the far-right. The coded speech, the ways to evade AI. The groups were appealing to a younger and younger crowd.” For example, on Instagram, one of the most popular apps for teens and young adults, white supremacists amplify each other’s content daily and point their followers to new accounts. In recent weeks, a cluster of those accounts has turned its sights on Pride Month, with some calling for gay marriage to be “re-criminalized” and others using the #Pride or rainbow flag emoji to post homophobic memes. Law enforcement agencies are already monitoring an active threat from a young Arizona man who says on his Telegram accounts that he is “leading the war” against retail giant Target for its Pride Month merchandise and children’s clothing line and has promised to “hunt LGBT supporters” at the stores. In videos posted to his Telegram and YouTube accounts, sometimes filmed at Target stores, he encourages others to go the stores as well. Target said in a statement that it is working with local and national law enforcement agencies who are investigating the videos. As society becomes more accepting of LGBTQ rights, the issue may be especially triggering for young men who have held traditional beliefs around relationships and marriage, Bloom said. “That might explain the vulnerability to radical belief systems: A lot of the beliefs that they grew up with, that they held rather firmly, are being shaken,” she said. “That’s where it becomes an opportunity for these groups: They’re lashing out and they’re picking on things that are very different.” ___ Associated Press writer Ben Fox in Washington contributed to this report. | |
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| 06-11-22 11:46am - 831 days | #183 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Contrary to popular belief, the defenders of the Alamo in the war for Texan independence—including Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and William B. Travis—did not die under brilliant sunlight, defending their positions against hordes of Mexican infantry. Instead, the American heroes of the Wild West moved to Scotland, where they hid in the shadowy caves and caverns of the Scottish Highlands, and transformed into secret vampire clans waging dark battles both deadly and passionate. This is the true story of how Scotland became the heartland of champions who fought to preserve Britain's independence from Adolf Hitler, the secret father of Donald Trump, the man who is trying to make America great again in the vision of his father, The Fuhrer. | |
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| 06-11-22 02:21pm - 831 days | #184 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Mother Russia, fighting for world peace, decides it's OK to kill civilian men, women and children. But if anyone gets in Russia's way, they can be killed as well. When will Sleepy Joe wake up, and send missiles to wipe out Best Buddy Putin, the ally of Donald Trump? ------- Ukraine: Russia said to be using more deadly weapons in war Associated Press DAVID KEYTON and JOHN LEICESTER June 11, 2022, 10:16 AM KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian and British officials warned Saturday that Russian forces are relying on weapons able to cause mass casualties as they try to make headway in capturing eastern Ukraine and fierce, prolonged fighting depletes resources on both sides. Russian bombers have likely been launching heavy 1960s-era anti-ship missiles in Ukraine, the U.K. Defense Ministry said. The Kh-22 missiles were primarily designed to destroy aircraft carriers using a nuclear warhead. When used in ground attacks with conventional warheads, they “are highly inaccurate and therefore can cause severe collateral damage and casualties,” the ministry said. Both sides have expended large amounts of weaponry in what has become a grinding war of attrition for the eastern region of coal mines and factories known as the Donbas, placing huge strains on their resources and stockpiles. Related video: Ukrainian military running out of ammunition Russia is likely using the 5.5-tonne (6.1-ton) anti-ship missiles because it is running short of more precise modern missiles, the British ministry said. It gave no details of where exactly such missiles are thought to have been deployed. As Russia also sought to consolidate it’s hold over territory seized so far in the 108-day war, U.S. Defense Secretary said Moscow's invasion of Ukraine “is what happens when oppressors trample the rules that protect us all.” “It’s what happens when big powers decide that their imperial appetites matter more than the rights of their peaceful neighbors,” Austin said during a visit to Asia. “And it’s a preview of a possible world of chaos and turmoil that none of us would want to live in.” ___ GOVERNOR: FLAMETHROWERS USED IN LUHANSK A Ukrainian governor accused Russia of using incendiary weapons in a village in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk province, southwest of the fiercely contested cities of Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk. While the use of flamethrowers on the battlefield is legal, Serhii Haidai, governor of Luhansk province, alleged the overnight attacks in Vrubivka caused widespread damage to civilian facilities and an unknown number of victims. "At night, the enemy used a flamethrower rocket system - many houses burnt down,” Haidai wrote on Telegram on Saturday. The accuracy of his claim could not be immediately verified. Sievierodonetsk and neighboring Lysychansk are the last major areas of Luhansk province remaining under Ukrainian control. Haidai said the Russians destroyed railway depots, a brick factory and a glass factory. The Ukrainian army said Saturday that Russian forces also were to launch an offensive on the Donetsk province city of Sloviansk. Donetsk and Luhansk together make up the Donbas, Moscow-backed rebels have controlled self-proclaimed republics in both provinces since 2014, and Russia is trying to seize the territory still in Ukrainian hands. ___ ZELENSKYY SEEKS MORE EU SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA During a visit to Kyiv by the European Union's top official, Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy called for a new round of “even stronger” EU sanctions against Russia. Zelenskyy called for the new sanctions to target more Russian officials, including judges, and to hamper the activities of all Russian banks, including gas giant Gazprom's bank, as well as all Russian companies helping Moscow “in any way.” He spoke during a brief press appearance with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the heavily guarded presidential office compound in Ukraine's capital. Von der Leyen was on her second visit to Ukraine since Russia invaded its neighbor. The pair discussed Ukraine’s aspirations for EU membership. Zelenskyy, speaking through a translator, said Ukraine “will do everything” to integrate with the bloc. “Russia wants to divide Europe, wants to weaken Europe,” he said. Von der Leyen said the EU's executive arm was “working day and night” on an assessment of Ukraine’s eligibility as an EU candidate. The goal is to have the review ready to share with the bloc's 27 existing members by the end of next week. Zelenskyy and some EU supporters want Ukraine admitted to the EU quickly. Von der Leyen described the membership process as “a merit-based path” and appealed for Ukraine to strengthen its rule of law, fight corruption and modernize its institutions. She praised Ukraine’s “strength and resilience” in the face of Russia's “horrible and atrocious” invasion and said the EU would assist with the country's reconstruction. ___ RUSSIA SETS UP COMPANY TO SELL UKRAINE'S GRAIN Russian-installed officials in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region have set up a company to buy up local grain and resell it on Moscow’s behalf, a local representative told the Interfax news agency on Saturday. Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of stealing Ukraine's grain and causing a global food crisis that could cause millions of deaths from hunger. Yevgeny Balitsky, the head of Zaporizhzhia's pro-Russian provisional administration, said the new state-owned grain company has taken control of several facilities. He said “the grain will be Russian” and “we don't care who the buyer will be.” It was not clear if the farmers whose grain was being sold by Russia were getting paid. Balitsky said his administration would not forcibly appropriate grain or pressure producers to sell it. The head of Ukraine’s presidential office accused Russia's military of shelling and burning grain fields ahead of the harvest. Andriy Yermak alleged Moscow is “trying to repeat” a Soviet-era famine which claimed the lives of over 3 million Ukrainians in 1932-33. “Our soldiers are putting out the fires, but (Russia’s) 'food terrorism' must be stopped,” Yermak wrote Saturday on Telegram. The accuracy of his and Balitsky's claims could not be independently verified. ___ RUSSIAN PASSPORTS FOR UKRAINE RESIDENTS Russian forces occupying parts of southern Ukraine began handing out Russian passports to local residents Saturday. In the Kherson region, 23 residents accepted Russian passports, including the new Moscow-installed governor, Russian state news agency its Moscow-installed governor, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported. “For me, this is a truly historic moment. I have always thought that we are one country and one people,” the news agency quoted the governor, Volodymyr Saldo, as saying. Russian forces also started awarding passports in the occupied city of Melitopol, according to Russian state news agency TASS agency. A Telegram post by TASS cited a Russian-installed local official as the original source of the information. It did not specify how many residents had requested or received Russian citizenship. Melitopol is located outside of the Donbas in the region of Zaporizhzhia, which is still held partly by Ukraine. ___ DEATH TOLL AMONG CHILDREN Nearly 800 children have been killed or injured in Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian authorities said Saturday. According to a statement by the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, at least 287 children died as a result of military activity, while at least 492 more have been injured. The statement stressed the figures were not final and said they were based on investigations by juvenile prosecutors. The office said children in Ukraine’s Donetsk province suffered the most, with 217 reported killed or injured, compared with 132 and 116, respectively, in the Kharkiv and Kyiv regions. ___ Follow AP’s coverage of the Ukraine war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | |
