It's not like they are going to stop doing stupid things.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene: 'Toxic Masculinity' Should Be Top Military Requirement

https://www.yahoo.com/news/rep-marjorie-taylor-greene-toxic-004645443.html




lol

Well, I suppose that would completely change the force training briefings we get quarterly on sexual assault and harassment prevention.

Every time this bimbo opens her noise hole, she reminds us that paint chips should not be part of the food pyramid.

Was she even around in 1978, that was when paint with lead was banned.

Yep. She was 4. It's all adding up now.

I've heard some of those places white supremacists hang out in haven't been painted in decades.

Comedian Jon Stewart erupts after Republicans vote against military burn pits bill

https://www.yahoo.com/news/comedian-jon-stewart-erupts-republicans-174517509.html

boy these republicans are on a roll recently, aren't they? they had a surefire layup in the midterms, but seem to be doing everything imaginable to get hung at the rim.

He was passionate about this bill being blocked.

Geez, well, I was going to ask if there might have been pork in there to see if there might have been some semblance of justification for voting no but he pretty much destroyed that notion.

I’m glad he also mentioned OCO funding, which has in a lot of ways turned into laundering tax dollars to go straight to mega contractors.

I’m open to any factual rebuttal on this, but it ain’t looking good so far. Rooney mentioned something about wasteful funding, but he didn’t give any details.

Getting funding for treatment for military and 1st responders after stuff like this has been a big thing for John Stewart for a while. If you remember, he was the one laying into Congress's inaction for funding to treat 1st responders hurt by 9/11.

I'll put it this way. I get a renewed appreciation for comedians and the way their brains work and how they are able to translate thoughts into powerful statements. Only a comedian could fully describe how impotent and/or corrupt you have to be to hang these people out to dry like this.

That's a good way to put it. His discourse with Tucker Carlson some years back on Crossfire was entertaining to see as well.

Edit ~ I shot off the cuff there. It wasn't entertaining, actually. It was a good message delivered to him and seemed to foreshadow where Tucker and a lot of the cable news networks are today.

"You're what- 40 years old... and yet you still wear a bow tie?"

lmao

This one is inexplicable to me. They passed the very same bill in a huge bipartisan way and when it went back to the house they took out "one line" that Republicans objected to. When it came back to the senate they voted it down. It's disgusting.

Trump Says 'Nobody's Gotten to the Bottom of 9/11' at Saudi-Backed LIV Golf

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-says-no-ones-gotten-bottom-9-11-saudi-backed-liv-golf-1728880

More stupid excuses for the Indiana AG to intimidate the abortion doctor who provided 100% legal services for Ohio 10 year old rape victim. They have no lows too low.....

Indiana attorney general launched investigation of abortion doctor based on 'so-called' complaints, her lawyer says, with one listing '555-555-5555' as the doctor's phone number

The half-dozen "consumer complaints" filed against the Indiana doctor who performed an abortion on a 10-year-old rape victim are all from people she's never met, her attorney said Thursday, with one listing a bogus phone number for the doctor: 555-555-5555.

In a statement, Kathleen DeLaney, an attorney for Dr. Caitlin Bernard, said her client had no interactions with any of the six people who have filed a "consumer complaint" against the obstetrician-gynecologist.

"None of the complaints came from a 'consumer' who purchased any goods or services from Dr. Bernard or even from a person who has had direct communication with Dr. Bernard," DeLaney said. Only one was filed by a resident of Indiana.

"The complaints are riddled with inaccuracies and rely on no first-hand knowledge," DeLaney continued. "For example, one of the complaints lists a phone number for Dr. Bernard as 555-555-5555."

On Tuesday, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita sent letters to Bernard announcing he was launching an investigation into each of the complaints, according to Bernard's attorney. A Republican, Rokita previously went on Fox News and falsely suggested Bernard had not properly notified authorities that she had performed the abortion on a child, who was forced to travel from Ohio due to her home state's near-total prohibition on terminating pregnancies.

That case came to national attention after Bernard spoke out in an interview with the Indianapolis Star. It was later cited by President Joe Biden as a consequence of the US Supreme Court overturning federal abortion rights, spurring a number of right-wing media personalities and politicians to suggest it was a fabrication.

A 27-year-old man has since been arrested and indicted on two counts of rape. He pleaded not guilty earlier this week.

Bernard has threatened to sue Rokita for defamation.

Kelly Stevenson, a spokesperson for Rokita, told Insider that the attorney general's office "investigates a variety of consumer complaints." However, she said, "We don't discuss the details of investigations."

In a previous statement, Rokita's office dismissed Bernard's threat of legal action as a "baseless" attack on one of the "leaders in the pro-life movement."

https://www.businessinsider.com/ind...fSEaQpmJZMSQ_kC90l_koy735ZftOvrI2j3X37H0

Indicted clerk Tina Peters gets recount in GOP primary for Colorado secretary of state


Peters raised $256,000 for the recount, which she demanded after losing her primary race by more than 85,000 votes, baselessly alleging fraud.

DENVER — Election conspiracy theorist and Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters will get a recount after all, Colorado officials announced Thursday, now that Peters has raised $256,000 to pay for the review of her loss in the Republican primary for secretary of state.

Peters demanded a recount after losing her race by more than 85,000 votes, baselessly alleging fraud. But she did not pay the $236,000 the Secretary of State’s office initially charged, insisting on a hand recount rather than the machine one they said their rules required. So Peters’ loss was officially certified on Monday.

But then Peters announced she’d raised the funds and reiterated her request. On Thursday, the Secretary of State’s office announced it would perform a machine recount by Aug. 4 after Peters placed the $256,000 fee in an escrow account.

Peters said in a statement that she had raised the money from individual donors who complied with the state’s $1,250 political contribution limit. State Rep. Ron Hanks, who had requested a recount along with Peters after losing his U.S. Senate primary, did not submit any funds and will not receive a recount in his race.

Peters was indicted on several felony charges for her role in breaking into her county’s election system in search of proof of the conspiracy theories spun by former President Donald Trump after his 2020 election loss. She was defeated in the GOP primary by Pam Anderson, a former Jefferson County clerk who has criticized Trump’s election lies.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/el...8ABgjb16GLEp5HyjjhdFsoEsOEJm-z-XFI7wMw18

And then they (republicans) were caught on camera fist bumping and high 5ing after the vote... I wonder how they will defend this action.

Swish, check this one out.



I don't agree with the way Joy acts sometimes, but she nails this.

Ted Cruz responded to Stewart on Twitter and Stewart responded back. He’s not having any of it, and he’s really got the upper hand, too, it seems.

I hope the guy moderates debates in 2024.

Accused Jan. 6 insurrectionist is running for Fla. House from jail

Jeremy Michael Brown is being held on felony federal weapons charges stemming from his arrest for misdemeanor trespassing and disruptive conduct in connection to the attack on the U.S. Capitol

LARGO, Fla. — Jeremy Michael Brown, the lone Republican awaiting the Democratic primary winner for a Florida House seat representing parts of Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, is facing charges related to the Jan. 6 insurrection.

And he’s running his campaign from the Pinellas County Jail, where he is being held on felony federal weapons charges stemming from his arrest for misdemeanor trespassing and disruptive conduct in connection to the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Brown was photographed outside the Capitol in full tactical gear as hundreds disrupted congressional certification of Joe Biden’s electoral victory. He said he believes fraud was involved in the 2020 presidential election.

Now Brown, 47, is running for public office in the same electoral system he says is tainted. Unless convicted of one of the felonies, he will be on the November ballot against the Democratic nominee.

A spokesperson for the Florida Department of State’s Division of Elections said lawyers are still looking into whether there are any issues that would affect his candidacy.

“We don’t know, the state office doesn’t know and to be honest, I don’t care,” Brown told the Tampa Bay Times during a jailhouse visit Friday. “I’m gonna run until they tell me no. It’s almost like our government is incompetent.”
The cases against Brown

In Washington D.C., Brown is accused of being among scores of rioters who breached a secure area outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, though he is not accused of entering the building.

Federal prosecutors say Brown claims to be a member of the Oath Keepers extremist group, several of whom have been charged with seditious conspiracy and other crimes. He coordinated travel plans via chat messages, writing that he would bring his recreational vehicle, which he referred to as “Ground Force One,” according to a criminal complaint.

In a separate but related criminal case, Brown faces a litany of charges after federal authorities said they found two illegal guns and a set of hand grenades when they executed a search warrant at his Tampa home. A federal judge previously ordered Brown to remain detained pending trial, expressing concern over a profane handwritten sign he placed outside his home after an earlier visit from law enforcement officers. The sign stated that if they came back, they should “bring a bigger tactical package.”

Brown is mounting legal challenges to the searches authorities conducted of his property. A judge has yet to rule on the issue. A trial date in the Tampa case is set for October.

A grand jury this spring brought new charges alleging that Brown also had unauthorized possession of secret national defense documents related to his time in the military. Eight of the nine counts against Brown in the Tampa case are felony charges with 10 years maximum imprisonment.

Brown denies the accusations. He maintains that FBI agents in December 2020 tried to recruit him as a confidential informant, but that he refused and later felt compelled to speak out.

Supporters have raised thousands for his defense and held rallies outside the jail for Brown. They accuse the federal government of making political prisoners out of conservatives who went to Washington D.C. last year.

One of Brown’s biggest supporters is Cathi Chamberlain of Defend Florida, a right-wing group against government mandates and federal overreach that claims the 2020 presidential election was stolen. The two met after Chamberlain invited Brown onto her podcast.

Chamberlain said she introduced Brown to the idea of running for office from jail, “because it’s very difficult for any conservative to get the word out about anything that we’re doing.”

She challenged him to get exposure for what he’s going through as well as “the socialism that’s overtaking our country.” Brown previously ran for Florida’s 14th Congressional District in 2020 but withdrew before the primary.

“I told Jeremy if he ran for office, I would put my entire career on hold and become his campaign manager, which he now calls me his ‘campaign commander,’” Chamberlain said. “He gives everything a military name.”
Campaigning from jail

Chamberlain worked in information technology and at one point ran an all-women construction crew. On the right-wing speech circuit, she gathered signatures to qualify Brown as a candidate instead of paying a fee.

Chamberlain carries a life-size cutout photo of Brown from his 2020 congressional run. She wears orange jail scrubs that sell for $50 a pop to fund his campaign. They read “Inmate #1875858 Brown for Florida State House 2022″ outlined in barbed wire.

Brown’s campaign has raised nearly $16,000 and has spent about half of that.

Brown said from jail that he’s running to bring attention to the problems in this country, including voter fraud on “both sides” that helps the establishment. No widespread voter fraud occurred in 2020.

J. Edwin Benton, a Florida elections expert and professor at the University of South Florida, said he’s not aware of a case of a candidate running for office while incarcerated. He said if Brown wins, he could be sworn in from jail and serve as an elected representative in absentia. Only a felony conviction would end his candidacy as Brown would lose his right to vote under Florida law.

“We are in, as far as I understand it, uncharted waters,” Benton said. “There’s nothing in constitutional state law that would prevent him from doing this simply because no one has thought about this possibility.”

Brown is a longshot for the Florida Legislature. The redrawn House District 62 includes the heavily Democratic areas of southern St. Petersburg and East Hillsborough, including East Tampa, Riverview and Gibsonton. According to a Times analysis, 72.4 percent of the area voted for Biden.

The Aug. 24 primary is between House District 70 representative Michele Rayner (D- St. Petersburg), her predecessor Wengay Newton and newcomer Jesse Philippe. Brown was uncontested in the primary by another Republican candidate and therefore advanced to the general ballot.

https://www.corrections1.com/legal/...or-fla-house-from-jail-tNqMq7SKVme3Tp2w/

And if you think he's the only Jan. 6th rioter the GOP is parading around as a political candidate, think again.....

They stormed the Capitol. Now they’re running for office.

At least 57 individuals who played a role in the day’s events — including some who were arrested on charges related to the Capitol attack — are running for office in 2022.

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/05/jan-6-protesters-run-for-office-526545

Republican Arizona Speaker says he was called traitor after Jan. 6 testimony

Arizona state House Speaker Rusty Bowers (R) said Sunday that members of his party called him a traitor for testifying before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Bowers told ABC’s Jonathan Karl during an interview broadcast on “This Week” that GOP critics also said they were ashamed of him and that “the price of treason is hanging.”

Bowers told the Jan. 6 panel that he never told former President Trump and his team that the 2020 presidential election in Arizona, which President Biden won, was rigged. Trump then called Bowers “a RINO coward who participated against the Republican Party in the totally partisan unselect committee of political thugs and hacks the other day and disgraced himself, and he disgraced the state of Arizona.”

“The idea of throwing out the election of the president is like, OK, so what part of Jupiter do I get to land on and colonize?” Bowers quipped on Sunday.

Bowers also called Trump a “demagogue” and accused the former president of ruling “by thuggery and intimidation.”

“I have thought, at times, someone born how he was, raised how he was — he has no idea what a hard life is. And what people have to go through in real — in the real world. He has no idea what courage is,” the Arizona lawmaker said.

And Bowers theorized that Trump’s Republican Party has weaponized fear to maintain its base.

“They found a niche, they found a way, and it’s fear.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday...KWwcw7JuMbOgDQ88AV7NMVshGXMr4rkOxraJNUKk

This is what happens to Republicans when they tell the truth.

I've been noticing lately that all over the internet and this board, the old moral majority party, now the party of insurrection and fascism, doesn't like the role they've cast for themselves, being the party of low character and having no morals. Just pointing this out, nothing more.

j/c...

The usual cartoon villains voted no.





https://www.congress.gov/117/bills/hr3071/BILLS-117hr3071ih.pdf

But don't they support first responders? What, what's going on? No on taking care of vets and now first responders?

When You're Anti Democracy and Pro Putin:

Hawley vows to vote ‘no’ on adding Sweden and Finland to NATO

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) on Monday said he would vote against Finland’s and Sweden’s bids to join NATO, a move that would go against most of his colleagues from both sides of the aisle.

In an op-ed published by The National Interest, Hawley says the United States shouldn’t expand its security commitments in Europe due to a more pressing threat from China.

“Finland and Sweden want to join the Atlantic Alliance to head off further Russian aggression in Europe. That is entirely understandable given their location and security needs,” Hawley wrote.

“But America’s greatest foreign adversary doesn’t loom over Europe. It looms in Asia. I am talking of course about the People’s Republic of China. And when it comes to Chinese imperialism, the American people should know the truth: the United States is not ready to resist it. Expanding American security commitments in Europe now would only make that problem worse—and America, less safe.”

