I wonder if, ya know, maybe that shot of the empty seats was taken way, way before the event started? I wonder that because, later - ya know, when there are speakers on stage, it appears pretty full, with a lot of applause as well.
I bet if you went to a local gym say, a few hours before a game, and you took a picture of the stands, it would look empty. But if you took that same shot at tip off, it would look different, wouldn't it?
Trump says Black people like him now because they relate to his indicments and love his mugshot… they’re selling $19 tee shirts with my mugshot on them.
'Chaotic' US Congress faces whirlwind of shutdown, impeachment, border fights
WASHINGTON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress lurches into a new week of political chaos on Monday, as lawmakers struggle to avoid a partial government shutdown in just five days, while pushing for an election-year trial of President Joe Biden's top border official.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives is also grasping for a way forward on vital U.S. aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, and plans to hear closed-door testimony from Biden's son, Hunter Biden, in an impeachment probe that has failed so far to turn up evidence of wrongdoing by the president.
Congress has been characterized by Republican brinkmanship and muddled priorities over the past year, more so since Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump undermined a bipartisan border deal in the Senate and now wants aid to U.S. allies extended as loans.
Almost two months have passed since Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer agreed on a $1.59 trillion discretionary spending level for the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1.
Since then, Congress has failed to follow through with the detailed legislation that would put that agreement into effect.
"It's becoming more chaotic," said Brian Riedl, senior fellow at the right-leaning Manhattan Institute. "The longer Congress is dysfunctional, the further they fall behind on very time-sensitive, high-priority legislation."
That dysfunction has eclipsed classic partisan bickering between Republicans and Democrats, with hardliners now forming their own opposition party within Republican ranks.
Major ratings agencies say the repeated brinkmanship is taking a toll on the creditworthiness of a nation whose debt has surpassed $34 trillion.
In the latest sign of an ungovernable House Republican majority, some hardliners are threatening to oust Johnson as speaker, if the Christian conservative allows a vote on the $95 billion foreign aid bill that passed the Senate with overwhelming bipartisan support.
On another front, the White House has stepped up personal attacks on Johnson for blocking bills Biden supports.
Biden plans to meet with Schumer, Johnson and other congressional leaders on Tuesday.
FRIDAY DEADLINE
The most urgent task for Congress is averting a partial shutdown when funding runs out at midnight Friday.
Lawmakers currently do not have a plan to prevent that from happening. Schumer said on Sunday that Republicans need more time to "sort themselves out," while Johnson accused Democrats of imposing new demands.
Representative Tom Cole, a top appropriator, hopes to see as many as four packages with discretionary funding for the entire government. The House is expected to move first, though its rules mean lawmakers might not vote until Thursday — the day before funds expire.
Some lawmakers worry that hardline demands for policy riders that restrict access to abortion, defund diversity programs and promote gun rights could cause further delay.
But Representative Mike Simpson, a senior Republican appropriator, said Congress can steer clear of a shutdown.
"We cannot let unrealistic policy expectations get in the way of effective governing. We must get these bills across the finish line," Simpson said in a statement.
IMPEACHMENT TIMING UNCLEAR
Further complicating the path forward, senators are due to be sworn in as jurors for the trial of U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who the House impeached along partisan lines on Feb. 13 on charges that he has failed to enforce immigration law and made false statements to Congress.
But a Senate trial cannot begin until the House delivers the articles of impeachment, and sources said the two chambers have not yet agreed on a delivery date.
To avert a shutdown, Schumer may need unanimous consent from senators, including raucous Republican hardliners, if the chamber is to act on appropriations before the Friday deadline.
"It's going to be difficult to get it done on time," said Senator John Boozman, a senior Republican appropriator. "Hopefully, we won't have a government shutdown. But if we do, just a few days as we're working in good faith to get it passed, that really wouldn't mean much."
The absence of time has led to speculation that lawmakers could opt for a short-term stopgap measure to keep federal agencies open while Congress acts.
Johnson and other Republicans oppose a short-term stopgap, known as a continuing resolution or CR. But circumstances may have the last say.
"If it's an option between a three-day shutdown and a three-day CR, I'd do the CR," said Representative Don Bacon, who would otherwise reject another stopgap.
The House Freedom Caucus has instead urged Johnson to pass a continuing resolution for the remainder of 2024 that would trigger a 1% across-the-board spending cut under a 2023 deal between Biden and Johnson's predecessor, Kevin McCarthy.
Republican Senator Rick Scott, a staunch conservative, favors the same approach, but with U.S. aid to Israel included, along with a full-year defense appropriations bill to protect the Pentagon from spending cuts.
Representative Kelly Armstrong thinks most lawmakers will support the emerging appropriations legislation and avoid a shutdown. But he also sounded a note of skepticism.
"It's 2024, and it's Congress, so we'll see," the North Dakota Republican said. "I've been through enough of this to know that until the ink is dry, I can't guarantee anything."
State Senator calls 2SLGBTQ+ Oklahomans ‘filth’ after question on legislation and nonbinary student’s death
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. (KFOR) – During a public forum in Tahlequah, a State Senator referred to the 2SLGBTQ+ community as ‘that filth’ while answering a question on connections between recent legislation and a nonbinary student’s death in Owasso, saying his constituents “don’t want that in the state of Oklahoma,” as recorded by the Tahlequah Daily Press.