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| 06-11-22 02:26pm - 831 days | #185 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Fox News anchors joke that Trump family gatherings could be 'awkward' after Ivanka’s Jan. 6 testimony Yahoo TV Stephen Proctor June 9, 2022, 11:32 PM After declining to air the first January 6 Committee hearing, Fox News covered it with a special Fox News at Night With Shannon Bream featuring anchors Martha McCallum and Bret Baier. At the hearing, the committee played video of former Attorney General Bill Barr’s testimony, later followed by video of Ivanka Trump’s testimony. In his testimony, Barr said that he told former President Trump that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud, and that the former president’s claims were “bulls***.” The committee aired only a small portion of Ivanka’s testimony, but in it, she is shown agreeing with Barr and contradicting her father. “How did that affect your perspective about the election when Attorney General Barr made that statement?” Ivanka was asked. “It affected my perspective,” she replied. “I respect Attorney General Barr, so I accepted what he was saying.” “I think that was sort of part of them laying that out and establishing that he (Trump) was on his own on that thinking,” McCallum said. “But, you know, on the second time watching that from Ivanka Trump, it strikes me she was put in a very difficult position. Essentially, what she’s saying there is, ‘I believed what Bill Barr said over what my father was saying.’ And that is — it could not have been a very easy moment for her.” That’s when Baier cut in, joking that Ivanka’s testimony could make things a little weird at Thanksgiving. “Makes Thanksgiving a little tough,” Baier said, laughing. McCallum replied, “It makes Thanksgiving a little tricky.” “Could be a little bit awkward,” Bream added. “Father’s Day is coming up. We’ll see how that goes.” | |
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| 06-13-22 01:51am - 830 days | #186 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Trump called investigations into his acts a witch hunt. But the evidence shows that Trump is a witch. But Republicans will fight blame, putting it on everyone. "We are all responsible," says the Republican party. Meaning, no one can be blamed. And there was no crime. Anyone who was injured, just got in the way, and deserved what they got. Republicans, the party of hypocrites and liars. And good old boys. ---- ---- Jan. 6 panelists: Enough evidence uncovered to indict Trump Associated Press HOPE YEN June 12, 2022, 2:29 PM WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot said Sunday they have uncovered enough evidence for the Justice Department to consider an unprecedented criminal indictment against former President Donald Trump for seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The committee announced that Trump's campaign manager, Bill Stepien, is among the witnesses scheduled to testify at a hearing Monday that focuses on Trump's effort to spread his lies about a stolen election. Stepien was subpoenaed for his public testimony. As the hearings unfold, Rep. Adam Schiff said he would like the department to “investigate any credible allegation of criminal activity on the part of Donald Trump.” Schiff, D-Calif., who also leads the House Intelligence Committee, said that ”there are certain actions, parts of these different lines of effort to overturn the election that I don’t see evidence the Justice Department is investigating.” The committee held its first public hearing last week, with members laying out their case against Trump to show how the defeated president relentlessly pushed his false claims of a rigged election despite multiple advisers telling him otherwise and how he intensified an extraordinary scheme to overturn Joe Biden’s victory. Additional evidence is set to be released in hearings this week that will demonstrate how Trump and some of his advisers engaged in a “massive effort” to spread misinformation, pressured the Justice Department to embrace his false claims, and urged then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject state electors and block the vote certification on Jan. 6, 2021. Stepien, a longtime Trump ally, is now a top campaign adviser to the Trump-endorsed House candidate in Wyoming's Republican primary, Harriet Hageman, who is challenging Rep. Liz Cheney, the committee's vice chair and a vociferous critic of the former president. A Trump spokesman, Taylor Budowich, suggested that the committee's decision to call Stepien was politically motivated. Monday's witness list also includes BJay Pak, the top federal prosecutor in Atlanta who left his position on Jan 4, 2021, a day after an audio recording was made public in which Trump called him a “never-Trumper," and Chris Stirewalt, the former political editor for Fox News. The committee has said most of those interviewed in the investigation are coming forward voluntarily, although some have wanted subpoenas to appear in public. Filmmaker Nick Quested, who provided documentary footage of the attack, said during last week’s hearing he received a subpoena to appear. Committee members said they would present clear evidence that “multiple” GOP lawmakers, including Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., had sought a pardon from Trump, which would protect him from prosecution. Perry on Friday denied he ever did so, calling the assertion an “absolute, shameless, and soulless lie.” “We’re not going to make accusations or say things without proof or evidence backing it,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill. Lawmakers indicated that perhaps their most important audience member over the course of the hearings may be Attorney General Merrick Garland, who must decide whether his department can and should prosecute Trump. They left no doubt as to their own view whether the evidence is sufficient to proceed. “Once the evidence is accumulated by the Justice Department, it needs to make a decision about whether it can prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt the president’s guilt or anyone else’s,” Schiff said. “But they need to be investigated if there’s credible evidence, which I think there is.” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said he doesn’t intend to “browbeat” Garland but noted the committee has already laid out in legal pleadings criminal statutes they believe Trump violated. “I think that he knows, his staff knows, the U.S. attorneys know, what’s at stake here,” Raskin said. “They know the importance of it, but I think they are rightfully paying close attention to precedent in history as well, as the facts of this case.” Garland has not specified whether he would be willing to prosecute, which would be unprecedented and may be complicated in a political election season in which Trump has openly flirted with the idea of running for president again. No president or ex-president has ever been indicted. Richard Nixon resigned from office in 1974 as he faced an impeachment and a likely grand jury indictment on charges of bribery, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. President Gerald Ford later pardoned his predecessor before any criminal charges related to Watergate could be filed. Legal experts have said a Justice Department prosecution of Trump over the riot could set an uneasy precedent in which an administration of one party could more routinely go after the former president of another. "We will follow the facts wherever they lead,” Garland said in his speech at Harvard University’s commencement ceremony last month. A federal judge in California said in a March ruling in a civil case that Trump “more likely than not” committed federal crimes in seeking to obstruct the congressional count of the Electoral College ballots on Jan. 6, 2021. The judge cited two statutes: obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Trump has denied all wrongdoing. Schiff appeared on ABC’s “This Week,” Raskin spoke on CNN’s “State of the Union," and Kinzinger was on CBS’s “Face the Nation." ___ AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro in Washington and Associated Press writer Jill Colvin in New York contributed to this report. | |
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| 06-13-22 02:10am - 830 days | #187 | |
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Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Republicans sought pardons for any possible crimes. "We're innocent", cry the Republicans. We're only trying to make America great again. But Democrats are showboating: We have to make this an event, we can't reveal all we know, or people will lose interest. ------ ------ The Guardian Capitol attack pardon revelations could spell doom for Trump and allies Hugo Lowell in Washington DC Sun, June 12, 2022 at 1:00 AM The House select committee investigating the Capitol attack revealed at its inaugural hearing that Donald Trump’s top Republican allies in Congress sought pardons after the January 6 insurrection, a major disclosure that bolstered the claim that the event amounted to a coup and is likely to cause serious scrutiny for those implicated. The news that multiple House Republicans asked the Trump White House for pardons – an apparent consciousness of guilt – was one of three revelations portending potentially perilous legal and political moments to come for Trump and his allies. Related: January 6 hearing: Trump was at heart of plot that led to ‘attempted coup’ At the hearing, the panel’s vice-chair Liz Cheney named only one Republican member of Congress, congressman Scott Perry, the current chair of the ultra conservative House freedom caucus, who sought a presidential pardon for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. The select committee did not elaborate on which other House Republicans were asking for pardons or more significantly, for which crimes they were seeking pardons, but it appeared to show at the minimum that they knew they had been involved in likely illegal conduct. The extraordinary claim also raised the prospect that the Republican members of Congress seeking clemency believed Trump’s election fraud claims were baseless: for why would they need pardons if they really were only raising legitimate questions about the election. “It’s hard to find a more explicit statement of consciousness of guilt than looking for a pardon for actions you’ve just taken, assisting in a plan to overthrow the results of a presidential election,” Jamie Raskin, a member of the select committee, told reporters. Willful blindness The disclosure about the pardons came during the opening hour of the hearing where the panel made the case that Trump could not credibly believe he had won the 2020 election after some of his most senior advisors told him repeatedly that he had lost to Joe Biden. Trump, according to videos of closed-door depositions played by the select committee, was told by his data experts he lost the election, told by former attorney general Bill Barr that his election fraud claims were “bullshit”, a conclusion Ivanka Trump said she accepted. The admissions by some of Trump’s top aides are important since they could put federal prosecutors one step closer to being able to charge Trump with obstructing an official proceeding or defrauding the United States on the basis of election fraud claims he knew were false. It’s hard to find a more explicit statement of consciousness of guilt than looking for a pardon for actions you’ve just taken Jamie Raskin At the heart of the