Finland and Sweden in May announced their intentions to join NATO following Russia’s attack on Ukraine. The governments of 19 NATO countries have since ratified the two Nordic nations joining the alliance. Eleven, including the United States, have yet to do so. All 30 member states must approve the additions.

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) wants senators to vote on enlarging the alliance before the lawmakers leave Washington, D.C., for a monthlong break set to start Aug. 8.

Finland’s and Sweden’s requests have received widespread support from both Democrats and Republicans. But Hawley — who was one of the 11 conservatives who opposed the $40 billion Ukraine aid package Congress passed in May — insists the United States isn’t prepared to go against both Moscow and Beijing.

“As the 2018 and 2022 U.S. National Defense Strategies both acknowledge, the United States cannot defeat China and Russia in two major wars at the same time. And we are not where we need to be in Asia,” Hawley wrote.

Citing distractions from “nation-building activities in the Middle East and legacy commitments in Europe,” Hawley says the U.S. is not prepared to fend off Chinese military aggression in the Pacific should it happen.

“In the face of this stark reality, we must choose. We must do less in Europe (and elsewhere) in order to prioritize China and Asia.”

While Hawley says the U.S. government shouldn’t abandon NATO, he suggests European allies could take on more responsibility in defending Europe by investing more in their own militaries.

Hawley’s stance goes against that of the majority of his fellow Republicans including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who last week said the United States “would be fortunate to have two new treaty allies as impressive and capable as Finland and Sweden.”

Eighteen House Republicans last month voted against a symbolic resolution to support Finland and Sweden joining NATO.

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/...no-on-adding-sweden-and-finland-to-nato/

I abhor Hawley. And, his justification makes less than zero sense.

looks like the republicans have once again just decided to be against anything for no reason.

Jim Jordan recently stated that he doesn't like the republicans helping pass legislation just because Biden supports it.

its so funny because Trump and pelosi/schumer actually tried to work together. i remember when the dems were gonna give trump his big beautiful wall in exchange for DACA protections to the tune of 35 billion.

Trump ended up saying no because it was them, and completely played himself. republicans are the kind of the people who try to gate keep the playground during recess.

When you live in such a horribly gerry-mandered district like he does, all you need to do is show that you are just pwning the other side.

happy birthday bro

Thanks man! The last one of my thirties...

They are trying to gut veteran's benefits, VA disability, VA Medical care, and Military Retirement along with Social Security, SS Disability, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Fox extremists can't get their messaging straight.

Prove it. They rejected new spending not taking away existing programs.

j/c...

Rightfully so.

They were taking a beating from veterans and veterans groups as they should have been. I understand they're against anything proposed by the Democrats but when you translate that into harming veterans you're a bunch of idiots. They found that out the hard way. I'm glad our veterans will be getting the health benefits they deserve for the illnesses regarding those burn pits. This has been a very long battle.

It reminds me very much of those Vietnam Veterans exposed to agent orange fighting for benefits. It's often sad the way this country treats our veterans while claiming them to be heroes. They are heroes so treat them like it!

You can't make this crap up. Keystone cop-like defense attorneys must be a thing on the right.

Ron Johnson calls for subjecting Medicare and Social Security to annual budget talks

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ron-johnson-calls-subjecting-medicare-221811297.html

like seriously, all you have to do is simply pay attention. but apparently thats too much to ask.

Why shouldnt they have budget talks and have the ability to manage the programs? I know the extreme left thinks the sky is falling but yall only have yourself to blame. OCD spreading lies and you believing it.

You know ostriches don't put their head in the sand to hide from fear, they are checking and keeping their eggs warm in their nests.

I just always thought that saying was stupid.

anybody caught the boot licking for the right wing authoritarian viktor orban at the CPAC?

Hungary's Viktor Orban fires up Texas conservatives

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-62431415

dude is a certified racist, and yet conservatives gave this dude a standing ovation. as i've said before, this isn't fringe anymore. this is absolutely mainstream conservative beliefs. the dudes like oob and dawg05, understand that you are officially a minority amongst your own ideology. there is way too much evidence for anyone to claim that this doesn't represent the bulk of conservative americans. christian nationalist......anybody who's read up on world history knows what happens next when people who identify as christian nationalist gain control...

the both sides BS is so stupid. only one side is trying to turn this country into a christian ethnostate. only one side is blatantly arguing against our secular government. only one side is trying their best to self segregate from FELLOW americans who don't look like them. only one side is waging a war against women, the elderly, and the LGBT.

Been saying that for a minute.

Oh, I've been saying that for quite a while actually. This last election cycle, there was hardly anyone on that side of the aisle I voted for. It has definitely become the lesser of two evils to me, for the most part.

Americans giving Orban a Standing O have shown their ignorance and total lack of memory regarding historical facts.

Think Hitler

they dont know history at all, and proven it time and time again.

i get so upset when people tell others to go back to their countries. but damn man, if conservatives hate that we're a secular government and a melting pot society, maybe they should go see whats up with migrating to Hungary.

i know my side has faults, but we talk about fighting for this country to live up to its values. conservatives hate the country the way it is, and want a theocracy. they don't like democracy, and its obvious because they KEEP falling in love with these authoritarian figures all. the. time.

this is what happens when conservatives by into the idea that you're supposed to vote with your pocket books.

Even on that assertion, what the Republicans purport to do fiscally is not actually conservative. Sadly, this was more of a wake-up call to me back in my late twenties. There hasn't been a fiscally conservative president since Nixon. Oddly enough, I think Clinton was the next closest fiscally. Reagan took us from the largest creditor to being the largest debtor, and he's hailed as a conservative icon. I just don't get it.

The Republican Party loves itself a good homophobe



And if he dabbles in antisemitism? Even better!

In U.S. speech, Viktor Orbán invokes Holocaust, attacks George Soros

The Hungarian prime minister suggested the Jewish billionaire believes Christian values ‘led to the horrors of the 20th century’

Viktor Orbán, the longtime prime minister of Hungary, invoked the Holocaust and assailed Jewish billionaire George Soros in an unleashed attack on progressive Democrats and the mainstream media at a conservative conference Thursday.

In a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference’s annual gathering in Dallas, Orbán said that the “horrors of Nazism and communism” happened because some European countries abandoned their Christian values.

Orbán, a populist authoritarian, has aligned himself with former President Donald Trump and far-right politicians. He faced widespread condemnation for recent remarks in which he said Europeans should not “become peoples of mixed race.” One of his top advisers resigned a few days later in protest, calling it a “pure Nazi” speech.

The Hungarian leader started his address on the first day of the conference by saying he understands that his appearance has drawn criticism. “You managed to confuse a lot of people by inviting me,” he said. “I can already see tomorrow’s headlines: ‘Far-right, European racist, antisemite, strongman, the Trojan horse of Putin gives speech at conservative conference.’ But I don’t want to give them any ideas.”

He went on the say that his government “introduced a zero-tolerance policy on racism and antisemitism. So accusing us is fake news, and those who make these claims are certainly idiots. They are the industrial fake news corporation.”

Orbán told the crowd that he calls Soros, the Hungarian-born American billionaire philanthropist who survived Nazi persecution and with whom he has clashed with for years, by the nickname ‘nagybácsi’ – Uncle George. He added that he considers Soros the “wealthiest and one of the most talented Hungarians on earth.”

“I know George Soros very well,” he said. “He is my opponent. He believes in none of the things that we do, and he has an army at his service – money, NGOs, universities, research institutions and half the bureaucracy in Brussels. He uses this army to force his will on his opponents like us Hungarians.”

He went on to claim that Soros thinks that the Christian values “dear to all of us led to the horrors of the 20th century.”

But Orbán argued the case is the opposite. “Our values save us from repeating history’s mistakes,” he said. “The horrors of Nazism and communism happened because some Western states in continental Europe abandoned … Christian values. And today’s progressives are planning to do the same.”

“Who is going to stop them if we don’t,” Orbán said.

Orbán concluded his speech by saying, “The globalists can all go to hell, I have come to Texas.”

https://forward.com/fast-forward/51...-invokes-holocaust-attacks-george-soros/

This one is a bit over the top, but I couldn't keep from laughing at the message.

DeSantis is as nuts as Trump.

Good video

5:55
DeSantis can sign some paper with his "pen or crayon"

Marjorie Taylor Greene prayed over a convicted Capitol rioter who spent a day crying in a mock prison cell at CPAC
Taiyler Simone Mitchell and Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert 17 hours ago

A convicted Capitol rioter spent the day in a prop cell at the Conservative Political Action Conference during a performance aimed at highlighting the "mistreatment" of those jailed after storming the Capitol on Jan. 6.

His tearful performance ultimately drew the eyes — and prayers — of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

The conservative activist, dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit and MAGA hat inside of a prop cell, spent the day in character, weeping and tallying days on a chalkboard set up within the performance space.

WUSA reporter Jordan Fischer identified the man as Brandon Straka, founder of the #WalkAway Foundation, which encouraged liberal voters to abandon the Democratic party and vote for Trump. Straka pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of Engaging in Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in the Capitol Building or Grounds during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, receiving 90 days home confinement and three years probation, but avoided jail time, NPR reported.

Straka said in a statement to Insider that the purpose of the performance was to highlight "the pain and suffering that has resulted from the division that exists among the American people," but he "does not endorse or condone the behavior of anybody who committed crimes on January 6th."

He added that his hope was to "encourage all Americans to let go of hatred and animosity and begin to see the humanity in one another again, and have compassion for one another."

The freelance reporter who tweeted the video, Laura Jedeed, explained that viewers were able to wear a "silent disco headset" and listen to the testimony of January 6 defendants during their trials.

"It's tragic how many January 6 defendants were treated in jail," Alex Pfeiffer, a spokesperson for CPAC, told Insider in an emailed statement.

Georgia Rep. Greene came across the performance Friday and entered the eight-foot cage, kneeling beside Straka to join him in prayer. The Daily Mail reported a large cheer erupted from the crowd when the representative joined the performance.

"She prayed with me for our nation," Straka told the Daily Mail. "Both sides of the aisle for all people and no, I thought it was a really beautiful, special moment."

Not everyone saw the performance as moving: Joe Walsh, a former Republican and Illinois representative called the exhibit "crazy." He said the performance meant "everybody at CPAC, they don't believe January 6 was a big deal or a bad thing."

"My former political party is fully anti-democracy," Walsh added.

Representatives for Greene did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.


https://www.businessinsider.com/cpa...on-cell-january-6-defendants-jail-2022-8

Crowd cheers as Trump calls for the abolition of the Department of Education, video shows
Joshua Zitser 8 hours ago

Former President Donald Trump called for the US Department of Education's abolition during his Saturday speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas, Texas.

Trump told a crowd that prohibitions need to be brought in on teaching "inappropriate racial, sexual and political material" to American schoolchildren.

"If federal bureaucrats are going to push this radicalism, we should abolish the Department of Education," he continued.

This part of the speech, a video shows, appeared to receive rapturous applause.


Last month, former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who served in Trump's administration, told a conservative education summit that the department she once led for four years should be abolished.

"I personally think the Department of Education should not exist," said DeVos at the Moms for Liberty summit, per the Florida Phoenix.

DeVos argued that the federal department should be abolished to leave education policy decisions to state and local boards. According to the Florida Phoenix, this was also met with cheers.

Indeed, the calls for abolishing the federal agency precede DeVos. Rep. Thomas Massie, backed by Reps. Last year, Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, and Andy Biggs introduced a bill to abolish the US Department of Education.

"Unelected bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. should not be in charge of our children's intellectual and moral development," said Massie in February 2021.

Massie introduced a nearly identical bill in 2017. And even President Ronald Reagan, back in the 1980s, said he wanted to close it down.

According to the Chicago Tribune, Republicans have long wanted to eliminate the department because they see education policy as falling within the remit of states and local communities and not the federal government.

https://www.businessinsider.com/vid...-education-abolition-crowd-cheers-2022-8

Just when you think things couldn't get any worse they do.

And now we know why he wants to eliminate the department of education. A dumbed down population means more money for him.

Trump Begs Supporters to Donate for ‘Upcoming’ Lawsuit Against CNN
Zachary Petrizzo
Fri, August 5, 2022, 7:45 PM·2 min read

It’s been over a week since former President Donald Trump pledged that he would be filing a lawsuit against CNN.

Yet, instead of court documents being filed, Trump appears to be more preoccupied with begging followers to send in money to “support” the so far non-existent legal action.

“I’m calling on my best and most dedicated supporters to add their names to stand with me in my impending LAWSUIT against Fake News CNN,” a new fundraising email sent out from the ex-president on Friday said.

“Add your name IMMEDIATELY to show your support for my upcoming lawsuit against Fake News CNN,” the message declared, linking to a donations page.

That email titled “Let’s SUE CNN” was one of two CNN-inspired fundraising emails sent out on Friday.

A second email sent out hours later struck a similar urgent tune and said: “I’m going to look over the names of the first 45 Patriots who added their names to publicly stand with their President AGAINST CNN.”

Last Wednesday, the former president threatened to sue the cable network and sent CNN’s General Counsel David Vigilante and top CNN executive Chris Licht a letter titled, “Notice of Intent to Bring Civil Action for Defamation.”

“Without regard for President Trump’s genuine belief in his statements, CNN has published numerous articles characterizing him as a ‘liar’ and the purveyor of the ‘Big Lie,’” the Trump legal letter to CNN said.

The ex-president touting a potential CNN lawsuit comes as the Republican National Committee has said they will stop paying Trump’s legal bills upon him declaring his candidacy for president.

Neither CNN nor a Trump spokesperson returned The Daily Beast’s request for comment on Friday evening.


https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-begs-supporters-donate-upcoming-234514444.html

Or he could have skipped a round of golf.

Trump Tells Judge He Was Too Busy as President to Sue Clinton Sooner
Erik Larson
Fri, August 5, 2022, 2:50 PM·2 min read

(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump’s lawyers argued the statute of limitations shouldn’t apply to the lawsuit he filed against political rival Hillary Clinton because the “immense and unrelenting demands” of the job prevented him from doing so sooner.

The former president was simply too busy during his single term in office to discover the details of the alleged plot, which he claims involved a vast effort to falsely accuse him and his 2016 campaign of colluding with Russia and swamp him with costly investigations, his lawyers wrote in a filing Thursday night in federal court in Florida.

Trump “was preoccupied with carrying out his eminently important presidential duties and was therefore impeded from effectively asserting his rights,” his lawyers said.

The suit was filed in March under the civil version of a racketeering law normally used against organized crime. But Clinton argues Trump missed the four-year statute of limitations because all of the alleged conduct was known to him no later than Oct. 29, 2017, when he publicly accused several of the defendants of cooking up a Russia “witch hunt.”