According to the Tahlequah Daily Press, Cathy Cott asked the panel – consisting of Rep. David Hardin, R-Stilwell, Sen. Blake “Cowboy” Stephens, R-Tahlequah, Sen. Tom Woods, R-Westville, and Sen. Dewayne Pemberton, R-Muskogee – about the dozens of anti-2SLGBTQ+ bills making their way through the current legislative session.
“A 16-year-old died after being beaten in Owasso High School, what do you think of that?” Cott said. “They were targeted because of some of these bills and some of the things Ryan Walters has said.”
Cott is referring to 16-year-old Nex Benedict, a nonbinary student who died one day after a ‘physical altercation’ in a bathroom at Owasso High School.
Benedict’s cause of death has not yet been determined. Owasso Police say preliminary autopsy reports indicate Benedict’s death was ‘not a result of trauma.’ A search warrant indicated investigators ‘suspect foul play involved.’
After two other lawmakers respond, Sen. Tom Woods, R-Westville, begins his reply.
“My heart goes out to that scenario, if that is the case,” said Woods. “We’re a Republican state – supermajority – in the House and Senate. I represent a constituency that doesn’t want that filth in Oklahoma.”
Quote
We are a religious state and we are going to fight it to keep that filth out of the state of Oklahoma because we are a Christian state – we are a moral state.
Rep. Tom Woods, R-Westville
Some audience members clap as others question his use of the word ‘filth.’
A national crisis hotline for 2SLGBTQ+ youth says calls have more than tripled following the news of Nex Benedict’s death.
“If you look back to when our crisis hotline began in April of 2022, for about 6 months there, the number one reason for a crisis outreach call was parental rejection, being forced out, scared about coming out,” said Lance Preston, Founder and Executive Director of Rainbow Youth Project USA. “Now, our number one reason is ‘my government hates me,’ ‘my school doesn’t want me,’ ‘they don’t want me to use the bathroom,’ ‘they don’t want me to read a book.’ So it’s really shifted and that’s sad, but that is also across the country.”
Many 2SLGBTQ+ rights organizations and community leaders have spoken out, citing the state’s legislation and government leaders’ rhetoric as leading causes to the circumstances surrounding Benedict’s death.
“We want to be clear, whether Nex died as a direct result of injuries sustained in the brutal hate-motivated attack at school or not, Nex’s death is a result of being the target of physical and emotional harm because of who Nex was,” said Freedom Oklahoma. “This harm is absolutely related to the rhetoric and policies that are commonplace at the Oklahoma Legislature, the State Department of Education, and the Governor’s office, with regard to dehumanizing 2STGNC+ people.”
According to Oklahoma Watch, 40 anti-LGBTQ+ have been filed for the current legislative session, including a bill that would bar state agencies from showing support for Oklahoma’s LGBTQ+ community.
“While the details about the tragic death of Nex Benedict are still being sorted out, one thing is clear: Oklahoma officials failed this teenager. Backed by Gov. Kevin Stitt, Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters has launched a crusade to force fundamentalist Christianity into the public schools, with a cruel focus on trans youth. Oklahoma legislators have compounded the harm by passing laws undermining LGBTQ+ rights,” said Americans United. “We hope that Walters, Stitt and other Oklahoma officials learn from this horrific tragedy and pull back on their crusade to devalue LGBTQ+ people and destroy separation of church and state. All decent people must hold these state officials accountable for the consequences of their rhetoric and actions. The memory of Nex Benedict demands nothing less.”
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has compiled a list of resources for those in need.
In response to the death of Nex Benedict, a non-binary/two-spirit student in Owasso, Oklahoma, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has compiled resources related to mental health and youth crisis services, tools for youth-serving providers, and resources to preventing school-based bullying and violence. HHS stands in solidarity with the LGBTQI+ community and reaffirms its commitment to addressing discrimination, bullying, and violence in all its forms.
HHS
On Saturday afternoon, Senate Democratic Leader Kay Floyd, D-OKC, issued the following statement regarding the comments made at the forum.
As elected officials, we are held to a higher standard. Words have consequences, and this kind of conduct is unbecoming of an elected official. It is our duty to represent and protect everyone, and not make things worse.
GOP governors face pressure campaign to feed kids in the summer
Louisiana and South Carolina are among the states where advocates are pushing hard to change their governor’s mind.
More than a dozen Republican governors have been holding out for months against a bipartisan plan to feed hungry children during the summer. But they are under mounting pressure to reconsider — with one already reversing course.
The program, known as Summer EBT, aims to make it easier for kids to access food when school’s out by providing pre-loaded cards, rather than prepared meals that need to be picked up from select locations. It represents the first major expansion of federal nutrition programs in decades, and the Biden administration estimates it could help feed 30 million eligible schoolchildren in the summer months.
As of the initial deadline, however, 15 states, all GOP-led, had declined to participate in the new program over cost concerns and philosophical opposition to expanding federal benefits. Their decision has outraged anti-hunger groups, rural advocates, teachers and local youth, and prompted intense lobbying efforts to convince the governors to change their minds.
In one case, it’s worked: Nebraska announced earlier this month it was opting into the program, after GOP Gov. Jim Pillen had previously stated he would reject the aid — “I don’t believe in welfare,” he’d said at a press conference in December.