case the panel appears to be trying to make is the legal doctrine of “willful blindness”, as former US attorney Joyce Vance wrote for MSNBC, which says a defendant cannot say they weren’t aware of something if they were credibly notified of the truth. The potential case against Trump might take the form that he could not use, as his defense against charges he violated the law to stop Biden’s certification on January 6, that he believed there was election fraud, when he had been credibly notified it was “bullshit”. Trump-Flynn-Powell meeting Also in the first hour of the hearing, the select committee cast in a new light the contentious 18 December 2020 meeting Trump had at the White House with his former national security advisor Michael Flynn, and former Trump lawyer and conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell. The Guardian has reported extensively on that meeting, where Powell urged Trump to sign an executive order to seize voting machines and suspend normal law, based on Trump’s executive order 13848, and to appoint her special counsel to investigate election fraud. Cheney confirmed the reporting by this newspaper and others, that the group discussed “dramatic steps” such as seizing voting machines, but also alluded to a potential discussion about somehow obstructing Biden’s election win certification. The basis for that characterization, based on how Cheney described the late night meeting in the Oval Office that later continued in the White House residence, appears to be how Trump, just hours later, tweeted that there would be a “wild protest” on January 6. It was not clear whether Cheney was laying the groundwork for the select committee to tie Trump into a conspiracy of some sort, claiming this represented two people entering an agreement and taking overt steps to accomplishing it – the legal standard for conspiracy. But the “wild protest” phrase would shortly after be seized upon by some of the most prominent far-right political operatives. Hours after Trump’s tweet, according to archived versions of its website, Stop the Steal changed its banner to advertise a “wild protest” before Ali Alexander, who led the movement, even applied for a permit to stage a rally on the east side of the Capitol on January 6. | |
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| 06-13-22 12:15pm - 829 days | #188 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Jan. 6 panel: Trump campaign used 'big lie' to raise millions from supporters Yahoo News Christopher Wilson June 13, 2022, 11:37 AM The committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot said that former President Donald Trump’s campaign fundraised off of baseless allegations of election fraud but spent very little of the money on legal action. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., said Monday morning that the House select committee would show “that the Trump campaign used these false claims of election fraud to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from supporters who were told their donations were for the legal fight in the courts. But the Trump campaign didn’t use the money for that. The ‘big lie’ was also a big rip-off.” “We’ll present evidence that Mr. Trump’s claims of election fraud were false, that he and his closest advisers knew those claims were false but they continued to peddle them anyway right up until the moments before a mob of Trump supporters attacked the Capitol,” she said. Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California. Rep. Zoe Lofgren at the Monday hearing of the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters) During the hearing, a senior investigative counsel for the committee said that Trump supporters received upward of 25 emails a day urging them to donate to an election defense fund that did not exist. “The Trump campaign knew that these claims of voter fraud were false yet they continued to barrage small-dollar donors with emails encouraging them to donate to something called the ‘Official Election Defense Fund,’” Amanda Wick said. “The select committee discovered no such fund existed.” In a taped deposition, former Trump campaign staffer Hanna Allred said, “I don’t believe there is actually a fund called the Election Defense Fund,” while the campaign’s digital director agreed that the Election Defense Fund was a “marketing tactic.” Wick noted that much of the money went to the Save America PAC, which was created on Nov. 9, two days after the election was called for Biden. That PAC then routed $1 million to two separate organizations tied to Trump staffers, $204,857 to the Trump Hotel Collection and $5 million for the company that organized the Jan. 6 rally that preceded the violence at the Capitol, according to Wick. Reps. Zoe Lofgren, Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney. From left: Reps. Zoe Lofgren, Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney during a House select committee hearing on Monday. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images) A February 2021 analysis from ABC News found that in the three months that followed the election when Trump and his allies were peddling the conspiracy theory that the race was stolen, the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee raised $280 million. Only $13 million of that was spent on legal expenses, with more than $100 million going toward “various fundraising expenses and advertising efforts aimed at raising even more money.” Former Fox News political editor Chris Stirewalt, who was involved in the network’s decision desk that called the race for Joe Biden, testified later in the hearing that the Trump campaign’s strategy of overturning multiple races was nearly impossible. “Ahead of today, I thought about what are the largest margins that could ever be overturned by a recount,” he said. “In modern history, you’re talking about 1,000 votes, 1,500 votes at the way, way outside. Normally, you’re talking about hundreds of votes, maybe 300 votes that are going to change. “So the idea that through any normal process in any of these states — remember he had to do it thrice. He needed three of these states to change,” Stirewalt said. “In order to do that, you’re better off to play the Powerball than to have that come in.” Monday’s hearing was the second public panel from the Jan. 6 House committee following last week’s primetime debut in which Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said Trump had “a sophisticated seven-part plan to overturn the presidential election and prevent the transfer of presidential power.” ___ | |
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| 06-14-22 10:38am - 828 days | #189 | |
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Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
The pope says Russia has been cruel in the war with Ukraine. But perhaps the war was provoked. So maybe Russia had a reason for invading. And maybe, if you get killed, or kill someone, there is a reason for that. So what should we do? Pray to become better people. Just like the Republican party: who say the Jan 2020 riots were only harmless fun. --- --- Pope raps Russian 'cruelty' in Ukraine but says war perhaps provoked Reuters Philip Pullella June 14, 2022, 3:07 AM ROME (Reuters) - Pope Francis has taken a new series of swipes at Russia for its actions in Ukraine, saying its troops were brutal, cruel and ferocious, while praising "brave" Ukrainians for fighting for survival. But in the text of a conversation he had last month with editors of Jesuit media and published on Tuesday, he also said the situation was not black and white and that the war was "perhaps in some way provoked". While condemning "the ferocity, the cruelty of Russian troops, we must not forget the real problems if we want them to be solved," Francis said, including the armaments industry among the factors that provide incentives for war. "It is also true that the Russians thought it would all be over in a week. But they miscalculated. They encountered a brave people, a people who are struggling to survive and who have a history of struggle," he said in the transcript of the conversation, published by the Jesuit journal Civilta Cattolica. "This is what moves us: to see such heroism. I would really like to emphasize this point, the heroism of the Ukrainian people. What is before our eyes is a situation of world war, global interests, arms sales and geopolitical appropriation, which is martyring a heroic people," he said. Francis said that several months before President Vladimir Putin sent his forces into Ukraine, the pontiff had met with a head of state who expressed concern that NATO was "barking at the gates of Russia" in a way that could lead to war. Francis then said in his own words: "We do not see the whole drama unfolding behind this war, which was perhaps somehow either provoked or not prevented". Asking himself rhetorically if that made him "pro-Putin," he said: "No, I am not. It would be simplistic and wrong to say such a thing". Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special operation" to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists, a characterisation previously criticised by Francis. Ukraine and the West say the fascist allegation is baseless and that the war is an unprovoked act of aggression. In his comments, Francis also noted Russia's "monstrous" use of Chechen and Syrian mercenaries in Ukraine. Francis said he hoped to meet Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill at an inter-religious event in Kazakhstan in September. The two had been due to meet in Jerusalem on June but that trip was cancelled because of the war. Kirill, who is close to Putin, has given the war in Ukraine his full-throated backing. Francis said last month that Kirill could not become "Putin's altar boy", prompting a protest from the Russian Orthodox Church. In the conversation with the Jesuits, Francis said he had told Kirill during a video call in March: "Brother, we are not clerics of the state, we are pastors of the people". | |
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| 06-14-22 02:50pm - 828 days | #190 | |