US District Judge Donald Middlebrooks, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton, is weighing a joint motion to dismiss the case by Clinton, her 2016 campaign chairman John Podesta and former Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, among others. They raised the statute of limitations as one of the reasons the suit should be thrown out.

The case is scheduled for trial in May.

David Kendall, Clinton’s lawyer with Williams & Connolly LLP in Washington, didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

Read More: Trump’s FBI Foes Dismissed From Conspiracy Suit Against Clinton

The case is Trump v. Clinton, 22-cv-14102, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek


https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-tells-judge-too-busy-185041560.html

Then too we don't want to risk that the students actually learn the real history of The United States.

Marjorie Taylor Greene prayed over a convicted Capitol rioter who spent a day crying in a mock prison cell at CPAC

A convicted Capitol rioter spent the day in a prop cell at the Conservative Political Action Conference during a performance aimed at highlighting the "mistreatment" of those jailed after storming the Capitol on Jan. 6.

His tearful performance ultimately drew the eyes — and prayers — of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

The conservative activist, dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit and MAGA hat inside of a prop cell, spent the day in character, weeping and tallying days on a chalkboard set up within the performance space.

WUSA reporter Jordan Fischer identified the man as Brandon Straka, founder of the #WalkAway Foundation, which encouraged liberal voters to abandon the Democratic party and vote for Trump. Straka pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of Engaging in Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in the Capitol Building or Grounds during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, receiving 90 days home confinement and three years probation, but avoided jail time, NPR reported.

Straka said in a statement to Insider that the purpose of the performance was to highlight "the pain and suffering that has resulted from the division that exists among the American people," but he "does not endorse or condone the behavior of anybody who committed crimes on January 6th."

He added that his hope was to "encourage all Americans to let go of hatred and animosity and begin to see the humanity in one another again, and have compassion for one another."

The freelance reporter who tweeted the video, Laura Jedeed, explained that viewers were able to wear a "silent disco headset" and listen to the testimony of January 6 defendants during their trials.

"It's tragic how many January 6 defendants were treated in jail," Alex Pfeiffer, a spokesperson for CPAC, told Insider in an emailed statement.

Georgia Rep. Greene came across the performance Friday and entered the eight-foot cage, kneeling beside Straka to join him in prayer. The Daily Mail reported a large cheer erupted from the crowd when the representative joined the performance.

"She prayed with me for our nation," Straka told the Daily Mail. "Both sides of the aisle for all people and no, I thought it was a really beautiful, special moment."

Not everyone saw the performance as moving: Joe Walsh, a former Republican and Illinois representative called the exhibit "crazy." He said the performance meant "everybody at CPAC, they don't believe January 6 was a big deal or a bad thing."

"My former political party is fully anti-democracy," Walsh added.

https://www.businessinsider.com/cpa...on-cell-january-6-defendants-jail-2022-8

And it never ends......

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene: 'No One Can Convince Me' Jan. 6 Rioters Weren't Antifa

The 2020 election conspiracy theorist added that those criminally charged "for things they shouldn't have done" during the Capitol attack are being unfairly treated.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/marj...MTHwRrqo0ESmkiNQaTIebLGY1M-oJ2lxdBv4pbpA

MTG probably was looking for a conjugal visit but had to pray when he started crying.

I would laugh my ass off if Clinton let Trump's suit move forward then proves he and Putin are in bed together once and for all.

This probably should be under the Cuckoo Democrats thread but it was closed so I put it here

Police arrested an Ohio man who is accused of sending more than three dozen letters laced with poop to Republican politicians, including Rep. Jim Jordan
Yelena Dzhanova 4 hours ago

Police on Friday arrested an Ohio man who they say mailed dozens of letters laced with poop to various Republican politicians, Cleveland.com reported.

Among the politicians was Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.

Richard John Steinle, 77, received a misdemeanor charge for mailing potentially hazardous material, which carries a punishment of up to a year in prison along with a $100,000 fine.

Between August 2021 and July 2022, Steinle wrote letters to all 25 Republican members of the Ohio Senate and Jordan. In the letters, he called the lawmakers names like "pig" and called them racist, according to Cleveland.com.

Each of the letters contained or had been streaked with feces.

He had also sent lawmakers in Kentucky and Washington, DC, the same letters.

In July, Postal workers came upon three more letters addressed to Ohio politicians at the collection box, Cleveland.com reported. Then, federal investigators decided to stake out Steinle's house and follow him down to the post office five days later.

Investigators witnessed Steinle put on a glove and drop off a letter into the mail collection box. When investigators retrieved the letter, they opened it and found it smeared with what looked like poop. The envelope also contained a $1 bill and a greeting card.

Then investigators found similar letters sent to other government offices in parts of the country, including California.

Steinle's hearing is set for August 25.


https://www.businessinsider.com/ohio-man-accused-of-sending-poop-to-jim-jordan-arrested-2022-8

He's in some serious trouble for that crap.

deeeep do-do, for sure.

Are they suggesting that we have NO national standard?

Man, I’ve seen so much of the what and The Who that the republicans are fighting against right now that I can’t remember what they actually are trying to do. Who knows, maybe it’s by design…

they're trying to turn this country into:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-told-top-aide-wanted-142024281.html

Trump told top aide he wanted ‘totally loyal’ generals like Hitler had

Donald Trump complained to his most senior aide, then-chief of staff John Kelly, that he wanted the US’s top generals including retired military figures to show him absolute, unquestioning loyalty while specifically pointing to Nazi Germany as an example.

In a bizarre exchange described by reporters for The New Yorker and The New York Times in an upcoming book Mr Trump is said to have asked his top aide, who himself was a four-star general in charge of US Southern Command, “[W]hy can’t you be like the German generals?”

A bewildered Mr Kelly reportedly responded, “Which generals?” to which Mr Trump supposedly shot back, “The German generals in World War II.”

His chief of staff then allegedly told the president, “You do know that they tried to kill Hitler three times and almost pulled it off?”


_______

1930's germany with a mix of the handmaid's Tale. its pretty clear what they're going for.

Oh, to be a fly on the wall.

i just dont understand why they can't use anybody else as their examples. some clown who's running in PA has mention hitler being right or something.

like seriously, there's NO other person they can use to emphasize their feelings other than hitler? not stalin, Mao, Khan, insert decked out african warlord, anybody? it just HAS to be hitler?

But when any of us mention anything about trump and hitler together posters on here have a melt down. I guess to them it doesn't matter if trump wanted "his generals" to be like hitler's.

Fascists LIKE Hitler bro. What else can you conclude? Do you know how much crap I've taken and how much crying I've generated by CORRECTLY calling Trump a fascist?

Today is my meme's a plenty day to try and reach those who need you to draw a picture to aid their comprehension.

Politico
FBI searches Mar-a-Lago, Trump says

Nicholas Wu and Kyle Cheney
Mon, August 8, 2022, 7:05 PM

The FBI has searched the Mar-a-Lago home of Donald Trump, the former president said in a statement.

“They even broke into my safe,” Trump said on Monday in a lengthy statement describing it as a “raid.”

It was not immediately clear why the agents were present at Mar-a-Lago, but he said it was “under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents.”

“After working and cooperating with the relevant Government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate,” he said.

The FBI and U.S. Attorney’s offices in Washington and for the Southern District of Florida did not immediately respond to requests for comment.



https://www.yahoo.com/news/fbi-searches-mar-lago-trump-230506815.html?.tsrc=bell-brknews

Toilet photos undercut Trump claim he never tried to flush presidential records

David Knowles·Senior Editor
Mon, August 8, 2022, 2:09 PM·3 min read
Maggie Haberman
American journalist

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman released photos on Monday that appear to show that former President Donald Trump tried to dispose of documents by ripping them up and placing them in toilets.

The pictures, which appear to back up Haberman's reporting in her forthcoming book, "Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America," support reporting from multiple news outlets that Trump routinely ripped up documents in violation of the Presidential Records Act.

Haberman obtained the photos, which were first published by Axios and which she also shared with Yahoo News, from sources inside the former administration.

"On the left is a White House toilet, the word 'qualified' and a capital I visible," Haberman wrote in a tweet on Monday. "On the left, a toilet from a Trump trip overseas."

{Photos showing torn pieces of paper at the bottom of toilets.}

Other words on the torn-up sheets of paper, written with a marker, include the name “Stefanik,” in apparent reference to Rep. Elise Stefanik, the House Republican from New York who staunchly defended Trump throughout his second impeachment.

When Haberman first reported Trump's penchant for attempting to dispose of documents and notes by flushing them down the toilet, a practice that staffers said sometimes resulted in clogs requiring a plumber to fix, the former president sternly denied that the allegations were true.

"Also, another fake story, that I flushed papers and documents down a White House toilet, is categorically untrue and simply made up by a reporter in order to get publicity for a mostly fictitious book," Trump said in a statement in February.

On Monday, even after photographic evidence was published that appeared to back up the toilet claims, Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich continued to try to cast doubt on the story.

"You have to be pretty desperate to sell books if pictures of paper in a toilet bowl is part of your promotional plan," Budowich told Axios.

As part of the Presidential Records Act, U.S. presidents are required by law to preserve letters, emails and work documents and transfer them to the National Archives. After the Jan. 6 House select committee requested presidential records from the National Archives relating to the insurgency at the U.S. Capitol, Trump filed suit to block that transfer of documents, but federal judges and the Supreme Court ruled against the former president.

In February, it was learned that Trump had improperly removed 15 boxes of documents, some of which were labeled "Top Secret," from the White House; he then sent those boxes to Mar-a-Lago, his Florida golf resort. The National Archives requested an investigation into how the documents ended up there. The Archives has since retrieved the boxes.

"The media's characterization of my relationship with NARA [National Archives and Records Administration] is Fake News. It was exactly the opposite! It was a great honor to work with NARA to help formally preserve the Trump Legacy," Trump said in a statement released in February.



https://www.yahoo.com/news/toilet-p...lush-presidential-records-180938739.html

Hold up. So the NARA has already retrieved those documents that Trump took to MaL, or that's what they're doing now? Article made it sound like archives already got the documents back.

It has been reported that they removed 15 boxes last night.

Oh ok, missed that. Thanks!

I have no idea how accurate that is. It's still early in a developing story. I think it will take at least a few days before there is any clarity on the amount of materials retrieved.

Well, this should end the IRS expansion woes GOPers are bringing up.

Yellen directs IRS not to use new funding to increase chances of audits of Americans making less than $400,000

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/10/politics/yellen-new-irs-funding-audits/index.html

Doctors Against Oz Launch Campaign Denouncing GOP Candidate as 'Quack'

"ShamWow guy + stethoscope = Dr. Oz," said John Fetterman, the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate in Pennsylvania.

Highlighting Dr. Mehmet Oz's spreading of Covid-19 misinformation and his history of dispensing what one study found to be "baseless" medical advice, several Pennsylvania doctors joined Democratic Senate candidate Lt. Gov. John Fetterman on Wednesday in warning that electing Oz to the U.S. Senate would "endanger Pennsylvanians' health."

Drs. Val Arkoosh of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, Marcelle Shapiro of Perelman School of Medicine, and Lisa Perriera of the Women's Centers were joined by Fetterman surrogate state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D-181) at a press conference at City Hall in Philadelphia, launching a statewide "Real Doctors Against Oz" campaign.

Fetterman and the physicians are not claiming that Oz, a retired heart surgeon who is running for Senate as a Republican, is not a "real doctor"—but instead denouncing his "history of peddling debunked supplements, dangerous fad diets, and fake miracle cures," his financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry, and his support for "Republican efforts to ban abortion in Pennsylvania, endangering the lives of women."

"Not only has Oz palled around with big pharma and promoted their products on his show, but we also know that he's invested in some of the same companies that are raking in billions while helping to drive up the cost of medication and force families to ration their insulin doses," said Arkoosh. "When his pharma buddies make money, Oz makes money. Oz simply doesn't care about the health of Pennsylvanians."



The physicians discussed Oz's long career as a celebrity doctor who hosted a TV show for 13 seasons before pivoting to a political career in 2021.

As a study published in 2014 in The BMJ found, half of the advice Oz gave out on his show was "baseless or wrong," and researchers at Georgetown University found in 2018 that more than three-quarters of his recommendations "did not align with evidence-based medical guidelines."

The doctors also condemned Oz's comparison of vaccine mandates "to forced sterilization and lobotomies" and his claim that vaccines against Covid-19 are not "true" vaccines, as well as his defense of discredited Covid-19 treatments like hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin.

"As physicians, we take a pledge to do no harm, as part of our Hippocratic oath," said Shapiro. "We absolutely cannot trust him to have the best interests of the health of the people of Pennsylvanians and for our country."

The Real Doctors Against Oz is led by "members of the Pennsylvania medical community communicating their distrust of Dr. Oz, the threat he poses to Pensylvanians as quack doctor and fraud—not trusted by real medical professionals—who has always and will always put enriching himself above all else even if it means endangering people's health," said the group.

In addition to pushing ineffective and hazardous treatments for Covid-19, Oz has spent years promoting the use of diet products such as "green coffee bean extract as a miracle fat-burning pill that works for everyone," the Federal Trade Commission said in 2014. Such claims led both Republicans and Democrats on a Senate committee to "scold" Oz, Real Doctors Against Oz said.

On social media on Wednesday, Fetterman shared several clips of Oz promoting "magic" products "that let you lose weight without diet or exercise."



"He has no problem spreading misinformation if it helps him make money," said Fetterman of Oz's claim that he intends to "take on" Big Pharma as a senator, despite investing heavily in the industry.

"Oz has ALWAYS put profits above the health and well-being of others," Fetterman added.

As he frequently has in recent months, the lieutenant governor added a meme poking fun at Oz for owning a home in New Jersey, as well as an image of Vince Offer, who starred in infomercials selling an absorbent cloth called ShamWow.

"ShamWow guy + stethoscope = Dr. Oz," tweeted Fetterman.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2...-campaign-denouncing-gop-candidate-quack

What Trump and Orbán want: It's fascism — it's not a metaphor or a joke

The global right's two greatest heroes spoke at CPAC over the weekend. Take what they said very seriously

Are you a Democrat? Have you voted for Democrats in the past? If the answer is yes, Donald Trump wants to put you in prison.

That may sound preposterous, but these are are not idle threats.

At a rally last week in Wisconsin, Trump told his followers this:


Like other autocrats and tyrants, Trump is engaging in an act of obvious psychological projection. He imagines himself to be the victim of some vast conspiracy, and this imagined victimhood becomes the justification for violence and other crimes against human decency and society.

Trump is actually threatening — or, more precisely, promising — to put his political opponents and others who dare to oppose him in prison, or to subject them to some even worse fate, if he manages to regain the presidency. These are themes that Trump and his acolytes have repeated during his presidency and beyond. The Jan. 6 insurrection and Trump's coup attempt were those evil desires partly translated into reality.