Pillen’s change of heart, as well as USDA’s recent announcement that the agency would consider accepting states into the program for summer 2024 even if they missed the agency’s initial deadlines, has injected new momentum into the pressure campaigns in several of the remaining hold-out states. At stake, according to the Agriculture Department: hundreds of millions in food assistance for as many as 9 million eligible children.
“The fact that our governor changed his mind, … from the day he said it, we were hoping other states will do the same,” said Eric Savaiano, program manager for food and nutrition access with Nebraska Appleseed, an anti-poverty organization that was part of the lobbying campaign that convinced Pillen to reverse course.
In Iowa and South Carolina, advocates are “leveraging that change in Nebraska’s stance” to push their governors to expand summer EBT, said Kelsey Boone, senior nutrition policy analyst with the Food Research & Action Center. She added that during the 2021-2022 school year, 360,000 kids received free and reduced price lunch in Iowa, a marker of eligibility for summer EBT, but just 18,353 kids received summer meals in 2022.
The federal government already funds summer nutrition assistance programs, but they require kids and their families to travel to community centers and other sites to receive their meals. In rural areas, that can be a particular burden, and it’s one of the reasons the existing programs don’t reach even a majority of the kids who are eligible.
After Covid-19 hit, the federal government launched Pandemic-EBT, the precursor to the new Summer EBT, to provide cash to eligible children — $40 per month per child — rather than requiring them to travel to retrieve meals. Initial data and research from earlier pilots have shown the program significantly reduced hunger when school is out. Congress agreed in 2022 to make the program permanent, with the backing of key Republicans like Arkansas Sen. John Boozman, the top GOP lawmaker on the Senate Agriculture Committee.
But the bipartisan deal also requires states to underwrite half of the administrative costs for the program, unlike during the pandemic, when the federal government footed the entire bill.
As of Feb. 27, 37 states, five U.S. territories and three tribes have notified the Department of Agriculture they plan to participate in Summer EBT in its inaugural year. That includes 14 Republican-led states. But the GOP governors of the 13 holdout states have remained adamant that Summer EBT was only necessary during the Covid emergency.
In Iowa, where advocates held a rally at the statehouse for summer EBT in January, a spokesperson for Gov. Kim Reynolds told POLITICO the governor remains “firm” in her decision.
“Pandemic-era programs were not intended to be permanent,” Deputy Communications Director Kollin Crompton wrote in an e-mail. “The answer isn’t creating a new government program, instead we should be investing in existing programs that work.”
Advocates for the new program counter that Summer EBT has bipartisan support and is proven effective at addressing the longstanding challenge of feeding low-income kids during the summer months.
“This is not a partisan issue; members of the General Assembly on both sides of the aisle understand that hungry children cannot learn, and hunger does not stop during summer break,” South Carolina state Sens. Darrell Jackson and Katrina Shealy, both Democrats, wrote in a recent Post and Courier op-ed. And they pointed to Gov. Pillen’s about-face in Nebraska to bolster their appeal.
So did Louisiana Democratic Rep. Troy Carter, who issued a statement addressed to the state’s Republican governor, Jeff Landry, following Pillen’s announcement earlier this month. “It’s not too late to reverse course and do the right thing for Louisiana’s children. Nebraska showed the way and Louisiana can too!”
Another Democratic in Louisiana, state Rep. Jason Hughes, recently introduced a bill that would force the state to join the program. Hughes said he is in discussions with Landry and also has received assurances from USDA that Louisiana can still participate in 2024, despite missed deadlines.
“Louisiana prides itself on being a pro-life state,” said Hughes in an interview. “Our children do not ask to be born. And so we have an obligation to do all that we can to ensure that our children grow up to be healthy, productive, tax-paying citizens. We don’t do that by denying them food.”
Landry’s office did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has said his state will participate in 2024, but will pull out after this year and rely on their own state programs to avoid “duplicative” programming.
“For me, it was a little bit like a business decision or pragmatic decision except you’re dealing with kids and their ability to eat which is not business and pragmatic. It’s personal and human,” said Lee when asked about his decision at POLITICO’s Governors Summit last week. “For me it’s pragmatic. Make sure kids get fed and then do it the most efficient way possible.”
With just a few months before school lets out for summer, the time for states to develop a working plan to distribute the new benefits in 2024 is fast disappearing.
USDA spokesperson Allan Rodriguez has repeatedly emphasized that the department did not want deadlines to impede kids from accessing critical federal nutrition aid, but also cautioned in a statement that a last-minute rollout would be “very challenging.”
Nebraska’s February decision to join the program, more than a month after the Ag Department’s initial deadline for states to apply, was in part facilitated by ongoing behind-the-scenes preparation even before the governor’s announcement.
“They submitted their plan of action [to USDA] the next day. That took months and weeks of work and willing staff,” said Nebraska Appleseed’s Savaiano.
Anti-hunger advocates continue to press their state leadership to reconsider the program, if not in time for 2024, then ahead of summer 2025. As part of their strategy, they are working to refute some of the arguments governors have cited in declining to participate. In particular, they point to Summer EBT pilot programs USDA conducted as early as 2011, as the federal government sought ways to close the summer hunger gap.
“It’s not some holdover pandemic benefit,” said Carolyn Vega, No Kid Hungry’s associate director of policy analysis. “It is a long-standing policy option to address a very long-standing problem.”