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Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Donald Trump, the fittest and fightenest President of the Untied States of Trumperland, has issued a 12-page report on the state of Sleepy Joe Biden and what is wrong with America today. Bring back Trump, and he will make America great again. And put Sleepy Joe in jail, where he belongs. Sleepy Joe stole the election. Sleepy Joe stole the Whtie House. Sleepy Joe is a Democrat, and all Democrats are from Hell!!!!! -------- -------- Trump releases 12-page statement responding to Jan. 6 hearing Yahoo News Dylan Stableford June 14, 2022, 9:03 AM Hours after the Jan. 6 committee held the second in a series of public hearings on the events surrounding the Capitol riot, former President Donald Trump released a 12-page statement on Monday repeating many of the same false election fraud claims that the panel says led to the violent insurrection. In it, Trump suggested that the bipartisan committee’s televised presentation of evidence collected in its 11-month investigation of the attack is an attempt by Democrats at distracting from numerous issues weighing on President Biden’s administration, including inflation and the baby formula shortage. “They are desperate to change the narrative of a failing nation,” Trump said. “They are hoping that these hearings will somehow alter their failing prospects.” Trump made little mention of what was actually presented during Monday’s hearing, which featured testimony from his former aides who said they told him repeatedly that his election fraud claims were bogus and that he didn’t have the numbers needed to win on election night to claim victory. According to Bill Stepien, Trump’s 2020 campaign manager, and Jason Miller, a top adviser, Trump instead decided to heed the advice of Rudy Giuliani, who they said appeared to be intoxicated when he urged the former president to declare victory and say the election was being stolen. The daytime hearing, which was carried live by the major networks including Fox News, also featured more testimony from former Attorney General William Barr, who told the panel that Trump appeared to lose touch with reality following his election loss to Biden and showed no interest in the evidence that disproved his wild claims of voter fraud. “Before the election, it was sometimes possible to talk sense to the president,” Barr said in videotaped testimony played Monday. “But I felt that after the election he didn’t seem to be listening. “I really thought he’s become detached from reality,” Barr added. “There was never any interest in what the actual facts were.” Trump, who railed against Barr following last week’s primetime hearing, made no mention of his former attorney general in his 12-page statement. It was, however, peppered with Trumpisms (“Sleepy Joe,” the “Unselect committee” et al.) and dozens of footnotes, many of which were attributions to “2,000 Mules,” a documentary directed by Dinesh D'Souza that purports to have "smoking gun" evidence of massive voter fraud. The film was referenced several times during Monday’s hearing, with Barr saying he had seen no evidence to support that the election was stolen, “including the ‘2,000 Mules’ movie." Trump concluded his statement by suggesting the Jan. 6 hearings are “merely an attempt to stop a man that is leading in every poll, against both Republicans and Democrats by wide margins, from running again for the Presidency.” While Trump is not leading in every poll, he appeared to be referring to himself. | |
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| 06-27-22 08:58am - 815 days | #191 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Conservative Supreme Court is full of lies and bullshit. But what can you expect when you have Brett Kavanaugh as one of the justices? Justices? More like con men. ------- ------- Supreme Court rules for former coach in public school prayer case NBC Universal Pete Williams and Dareh Gregorian June 27, 2022, 10:12 AM The Supreme Court ruled Monday that a former Washington state high school football coach had a right to pray on the field immediately after games. The 6-3 ruling was a victory for Joseph Kennedy, who claimed that the Bremerton School District violated his religious freedom by telling him he couldn’t pray so publicly after the games. The district said it was trying to avoid the appearance that the school was endorsing a religious point of view. "Both the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment protect expressions like Mr. Kennedy’s," Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the majority opinion. "Nor does a proper understanding of the Amendment’s Establishment Clause require the government to single out private religious speech for special disfavor. The Constitution and the best of our traditions counsel mutual respect and tolerance, not censorship and suppression, for religious and nonreligious views alike." In recent years, a more conservative Supreme Court has been inclined to view government actions it once considered to be neutral and necessary to maintain separation of church and state as hostile to religious expression. One issue in the case was whether the coach’s decision to pray in such a prominent place, on the 50-yard line, amounted to a private moment of giving thanks or a public demonstration of his religious faith that his players may have felt compelled to join. Kennedy urged the Supreme Court to find that he was acting on his own behalf, expressing his own religious views, not speaking as a mouthpiece for the school. But the school district said the students on the football team looked up to their coach and felt coerced into doing as he did. In a dissent joined by the two other liberal justices, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the court "consistently has recognized that school officials leading prayer is constitutionally impermissible" and said the ruling did a "disservice" to schools, students and "the nation's longstanding commitment to the separation of church and state.” "Today’s decision is particularly misguided because it elevates the religious rights of a school official, who voluntarily accepted public employment and the limits that public employment entails, over those of his students, who are required to attend school and who this Court has long recognized are particularly vulnerable and deserving of protection," Sotomayor wrote. "In doing so, the Court sets us further down a perilous path in forcing States to entangle themselves with religion, with all of our rights hanging in the balance." Further, the majority misrepresented some key points in the case, she wrote. In the majority opinion, Gorsuch wrote that “Kennedy lost his job” “after he knelt at midfield after games to offer a quiet personal prayer. But Sotomayor wrote, "To the degree the Court portrays petitioner Joseph Kennedy’s prayers as private and quiet, it misconstrues the facts. The record reveals that Kennedy had a longstanding practice of conducting demonstrative prayers on the 50- yard line of the football field. Kennedy consistently invited others to join his prayers and for years led student athletes in prayer at the same time and location. The Court ignores this history. The Court also ignores the severe disruption to school events caused by Kennedy’s conduct," she wrote. Kennedy became an assistant coach of the varsity football team at Bremerton High School in 2008 and later began offering a brief prayer on the field after games ended and the players and coaches met midfield to shake hands. The school district eventually told him he should find a private location to pray. But he declined and continued his practice of dropping to one knee and praying on the 50-yard line. He later invited journalists and a state legislator to watch. The district gave him a poor performance evaluation, and he did not apply to renew his contract after the 2015 football season. Kennedy sued, claiming violations of his right to free expression and religious freedom. Lower federal courts said that because he chose to say his prayers in such a prominent place, he was acting as a public employee and his conduct was therefore not protected by the First Amendment. Those rulings cited past Supreme Court decisions that said when public employees act in their official capacities, they are speaking more for the government than for themselves. Former Vice President Mike Pence praised Monday's ruling in a statement, saying, “Americans of faith do not turn their devotion off and on like a light switch, and we must reject any attempt by the government to control private religious expression — especially those who call on their faith when answering the call to participate in public service.” The nonprofit conservative advocacy group he founded, Advancing American Freedom, filed a friend of the court brief in the case. Katy Joseph, the director of policy and advocacy at the advocacy group Interfaith Alliance, said the decision "dismantles decades of progress." “Exploiting his position of authority, coach Joseph Kennedy pushed players to participate in prayer in the middle of the field immediately after games," Joseph said. "This was no private expression of devotion, as he and his lawyers claim. Instead, Mr. Kennedy forced students to choose between their religious freedom and being part of the team — an agonizing decision that no student should ever be forced to confront." Kennedy now lives in Florida but has said that if the Supreme Court ruled in his favor, he would return to Bremerton and seek to regain his job as a part-time football coach. | |
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| 06-27-22 09:05am - 815 days | #192 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
Russia defaults for the first time in over 100 years. But not to worry. Russia has hired Donald Trump, the man who invented the Art of the Deal, to satisfy unhappy bond holders. ---- ---- Russia pitches into first major external bond default in century Reuters Karin Strohecker June 27, 2022, 3:31 AM LONDON (Reuters) - Russia defaulted on its foreign sovereign bonds for the first time since the Bolshevik revolution, as sweeping sanctions effectively cut the country off from the global financial system and rendered its assets untouchable to many investors. A U.S. official said on Monday the default showed how dramatically the sanctions were impacting Russia's economy. The official was speaking to reporters as the White House released a fact sheet detailing potential G7 actions to support Ukraine and further stem Moscow's oil revenues. "This morning's news around the finding of Russia's default, for the first time in more than a century, situates just how strong the actions are that the U.S, along with allies and partners have taken, as well as how dramatic the impact has been on Russia's economy," the U.S. official added in a briefing on the sidelines of a G7 summit in Germany. Earlier, some bondholders said they had not received overdue interest on Monday following the expiry of a key payment deadline a day earlier. Russia has struggled to keep up payments on $40 billion of outstanding bonds since its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, as sweeping sanctions have effectively cut the country off from the global financial system and rendered its assets untouchable to many investors. The Kremlin has repeatedly said there are no grounds for Russia to default but it is unable to send money to bondholders because of sanctions, accusing the West of trying to drive it into an artificial default. Russia's efforts to avoid what would be its first major default on international bonds since the Bolshevik revolution more than a century ago hit a insurmountable roadblock in late May when the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) effectively blocked Moscow from making payments. "Since March we thought that a Russian default is probably inevitable, and the question was just when," Dennis Hranitzky, head of sovereign litigation at law firm Quinn Emanuel, told Reuters. "OFAC has intervened to answer that question for us, and the default is now upon us." A formal