Trump has gone further of late, even telling his audiences where he would imprison these "enemies of the people". In a recent speech at the America First Agenda Summit, he promised to put "homeless people" and "drug addicts" in special camps as a way of removing them from the country's major cities. Once such camps were created, they would in all likelihood soon be used for political enemies as well. Fascists and other authoritarians find ways to disappear people as a matter of routine.

Those who continue to believe in the permanence and sanctity of America's "institutions" and the rule of law, and who instinctively proclaim that it would be "illegal" for Trump and the Republicans to do any such thing are living in a fantasy world. Many of those same public voices also announced with certainty that it would be impossible for Trump and his confederates to attempt a coup because such things simply "can't happen here." By definition, fascists and other authoritarians do what they want to do, proclaiming their deeds to be legal after the fact, if necessary. They have no use or respect for the law, except when they can twist it to advance their pursuit of power and domination.

As I and numerous others have repeatedly observed, demagogues, autocrats and tyrants typically tell you what they are going to do and then do it. They do not conceal their goals or motivations, and they are not kidding. One does not need to be an expert in semiotics or linguistics to decode what Trump and other fascists are saying. The meaning is clear for anyone who chooses to pay attention.

In a much-discussed 2016 essay for the New York Review of Books, Masha Gessen offered this prescient advice about understanding the realities of fascism and other forms of authoritarianism:


Last weekend's CPAC meeting in Dallas once again proved the wisdom of Gessen's advice. Consider what some of the featured speakers actually said. Donald Trump repeated his threats about putting homeless people and other vulnerable people in concentration camps. He reiterated his promise to federalize the National Guard as his personal enforcers, to be deployed against "crime" in majority Black and brown cities. He continued to encourage violence by his followers through both stochastic terrorism and overt threats:


Steve Bannon, Trump's former campaign CEO and White House strategist, who has since become a propagandist for international fascism, said in his CPAC speech: "We are at war. We're at a political and ideological war. You can say anything else you want about it, but we're at war." He described Joe Biden as an "illegitimate imposter" and reiterated his goal of sending "shock troops" to Washington to destroy the "administrative state." At Rolling Stone, Tim Dickinson adds:


Viktor Orbán, the right-wing prime minister of Hungary, was the featured guest at the CPAC meeting. Kathryn Joyce of Salon offered this context:


During his CPAC speech, as reported by the Guardian, Orbán summoned up centuries-old lies about a Jewish cabal that secretly runs the world and manipulates Black and brown people, along with unwitting "leftists," into doing its bidding:


Orbán also channeled the white supremacist "great replacement" conspiracy theory:


Other speakers and featured guests at the CPAC gathering in Dallas continued with these fascist themes, threatening political violence against "the deep state," "socialist Democrats" and other "enemies," wallowing in antisemitic conspiracy theories and celebrating both the Jan. 6 coup attempt and the Big Lie.

If a time machine or some other portal between the past and the present existed, the speakers and attendees at this month's CPAC meeting could travel to the infamous 1939 pro-Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden, where they would feel right at home.

In a 2019 essay for the New Yorker, Margaret Talbot explored the horrific resonance that connects the pro-fascist "America First" movement of the 1930s and early '40s to Trumpism and the white right of the present day:


On Monday, the FBI searched Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort and residence in Florida, after obtaining a warrant from a judge. It has been reported that FBI agents recovered numerous boxes that may contain classified documents illegally taken from the White House. On Thursday night, the Washington Post reported that sources close to the investigation say some of those documents were related to national security matters, including U.S. nuclear weapons.

Predictably, Trump took to his Truth Social platform and issued a delusional edict, in which he again appeared to incite violence by his followers and proclaimed that he is the victim of a vast left-wing conspiracy:


These are not hollow threats. Across the right-wing echo chamber, Trump, his followers and the larger American fascist movement are announcing their plans to retaliate and seek revenge against Joe Biden, the Democrats, Attorney General Merrick Garland and all others they target as un-American traitors.

The American people would be wise not to take these threats lightly. This is not a game or a joke, not material for mockery by late-night TV hosts. American democracy continues to be imperiled by Trump and his movement, and they will not stop until they succeed in replacing it with their own version of fascism, carrying a cross and wrapped in a flag.

https://www.salon.com/2022/08/12/what-and-orbn-want-its-fascism--its-not-a-metaphor-or-a-joke/

This didn't seem to actually fit any existing thread but I wasn't going to start a new thread for it....

New York judge rules criminal case against the Trump Organization and former CFO Allen Weisselberg can proceed

A New York State judge ruled Friday that a criminal fraud and tax evasion prosecution against the Trump Organization and its former CFO, Allen Weisselberg, can proceed.

Weisselberg and the company asked a judge in February to dismiss all 15 counts charged against them. Judge Juan Merchan dismissed one of several tax fraud counts against the Trump Organization, but allowed all others to remain.

Attorneys for Weisselberg and the company did not immediately comment on Friday's decisions.

The Trump Organization and Weisselberg accused prosecutors of targeting them "based on political animus" toward former President Donald Trump. Weisselberg also argued he had received immunity against certain federal charges when he testified to a federal grand jury investigating former Trump attorney Michael Cohen.

Jury selection will take place on Oct. 24.

Prosecutors said in a May 23 filing that the Weisselberg investigation was spurred by a Nov. 2, 2020 Bloomberg article about perks Weisselberg allegedly received.

"The article outlined many of the key facts relevant to the crimes charged," Manhattan prosecutor Solomon Shinerock wrote in May.

The Trump Organization was accused in July 2021 of providing executives with lavish untaxed perks, which prosecutors called "indirect employee compensation." Weisselberg, a 74-year-old who had been at Trump's side at the company for decades, was accused of receiving $1.7 million in perks — including an apartment and car.

Weisselberg and the company have entered not guilty pleas.

Merchan said that in September, he will hear arguments on a request by Weisselberg's team to suppress evidence from two Manhattan district attorney investigators who he said "struck up small talk" while Weisselberg was in custody. A statement attributed to Weisselberg from the conversation — in which he described the lengthy commute from his Long Island home — was included in court documents. Attorneys for Weisselberg, who is accused of moving into a New York City corporate apartment without paying taxes on the alleged perk, have argued he was essentially tricked into divulging information he might otherwise not have with a lawyer present.

In the motion to dismiss charges, they claimed the company and Weisselberg were "improperly targeted" due to politics. They highlighted statements made by New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat who has been critical of Trump, a Republican. Two attorneys from James' office are assigned to the Manhattan district attorney's investigation.

Trump sat for a court-ordered deposition on Wednesday in James' case, invoking the Fifth Amendment and then replying "same answer" hundreds of times during about four hours of questioning.

Trump's attorneys have said previously they were concerned that Trump's deposition could be turned over to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Attorneys for James' office, and a judge overseeing her probe, have said that her investigators are allowed to do that.

Weisselberg's lawyers also wrote in January that the charges against Weisselberg should be tossed because he received immunity against certain federal charges when he testified to a federal grand jury investigating former Trump attorney Michael Cohen.

Shinerock replied that no one on his team "has ever seen or been briefed on the contents of Weisselberg's testimony" against Cohen, but claimed the federal immunity does not apply to the state charges filed against Weisselberg.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-yo...cNlyqPCdnfrPH-M9rcInn0yGTnywu2BoOncy3o7o

Typical trump defense. "They're picking on me!"

tHaT’s nOt WhAt ThEy MeAnT!!!

I knew who she was when she pretended to be a dem. This should remove any doubt about her.

Yeah, she grew a brain.

GOP Rep. James Comer says Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert have shown interest in being on Oversight Committee in a Republican-controlled House
John L. Dorman 21 hours ago


GOP Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, who could potentially lead the powerful House Oversight Committee if Republicans take control of the lower chamber after the 2022 midterms, said high-profile conservative congresswomen Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Lauren Boebert of Colorado have shown interest in becoming members of the panel.

In a recent interview with Politico, Comer — who is currently the Oversight ranking member — said that if he led the panel, it would not devolve into "a dog-and-pony show."

"This isn't a committee where everybody's gonna scream and be outraged and try to make the witnesses look like fools," he told Politico as he launched a political attack against past Democratic-led investigations.

"Unlike Adam Schiff, we're gonna have something concrete, substantive on Hunter Biden or I'm not going to talk about Hunter Biden," he added.

Yet both Greene and Boebert have railed against presidential son Hunter Biden — whose business dealings in Ukraine have become a popular target among Republicans — in starkly political terms.

Republicans hope to use a House majority to conduct vigorous oversight against the Biden administration, which has already started to prepare itself against potential probes regarding everything from the 2021 US withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan to the shortage of baby formula that become a critical supply-chain problem earlier this year.

At the moment, a significant number of the panel's members are also a part of the House Freedom Caucus, which is overwhelmingly loyal to former President Donald Trump.



https://www.businessinsider.com/mar...use-oversight-committee-comer-gop-2022-8

Good luck with that, Jimmy.

Another crazy Politician.

J.D. Vance comment that women should stay in unhappy marriages doesn’t mesh with pro life claims: Sarah Kolick

https://www.cleveland.com/opinion/2...h-with-pro-life-claims-sarah-kolick.html

He should just send in a letter pleading the 5th because we all know that’s all he’ll do in person. It’s what criminals do. As stated in this direct quote from his master…before he too pled the 5th… “THE MOB TAKES THE FIFTH AMENDMENT. IF YOU'RE INNOCENT, WHY ARE YOU TAKING THE FIFTH AMENDMENT?"

New Hampshire Republican Senate hopefuls trash FBI, 2020 election results on debate stage

None of the three candidates on stage would say President Biden won the 2020 election fairly.

Republican candidates in a New Hampshire Senate primary debate over the weekend raced to the right, casting doubt on the 2020 election and discrediting the FBI after the recent search of former President Donald Trump's home.

Speaking at a debate sponsored by the Government Integrity Project, a conservative group, retired Army Brig. Gen. Don Bolduc, cryptocurrency investor Bruce Fenton and former Londonderry Town Manager Kevin Smith all raised unfounded doubts about the last presidential election. None would affirmatively say that they knew who won the 2020 election — President Joe Biden won the election and numerous court cases and audits have not uncovered information that challenge that fact.

Fenton said that "we can’t tell what’s true,” but he knows there was “a lot of fraud” during the election; Smith said “it’s very unlikely that Joe Biden got 81 million votes” and said he’d support investigations into the 2020 election if elected; and Bolduc said “I signed a letter with 120 other generals and admirals saying Trump won the election, and damn it, I stand by [it].”

Fenton called to abolish the FBI, citing the decision to serve a search warrant on Trump amid and the decades-old campaign to discredit Martin Luther King Jr as examples of what he described as the agency's abuses.

"They've been harassing Martin Luther King, people on the left, people on the right, for far too long. I think we should abolish the FBI and replace it with nothing," Fenton said. He also agreed with one moderator’s question about whether the bureau should be labeled a domestic terror group.

Smith attempted to defend the "fine, very good men and women, agents at much lower levels" as he criticized the FBI leadership and floated the need for a congressional investigation into the FBI, while Bolduc said that: "The first question we have to ask is, do we still need the FBI? If we answer that question no, then get rid of them," or if it's kept, it should be reformed.

Those attacks are similar to the manner in which many Republicans have criticized the FBI in the days after search warrant was served. Both the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are warning that threats against law enforcement have spiked since the search.

Bolduc and Fenton also said they support repealing the 17th Amendment, which allowed for the direct election of senators. Before that amendment was enacted, state legislators chose who would represent the state in the Senate.

Not on the stage — state Sen. Chuck Morse and entrepreneur Vikram Mansharamani, two other Republican candidates in the race.

The winner of September's GOP primary will face off against Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan.

https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-pr...5Wuf95RFT5NR6wYlyPWSRioVoNqcEPezActLA-uQ

That damned trump appointee Christopher Wray and his liberal trump witch hunt!

GOP Senate Campaign Arm Is Pulling Ads in Three Key Races
Ryan Bort
Mon, August 15, 2022, 4:17 PM·2 min read

The National Republican Senatorial Committee is canceling $10 million worth of fall advertising reservations in Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — three states at the center of the GOP’s push to regain control of Congress. The New York Times, which reported the news on Monday, notes Republicans have been struggling to raise money as of late, as well as that the decision to pull ads for some of its top candidates could be tied to the party’s financial troubles.

The NRSC has cut the most money, $5 million, in Pennsylvania, where quack TV doctor Mehmet Oz is taking on Lt. Governor John Fetterman. Oz’s campaign has been fraught, to say the least, and current polling averages currently have him losing to the Democrat by more than 10 percentage points. Oz narrowly edged out David McCormick in the state’s Republican primary behind the strength of former President Donald Trump’s endorsement. Members of the Republican establishment, and even Trump’s circle, had lined up to back McCormick for fear that Oz couldn’t beat Fetterman.

The committee also cut more than $2 million in both Arizona, where Trump-backed Blake Masters is up against incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly, and Wisconsin, where incumbent Republican Sen. Ron Johnson is trying to fend off rising Democratic star Mandela Barnes, who won his primary last week. Polling averages have Masters trailing Kelly by more 10 points. There isn’t much polling for the matchup between Johnson and Barnes, but the race is expected to be a close one, making the NRSC’s move to cut bait — at least $2 million worth of it — all the more surprising.

NRSC Communication Director Chris Hartline stressed that the committee was still invested in all three races in a statement to the Times. “Nothing has changed about our commitment to winning in all of our target states,” he said.

The Senate is currently split 50/50 between Republicans and Democrats, with Democrats holding the edge because of Vice President Kamala Harris’ ability to cast tie-breaking votes, as she did last week when the Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act along party lines. Republicans have been hoping to take control of the chamber this November, but if Fetterman wins in Pennsylvania they’d be losing a seat (that race is to replace retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey), and they stand to lose another should Johnson lose to Barnes in Wisconsin.



https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/gop-senate-campaign-arm-pulling-201700666.html

You know it's getting bad for Trump when:

Somewhere DeSantis is doing his impersonation of Jon Lovitz in The Wedding Singer.

They are trying to install this type of person in several Secretary of State and State AG offices so they can steal elections.

They eat their own.

And Rudy will be sitting in jail still lying his ass off.

Fla. state House candidate banned from Twitter for suggesting violence against federal officials

A candidate running for a seat in Florida’s state House was banned on Twitter on Thursday after he advocated violence against the FBI and other federal agencies.

“Under my plan, all Floridians will have permission to shoot FBI, IRS, ATF and all other feds ON SIGHT!” tweeted Luis Miguel (R), who is running in the 20th district of the Florida House, according to Florida Politics. “Let freedom ring!”