Some advocates are still holding out hope their states will pull a Nebraska this year. South Carolina state Sens. Jackson and Shealy said they are scheduled to meet with the state’s GOP Gov. Henry McMaster on Wednesday to discuss the issue.
“I am cautiously, somewhat optimistic,” said Jackson. “Both she and I only have one agenda, and that is let’s do right by the children.”
Man pleads guilty to threatening to kill Michigan election worker
An Indiana man has pled guilty to threatening to kill an election worker in Michigan, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Tuesday.
Andrew Nickels, 37, of Carmel, Ind., called the clerk of a local election office and left a voicemail threatening to kill the official shortly after the 2020 election.
According to the information released by the DOJ, Nickels said: “We’re watching you … mouth talk about how you think that there’s no irregularities. … You frauded our America of a real election.”
Nickels said the official was “gonna pay for it” and added that “10 million-plus patriots will surround you when you least expect it.” He said the group of patriots would kill the employee and that they “deserve a [expletive] throat to the knife,” adding that the official should watch their back.
Nickels pleaded guilty to one count of threatening interstate communication.
“Election officials and workers play a critical role in safeguarding free and fair elections. The Criminal Division will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute individuals who seek to undermine this core tenet of our democracy by threatening election officials with violence,” Nicole Argentieri, the acting assistant attorney general at the DOJ, said in a statement.
Nickels is scheduled to be sentenced July 9 and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison, the DOJ said.
The FBI’s Detroit Field Office investigated the case. The DOJ said Nickels’s case was part of an ongoing Election Threats Task Force created by Attorney General Merrick Garland in June 2021.
Michigan was one of a few swing states in 2020 that turned from red to blue and helped elect President Biden. Michigan, along with other swing states, has been at the center of political controversy as election results have been contested and election workers have faced threats and intimidation.
There you have it. It's not just "Russia, Russia, Russia." He's repeating well-known talking points introduced by Trump, spread through the media, and other subservient politicians. That ish is dangerous. I'd also be curious to see what his Ukraine resources are for them all being Nazis.
Unbelievable.
Last edited by dawglover05; 02/28/2403:17 PM.
Blue ostriches on crack float on milkshakes between the sidewalk titans of gurglefitz. --YTown
There you have it. It's not just "Russia, Russia, Russia." He's repeating well-known talking points introduced by Trump, spread through the media, and other subservient politicians. That ish is dangerous. I'd also be curious to see what his Ukraine resources are for them all being Nazis.
Unbelievable.
10,000 shrinks in 10,000 years couldn’t fix that guy. Dude is lost.
And damned right it’s dangerous. That idiot feels it’s his mission to talk that crap. And it probably would take even less proding for him to act upon his notions.
Last edited by OldColdDawg; 02/28/2403:55 PM.
Your feelings and opinions do not add up to facts.
Lauren Boebert's 18-year-old son Tyler Boebert arrested, faces five felony charges, police say
Tyler Boebert, the 18-year-old son of Rep. Lauren Boebert, was arrested Tuesday in Colorado related to a string of alleged property thefts and vehicle trespasses, police said.
The police department in Rifle, Colorado, posted on Facebook that Tyler Boebert was arrested at approximately 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday and he faces five felony counts. The charges include four felony counts of criminal possession of identification documents and one felony count of conspiracy to commit a felony, according to police.
According to the Garfield County Jail, Boebert was being held on 22 possible charges, including misdemeanors.
Tyler Boebert was listed as a current inmate at the jail as of Wednesday morning. There was no bond information listed.
In a statement, Lauren Boebert said "I love my son Tyler, who has been through some very difficult, public challenges for a young man and the subject of attention that he didn't ask for. It breaks my heart to see my child struggling and, in this situation, especially when he has been provided multiple opportunities to get his life on track."
Lauren Boebert continued that "as an adult and father, Tyler will take responsiblity for his actions and should be held accountable for poor decisions just like any other citizen." Her office announced in June 2023 that Tyler had become a father to a baby boy.
The arrest is the latest in a string of legal troubles in Boebert's family. In January, her ex-husband, Jayson Boebert, was arrested in connection to two separate incidents. Earlier this month, Lauren Boebert was granted a temporary restraining order from Jayson Boebert after alleging he threatened to harm her and entered the family's home without permission.
Lauren Boebert also made headlines last year when she was removed from a Denver theater during a performance of "Beetlejuice." The theater said two patrons were removed for vaping, "causing a disturbance for the area with noise, singing, using their cell phone," and Boebert later apologized.
Boebert is serving her second term as a representative from Colorado's 3rd District, although she recently announced she would be running in a different district for reelection after facing a potentially tough reelection battle.
Did Boebert's son stal these ID's for her? Did Boebert instruct her son to steal these ID's? Has anyone searched her residence to see if she herself had possession of any fake ID's? Did she in any way benefit from these ID's? Although these are merely questions with nothing to back them up, I think the democrats should form a House Subcommittee to try to dig up any dirt possible. Try to find, create or even invent evidence that doesn't exist to make a connection here.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Arthur Engoron, judge in Trump civil fraud case, received envelope with powder, police respond to courthouse
Justice Arthur Engoron was never in any danger, sources said.
The New York City judge who oversaw former President Donald Trump's civil fraud trial received an envelope containing a powdery substance Wednesday morning, prompting emergency services to respond to the courthouse, officials said.