default would be largely symbolic given Russia cannot borrow internationally at the moment and doesn't need to thanks to plentiful oil and gas export revenues. But the stigma would probably raise its borrowing costs in future. President Vladimir Putin signed a decree last Wednesday to launch temporary procedures and give the government 10 days to choose banks to handle payments under a new scheme. (Kremlin via Reuters) The payments in question are $100 million in interest on two bonds, one denominated in U.S. dollars and another in euros, Russia was due to pay on May 27. The payments had a grace period of 30 days, which expired on Sunday. Russia's finance ministry said it made the payments to its onshore National Settlement Depository (NSD) in euros and dollars, adding it has fulfilled obligations. Some Taiwanese holders of the bonds had not received payments on Monday, sources told Reuters. With no exact deadline specified in the prospectus, lawyers say Russia might have until the end of the following business day to pay the bondholders. While ratings agencies usually formally downgrade a country's credit rating to reflect default, this does not apply in case of Russia as most agencies no longer rate it The legal situation surrounding the bonds looks complex. Russia's bonds have been issued with an unusual variety of terms, and an increasing level of ambiguities for those sold more recently, when Moscow was already facing sanctions over its annexation of Crimea in 2014 and a poisoning incident in Britain in 2018. Rodrigo Olivares-Caminal, chair in banking and finance law at Queen Mary University in London, said clarity was needed on what constituted a discharge for Russia on its obligation, or the difference between receiving and recovering payments. "All these issues are subject to interpretation by a court of law, but Russia has not waived any of its sovereign immunity and has not submitted to the jurisdiction of any court in any of the two prospectuses," Olivares-Caminal told Reuters. In some ways, Russia has been in default already. A committee on derivatives has ruled a "credit event" had occurred on some of its securities, which triggered a payout on some of Russia's credit default swaps - instruments used by investors to insure exposure to debt against default. A sovereign default had seemed unthinkable This was triggered by Russia failing to make a $1.9 million payment in accrued interest on a payment that had been due in early April. Until the Ukraine invasion, a sovereign default had seemed unthinkable, with Russia being rated investment grade up to shortly before that point. A default would also be unusual as Moscow has the funds to service its debt. The OFAC had issued a temporary waiver, known as a general licence 9A, in early March to allow Moscow to keep paying investors. It let it expire on May 25 as Washington tightened sanctions on Russia, effectively cutting off payments to U.S. investors and entities. The lapsed OFAC licence is not the only obstacle Russia faces as in early June the European Union imposed sanctions on the NSD, Russia's appointed agent for its Eurobonds. Moscow has scrambled in recent days to find ways of dealing with upcoming payments and avoid a default. President Vladimir Putin signed a decree last Wednesday to launch temporary procedures and give the government 10 days to choose banks to handle payments under a new scheme, suggesting Russia will consider its debt obligations fulfilled when it pays bondholders in roubles. "Russia saying it's complying with obligations under the terms of the bond is not the whole story," Zia Ullah, partner and head of corporate crime and investigations at law firm Eversheds Sutherland told Reuters. "If you as an investor are not satisfied, for instance, if you know the money is stuck in an escrow account, which effectively would be the practical impact of what Russia is saying, the answer would be, until you discharge the obligation, you have not satisfied the conditions of the bond." | |
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| 06-27-22 09:41am - 815 days | #193 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
AOC says Supreme Court justices who lied under oath must face consequences for 'impeachable offense' Yelena Dzhanova Sun, June 26, 2022 at 8:57 AM Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Sunday called for consequences for justices who "lie under oath." Ocasio-Cortez was referring to SCOTUS Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch. Two senators said the justices assured them they believed Roe v. Wade is law, but both voted to overturn it. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Sunday said she believes it's an "impeachable offense" for a Supreme Court justice to lie under oath. Following the overturn of Roe v. Wade, Sens. Susan Collins and Joe Manchin said they felt misled by Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch during their individual confirmation hearings. The two senators, both pro-choice, voted to confirm Kavanaugh and Gorsuch because they assured them that they believed Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark Supreme Court decision that made abortion a constitutional right nationwide, was law. Both Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, however, voted to strike down Roe earlier this week. Ocasio-Cortez, speaking in an interview with NBC News' "Meet the Press," said she believes the court is facing a "crisis of legitimacy" and justices must face consequences if they lie under oath. "If we allow Supreme Court nominees to lie under oath and secure lifetime appointments to the highest court of the land and then issue, without basis," she said, "we must see that through. There must be consequences for such a deeply destabilizing action and a hostile takeover of our democratic institutions." "To allow that to stand is to allow it to happen," she continued. "And what makes it particularly dangerous is that it sends a blaring signal to all future nominees that they can now lie to duly elected members of the United States Senate in order to secure Supreme Court confirmations and seats on the Supreme Court." Ocasio-Cortez added that she believes that lying under oath is an impeachable offense. "I believe that this is something that should be very seriously considered, including by senators like Joe Manchin and Susan Collins," she said. The decision to overturn Roe v. Wade sparked protests nationwide. Since the decision was made public, a slew of prominent individuals from musician Jack White to lawmakers such as Ocasio-Cortez have blasted the ruling. Attorney General Merrick Garland condemned the court's decision, saying on Friday that it's a "devastating blow to reproductive freedom in the United States." | |
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| 06-27-22 04:49pm - 815 days | #194 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
The Feds took down Al Capone for failing to file income tax returns. Donald Trump has filed income tax returns, but how many lies and omissions are in his returns? Enquiring minds want to know: how long will Donald Trump evade the law, while hiding millions of dollars in cash that should have been paid to the US government? Maybe Putin will kick in to help pay for Trump's legal defense. ----- ----- Federal probe sets back Trump’s social media deal Reuters June 27, 2022, 12:44 PM (Reuters) -Blank-check firm Digital World Acquisition Corp said on Monday each of its board directors had received subpoenas from federal prosecutors over the company's merger plans with former U.S President Donald Trump's social media firm. The federal probe is the latest setback to Trump's efforts to take Trump Media & Technology Group Corp (TMTG), the creator of social media platform Truth Social, public. TMTG in October agreed to merge with Digital World and was expecting the deal to close by the second half of this year. Shares of Digital World fell 6% in premarket trading after the company said in a regulatory filing that it became aware that a federal grand jury in the Southern District of New York had issued subpoenas to its directors. The company had seven directors on its board, as of April 13, including Chief Executive Officer Patrick Orlando and Chief Financial Officer Luis Orleans-Braganza. On June 24, a grand jury subpoena was also sent to the company, the filing by Digital World showed. Earlier this month, the company reported that the U.S Securities and Exchange Commision (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, which have been probing its deal with TMTG since late last year, had also sought more information. The latest subpoenas to Digital World sought the same documents as the SEC probe as well as requests relating to the company's S-1 filings. Digital World also said Bruce Garelick, chief strategy officer of Rocket One Capital, a Miami-based investment firm, was resigning from the board. Some of the information requested by the grand jury was about communications with Rocket One. Michael Shvartsman, founder and CEO of Rocket One Capital, did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment. "Will cooperate with oversight that supports the SEC's important mission of protecting retail investors," TMTG said. (Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli) | |
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| 06-29-22 07:12am - 813 days | #195 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
California follows Texas in letting people sue people when you don't like them. This is true freedom. And it should help make lawyers rich, by allowing lawyers more legal work. We live in a world where people can sue for just about anything. Why can't we sue the Supreme Court, and put those assholes in jail, where they belong? ----- ----- California advances Texas-style lawsuits over illegal guns Associated Press DON THOMPSON June 28, 2022, 12:18 PM Scroll back up to restore default view. SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California legislators on Monday approved Texas-style lawsuits over illegal guns, mimicking the Lone Star State's law aimed at deterring abortions and obliquely linking the two most controversial U.S. Supreme Court decisions from last week. The California bill would allow anyone to sue people who sell illegal firearms. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom sought the measure in part to tweak the conservative wing of the U.S. Supreme Court, which gave preliminary approval to the Texas law allowing citizens to sue anyone who provides or assists in providing an abortion. The California bill would automatically be invalidated if the Texas law is eventually ruled unconstitutional. Legislators acted days after the nation's high court allowed states to ban abortions, and separately expanded gun rights in states including California. “What Texas did on abortion was dangerous, and we already know how disgusting the recent decision by the United States Supreme Court has been,” said Democratic Assemblyman Mike Gipson. “But California stands to lead the way in this space in a very powerful and dynamic way. This is about empowering everyday people who are at the blunt of gun violence.” The California Assembly approved the bill Monday, 50-19, sending it back to the Senate for a final vote. Senators already passed a version in May on a 24-10 roll call. Newsom has said he expects lawmakers to send the bill to him as early as this week, before they leave for a monthlong summer recess. “This puts power back in the people’s hands,” said Democratic Assemblyman Phil Ting. “This creates a private right of action that allows almost anyone to bring a lawsuit against those who manufacture, distribute, transport, import or sell illegal assault weapons, rifles, ghost guns or ghost gun kits.” No legislators spoke against the measure. But the bill faces unusual combined opposition from both gun owners' rights organizations and the American Civil Liberties Union, which separately have criticized creating a bounty to encourage people to bring civil actions to punish crimes. The California bill would allow people to sue anyone who distributes illegal assault weapons, parts that can be used to build weapons, guns without serial numbers, or .50 caliber rifles. They would be awarded at least $10,000 in civil damages for each weapon, plus attorneys fees. “We cannot stand silently by while California leaders escalate an ‘arms race’ ... by setting up bounty-hunting schemes on politically sensitive issues,” the ACLU said in an opposition letter. It also opposes the Texas law, in part because both “would set a dangerous legal precedent," since both are designed to skirt judicial review by empowering citizens to act in place of government officials. The bill is one of four that Newsom asked lawmakers to fast-track in response to recent mass shootings, including one that killed 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Texas in May. The other three bills all previously cleared the state Assembly and two of the three passed the Senate on Monday along with several other firearms bills. The second bill similarly empowers private citizens to take action, this time by suing gun makers or dealers who fail to follow precautions under a “firearm industry standard of conduct.” Violators could be sued by the attorney general, city or county attorneys, or anyone who suffered harm. “Financial repercussions may finally push the firearms industry and dealers to be more responsible in improving their practices and obeying the series of gun laws that we have here in California,” said Democratic Sen. Robert Hertzberg, who carried the bill in the Senate. Republican Sen. Shannon Grove objected that lawmakers should instead concentrate on those who obtain weapons illegally. “I mean, we have car accidents," Grove said. "That’s not the car dealer or the car manufacturer’s fault, it’s the guy driving the car’s fault.” The bill passed the Senate, 25-9, sending it to Newsom. The third is aimed at untraceable “ghost guns” by requiring precursor firearms parts to have serial numbers. It passed the Assembly 63-0 and is awaiting a Senate vote. It would give Californians who have weapons without serial numbers six months to register them and add the numbers. “Almost anyone can order these kits, “said Democratic Sen. Anthony Portantino. “We must now eradicate the deadly untraceable weapons currently wreaking havoc in our communities.” The measure passed the Senate, 30-0, and returns to the Assembly for a final vote on amendments. The fourth bill restricts advertising of firearms to minors. It, too, would allow people harmed by violations to sue for damages. | |
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| 06-29-22 07:22am - 813 days | #196 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
The truth revealed: Trump vowed to drain the swamp in Washington. Instead, he filled Washington with criminals who broke the law. And these criminals hid behind the badge of public office, saying, "I'm the law. So fuck off." Joe Biden needs to show tough love and put these Republicans in jail, where they belong. Can he drain the swamp in Washington, where you have hypocritical Republicans in office? Stay tuned for updates. ------ ------ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calls out Mark Meadows for allegedly seeking pardon: 'He knew that he was breaking the law' Yahoo TV Stephen Proctor June 29, 2022, 12:41 AM Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Tuesday, where she spoke about the Jan. 6 committee hearing earlier in the day. Testifying at the hearing was Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. In a hearing that shed light on what went on behind the scenes on the day of the insurrection, it was also revealed that Meadows, along with Rudy Giuliani, allegedly sought pardons from former President Donald Trump. Ocasio-Cortez believes simply asking for a pardon is a pretty strong implication of guilt. “It was just stunning to understand and see the detail and the depth through which there was also just a consciousness of guilt. They knew that what they were doing was wrong," Ocasio-Cortez said. "When at the very end of this hearing you hear that Mark Meadows, the chief of staff to the president himself, asked for a pardon because he knew that he was breaking the law in order to seize power and undermine democracy in the United States of America, it is stunning. It is absolutely stunning." You are admitting to a crimeAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez It came out last week that several House Republicans also allegedly asked Trump for a pardon, and Ocasio-Cortez believes they should face consequences. "Those who specifically sought pardons for themselves should be expelled from the House of Representatives," Ocasio-Cortez said. "If you are a duly elected official and, in seeking a pardon, as you mentioned, you are consciously admitting a — you are admitting to committing a crime." She later added, "That’s just the bare minimum. I do believe that many of these individuals need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law in order to establish and to prove to ourselves and to the world that there is rule of law in the United States of America." One of those alleged to have asked for a pardon is Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who once confronted Ocasio-Cortez and accused her of backing terrorists. Speaking about what it's been like to see colleagues she's been working with being implicated in the Jan. 6 investigation, Ocasio-Cortez took a not-so-veiled shot at some Republican members of Congress. "To work with people over the last year, to see them, to have to have them sometimes confront you, knowing that they did what they did has been quite surreal," Ocasio-Cortez said. "Especially when they're not very intelligent." The Late Show With Stephen Colbert airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. on CBS. | |
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| 06-29-22 07:09pm - 813 days | #197 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
President Trump, the fightenest and most honestest president the US has ever had, mourns that he has supported traitors. Barr, Ivanka and other people have deserted Trump after he left the White House. Trump has a warm heart and harbors no ill will towards these traitors. Instead, he is a living saint, who wants to move back into the White House and make America great again. Vote for Trump, the bestest president of the Untied States of Trumperland we've ever had. Note: Only because Trump must speak the truth, he revealed that Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger are scummy Democrats in disguise. Also, that people may speak evil of Donald Trump, but he closes his mind to negative thoughts. ----- ----- Barr a 'RINO,' Ivanka 'checked out': Trump tries to explain the Jan. 6 testimony against him Yahoo News David Knowles June 29, 2022, 1:41 PM Throughout the testimony presented in the Jan. 6 select committee hearings, former President Donald Trump, who may yet face criminal charges stemming from the emerging evidence, has sought to shape public perceptions about the Republican witnesses who have appeared. During some of the testimony, such as Tuesday’s blockbuster appearance by former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, Trump offered real-time responses on social media. During other parts, such as last Thursday’s appearance by former Justice Department officials who testified that Trump had asked them to “just say the election was corrupt,” the former president issued a series of statements attacking what he calls “the UNSELECT committee” itself. Despite polls showing that a majority of Americans now believe Trump should be prosecuted by the Justice Department for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, the former president continues to assert that he did nothing wrong in regard to the riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. “This is merely an attempt to stop a man that is leading in every poll, against both Republicans and Democrats by wide margins, from running again for the Presidency,” Trump said in a falsehood-laden, 12-page statement issued after the second day of testimony earlier this month. In fundraising emails, Trump has also repeatedly attacked the two Republican representatives on the committee as “Crazy Liz Cheney” and “Cryin’ Adam Kinzinger.” As he did during the two impeachment hearings that took place during his presidency, Trump has gone after those who have offered testimony against him. In doing so, he has sometimes drastically revised his own past statements on those individuals, some of whom he had lavishly praised when they worked for him. William Barr William Barr Video images of former Attorney General William Barr are shown during the House select committee hearing on June 23. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images) During his testimony to the select committee that was played during the first hearing on June 9, former Trump Attorney General William Barr testified that his department had investigated the former president's claims of voter fraud and told him there was no evidence supporting Trump's assertions. Barr then described how Trump had “become detached from reality” about his election loss and had no “interest in what the actual facts were.” The idea that fraud had cost Trump the election was “bullshit” and “complete nonsense,” Barr testified. Before the 2020 election, Trump lavished praise on Barr, calling him “a very straight shooter” and “a man with incredible integrity.” Quickly responding to the June 9 hearing, during which portions of Barr’s testimony were shown, Trump called him “a coward” and a “weak and frightened Attorney General.” Three days later, with Barr’s comments dominating news coverage, Trump used a different phrase to describe his former AG, referring to him as a RINO, which stands for "Republican in name only." “Former A.G. Bill Barr, a RINO if there ever was one, didn’t have the courage or stamina to go after voter fraud — Was afraid he was going to be impeached,” Trump wrote in a statement posted to his social media platform, Truth Social. “NO GUTS, NO GLORY!!!” Video testimony from former White House senior adviser Ivanka Trump is played for the House select committee on June 13. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) Trump's eldest daughter, Ivanka, also made a taped appearance during the first select committee hearing. As with Barr, her testimony to the committee was played for the country to see. The portion of her testimony that struck a nerve came when she was asked for her response to Barr’s Dec. 1, 2020, statement that there was no evidence of significant election fraud. “It affected my perspective. I respect Attorney General Barr, so I accepted what he was saying,” she said to the committee. Trump has long praised Ivanka, who was the only child of his to formally join his administration. In a 2019 interview with the Atlantic, Trump gushed over his daughter, saying he had considered her for the role of president of the World Bank. “She would’ve been great at that because she’s very good with numbers,” he said. After seeing her during the select committee hearing, he quickly sought to downplay his daughter's remarks. “Ivanka Trump was not involved in looking at, or studying, Election results. She had long since checked out and was, in my opinion, only trying to be respectful to Bill Barr and his position as Attorney General (he sucked!),” Trump wrote on Truth Social. Rusty Bowers Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) Republican Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers testified in person before the select committee on June 21, recounting how Trump and his allies waged a pressure campaign to convince him to replace Arizona’s electors even though there was no evidence that voter fraud resulted in Joe Biden’s win there. In anticipation of Bowers’s testimony that Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani called Bowers to try to convince him to overturn Arizona’s election results, the former president released a statement attacking him. “Arizona Speaker of the House Rusty Bowers is the latest RINO to play along with the Unselect Committee,” Trumpsaid in a statement. Bowers testified that he told the then president and Giuliani, “You're asking me to do something that is counter to my oath,” and said he refused to go along with the plot because he “didn’t want to be used as a pawn.” However, he later told the Associated Press that if Trump was the Republican nominee in 2024, he’d likely vote for him again. Cassidy Hutchinson Cassidy Hutchinson Cassidy Hutchinson testifying before the select committee on Tuesday. (Andrew Harnik/Pool via Reuters) A former aide to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, Cassidy Hutchinson, testified under oath and in person Tuesday that Trump knew some of his supporters were armed before he directed them to go to the Capitol on Jan. 6; that she was told about Trump wrestling with his Secret Service detail for control of his limousine; that the former president threw dishes at the wall after learning Barr would not back his conspiracy theories about a stolen election; and that Meadows and Giuliani had inquired about presidential pardons. As her testimony unfolded, Trump sought to downplay Hutchinson’s role in his administration despite the fact that her office was just steps away from his. “I hardly know who this person, Cassidy Hutchinson, is, other than I heard very negative things about her (a total phony and ‘leaker’), and when she requested to go with certain others of the team to Florida after my having served a full term in office, I personally turned her request down,” Trump wrote in a statement. “Why did she want to go with us if she felt we were so terrible? I understand that she was very upset and angry that I didn’t want her to go, or be a member of the team. She is bad news,” he wrote. | |
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| 06-29-22 11:36pm - 813 days | #198 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
The truth exposed: British filmmaker says Trump is dangerous and living in cloud cuckoo land. The British filmmaker should be arrested for treason and put in front of a firing squad: you can't talk about a current President of the Untied States of Trumperland without showing respect for the flag of the Untied States. The filmmaker does admit one thing about Donald Trump, our most glorious President we've ever had: "I mean, this is a guy who literally has paintings of himself in his house. I mean, he’s just not a normal guy. I mean, you know?" I knew that Donald Trump is not a normal guy. He is the President. ------ ------ Filmmaker who gave footage to Jan. 6 committee: Trump is 'dangerous,' living in 'cloud cuckoo land' Yahoo News Michael Isikoff June 29, 2022, 4:56 PM A British documentary filmmaker who recently testified behind closed doors to the House Jan. 6 select committee said that former President Donald Trump is living in “cloud cuckoo land,” and is incapable of ever acknowledging that his claims about voter fraud are “delusional.” “Donald Trump is not a rational player. I mean, he just isn’t,” Alex Holder said in an interview with the Yahoo News podcast, “Skullduggery.” “You can't have a conversation with him in the same way that you can have a conversation with most other people. He is somebody that lives in a different reality.” Holder was granted exclusive access to Trump and his family in the months before and after the 2020 election, giving him the opportunity to compile over 100 hours of footage of the former president, his two eldest sons and eldest daughter talking in interviews and among themselves. When the Jan. 6 select committee learned of the project — which will be aired by Discovery+ in the coming months — they subpoenaed him hoping to find footage of the Trumps speaking candidly about events that are the subject of the investigation. Holder says his footage, and his own interviews with Trump, show the former president actually believes his assertions about voter fraud affecting the outcome of the election even though there is no evidence to back up his claims. And, he added, in the days before Jan. 6, 2021, the then president was “absolutely” convinced there was going to be violence that day. “It was so obvious. This was his last hurrah,” Holder said. “He had this — obviously had this — ridiculous idea that intervening in this ceremonial process of certifying these results could somehow prevent President Biden being inaugurated.” What follows are edited excerpts from Holder’s interview with “Skullduggery” hosts Michael Isikoff, Daniel Klaidman and Victoria Bassetti. Isikoff: Please walk us through how you got into this in the first place. How did you get access to the Trumps? Holder: I had sort of been building this, this documentary about the Middle East, and I met this individual who introduced me to the [Trump] family. But ultimately, [they agreed to participate] I think the key thing here is they were very, very confident they were going to win the election. I mean, the hubris was just absolutely remarkable. I mean, they were convinced it would be a repeat of 2016. The pollsters were all wrong — it would be a massive surprise. One of the big lines that was used by Don Jr. throughout the campaign was, “Let’s make liberals cry again.” Isikoff: What was your pitch to Trump? Holder: I mean, the pitch was I wanted to understand who they were as people. They had always complained about the coverage that they were getting in the U.S. They were always complaining about the “fake news media” and all that. So, let’s try and understand who they are as people. And I’m speaking specifically about Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump, and then the president himself, and the interactions they have with each other, and the interaction they have with their father. And it’s sort of got this, like, “Succession”-type vibe in the project ... but also, you know, it is a real life — it is a real-life succession drama. Bassetti: Did you see their answers change over time? You began filming in September 2020 and you filmed all the way up and past January 2021. Did their answers change? Holder: No, they didn’t. And that’s what was quite shocking. The fact that the events that took place just before they left office — they didn’t give any indication to me that it registered. Other than Eric saying when I asked him about talking about January 6th, he goes, “I don't want to talk about it.” And he goes, “Let's skip this shit.” Isikoff: What about Trump? In a clip from the film, he tells you the supporters of his who came to Washington [on] January 6 were “smart people” who were “angry with an election that they think was rigged.” Holder: I probably heard that clip 400 times, right? And every single time I hear it, it gives me goosebumps, right? I think what he said was just absolutely horrific. I mean, at the end of the day, he said the reason why those people went into the Capitol was because they think, he actually says, “I think that they think” because the election was stolen, right? But who told them that the election was stolen? Klaidman: Why has Trump been so stubborn about his claims about the election? Holder: Donald Trump is not a rational player. I mean, he just isn’t. You can’t have a conversation with him in the same way that you can have a conversation with most other people. He is somebody that lives in a different reality. He had started the lie about the election back in 2016. What I saw after the first interview with him in the White House was that he now became someone who believed in his own lie, and that is a person who is delusional. That is a person who is incredibly dangerous, because you can't debate with that person. There is no way that anybody can persuade Donald Trump that he’s wrong. And this is something that’s characteristic of him all the way through his life, and the series goes into this in the sense that he will never accept that he had done anything wrong. He will always double back. He’s always right, and it’s always somebody else’s fault. I mean, he lives in cloud cuckoo land. He’s sitting in an interview in Mar-a-Lago saying that in front of a portrait, an actual oil painting of himself painted 25 to 30 years ago in a golf outfit. I mean, I actually asked about that at the end of the interview. I was like, “You’ve got to tell me about this painting.” I mean, this is a guy who literally has paintings of himself in his house. I mean, he’s just not a normal guy. I mean, you know? | |
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| 06-29-22 11:49pm - 813 days | #199 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