Miguel told Florida Politics that he stands by the “plan” he proposed earlier in the week because the IRS has been “weaponized by dissident forces,” saying that his permanent suspension from Twitter “doesn’t affect (him) at all.”

The Hill has reached out to Miguel for comment on the suspension.

A spokesperson for Twitter told The Hill that the account @LuisMiguelUS is “permanently suspended for violating our hateful conduct policy.”

“You may not promote violence against or directly attack or threaten other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, caste, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease,” reads Twitter’s policy on hateful conduct.

The news comes after members of the GOP have slammed the FBI following the bureau’s search of former President Trump’s home in Palm Beach, Fla. The former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate was searched for classified documents that the Department of Justice suspected were taken following Trump’s loss in 2020.

In addition, Republicans have railed against the IRS after President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law. The spending bill would provide $80 billion in funding to the agency over the next 10 years to help enforce provisions in the IRA. However, members of the GOP have claimed that the funding would be used to hire tens of thousands of agents and audits would increase for non-wealthy Americans.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) went to far as to warn Americans not to apply for positions at the IRS since a Republican majority would immediately seek to reverse the funding increase.

Miguel’s Facebook and Instagram pages are also inaccessible. Facebook confirmed to The Hill that both accounts were deleted for “repeated violation of our policies.”

Miguel is running against incumbent Rep. Bobby Payne (R) on Tuesday, according to The St. Augustine Record, in a northern district of the Florida House. Payne currently represents district 19 but is running to represent district 20 after redistricting in the state.

One of them will head to the general election on Nov. 8 to face a Democratic opponent.

The Hill has reached out to Payne for comment on Miguel’s proposal of shooting federal officials.

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-...lHru6Ho_7h0HnaVVYQIHFXXRU6OL9vsiSJ6_2sZU

Can this guy be tried for suggesting this? I mean if I were on the jury, I'd vote to convict him

The Party of Law and Order. The Law and Order President.

Georgia GOP Senate nominee Herschel Walker blasts the new climate law: 'Don't we have enough trees around here?'

https://www.yahoo.com/news/georgia-gop-senate-nominee-herschel-213751667.html

remember, don't blame the politicians who say these things. blame the voters who support this trash.

2 men convicted in plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Whitmer

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A jury on Tuesday convicted two men of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020, delivering swift verdicts in a plot that was broken up by the FBI and described as a rallying cry for a U.S. civil war by anti-government extremists.

The result was a big victory for the U.S. Justice Department. A different jury just four months ago couldn’t reach unanimous decisions on Adam Fox or Barry Croft Jr. but acquitted two other men, a stunning conclusion that led to a second trial.

Their arrests nearly two years ago came at an extremely tense time: the volatile homestretch of the election between Joe Biden and then-President Donald Trump playing out against a backdrop of armed protests over COVID-19 restrictions, especially in Michigan.

Jury selection in the retrial of Fox and Croft coincidentally occurred a day after FBI agents searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate for documents, putting the agency in headlines at the same time that the judge was trying to detect any biases about law enforcement in the jury pool.

Fox and Croft were convicted Tuesday of two counts of conspiracy related to the kidnapping scheme and attempts to use a weapon of mass destruction. Prosecutors said they wanted to blow up a bridge to disrupt police if the abduction could be pulled off at Whitmer’s vacation home.

Croft, 46, a trucker from Bear, Delaware, was also convicted of another explosives charge. The jury deliberated for roughly eight hours over two days.

“Today’s verdicts prove that violence and threats have no place in our politics and those who seek to divide us will be held accountable. They will not succeed,” said Whitmer, a Democrat, who turned 51 years old on Tuesday.

“But we must also take a hard look at the status of our politics,” she added. “Plots against public officials and threats to the FBI are a disturbing extension of radicalized domestic terrorism that festers in our nation, threatening the very foundation of our republic.”

Law enforcement officials across the country have been warning about an increase in threats and the potential for violence against agents or buildings.

Fox and Croft, who face sentences of up to life in prison, just stared at the jury as the verdicts were read. Defense attorney Christopher Gibbons shook his head while another defense lawyer, Joshua Blanchard, removed his glasses.

Jurors declined to speak to reporters outside the courthouse.

“It’s been a good fight. We were hoping for a different outcome,” Gibbons said.

During closing arguments Monday, a prosecutor had a blunt message: No one can strap on an AR-15 rifle and body armor and snatch a governor.

“But that wasn’t the defendants’ ultimate goal,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler said. “They wanted to set off a second American civil war, a second American Revolution, something that they call the boogaloo. And they wanted to do it for a long time before they settled on Gov. Whitmer.”

The investigation began when Army veteran Dan Chappel joined a Michigan paramilitary group and became alarmed when he heard talk about killing police. He agreed to become an FBI informant and spent the summer of 2020 getting close to Fox and others, secretly recording conversations and participating in drills at “shoot houses” in Wisconsin and Michigan.

The FBI turned it into a major domestic terrorism case with two more informants and two undercover agents embedded in the group. Evidence showed the group had many gripes, particularly over stay-at-home orders and other pandemic restrictions imposed by Whitmer.

Fox, Croft and others, accompanied by the government operatives, traveled to northern Michigan to see Whitmer’s vacation home at night and a bridge that could be destroyed. Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks, too, were on that ride. They pleaded guilty and testified for the prosecution.

Whitmer was not physically harmed; six men were arrested hours away from her home in October 2020.

David Porter, who leads the FBI in western Michigan, hailed the verdicts.

“Here in America, if you disagree with your government you have options. ... What you cannot do is plan or commit acts of violence,” he said outside the courthouse.

Defense attorneys tried to put the FBI on trial, repeatedly emphasizing through cross-examination of witnesses and during closing remarks that federal players were present at every crucial event and had entrapped the men.

Fox and Croft, they said, were “big talkers” who liked to smoke marijuana and were guilty of nothing but exercising their right to say vile things about Whitmer and government.

“This isn’t Russia. This isn’t how our country works,” Blanchard, Croft’s attorney, told jurors. “You don’t get to suspect that someone might commit a crime because you don’t like things that they say, that you don’t like their ideologies.”

Gibbons said the FBI isn’t supposed to create “domestic terrorists.” He described Fox, 39, as poor and living in the basement of a Grand Rapids-area vacuum shop, which was a site for meetings with Chappel and an agent.

In separate but related cases, eight other men linked to the scheme are being prosecuted by the Michigan attorney general in state courts.

Whitmer in 2020 blamed Trump for stoking mistrust and fomenting anger over coronavirus restrictions and refusing to condemn hate groups and right-wing extremists like those charged in Michigan.

Trump even recently called the kidnapping plan a “fake deal.”

https://apnews.com/article/election...HWGif1Vja_ASlluXcrQ_Y4KFWEgMtnHJSf6pYUYc

Duo plead guilty to plot to sell Biden daughter’s stolen diary to Project Veritas

Two people have pleaded guilty in a scheme to peddle a diary and other items belonging to Joe Biden’s daughter to the conservative group Project Veritas for $40,000, prosecutors said Thursday.

The two, both from Florida, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property, Manhattan US attorney Damian Williams’ office said.

While authorities did not identify Biden, the type of property stolen or the organization that paid, the details of the investigation have been public for months.

“Aimee Harris and Robert Kurlander pled guilty to conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property involving the theft of personal belongings of an immediate family member of a then former government official who was a candidate for national political office,” the US attorney’s office in the southern district of New York announced in a statement on Thursday.

Ashley Biden stored the diary, tax records, a digital device with family photos and a cellphone in September 2020 in a Delray Beach, Florida, home where one of the defendants was living at the time, prosecutors said in a release.

According to case interviews and documents reviewed by the New York Times, Biden left her belongings in the home of a friend at that time and planned to collect them later that year. The friend, who also knew Harris, allowed Harris to also stay at the home as she was embroiled in a custody dispute and was facing financial struggles.

Prosecutors said Harris stole the items and got in touch with the other defendant, a man who contacted Project Veritas, which asked for photos of the material and then paid for the two to bring it to New York.

According to Williams, the pair sold the property for “$40,000 and even returned to take more of the victim’s property when asked to do so. Harris and Kurlander sought to profit from their theft of another person’s personal property, and they now stand convicted of a federal felony as a result.”

Donald Trump shakes hands with White House social media director Dan Scavino during a social media summit at the White House.
Trump applauds far-right provocateurs during 'social media summit’
Read more
Project Veritas has said it received the diary from “tipsters” who said it had been abandoned in a room. The activist group, which identifies itself as a news organization, said it turned the journal over to law enforcement and never did anything illegal.

According to the group and its founder, James O’Keefe, Project Veritas “was not involved in any theft of property and that all of Project Veritas’s information on how the confidential sources found the property came from the sources themselves”.

When asked earlier this year by New York magazine whether he had a right to publish the diary’s details, O’Keefe replied: “Someone can provide information to me – a third party – and I have a first amendment right to publish that.”

Project Veritas is best known for conducting hidden camera stings that have embarrassed news outlets, labor organizations and Democratic politicians.

In efforts to verify the diary’s authenticity, a Project Veritas operative attempted to deceive Biden during a phone call into confirming that the diary did actually belong to her.

According to Biden’s lawyers, the group then contacted them in efforts to land an interview with her father prior to the election. Biden’s lawyers, who then reached out to federal prosecutors, accused the group of its “extortionate effort to secure an interview”.

Both Harris and Kurlander, who were released from custody after the court hearing, apologized for their actions. “I sincerely apologize for any actions and know what I did was illegal,” said Harris, according to the New York Times.

“I know what I did was wrong and awful and I apologize,” said Kurlander.

The pair pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit interstate transportation of stolen property. The count carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. They also each agreed to forfeit $20,000, according to the attorney’s office.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/25/ashley-biden-steal-diary-project-veritas


Looks like Project Veritas earned themselves a criminal investigation. GOPer trash

OK, stop.

This is where I had to pause, LMA almost into a coma... and just come here to say s# on 'knee-jerk mode.'

The daughter of the candidate for POTUS.
Project Veritas- about as public and out-front as any during that time.
The 'motherload:'

$40,000.

This ish reads like an article from The Onion.


Now, I'll go back to finish. I just needed these few minutes to catch my breath-

"Florida Man and His Gal."
40K.
priceless.

Thanks for sharing. I missed that summation....Republican response- lies, lies, fake news, fake news, etc. etc. etc.

So damn sad.

If trump ever tried to hire me for anything, I would demand payment upfront.

qui [censored] canibus concumbunt [censored] pulicibus surgent

He that lieth down with dogs shall rise up with fleas

Just one more layer to Trump turdness.

** LOL - the site is censoring Latin !

Just another example of the decline in educational standards. No background in one of our root languages... sad.

I don't agree with everything Adam Kinzinger believes, but Kinzinger said it out loud and it's exactly how I feel about GOP politics right now. His words sum up where we are as a nation politically:

And here is Lindsey crying what-about-her-emails and threatening riots if Trump gets the justice he deserves... Party of law and order my ass. Never was.

Not peaceful protests, RIOTS. Maybe Trumpians can blame them on BLM, ANTIFA, evil abortionists, or the DOJ... But the truth is that if there are RIOTS when (not if) Trump is prosecuted, it will most certainly be a crowd (like the 6th) of the ignorant dumbass fascist white Christian Nationalist hardcore Trumpian base.

And this is now twice in my lifetime I've seen a GOPer in office incite rioting.

Lmao a radical left extremist crying about riots. Thats all libtards do is riot.

Your schtick has grown really dusty, of late.

I hate to see a former 'playa' phone it in when they game be all used up.

It's like watching Ali box when he was gray and fat.

For your further entertainment Eve, Biden clowns on Trump:

https://youtube.com/shorts/hw2fOryK5rs?feature=share


Funny how a feeble-minded libtard can hit your right-wing domestic terrorist Traitor-in-Chief in the chops like that and there ain't a damn thing you can say but "libtard". Weak Sauce. When you get your big girl britches, maybe you can join a real political party that isn't so make-believe or as you call it "Fake News".

Oh, and here is Biden putting the right on notice and kicking off the 2022 midterms messaging:



Add in the Jan 6th proof, the Mara-Lago Proof, the Roe proof, and the White Christian Nationalist Proof... well this messaging just screams yet another GOPer fail. As long as people like you keep getting more and more radical, real America will rise up against your extremism and reclaim democracy making it stronger than ever, better than ever, and more progressive than ever. Welcome to your worst nightmare and thanks for your help.

Yeah, making excuses for and blaming the other side for future violence isn't exactly a strong suit.

Right now, I'm just enjoying the slow-motion Trump tumble, GOP Party Extinction, and having almost everything I have accused him of or said about him proven true at this pace. It's like a victory dance every other day.

Crook, Wannabe Mobster, Conman - CHECK

Idiot, Fool, Nuts, Mind Numbingly Stupid - CHECK

Elitists, did not care about his supporters, for the 1%ers only, Self-Enrichment focus in office - CHECK

Thief, Liar, Braggart Blowhard - CHECK

Non-Christian White Christian Nationalist, Authoritarian Wannabe, Trying to end Democracy - CHECK

Bigot, White Supremacist, Fascist - CHECK

Traitor -CHECK

Colluded with Russia to steal an election, Putin has something on him, Stole 2016 - Coming Soon I think this has all but been proven, and I hope Dems chase it like Hillary's Emails.

Mishandling Classified Material - Coming Soon <- I think this has all but been proven and hope Dems chase it like Hillary's Emails.

Intimidating Witnesses, Election Interference and Fraud, Inciting Riots, Obstruction of Justice, Attempted Coup, Beach of Oath, Sabotage, Selling State Secrets, etc., etc., etc. - Possible Bonus Crimes coming soon <- Bonus because I didn't see these coming. Still, I think these (or more) are all possible and hope Dems chase it like Hillary's Emails.

Lol go easy on her. People say stupid stuff after they closed down the bar.

National Archives head says anti-Trump accusations not ‘accurate or welcome’

The acting head of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) pushed back on accusations that the agency is corrupt or conspiring against former President Trump in its actions taken over his presidential records.

“The National Archives has been the focus of intense scrutiny for months, this week especially, with many people ascribing political motivation to our actions,” Debra Steidel Wall, the acting archivist, wrote in a memo sent to employees on Wednesday.

“NARA has received messages from the public accusing us of corruption and conspiring against the former president, or congratulating NARA for ‘bringing him down,’” she continued. “Neither is accurate or welcome.”

The memo was made public under the Freedom of Information Act and was previously reported by The Washington Post.