The envelope was addressed to Justice Arthur Engoron, who imposed a nearly half-billion dollar judgment against Trump.
Preliminary testing showed the powder was "negative for hazardous substances," a spokesperson for the New York State Unified Court System said. Additional tests are being done out of an abundance of caution, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The letter was received in the operations office of the downtown Manhattan courthouse, and affected staff members were isolated until the powder was tested, the spokesperson said.
Engoron was never exposed to the substance, the spokesperson said.
Additionally, a white powder envelope was received Tuesday at the Albany, New York, office of New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought the civil case against Trump that Engoron oversaw, according to a source familiar with the situation.
The substance inside the envelope tested negative for anything hazardous and nobody was hurt, the source said.
Engoron received multiple threats before, during and after Trump's civil fraud trial, including a bomb threat at his Long Island home on the day of closing arguments.
Engoron imposed a limited gag order on Trump's statements to protect court staff.
A similar gag order is being sought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for Trump's criminal trial, which is set to begin next month at a courthouse two blocks away.
This time, the substance was benign. But- the impulse (and message) that led this person to take these steps still lives out there- in others.
The 'rabbit hole' extends as deeply as fools want to take it. We live among anonymous fools who will act upon their deepest fears and hatreds.
We all should be concerned about s# like this. If it could happen to state Supreme Court judge, it could happen to any one.
Local politicians. Local poll workers (read: your patriotic next-door neighbor). People who do not have the protective resources that currently protect Arthur Engoron.
If my next-door neighbor can't feel safe working the local polls on election day in my own neighborhood, our democracy is in peril. If my elected precinct rep can't do his/her job without mortal fear, our democracy is in peril.
In almost 70 years of life on this planet, I never once feared for the future of the country that raised/protected/sustained me. I can no longer confidently say that now.
There you have it. It's not just "Russia, Russia, Russia." He's repeating well-known talking points introduced by Trump, spread through the media, and other subservient politicians. That ish is dangerous. I'd also be curious to see what his Ukraine resources are for them all being Nazis.
Unbelievable.
That was one brain washed ignorant individual.
I think there have always been people like that - we just see and hear them now. [1] Because of social media and everyone has a camera [2] Because there are a lot more of them [2a] We have a lot more of them because we have politicians like Trump and his ilk who willfully constantly lie with impunity, knowing that somewhere someone like this fool will buy it and spread the same hate and falsehoods.
This is where the notion that all politicians and parties are the same falls down. Yes both sides have corruption. Both sides have politicians out for themselves and try to line their pockets more so than serving the country or their constituents. . . . . What we don't have is both parties with a group of people spewing the outright lies that (as Clem just posted) undermine and erode the very democracy of the country.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
This time, the substance was benign. But- the impulse (and message) that led this person to take these steps still lives out there- in others.
The 'rabbit hole' extends as deeply as fools want to take it. We live among anonymous fools who will act upon their deepest fears and hatreds.
We all should be concerned about s# like this. If it could happen to state Supreme Court judge, it could happen to any one.
Local politicians. Local poll workers (read: your patriotic next-door neighbor). People who do not have the protective resources that currently protect Arthur Engoron.
If my next-door neighbor can't feel safe working the local polls on election day in my own neighborhood, our democracy is in peril. If my elected precinct rep can't do his/her job without mortal fear, our democracy is in peril.
In almost 70 years of life on this planet, I never once feared for the future of the country that raised/protected/sustained me. I can no longer confidently say that now.
What a world we have built for ourselves.
WE didn't build that world Clem, Trump and his MAGA hated fools did.
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe." Damanshot
Lauren Boebert's 18-year-old son Tyler Boebert arrested, faces five felony charges, police say
Tyler Boebert, the 18-year-old son of Rep. Lauren Boebert, was arrested Tuesday in Colorado related to a string of alleged property thefts and vehicle trespasses, police said.
The police department in Rifle, Colorado, posted on Facebook that Tyler Boebert was arrested at approximately 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday and he faces five felony counts. The charges include four felony counts of criminal possession of identification documents and one felony count of conspiracy to commit a felony, according to police.
According to the Garfield County Jail, Boebert was being held on 22 possible charges, including misdemeanors.
Tyler Boebert was listed as a current inmate at the jail as of Wednesday morning. There was no bond information listed.
In a statement, Lauren Boebert said "I love my son Tyler, who has been through some very difficult, public challenges for a young man and the subject of attention that he didn't ask for. It breaks my heart to see my child struggling and, in this situation, especially when he has been provided multiple opportunities to get his life on track."
Lauren Boebert continued that "as an adult and father, Tyler will take responsiblity for his actions and should be held accountable for poor decisions just like any other citizen." Her office announced in June 2023 that Tyler had become a father to a baby boy.
The arrest is the latest in a string of legal troubles in Boebert's family. In January, her ex-husband, Jayson Boebert, was arrested in connection to two separate incidents. Earlier this month, Lauren Boebert was granted a temporary restraining order from Jayson Boebert after alleging he threatened to harm her and entered the family's home without permission.
Lauren Boebert also made headlines last year when she was removed from a Denver theater during a performance of "Beetlejuice." The theater said two patrons were removed for vaping, "causing a disturbance for the area with noise, singing, using their cell phone," and Boebert later apologized.
Boebert is serving her second term as a representative from Colorado's 3rd District, although she recently announced she would be running in a different district for reelection after facing a potentially tough reelection battle.