The lawyer for Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, wants to know what a congressional committee wants from Ginni Thomas. Ginni had previously said she "can't wait to clear up misconceptions," and wanted to speak with the committee. But her lawyer says: Not so fast. What do you want to know? And maybe we don't want to tell you. Lawyers are smart and tricky people. They know how to show the truth. And maybe to hide the truth. Watch Brett Kavanaugh hearings to see what I mean. Did Ginni Thomas commit treason by trying to change the legal results of the 2020 presidental election to favor Donald Trump? Was that legal? If not treason, was it criminal behavior? If it was criminal behavior, she has the right to be represented by a lawyer, and to claim her innocence, until proven guilty. And Ginni's lawyer says Ginni is innocent. Anything she might have done was "simply much ado about nothing". ---- ---- Ginni Thomas' lawyer wants to know what Jan. 6 probe wants from his client Reuters Doina Chiacu June 29, 2022, 10:17 AM By Doina Chiacu WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A lawyer for Virginia "Ginni" Thomas has dimmed prospects for a quick appearance before congressional investigators probing the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, asking what they want from his client, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Ginni Thomas on June 16 expressed eagerness to speak with the House of Representatives panel investigating the 2021 assault, telling the Daily Caller she "can't wait to clear up misconceptions." The committee sent an invitation that day. In a letter on Tuesday, lawyer Mark R. Paoletta curbed that enthusiasm, telling the committee: "I do not understand the need to speak with Mrs. Thomas." "Before I can recommend that she meet with you, I am asking the Committee to provide a better justification for why Mrs. Thomas’s testimony is relevant to the Committee’s legislative purpose." The justice's wife is active in conservative political circles and said she attended a rally by then-President Donald Trump outside the White House before his supporters marched on the Capitol to try to block certification of Democrat Joe Biden's defeat of Trump, a Republican, in the 2020 election. At the rally, Trump made a fiery speech repeating his false claims his election defeat was due to widespread fraud. The Washington Post had reported earlier that the committee obtained emails between Ginni Thomas and attorney John Eastman, who advised Trump that then-Vice President Mike Pence could thwart formal congressional certification of Trump's loss. Her political activity has raised questions about whether her husband should recuse himself from cases involving Trump and the Capitol riot. In January, Clarence Thomas was the lone dissenting voice when the court rejected Trump's request to block release of White House records sought by the committee. Paoletta said Ginni Thomas had no role in the Jan. 6 attack and never discussed election litigation strategy with Eastman. He also dismissed the committee's interest in text messages following the election between her and Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows. "These texts are simply much ado about nothing," he wrote in the letter to the committee seen by Reuters. The committee did not answer a query on its response to the letter on Wednesday. (Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Scott Malone and Howard Goller) | |
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| 06-30-22 05:26pm - 812 days | #200 | |
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LKLK (0)
Active User Posts: 1,583 Registered: Jun 26, '19 Location: CA |
The real truth is being exposed. Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to then White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, has been telling stories about Donald Trump, our beloved President of the Untied States of Trumperland. Now Trump and his allies are saying that Cassidy is a liar, FAKE NEWS, and don't believe the lying bitch. President Trump is a man of steel. Just like his heroes, Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler. Would Trump lunge at a secret service agent because Trump was angry they wouldn't drive Trump to the Capital to lead the riots? Would Trump reach for the streering wheel and try to drive himself, when they wouldn't take him to the Capital so he could lead his followers in taking Congress and his traitorous Vice President Mike Pence hostage? Did Trump really want his followers to hang Mike Pence? Maybe Trump was just fooling, and was playing a practical joke on Congress and Mike Pence. Enquiring minds want to know: Can you really put an ex-president in jail for treason? Maybe it wasn't treason, for Trump to want to change the vote, and remain in power. Maybe he was doing it for the best: to make America great again. ---- ---- The campaign to discredit Cassidy Hutchinson has begun LA Times Nolan D. McCaskill June 29, 2022, 2:16 PM Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to then White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, is sworn-in during a House Select Committee hearing to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the US Capitol, in the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on June 28, 2022. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images) Cassidy Hutchinson, former aide to Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, before her testimony Tuesday to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. (Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images) In the hours after Cassidy Hutchinson delivered bombshell testimony to the Jan. 6 committee Tuesday, former President Trump and his allies rushed to attack the former White House staffer. Hutchinson, who served as an aide to then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, told the panel that Trump was aware that some of his supporters were armed when he urged them to march to the Capitol. She also testified that Anthony Ornato, then the deputy White House chief of staff, told her the president was so “irate” that the Secret Service would not drive him to the Capitol that he reached for the steering wheel and lunged at an agent. Trump and his allies have seized on media reports of unnamed Secret Service sources rejecting those statements to paint Hutchinson’s sworn testimony as unreliable. So far, though, none of the people who have disputed Hutchinson’s story have done so under oath. Now members of the Jan. 6 committee, Hutchinson’s lawyer and several of Hutchinson’s former Trump administration colleagues are challenging her critics to follow the 25-year-old’s lead and testify before Congress under penalty of perjury. “The lies and fabricated stories being told to the partisan Highly Unselect Committee, not only by the phony social climber who got caught yesterday, but by many others, are a disgrace to our, in serious decline, Nation,” Trump wrote Wednesday morning on his social media platform, Truth Social. “No cross examination, no real Republicans, no lawyers, NO NOTHING. Fake stories and an all Fake Narrative being produced, with ZERO pushback allowed. Unselects should be forced to disband. WITCH HUNT!” An anonymous Secret Service official told CNN that Ornato denies telling Hutchinson that Trump grabbed the steering wheel or an agent. “The agents are prepared to say under oath that the incident itself did not occur,” the official told the network. CNN’s anonymous source did not dispute that Trump was furious that he was not being driven to the Capitol. Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service, would not confirm the CNN report to The Times, saying only that the federal law enforcement agency “has been cooperating fully with the select committee since its inception in spring of 2021 and we will continue to do so including by responding formally and on the record to the committee regarding new allegations that surfaced in [Tuesday’s] testimony.” Trump’s backers have also spread inaccurate claims about the plausibility of the steering wheel story. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) retweeted a graphic of the “Beast,” the presidential limousine, which appeared to illustrate how passengers are separated from the driver. “Cassidy Hutchinson lied and the @January6thCmte held a special hearing [Tuesday] to broadcast her lies,” Greene wrote. “In ’23, every single one of them need to be held accountable for what they are putting Pres Trump, his admin, & Republicans through on the people’s dime. Enough of this.” Trump was actually transported in an SUV, not the Beast, on the morning of Jan. 6, a video played by the committee shows. Jody Hunt, a former assistant attorney general under Trump who’s now working as Hutchinson’s legal counsel, called on others with knowledge of her testimony to come forward and testify under oath. “Ms. Hutchinson testified, under oath, and recounted what she was told,” Hunt tweeted. “Those with knowledge of the episode also should testify under oath.” Other Trump White House officials who leaped to Hutchinson’s defense also challenged her critics to come testify under oath. Alyssa Farah Griffin, former Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary and White House strategic communications director, described Hutchinson as a “friend.” “To anyone who would try to impugn her character, I’d be glad to put you in touch w/ @January6thCmte to appear UNDER OATH,” she said, highlighting the fact that skeptics of Hutchinson’s testimony have been able to dispute it publicly without penalty of perjury. “Anyone downplaying Cassidy Hutchinson’s role or her access in the West Wing either doesn’t understand how the Trump WH worked or is attempting to discredit her because they’re scared of how damning this testimony is,” added Sarah Matthews, a former deputy press secretary. “For those complaining of ‘hearsay,’ I imagine the Jan. 6 committee would welcome any of those involved to deny these allegations under oath.” Former acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said Meadows, Ornato and Robert Engel, the head of Trump’s Secret Service detail and the agent Trump reportedly lunged toward, should be prepared to testify as well. “This is explosive stuff,” Mulvaney tweeted. “If Cassidy is making this up, they will need to say that. If she isn’t they will have to corroborate. I know her. I don’t think she is lying.” Committee members also stood by Hutchinson. “I found Cassidy Hutchinson to be a thoroughly credible witness, telling us what she saw, what she heard,” Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) told MSNBC. “She was very careful to differentiate when she was a participant in the conversation or actions were related to her by others.” “Cassidy Hutchinson is one of the most brave and honorable people I know,” Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) wrote in one tweet. He added in another: “Watching the desperation of Trump world to discredit the brave Cassidy Hutchinson reminds me of…. Everything trump does when he is busted and cornered.” Punchbowl News reported Wednesday that Hutchinson was a target of alleged witness intimidation from Trump world. At Tuesday’s hearing, Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) displayed two examples of what she described as attempts to influence what witnesses told the committee. One statement said that “they have reminded me a couple of times that Trump does read transcripts and just to keep that in mind.” In another statement, a person was told, “He knows you’re loyal, and you’re going to do the right thing when you go in for your deposition.” This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. | |
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