The National Archives had attempted to recover presidential records stored at Trump’s Florida home for months, dating back to last year. Officials retrieved 15 boxes from Mar-a-Lago in January, including at least 700 pages of classified materials, and asked the Justice Department to examine the former president’s handling of records.

The investigation ultimately led the FBI to execute a search warrant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence earlier this month, when agents seized 11 sets of classified documents. The Justice Department is probing whether Trump violated the Espionage Act or two other federal statutes.

The search led to a flurry of criticisms against the involved agencies by Trump and his allies, who alleged the probe and related actions were politically motivated.

Wall’s memo references some of those criticisms, including Trump’s unfounded claim on his social media platform that former President Obama “kept 33 million pages of documents, much of them classified.”

The Archives debunked that claim in a statement, saying it keeps classified Obama records in a government facility outside of Obama’s control.

“Our fundamental interest is always in ensuring that government records are properly managed, preserved and protected to ensure access to them for the life of the republic,” Wall wrote. “That is our mission, and what motivates us as we seek to uphold the public trust.”

Wall also thanked employees for their professionalism and integrity. “We will continue to do our work, without favor or fear, in the service of our democracy,” she wrote.

https://thehill.com/policy/national...KgnQl0gL0Dg6MoabSoWqFlqjdgo46MV_AU4wmdHg

Isn't that the Trump M.O.? Making up a lie saying Obama did the same thing? That it's a witch hunt? That it's all political and they're just out to get him? They had been trying to get him to hand these documents over for a very long time. They even went as far as to subpoena all of those documents. Of course in the usual trump fashion he lied claiming he turned them all over back in February. He was still refusing to turn the remaining documents over to them even after they knew he had lied and he was issued a subpoena. Somehow he really does believe he is above the law just like Nixon did.

So the list just keeps growing, right? According to his supporters a lot of people are out to get trump and every time he commits a crime and is held accountable they blame the people who hold him accountable.

We heard a phone call with him telling Georgia officials he "needed to find 11780 votes." And then there's this.... "And the people of Georgia are angry, the people of the country are angry. And there’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, um, that you’ve recalculated. " Then, even after Rafensperger and Germany explain how his conspiracy theories have been investigated and proven wrong, he says this to them.... "And you are going to find that they are — which is totally illegal, it is more illegal for you than it is for them because, you know what they did and you’re not reporting it. That’s a criminal, that’s a criminal offense. And you can’t let that happen. That’s a big risk to you and to Ryan, your lawyer. And that’s a big risk." Threatening them with possible future criminal prosecution to leverage them to overturn the election. Reading the entire transcript of that phone call is something that's hard to believe you would ever hear a president do and say. Here's a link to the entire transcript of that phone call if people want to see exactly what crazy looks like....

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/03/politics/trump-brad-raffensperger-phone-call-transcript/index.html

But what do trumpians believe? That everyone is just out to get trump. They think that there should be no investigations or consequences for his actions. That anyone trying to hold him accountable is part of some conspiracy. And their list just keeps getting longer. It's been every election official in the purple and red states trump lost. It's the media who reports the things he has actually done. Now it's the FBI and a judge that is simply upholding the law. The FBI who is ran by a trump appointee. Try to blackmail Ukraine? No problem. Try to threaten Georgia election officials? No problem. Refuse to honor a subpoena to turn over government documents? No problem.

Because you know, it's all a witch hunt and he's done nothing wrong. What a crazy bunch it must be that live in that trumpian world.

Truth Social Delisted by Google for uncontrolled hate.

Blake Masters Huge, Sneaky Flip-Flop on Abortion………

It’s no secret that the radical action of the U.S. Supreme Court in abolishing the federal constitutional right to abortion has wrong-footed a lot of Republican politicians whose own radical anti-abortion positions suddenly have practical consequences for those whose votes they seek. Most Republicans are trying to change the subject from abortion to inflation or crime or “wokeness” instead of directly challenging the pro-choice majority that exists even in many red states.

But if you are Arizona’s GOP Senate nominee, Blake Masters, the candidate backed by Donald Trump and bankrolled by Peter Thiel, you have a different strategy for dealing with the anger of swing voters at your wild-ass posture on abortion: You just blatantly change it. NBC News caught him in the act:

In an ad posted to Twitter on Thursday, Masters sought to portray his opponent, Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, as the extremist on the issue while describing his own views as “commonsense.”

“Look, I support a ban on very late-term and partial-birth abortion,” he said. “And most Americans agree with that. That would just put us on par with other civilized nations.” (Late-term abortions are extremely rare, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracker.)

Just after releasing the ad, Masters’s campaign overhauled his website and softened his rhetoric, re-writing or erasing five of his six positions.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/202...uge-if-sneaky-flip-flop-on-abortion.html

It’s silly season. We all know he’ll flip flop right back if he wins. Another cuckoo con.

From a strictly social media and PR messaging standpoint (setting aside platforms and policies), it seems Fetterman has been obliterating Oz. I'd have to imagine Oz was one of the people McConnell mentioned when he took issue with the quality of candidates.

Oz has been a train wreck. That of course however doesn't diminish that I consider it quite possible he gets elected. Last time I checked he was down like seven points but they were just getting ready to infuse his campaign with cash for a media blitz. Have no idea how accurate that is.

"Cash for Crudite"

And then there's Herschel Walker. Oh dear Lord. Have you heard him speak and some of the things he's said?

Yep. I started planting apple trees in my back yard, but I’m thinking about taking them down because don’t we have enough trees already?

lol

Debate 101:

Come armed with facts, and the ability to succinctly present them.

BODIED

It almost seems to me like she was reading that response from a teleprompter. I know she wasn't, because that wouldn't make sense for debate purposes, obviously.

I think she definitely knew, though, that he was going to make such a statement and had a response to it prepared in great detail. He fell right into the trap.

Katie Porter is the best I've ever seen at this.

A backlash on America and Democrats for nominating and electing Obama and knowing Hillary was the next man,, errrr, woman up.

Trumpian MAGA tweeters are all butt sore over being called semi-fascist extremists.







Joe is on a roll, crushing MAGA's soul on twitter: https://twitter.com/JoeBiden It's a MUST SEE!

i agree with Dark Brandon.

and i'm so glad we have a potus calling these clowns out. they say the most disgusting thing about their fellow americans, but the moment anybody gives them a % of that SAME energy, they wanna pretend to be outraged and offended.

nah, call that garbage out. you can be an American patriot, or a pro-maga fascist, but you can't be both.

Man, go read his Twitter. He took on the whole hog, then sliced, diced, and ground MAGA into a crappy spam knockoff that spreads like gritty butter and smells like dumbass. And his speech was an epic smackdown of fools.

Trump forced to hand over financial records to Congress after three-year legal battle

Agreement with House Oversight Committee could end ex-president’s legal battle to shield documents exposing his ‘egregious conduct’, chair announces

Donald Trump and his accounting firm have reached an agreement with the House Oversight Committee for lawmakers to receive key financial records as part of a long-running probe into his disclosures and conflicts of interest.

“After numerous court victories, I am pleased that my Committee has now reached an agreement to obtain key financial documents that former President Trump fought for years to hide from Congress,” committee chair Carolyn Maloney announced on Thursday (1 September).

The agreement follows a 2019 subpoena for financial records to his accounting firm Mazars USA, which will help the committee “get to the bottom of former President Trump’s egregious conduct and ensure that future presidents do not abuse their position of power for personal gain,” according to congresswoman Maloney.

Under the agreement announced on Thursday, Mr Trump has agreed not to challenge an appeals court ruling from July that granted the committee access to documents under the scope of the subpoena, holding that the former president’s financial records would “advance the committee’s consideration of ethics reform legislation” – including proposed rules related to disclosing conflicts of interests and establishing safeguards against foreign interference.

The notice from Mr Trump’s legal team filed on 30 August does not disclose terms of the agreement, only that attorneys have reached a deal with the committee. The agreement also does not affect a separate congressional probe between Mr Trump and the House Ways and Means Committee, which is seeking tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service. Mr Trump has fought that case, too, though a federal appeals court said earlier this month that he must hand them over.

A probe from the House Oversight Committee followed testimony from Mr Trump’s former counsel Michael Cohen, who provided several financial statements to the committee raising questions about Mr Trump’s debts, disclosures and alleged hush-money payments during his 2016 presidential campaign.

In March 2019, the committee sent a letter to Mazars seeking records related to the allegations raised in testimony, and a subpoena was issued the following month, triggering a three-year legal battle between lawmakers and Mr Trump’s attorneys.

News of the agreement comes as the former president is embroiled in several congressional probes as well as the US Department of Justice investigation into his alleged mishandling of classified White House documents, potential exposure of national intelligence and “likely” obstruction, according to federal prosecutors.

A separate House select committee investigating the attack on the US Capitol, fuelled in part by the former president’s ongoing and baseless narrative that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him, will resume public hearings this month.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...-house-committee-agreement-b2157608.html


I hope that just for laughs one day after we jail the former traitor-in-chief that we get his school transcripts. I'd lay odds that we find major fraud there too.

At some point in time, you might be right. However, for the past 6+ years, you've been wrong.

Maybe I should have kept watching... I made it about 5 min and had to turn it off because I couldn't stomach the hypocrisy... I also found it humorous that two years into his presidency... with inflation, energy issues, supply chain and gas problems... all he could talk about was trump....

He's circling the drain. Thats all he has.

You know, when the final history is written about this episode of cuckoos and chaos, when all the crooks and domestic terrorists are behind bars, and the plain old rubes have been reprogrammed and reintegrated, then this speech may go down as one of the best in history. Brandon the MAGA Slayer! All hail the Chief! Look around, he already has the closet Trumpers self-identifying, and the criminals are against the ropes. They will ride this messaging to a landslide in '22 because 70% of America, including many republicans, hate the MAGA direction and agenda. Trumpism just got wrecked. They are done between big orange's crimes and this decisive turn against those Christian Nationalist fascist Extremists. The sleeping giant of preserving democracy and the wrath of the women's reproductive rights movement is on the march and MAGA is complete toast. You would have to be politically brain dead not to see the writing on the wall.

Biden just dropped the BIG D on the reDtards and they seem butt sore, so they must not have seen it coming until it hit them square in the ass. lol

Real classy

Broadcast Networks Pass On Carrying Joe Biden’s Primetime Speech — Update

Ted Johnson
Thu, September 1, 2022 at 5:27 PM

UPDATE, 5 PM PT: Broadcast networks passed on carrying Joe Biden’s speech in Philadelphia, as the president cast MAGA Republicans as a threat to democracy.

ABC ran Press Your Luck, CBS went with a Young Sheldon rerun and NBC with a Law & Order replay. CNN and MSNBC carried the address, as did news division streaming channels, but Fox News stuck with Tucker Carlson and his critique of the speech as it was happening.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/broadcast-networks-far-holding-off-212727910.html

The only threat to this Countries democracy is Socialism. Plain and simple.

You haven't been paying attention to the radical right have you? You obviously didn't hear about January 6th did you? You didn't hear trump try to coerce Georgia election officials into rigging their state election and threaten them that if they didn't it may be a crime did you? You didn't see the transcript of trump trying to blackmail Ukraine to get the military aid congress had already approved did you? You also must have missed the kidnapping plot of Michigqan Gov. Whitmer. Maybe you even missed the woman who was ran over in Charlottesville and how trump called those racists "very fine people". Or could you have also missed trump telling those people on Jan. 6th after sitting idly by for over three hours watching the carnage as over 140 officers were injured by them “So go home. We love you. You’re very special. You’ve seen what happens, you see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know how you feel. But go home, and go home in peace.”? Maybe you missed his tweet a little later telling them, “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long,” he wrote. “Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!”

He supports that act. He fuels them. He spurs them on.

It's not everyone elses fault you can't get socialism out of your brain while not allowing the obvious acts of fascism playing out in front of you into it.

You sound like Mitt Romney in 2012. A day late and a dollar short.

MAGA and China.

Biden speech denouncing Trump, 'MAGA ideology' sparks threats, calls for violence

https://www.yahoo.com/news/biden-sp...hreats-calls-for-violence-003139767.html

are they serious this time? i need to know if i have to put my old army stuff away or throw it in the laundry to get ready for combat. Wifey is already annoyed that my tough box is in the middle of the bedroom, but i keep trying to show her these dudes called...lol, Patriot Front, that post these training videos with captain america shields that i'm trying to run up on.

Dan Rather Questions CNN Amid Day of Backlash, Departure

Veteran journalist Dan Rather questioned CNN on the same day that the network faced backlash over an apparent attempt to pivot toward the political right.

Rather asked Twitter followers on Friday about the "directives and motives" that could be behind the recent upheaval at the cable news network. A CNN White House correspondent also announced his departure from the network on Friday, while the hashtag #BoycottCNN trended on Twitter after network personalities provided critical commentary on President Joe Biden's fiery Thursday night speech denouncing former President Donald Trump and "MAGA Republicans."

"What is going on at CNN?" Rather asked his Twitter followers. "It's a serious question. There is a lot of speculation on directives and motives. What's really going on? And is it being noticed by the audience?"



Hours before Rather's tweet, CNN White House correspondent John Harwood announced that Friday would be his last day at the network.

"Personal news: today's my last day at CNN," Harwood tweeted. "Proud of the work thanks to my colleagues i've been lucky to serve the best in American media - St. Petersburg Times, WSJ, NYT, the NBC family, CNN look forward to figuring out what's next."



While it was unclear whether Harwood had quit his job or been forced out, he had appeared on-air to discuss Biden's Tuesday night speech only a short time before he announced he was leaving. Harwood agreed that Biden's speech included issues that were "inherently political" but defended the president and called Trump a "demagogue."

"The core point [Biden] made in that political speech, about a threat to democracy, was true," Harwood said during the segment. "That's something that's not easy for us, as journalists, to say. We're brought up to believe there's two different political parties with different points of view and we don't take sides in honest disagreements."

"But that's not what we're talking about, these are not honest disagreements," he continued. "The Republican Party right now is led by a dishonest demagogue. Many, many Republicans are rallying around his lies about the 2020 election and other things as well. And a significant portion... attacked the Capitol on January 6th."

CNN is reportedly attempting to shift perceptions of its political bias closer to the center under the leadership of new CEO Chris Licht. Staff have been informed of Licht's desire to have the network host more Republican politicians, according to The Washington Post.

Other recent high-profile departures from the network include on-air personalities Brian Stelter, the host of Reliable Sources from 2013 until only weeks ago, and legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, whose last day at CNN was August 4.

Most of those using the #BoycottCNN hashtag on Friday took issue with the network allegedly changing the way it reports news in hopes of appealing to moderates and conservatives, with some suggesting that the network was promoting the false notion that there are two equally valid sides on every issue.