Did Boebert's son stal these ID's for her? Did Boebert instruct her son to steal these ID's? Has anyone searched her residence to see if she herself had possession of any fake ID's? Did she in any way benefit from these ID's? Although these are merely questions with nothing to back them up, I think the democrats should form a House Subcommittee to try to dig up any dirt possible. Try to find, create or even invent evidence that doesn't exist to make a connection here.
We should Impeach Boebert’s son.
And call her to the stand and make her disclose her slutty theatre theatrics, in faux discovery.
Last edited by OldColdDawg; 02/29/2405:42 PM.
Your feelings and opinions do not add up to facts.
Trump supporters target black voters with faked AI images
Donald Trump supporters have been creating and sharing AI-generated fake images of black voters to encourage African Americans to vote Republican.
BBC Panorama discovered dozens of deepfakes portraying black people as supporting the former president.
Mr Trump has openly courted black voters, who were key to Joe Biden's election win in 2020.
But there's no evidence directly linking these images to Mr Trump's campaign.
The co-founder of Black Voters Matter, a group which encourages black people to vote, said the manipulated images were pushing a "strategic narrative" designed to show Mr Trump as popular in the black community.
A creator of one of the images told the BBC: "I'm not claiming it's accurate."
The fake images of black Trump supporters, generated by artificial intelligence (AI), are one of the emerging disinformation trends ahead of the US presidential election in November.
Unlike in 2016, when there was evidence of foreign influence campaigns, the AI-generated images found by the BBC appear to have been made and shared by US voters themselves.
One of them was Mark Kaye and his team at a conservative radio show in Florida.
They created an image of Mr Trump smiling with his arms around a group of black women at a party and shared it on Facebook, where Mr Kaye has more than one million followers.
At first it looks real, but on closer inspection everyone's skin is a little too shiny and there are missing fingers on people's hands - some tell-tale signs of AI-created images.
"I'm not a photojournalist," Mr Kaye tells me from his radio studio.
"I'm not out there taking pictures of what's really happening. I'm a storyteller."
He had posted an article about black voters supporting Mr Trump and attached this image to it, giving the impression that these people all support the former president's run for the White House.
In the comments on Facebook, several users appeared to believe the AI image was real.
"I'm not claiming it is accurate. I'm not saying, 'Hey, look, Donald Trump was at this party with all of these African American voters. Look how much they love him!'" he said.
"If anybody's voting one way or another because of one photo they see on a Facebook page, that's a problem with that person, not with the post itself."
Another widely viewed AI image the BBC investigation found shows Mr Trump posing with black voters on a front porch. It had originally been posted by a satirical account that generates images of the former president, but only gained widespread attention when it was reposted with a new caption falsely claiming that he had stopped his motorcade to meet these people.
We tracked down the person behind the account called Shaggy, who is a committed Trump supporter living in Michigan.
"[My posts] have attracted thousands of wonderful kind-hearted Christian followers," he said in messages sent to the BBC on social media.
When I tried to question him on the AI-generated image he blocked me. His post has had over 1.3 million views, according to the social media site X. Some users called it out, but others seemed to have believed the image was real.
I did not find similarly manipulated images of Joe Biden with voters from a particular demographic. The AI images of the president tend to feature him alone or with other world leaders such as Russian President Vladimir Putin or former US President Barack Obama.
Some are created by critics, others by supporters.
In January, the Democratic candidate was himself a victim of an AI-generated impersonation.
An automated audio call, purportedly voiced by the president, urged voters to skip the New Hampshire primary where he was running. A Democratic Party supporter has admitted responsibility, saying he wanted to draw attention to the potential for the technology to be abused.
Cliff Albright, the co-founder of campaign group Black Voters Matter, said there appeared to be a resurgence of disinformation tactics targeting the black community, as in the 2020 election.
"There have been documented attempts to target disinformation to black communities again, especially younger black voters," he said.
I show him the AI-generated pictures in his office in Atlanta, Georgia - a key election battleground state where convincing even a small slice of the overall black vote to switch from Mr Biden to Mr Trump could prove decisive.
A recent New York Times and Sienna College poll found that in six key swing states 71% of black voters would back Mr Biden in 2024, a steep drop from the 92% nationally that helped him win the White House at the last election.
Mr Albright said the fake images were consistent with a "very strategic narrative" pushed by conservatives - from the Trump campaign down to influencers online - designed to win over black voters. They are particularly targeting young black men, who are thought to be more open to voting for Mr Trump than black women.
On Monday, MAGA Inc, the main political action committee backing Trump, is due to launch an advertising campaign targeting black voters in Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
It is aimed at voters like Douglas, a taxi driver in Atlanta.
Douglas said he was mainly worried about the economy and immigration - issues which he felt Trump was more focused on. He said Democratic messaging about Trump's threat to democracy would not motivate him to vote, because he was already disillusioned with the electoral process.
The US economy is generally doing well, but some voters - like Douglas - don't feel better off because they've also been through a cost of living crisis.
What did he think of the AI-generated image of Trump sitting on a front porch with black voters? When I first showed it to him, he believed it was real. He said it bolstered his view, shared by some other black people he knows, that Trump is supportive of the community.
Then, I revealed it was a fake.
"Well, that's the thing about social media. It's so easy to fool people," he said.