"A radical shift toward both-sidesing authoritarianism has caused me to #BoycottCNN," screenwriter Randi Singer tweeted. "That is NOT journalism."



"Just as the Republican Party is purging 'RINOs' who speak the truth, so is CNN," tweeted Duty to Warn, a group formed by mental health professionals with the initial goal of removing Trump from office. "John Harwood blew past both sides-ism here, this morning, and now he's out at CNN. #BoycottCNN."



"CNN has decided to move to the Right to be Fox Lite," @ddanpereira tweeted. "John Harwood supported #bidenspeech at Independence Hall & called Trump a dishonest Demagogue quit his job. @CNN recently let go of Brian Stelter & Jeffrey Toobin. Whos next? Don Lemon or Jim Acosta? #BoycottCNN Brianna Keilar."



https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/othe...id-day-of-backlash-departure/ar-AA11pM99

yep. its just like the clowns who claim they were liberal, yet somehow the liberals made them become conservative.

you was never liberal. you was always conservative - more specifically right wing - and was always looking for an excuse to come out the conservative closet.

we have members of congress calling themselves proud christian nationalist, declaring that christianity should rule the government, and a host of other nonsense.

Dark brandon was 100% right in his speech.

Saw that article, my 1st thought about it was: doesn't that just prove his point

Texas governor says rape victims can prevent pregnancy by taking Plan B

https://www.yahoo.com/news/texas-governor-says-rape-victims-154014582.html

are they even trying to win elections anymore? i dont care how conservative you are, you HAVE to know saying a statement like this in your position is gonna help drive voter turnout not just in your state, but across the country.

let me remind the board that months ago this is the same dude who claimed he was gonna end rape in Texas after that horrible anti-abortion policy. now he's saying this.

anybody check out the GOP rally in PA?

is the GOP going out of their way to prove dark brandon correct? trump and his cult followers got right on stage and started spreading even more election conspiracy theories.

do they not understand that they aren't supposed to go out there and prove the democrat right?

I heard bits and pieces of Trumps speech. Honestly I don't think he hears himself.. He mentioned that Biden was (paraphrasing here) bashing the right.. Well, he was.. Specifically the MAGA crowd.

And he was right to do so IMO.

But Trump doesn't get it, he started most of this kind of back and forth back in 2015. Hell, even Newt Gingrich may have given rise to Trumpism and the MAGA crowd back in the 90's.

But they forget who started this crap. What's happening now is the Left is fighting back....HARD.

trump said in his speech that he had dinner with Zuckerberg at the White House last week.

Leave it to twitter; some of this is pretty good


https://twitter.com/jeremynewberger/status/1566566333982064644

I saw it. It was reDtard fab with Trump derping his way through another droning whiny speech. Even his acolytes behind him rolled their eyes at times. And when he exulted the great leadership of Xi and Putin, eyes rolled and the applause was almost muffled by the confusion. They know, and they still go along.

It's cute that he thinks they are "Real America". Select elites...

Glad to know there are so many select groups of elites that I am related to. I’ll have to let them know. They may not yet be aware since they’re in their early 20’s.

WOOHOO I'm elite.

Life is becoming a free ride for some.

For a little perspective on what student loans are like for many. If you read this and don’t see something wrong, well, that’s on you.

Just for some perspective of what’s happening to many people…

“Kevin Higgs
53m ·
My final attempt to help those that don’t understand the student loan game.
Mortgage: At closing, you know exactly what you will pay back. Interest is calculated monthly. Extra payments pay down principal.
My Mortgage was $135k for a 30-year loan in 2004. Refinanced once for lower interest rates and terms. We made a couple of lump sum principal payments and the house was paid off in 2021. That's 13 years early.
Student Loan: Interest is compounded daily. Extra payments go toward future payments, not to pay down the principal. If you don’t make a monthly payment because you are paid up in advance, your interest is still calculated daily.
I was told if I made my payments on time (I never missed a single payment nor paid late) loan would be paid off in 20 years. I won’t say the college financial aid rep lied to me. What I will say is she probably didn’t understand it herself.
I was also told about the Public Service Forgiveness. Make 10 years of payments and the rest is paid off. Well, when I applied, I was told my loans weren’t eligible.
I borrowed $45,000 in student loans
First 10 years I paid $275/month = $33,000
Next 15 years I paid $550/month = $99,000
1 final lump sum payment = $16,000
Total $148,000
Mortgage $135k paid off in 17 years for a total of $183,000.
Student Loan $45k paid off in 25 years after making a final $16k payment for a total of $148,000.
Yes, you can say everyone should know better, but chances are you wouldn’t have known any better either.
We are told over and over that your way out of poverty is through education. Yet, the poorest, most vulnerable, first-generation college students are just happy to be living their dream and trying their hardest to escape the cycle of poverty.
What the government should do is take every penny people have paid toward interest and apply it to the principal and preferably stop charging interest. This would probably pay off many loans. At the most, the loans should be set up like a mortgage.
Anyone who reads this and doesn’t understand the system is broken doesn’t want to understand.”

100%

Or in the case of the student loan at a favorable rate - 329%

Yeah, they made college free and erased all of their debt.....

Meanwhile the same politicians who are acting like someone stole their candy were given tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands and even millions in PPP loan forgiveness and not one peep out of you about it. I guess it's only a problem when debt is forgiven for common people.



White House calls out Republicans who criticized student loan cancellation but had thousands in PPP loans forgiven

The White House is not taking criticism of the decision to forgive student debt lying down. After some Republican lawmakers tweeted or went on broadcasts to condemn the decision, the White House Twitter page responded by quote tweeting their comments – and sharing just how much each of them benefited from having their Paycheck Protection Program loans forgiven.

The uncharacteristic Twitter thread from the White House came shortly after President Biden announced his plan to erase thousands of dollars in student loans, a move that will help more than 40 million people who have a combined $1.7 trillion in student loan debt. Under the plan, borrowers who earn less than $125,000 will be eligible to have $10,000 in student loan debt forgiven. Those in that income range who had Pell Grants in college will be eligible for an additional $10,000 in forgiveness.

It was a decision that triggered criticism from GOP lawmakers, and even a few Democrats.

GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene went on NewsMax to talk about Mr. Biden's plans, and said that forgiving student loans isn't fair for those who didn't go to college.

"For our government just to say, 'OK, well your debt is completely forgiven'...it's completely unfair," she said, according to a clip of the broadcast that was shared by the White House. "And taxpayers all over the country, taxpayers that never took out a student loan, taxpayers that pay their bills and maybe even never went to college and are just hardworking people, they shouldn't have to pay off the great big student loan debt for some college student that piled up massive debt going to some Ivy League school. That's not fair."

The White House then called out her and others who benefited from their own loan forgiveness through the Paycheck Protection Program.

PPP loans were given out earlier in the COVID pandemic to help businesses keep their workforce employed. The program ended on May 31, 2021, and has allowed borrowers to have their loans forgiven depending on employee and compensation levels and how the loan money was spent. The program was sometimes plagued by fraud.

One study by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis found that the program cost taxpayers $4 for every $1 of wages and benefits that workers who had their jobs "saved" by the program received.

According to the White House, Greene and others benefited heavily from this loan forgiveness. The White House retweeted the congresswoman's clip and said she had $183,504 in PPP loans forgiven.

GOP Rep. Vern Buchanan of Florida tweeted out a segment of him speaking on Fox Business about the loan, saying in the tweet that he was a "blue-collar kid who worked his way through college."

"I know firsthand the sacrifices people make to receive an education," he said. "Biden's reckless, unilateral student loan giveaway is unfair to the 87 percent of Americans without student loan debt and those who played by the rules."

According to the White House, Buchanan had more than $2.3 million in PPP loans forgiven.

GOP Rep. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma said farmers, ranchers, small business owners and teachers in his state don't need to be "paying the debts of Ivy League lawyers and doctors across the U.S." He had more than $1.4 million in PPP loans forgiven, according to the White House.

Republican lawmakers Kevin Hern, Mike Kelly and Matt Gaetz also had more than $1 million, $987,000, and $482,300 forgiven, respectively, according to the White House.

Mr. Biden's plan and the criticism that followed come as the cost of college continues on its upward trend.

According to CollegeBoard, tuition has increased across essentially all higher education settings in the U.S. since the early '90s. Public two-year schools had the lowest increase, from $2,310 in the 1991-92 year to $3,800 in 2021-22. Public four-year schools saw an average increase from $4,160 to $10,740 during that time frame.

Four-year private nonprofits, however, showed the steepest increase: from $19,360 in 1991 to $38,070 in 2021.

From 2010-11 to 2020-21, federal aid decreased by 32%, accounting for inflation. Pell Grants declined by 39% during that time and veterans' benefits declined by 3%.

Mr. Biden directly addressed Congressional Republicans on Thursday who are against student loan forgiveness.

"I will never apologize for helping America's middle class," he tweeted, "especially not to the same folks who voted for a $2 trillion tax cut for the wealthy and giant corporations that racked up the deficit."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-...-loan-cancellation-ppp-loan-forgiveness/

Where were you then when all of that was happening? Oh, that's right, they're wealthy.

First, I would say any government student loan should be, and should have been all along, interest free.
Second there should also be options when it comes to "free" education. For instance, there could be an allowance to any Community colleges, say $25k that is, if you go to a state school you get $20k voucher, if you choose a private or ivy school, you're on your own.

Even more so, we need to educate these students that not everyone is college material, and that getting a $100,000 college degree does not guarantee a $100k/yr job.

IMO, part of the problem was the push for everyone to go to college. They just jack up the prices, supply and demand.

There is a large need for trades right now, and they pay good, there is also many ways to get a degree without going to the top school, and racking up a massive loan debt. There was a massive push in the 80's and 90's that made it seems as if without a college degree, you would be poor forever, which just is not true. In the end, it comes down to drive, and work ethic, and most people could, and would, succeed.

That's not even getting into the perception vs reality of what "living the good life" is.

You must be one of those cOmMuniSTs that Peen keeps rambling on about.

Not quite, just a realist.

I probably lean more conservative, but I also see our place in the global market and our need to support and pursue a better educated public. But on the other side, I also think there are a lot of lazy Americans who flat out don't want to put in the effort to better themselves.

I'm 100% on board with your point here. But here's my issue with this.


What about the $10k/person forgiveness does anything to address the actual problem? Unless I'm mistaken (and please correct me if/where I'm wrong), this latest round of forgiveness does absolutely nothing to address the issue of predatory lending in student loans.

The stuff the Biden admin was doing earlier was great. They were going after specific lenders/schools that were for-profit shams. This round, though just seems like grabbing for votes at the worst possible time, economically.

its funny how any time seems to be the worst time when it comes to helping individual americans.

I agree completely that the system needs to change. Biden/the democrats should be putting forth legislation to stop the Betsy DeVos’s of the world from building wealth off the backs of young, naive adults trying to better themselves. On the other hand the last administration appointed her to be in charge of such things.
I’ll take this administration and it’s foibles over that any day.

I don’t have an issue with there being interest on student loans. It’s a loan. Loans come with interest. They just need to be the same set up as mortgages and have low rates.

There are lazy people out there. That said I think low wages and a housing market that is unobtainable to many people because of low wages, has set people up to be apathetic. Why bust you arse if it’s going to lead to little reward. If you’re going to have to live in general poverty while working, why work harder? I honestly believe that given a realistic wage to housing cost ratio more people would be incentivized to work harder. To achieve more. Get people into a home they’ll one day own and they’ll work to keep it. Make them renters for life and the will to ‘achieve’ can easily be stripped away. Is that defeatist of people? Sure, but reality on reality’s terms.

So you're cool with giving people relative bread crumbs while allowing the system that made this mess to continue on? Not me.

The only person that's potentially learning a lesson from this is the taxpayer. No actual change is happening. It reeks of pandering for votes on the taxpayers' dime. There are articles coming out now arguing about how/if this can actually work.

I'm not even sure the entire loan forgiveness thing will ever come to fruition. I'm sure there will be Republicans who will fight it in court......

Republicans Plan to Sue to Stop Biden’s Student Debt Relief

https://www.yahoo.com/video/republicans-plan-sue-stop-biden-222724076.html

And you are 100% correct that it will certainly not address any of the systemic problems ingrained in the student loan program. The entire program needs revamped in a serious way. So I certainly understand your point here. I agree and have in the past pointed out guidelines very similar to the points points Florida outlined. Much like in our personal life we have two ways of allocating our funds. Some is spending and some is an investment for the future. As much as some would like to turn their heads to the fact, we are falling behind much of the developed world in education. A better educated population is an investment in the future of our nation.

The issue at hand from my perspective is that to revamp the student loan program would take most likely years in legislation and as we've seen, the divide would be huge. By the time all is said and done it would most likely be so watered down during the legislative process that by the time they were finished with it, I don't think it would end up being much better than it s now. See Obamacare as a reference.

But I would like to see a concerted effort put forth to amend it into something that actually makes sense for the education of our nation moving forward. As of now even if this program of loan forgiveness takes place, it's nothing more than a band aid on a bullet wound. But I guess that's better than bleeding all over the furniture.

And yet, Biden doesn't seem to be doing any of that. If anything, this shifting of the burden onto the taxpayers is encouraging that system to continue, no? How is this is significantly better?


IMO, this explanation is just as bad as the "handouts make people lazy" one. I don't know what the average person paying against loans has as their total, but my understanding is while $10k will make a dent, their situation really isn't any different. They still owe on those same loans under those same bad terms. People obtaining student loans are no better off now than they were before.

We're spending a ton and getting very very little in return.

i want the root causes fixed as much as you do. that doesn't mean people gotta suffer in the process. hell, look at how inept any party is at "fighting" corruption, or getting any sort of reform done.

at the very LEAST, the government can discharge some debt while they bicker over the root causes (read: do nothing).

it why i laugh at people who claim we need to fight corruption. they can't even define it at the federal level, but know we need to fight it. that's all well in good, but that doesn't mean we can't help elevate some of the pain off of the american people in the process.

Its called paying for votes.

Like those huge corporate tax cuts trump handed out so they would donate millions upon millions in campaign contributions? See, I don't mind people posting that political parties cater to their base to get votes. It's when they claim that it only works that way for one side or the other that you can see through the BS.

Now you can come back with your usual libtard hateful comeback. Nobody will be shocked or surprised by it.

Deflect much. Biden is buying votes. Its not going to help much for the red wave that is coming.

I don't know who Kevin Higgs is but a search for the text of this post turned up nothing for me. Do you have an attribution for it or do we take it entirely on faith?

I have a student loan, I went back to school after losing my job and took loans and grants to get me through. I have paid my payments on time (auto draft) and when I look at the payment history I am nowhere near paying the multiple this person mentions. This is either made up or it leaves out a lot of the actual story.