Disinformation tactics in the US presidential elections have evolved since 2016, when Donald Trump won. Back then, there were documented attempts by hostile foreign powers, such as Russia, to use networks of inauthentic accounts to try to sow division and plant particular ideas.
In 2020, the focus was on home-grown disinformation - particularly false narratives that the presidential election was stolen, which were shared widely by US-based social media users and endorsed by Mr Trump and other Republican politicians.
In 2024, experts warn of a dangerous combination of the two.
Ben Nimmo, who until last month was responsible for countering foreign influence operations at Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, said the confusion created by fakes like these also opens new opportunities for foreign governments who may seek to manipulate elections.
"Anybody who has a substantial audience in 2024 needs to start thinking, how do I vet anything which gets sent to me? How do I make sure that I don't unwittingly become part of some kind of foreign influence operation?" he said.
Mr Nimmo said that social media users and platforms are increasingly able to identify fake automated accounts, so as it gets harder to build an audience in this way "operations try to co-opt real people" to increase the reach of divisive or misleading information.
"The best bet they have is to try and land [their content] through an influencer. That's anyone who has a big audience on social media," he said.
Mr Nimmo said he was concerned in 2024 that these people, who may be willing to spread misinformation to their ready-made audiences, could become "unwitting vectors" for foreign influence operations.
These operations could share content with users - either covertly or overtly - and encourage them to post it themselves, so it appears to have come from a real US voter, he said.
All of the major social media companies have policies in place to tackle potential influence operations, and several - like Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram - have introduced new measures to deal with AI-generated content during elections.
Leading politicians from around the world have also highlighted the risks of AI-generated content this year.
Narratives about the 2020 election being stolen - which were shared without any evidence - spread online with simple posts, memes and algorithms, not AI-generated images or video, and still resulted in the US Capitol riot on 6 January.
This time around, there is a whole new range of tools available to political partisans and provocateurs which could inflame tensions once again.
Somehow something that happened several years ago I would actually like to see you verify makes it all better. You do realize that just posting some picture and making claims about it doesn't really mean anything, right?
Aren't you the same guy who claims to hate whatabouts when someone other than yourself uses them?
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
If someone wants to whine about a sweetheart deal, this is what one looks like...........
Ex-Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg pleads guilty to perjury, will serve five months in jail
The Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, admitted Monday to lying during the ex-president’s New York civil fraud trial — as he pleaded guilty to perjury in connection with the case.
Weisselberg, 76, copped to two counts of perjury in the first degree — felonies — during a brief hearing in Manhattan Criminal Court, where he appeared in handcuffs, wearing a navy blue suit and a mask.
He conceded to Manhattan prosecutors that he lied to New York Attorney General Letitia James’ investigators in a May 12, 2023 deposition and on the stand during Trump’s civil fraud trial on Oct 10.
The former Trump confidant will serve five months in jail as part of his plea, with a sentencing hearing scheduled for April 10.
In accordance with the deal, Weisselberg admitted to lying to AG’s office investigators on July 17, 2020, as they looked to assess the value of Trump’s properties and assets.
Weisselberg specifically lied about when he knew that Trump had falsely claimed his Midtown Trump Tower triplex was 30,000 square feet when it was actually just under 11,000 square feet.
He claimed he only found out about the discrepancy in a Forbes article in May 2017, but the outlet had a tape of Weisselberg being told about the actual numbers in an interview before the article came out, according to the plea agreement.
Weisselberg was also informed in an email about the inflated square footage all the way back in 2012, evidence shows.
He also conceded that he provided false testimony during the deposition last May and while taking the stand in October during the civil fraud trial in Manhattan Supreme Court.
“It is a crime to lie in depositions and at trial – plain and simple. Allen Weisselberg took an oath to be truthful, and then committed perjury both at depositions during the New York State Attorney General’s Investigation and proceeding, as well as at their recent trial,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.
“Today, Allen Weisselberg is pleading guilty to this felony and being held responsible for his conduct.”
Weisselberg and his attorneys did not provide any comments when leaving the courtroom.
Weisselberg’s plea comes after a New York judge found Trump liable for conspiring to manipulate his net worth, resulting in a $450 million fine against the former president.
The former Trump Org CFO had previously labeled some of his boss’s “exaggerations” regarding his wealth and real estate just minor mistakes.
Monday’s guilty plea will be the second criminal conviction for Trump’s longtime trusted moneyman after he pleaded guilty in 2022 to 15 counts of tax fraud while working at the Trump Org.
He had been sentenced to serve five months in jail at New York’s infamous Rikers Island before qualifying for supervised release.
Donald Trump, Seeking Cash Infusion, Meets With Elon Musk
Donald Trump, who is urgently seeking a cash infusion to aid his presidential campaign, met Sunday in Palm Beach, Florida, with Elon Musk, one of the world’s richest men, and a few wealthy Republican donors, according to three people briefed on the meeting who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private discussion.
Trump and his team are working to find additional major donors to shore up his finances as he heads into an expected general election against President Joe Biden. Trump has praised Musk to allies and hopes to have a one-on-one meeting with the billionaire soon, according to a person who has discussed the matter with Trump.
It’s not yet clear whether Musk plans to spend any of his fortune on Trump’s behalf. But his recent social media posts suggest he thinks it’s essential that Biden be defeated in November — and people who have spoken to Musk privately confirmed that is indeed his view.
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With a net worth of around $200 billion, according to Forbes, Musk could decide to throw his weight behind Trump and potentially, almost single-handedly, erase what is expected to be Biden and his allies’ huge financial advantage over the former president.
Aides to Trump did not respond to a request for comment. Musk did not respond to requests for comment.
Musk has long portrayed himself as independent-minded, and like many business leaders he has donated to candidates from both parties over the years. Unlike other U.S. billionaires, he has not spent heavily on a presidential election, and his donations have been fairly evenly split over the years between Democrats and Republicans. Musk’s businesses, Tesla and SpaceX, have benefited from federal government contracts and subsidies.
A person close to Musk said his relationship with the government had historically made him wary about identifying too closely with one political party over the other. In 2017, the billionaire famously stepped away from two business advisory councils when Trump was president over Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris climate agreement.
“Climate change is real,” Musk posted on Twitter in June 2017. “Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world.”
The two have had other moments of friction. A few months before the midterm elections, in the summer of 2022, he and the former president traded insults, with Trump calling him an expletive and Musk saying it was time for the former president to “sail into the sunset.”
At the same time, however, Musk was becoming more open about his preference for the Republican Party.
On the eve of the midterms, he told his more than 100 million followers on X — the social media platform that was called Twitter until Musk bought it in 2022 — that they should vote for a Republican Congress. He has railed against what he describes as the left’s “woke” agenda and has attacked Biden over the record number of migrants who have entered the United States during his presidency.
Musk’s comments about immigration have grown increasingly alarmist. He has suggested that the president’s immigration policies threaten the existence of the U.S. itself and have pushed U.S. democracy to the brink. He has suggested that Democrats are “ushering in vast numbers of illegals” to cheat in elections. There is no evidence to support his claim of mass voter fraud.
“America will fall if it tries to absorb the world,” Musk posted Tuesday on X. Earlier in the day, he posted that the Biden administration’s immigration policies amounted to “treason.”
The person close to Musk, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that if he does get behind Trump, his views about immigration will have been a significant motivator.
Musk has previously raised questions over Biden’s age and once echoed one of Trump’s favorite jabs by claiming the president was “still sleeping” after Biden failed to congratulate one of his companies. Musk has also held a grudge against the president after the White House did not invite Tesla to an event on electric vehicles in August 2021.
“Let’s not forget the White House giving Tesla the cold shoulder, excluding us from the EV summit,” the Tesla CEO posted on X in December.
Musk visited the White House in September to discuss matters around artificial intelligence, according to NBC News, which obtained visitor logs. Biden and Musk did not meet during the visit.
After buying Twitter in October 2022, Musk reinstated Trump’s account. The former president had been barred from the platform after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, a decision that Musk had previously suggested was a mistake.
Still, it was far from clear that Musk would support Trump’s presidential bid. Musk had indicated before the Republican nominating contest that he was leaning toward backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. DeSantis kicked off his formal candidacy in a livestreamed audio discussion with Musk on X last May, and there was widespread speculation that a donation from Musk to the super political action committee supporting DeSantis would follow. But it never did.
On Monday, Musk appeared to criticize television host Bill Maher, who said in a clip posted to X that he would vote for Biden over Trump in most any circumstance.
“Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS) is a very real disease,” Musk wrote in response on X.
Even if Musk does not ultimately decide to donate to a pro-Trump super PAC or spend money in other ways to help Trump, his own megaphone is substantial. Musk has 175 million followers on X and has an ability like few others in the U.S. to shape news coverage.
This is what it looks like when you spend over 50 million dollars that were donated to your campaign on legal bills. And I'm sure that number is increasing as we speak.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Remember when one of the right wing know it alls on here told me I was nuts for calling Musk a Right wing nut job? Whoops, I was right, they were wrong.
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe." Damanshot
Yep. Musk runs hot and cold for me. When he’s talking on tech and AI he has some credibility. When he was all out progressive, I actually admired him. But since twitter, Musk has been a right wing troll. I wouldn’t piss on him if he was on fire. And just like the multitude of dumbass trumpians, Elon is lost to weird notions that Trump is something he’s not. A human being? No, Elon is smarter than that. But Elon seems to be down with the fascism, ever since he got high with Rogan his brain has been doing weird things. TDS? It could be real. Elon would know.
YET, we all seem to be missing the point… Donny is broke. Another lie revealed, Trump is not rich, not without selling crap. He’s talking to Elon and other deep GOPer pockets because he knows he’s in trouble. Have you ever seen such an uber rich multitalented genius like Trump beg for money from the real powers that be? Me neither. Self made man my ass. I hope Elon had fun with it. Made Trump get on his knees and plead or something equally as belittling. I would have had fun with it, then turned him down cold.
Last edited by OldColdDawg; 03/06/2408:25 PM.
Your feelings and opinions do not add up to facts.
Man... this is (or should be) an embarrassing scene:
-a self-described 'billionaire' begging from legitimate Billionaires. Billionaires don't need to beg.
Beta behavior on full display. Just like at Helsinki.
If I can see it, world leaders can see it.
The most worrisome aspect of this: a man who is desperate enough to beg for money is a man who can be bought at bargain-basement prices. By anyone with the requisite cash on hand. He'll dance to whatever tune you fiddle.
I don't want someone that venal and vulnerable to be within 250 miles of Washington DC.
Freedumb! Murica!
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