Being an actual adult when I went back to school it was interesting to see how many students on the campus had hobby degrees. I have a science degree, I hung out with a lot of science degree people, but the number of "interdisciplinary" or gender or racial studies people I ran into was mind boggling. And I was not at a typical "liberal arts" college where everyone is getting a BA in something or other. When I went back to school I didn't get a degree in career, I changed careers, though not radically. I looked at what I was doing, looked at what I could be doing and found something that sounded fun (I do like my job even if I had to remind myself about 100 times today that I do) but I also looked at what I get back from working. I chose something I enjoy but that is profitable.

I keep looking at the loan processor for details on this forgiveness to see if there is a way to opt out if they opt me in. I pay my way.

J/C

From someone who escaped eventually, the whole student loan and higher education system needs a massive overhaul, and I mean MASSIVE. Right now, we have a mixed bag on the Republican side, ranging from doing nothing - except stand against whatever the Democrats want to do, to people like DeVos actually desiring to perpetuate a massively flawed system. I actually saw her as the worst person in the Trump administration. Yeah, you read that right.

One thing that I am annoyed by is people whose college tuition was piddly by comparison back in the day talking about how "kids these days" are just being catered to. I think Ted Cruz and a lot of the other hateful Republicans and pundits phrase it as either a bunch of baristas are getting off scot-free, or wealthy elites are getting free college. That's horribly misleading at best, but we all know it's intentional misleading on their parts anyhow.

I really appreciated Florida's post because of how proactive it is. One of my issues with student loan forgiveness as it currently stands is along the lines of what oober is hinting at. The current focus now is how big should the bucket be that bails the water out of a boat with a massive leak in it. Nobody is addressing the leak, which is the cost of tuition and loans given out, because that will be a VERY hard conversation, and a lot of the politicians want to avoid it altogether. It's like when the housing crisis was about to hit. If you actually think about it, the 2008 housing crisis and the current student loan crisis are very similar in a lot of aspects, except the government is the holder of most of the loans and it doesn't really matter if there is a sudden glut of degrees lying around. Where it will come to a head - I think - is when scarred millennials have children who are coming of college age and we finally flip the script to saying "college ain't all that, and it actually may not be worth it at all." Enrollment would plunge and there is a huge economy focused on education right now. Just look at all the universities and how they have changed over the past 2 decades.

I would like to add to Florida's proposition that student loans be dischargeable in bankruptcy. On its face, that might be criticized as another "free-be" but when you think about it, it actually would help plug the leak, as many lenders - especially on the private front - would have to absorb more risk as to whether they would actually issue a loan, rather than just rubber stamp every application. Think of the mortgage industry following the 2008 crisis. There should also be some metric put in place for the amount of loans that could be given to any one borrower. I'm not exactly sure how to implement this to the best degree possible, but one that considers the potential career, major, university and basically analytical combination therein that decides what kind of loan could/should be given to that person that would both benefit the lender and the lendee. Just thinking out loud there.

I'm just curious how my son was able to pay his undergrad loans off in just over 6 years........He was never penalized, or told he couldn't make extra payments. But, a story like that wouldn't make the news.

What degree did this guy have? The one that paid $183,000 on a 45,000 loan?

You just can't make the crazy on the right up. #MegaMAGASnowflakes

House GOP member criticizes FX series ‘Little Demon’ for showing ‘satanic imagery’

Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) criticized the FX series “Little Demon” in a Facebook post on Monday, accusing the show of airing “satanic imagery.”

Johnson said he was watching a college football game between Louisiana State University and Florida State University on Sunday with his 11-year-old child when a trailer for the show came on during the second quarter. He said he quickly grabbed the remote control to “shield” the child from the “dark” images of hell and demons and an explanation that the main character of the show is the Antichrist.

FX’s description of the show states, “13 years after being impregnated by Satan, a reluctant mother, Laura, and her Antichrist daughter, Chrissy, attempt to live an ordinary life in Delaware, but are constantly thwarted by monstrous forces, including Satan, who yearns for custody of his daughter’s soul.”

Johnson said the culture has become “alarmingly dark and desensitized, and this is not a game.” He said Disney and FX, which is owned by the former, have chosen to embrace and sell what is “clearly evil.”

“I could write volumes this morning, and unpack pages of Bible verses here, but instead I’m just going to state the obvious: Please be careful,” he said. “Our job as parents is to guard the hearts and minds of our kids.”

Johnson said in a second post on Tuesday that his original Facebook post had reached more than 6 million people, more than the number who watched the college football game on Sunday.

“Some of them are very unhappy, and that’s okay,” he said. “Free speech is an important principle, and in this country, everyone can obviously make their own decisions about what media they and their families consume. But a corollary is that Christians have the freedom to fulfill our obligation to ‘speak the truth in love’ (Eph. 4:15), even—and sometimes most importantly—when it may not be popular.”

FX did not immediately return a request from The Hill for comment.

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/...ittle-demon-for-showing-satanic-imagery/

I saw where California banned the sale of gas vehicles, then asked people not to charge their electric cars a few days later...lol

Life in communist America. What a bunch of dipturds they are.

I see where Chicago mayor Lightfoot is going to Washington because she is tired of Texas shipping busloads of illegals to her city.

LOL....it isn't a problem, until it is a problem. Sorry Lorri, just deal with it. Let your formerly fine city raise taxes to take care of the problem. Your voters should be very willing to pay for and accept these illegals with open arms. You are the city of broad shoulders. It shouldn't be a problem at all.

LOL

The electric grid can't handle it. Now.

The wind turbines and solar panels ain't cutting it.

Imagine when they try to go all electric. Great idea, except, electric power comes from fossil fuels for the vast majority. People don't understand that, I guess.

Your power for your a/c is coming from fossil fuels. Shut your a/c off if you're so concerned,

I have no problem with turbines and solar power. Other than, it raises prices steeply, is undependable, costs more, and is unreliable.

Way to represent 'the best of us,' Your Honor.





damn.

I saw where a bunch of Trumpian fascists stormed the Capital Building. Imagine being so pathetic as to bring your tidbit of meaningless distraction to this conversation to get in a communist jab that doesn't remotely apply. Let me help you out:



So let's break it down so EVEN a guy like you might be able to understand it:

a system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed

Does anyone use your crap, tools, car, etc., when you aren't using them without your permission? No commonly owned goods, not even Dems. CHECK

a theory advocating elimination of private property

Have you ever seen a dem say, let's end using money to make and share the goods we need in common? We don't need to own every tool for every job, do we? NOPE. Not even Dems. CHECK


capitalized
a: a doctrine based on revolutionary Marxian socialism and Marxism-Leninism that was the official ideology of the Soviet Union
b: a totalitarian system of government in which a single authoritarian party controls state-owned means of production
c: a final stage of society in Marxist theory in which the state has withered away and economic goods are distributed equitably
d: communist systems collectively


This one refers to the BIG C, Communism as a form of government... Hmmm.

Do you live in a totalitarian, authoritarian government? Nope. But the right sure tried to take us there. Dems are fighting against that crap with the MAGA Fascists right now. That's why you're so angry. Getting your butt kicked and becoming obsolete does that.

I agree that the state (US GOVERNMENT) is withering away. It's only been under attack for the last 50 years from the right! Voting to sell us out while demanding control of or undermining the constitution and American institutions, THAT'S THE MAGA RIGHT.

Trying to end democracy by keeping those that do not believe the same as you from voting, HELLO MAGA REPUBLICANS!

a totalitarian system of government in which a single authoritarian party controls state-owned means of production

Your Party is up for anything that saves or advances the elite control over our economy to ensure only they and your ilk can share all the money (goods). You even tried to make your guy a dictator... IN AMERICA!

If there is a party heading toward socialism (the lousy kind like Venezuela), communism, totalitarianism, authoritarianism, theocracy, and fascism, it's yours. MAGA idiots want Socialism for the Elite and Corps. They want the whole damn pie (economy, money, goods) to be divided between only those with power (including themselves as the supporting Party), communist style. They want a Christian Theocracy where only people like them have control, and everybody else is gone, dead, or are subservient human chattel. Or does White Christian Nationalism not ring a bell? They've already started on Trans, Gays, and Women. And since they glaringly prefer a sizeable white majority (Super Race), want to attack anyone who stands against them (brown shirts), want to maintain power at all costs (including violence, terrorism, or war), and want to purge the state of the other(s), all laws, all political adversaries, all ideals, all religions, all influence that they deem an issue must go; well they and YOU are Fascists. Own it.

And it's crazy obvious you are trolling because, well hell, that's all you have. This is where the last flails of a dying unbridled untempered capitalist democracy (Republic, whatever ) bring us. Yep, a place with old dolts glamorizing the good old days when their advantages were guaranteed at the expense of others' human rights and ability to provide. A country those same dolts are determined to either control or tear down with continuous inside attacks because they want a place of their own, for just them, even if it means giving up on America. They are not good with change because they were duped into selling out America for the next several generations, all so they could all have the best cheap crap and feel self-important. I'm pointing at the Greatest Generation and Boomers. GenX gets a backhand for NOT CARING because they couldn't believe how bad y'all messed crap up before they got to adulthood. And even though your WHITE CHRISTIAN DREAMS were coming true, I bet the average POC struggled a bit in the 50s-80s, most, I would say.

Yes, both political parties were involved in selling out America and creating the China we face today, AND YOU WERE A COG IN THAT WHEEL. You and your beliefs. We're all doing the same thing in other countries, too, for cheap crap and trade deals that allow the elite ONLY to profit and flourish. Now, the government is circling the drain, primarily due to the "stop all progress" conservative republicans currently under the control of the MAGA Christian Nationalists. The Conservative Republican Party has willingly morphed into MAGAts after spending 40+ years attempting to make a great white Christian society based solely on spending our enormous existing wealth on cheap crap from third-world countries. Trickle Down, did you really think this illusion of a government and economic system would hold up to the test of time? It was a Ponzi Scheme! And it's a riot that you're the ones wailing about tax-and-spend and how bad things are while wanting to go back to a time where you were more comfortable, especially since you ARE the people who voted for it and allowed it all to happen in the first place.

So, bring your little troll attacks Peen. I don't care anything about what any Fascist White Christian Nationalist Boomer says, especially their opinions or ideas. Your Party is too stupid to lead because you want any government system that your lowbrow asses think will fulfill your fascist dreams. And your Party is that way because people like you always spread dumb ish and propaganda. So much crap comes out of your mouth that it (your mouth) must think it's an anus. And don't expect me to back down on my beliefs over that steam of blah blah ish you spew, I know who is on the right side of history here, and it's not the fascist.

Figure of speech. Sorry if you were offended. To appease to your sensibilities, to which I don't disagree I will amend my comment to "what a bunch of dips they are".

these republicans are now scrubbing their campaign websites of the extreme abortion and election positions they had trying to appeal to independents, as if anybody but MAGA losers are gonna forget their stances.

Hours, not days time of use. 4-9 pm is peak.

Like Billy Joel once said, "Don't go changing to try to please me. '

You already did you. Taking it back won't change what you already said.


Stay just the way you are.

Seems like that's the latest thing. Just look at peen, tryna run it back after getting called out in public-


pfft.

I had this discussion with someone a couple days ago, and I knew it couldn't be 100% accurate, so I did my own research. I will add this person also said they had banned all diesel trucks effective immediately, not even allowed in the state.

By 2026, 35% of the cars and light truck sold in California must be hybrid, electric or fuel cell. Increases to 68% by 2030, and then 2035 would be no more non-hybrid/electric vehicles allowed to be sold.

I don't really have an issue with that, it's not an outright "electric vehicle" requirement, as hybrids still have ICE engines, but obtain much better average gas mileage. Although California definitely needs to invest in their power grid over the next decade, or this could all end up a failure.

That's the same thing you said in 2020.

You are 100% correct. It's a program that gets phased in over time. I'm not sure how it will work out because they will certainly have to upgrade the electrical grid infrastructure over that same time period.

I'm just confused by a lot of what I see from Americans these days. I remember a time when the vast majority of Americans felt like with our people's abilities we could accomplish anything. In September of 1962 president Kennedy said America would send a man to the moon by the end of the decade. He didn't say we would try. He didn't say he hoped to. He said we would. At that point in time most would never have believed that to be possible. It seemed unimaginable.

But we did. And now the inevitable is knocking at the door. We are making the switch to electric vehicles. Yet rather than embrace it people seem to fight it as if their life depended on it. First they complained it wouldn't work because of the short mileage you could travel on one charge. Since then how far you can go on a single charge has greatly increased and most certainly will increase even more moving forward. They claimed it wasn't practical because of the time it took to charge an electric vehicle. Since that time quick charging has been created that only takes minutes. Now they're complaining that the electric grid will not handle the demand.

Just like those other complaints this to will be addressed. The huge infrastructure bill that was passed and other programs are pouring billions into addressing America's power grid. It's as if they don't even realize this. Is California's plan very aggressive on a timeline basis? It most certainly is. Will the power gird be ready for it in the time frame they have set? Who knows? But people never reach goals when they convince themselves they can't be reached.

We saw what can be accomplished in this nation when Kennedy set what seemed like an impossible goal in 1962. I often times wonder what happened that America.

California's power grid is crumbling under its own weight today. They want to set a deadline for everyone (a LOT of people and cars) to have to plug their cars into said grid, but those grid improvements are still TBD. I miss a lot of things about California, but the stereotypical lacking-in-common-sense flavor of liberalism that is rampant there is not one of them.

It's a decision that reeks of pandering to a very vocal minority in that state made by a person that won't be anywhere to be found when the bill comes due and who has a well-reported track record of not practicing what he preaches.

The voting record in California doesn't seem to indicate they're pandering to a very vocal minority. But then I have never lived there. My wife however is from California. She's lived in both southern and northern California so she has very much witnessed the diversity that exists within the state.

I don't see EV's as a political thing. Yet I see very many who do. It's simply what's coming and no matter how much people protest it or make excuses why it won't work, it will and it's coming.

I do see this California initiative as being unrealistic in the timeline. I think they will have to extend that timeline further out. But the great innovations and progress we've made in technology in recent decades were not done by being bashful or putting things off. They were done by pressing forward and pushing the envelope. I still think people are dismissing the fact that the biggest infrastructure bill since Eisenhower was just passed and there will be major upgrades to our power grids. Much like yourself I believe the timing of those upgrades will be the determining factor in the timeline of the EV program California is instituting. And as of now I see that timeline as being too aggressive.

Maybe I'm letting my own perspective bias my argument, but I see electric cars as already moving past the point where full legislative pushes are needed to maintain momentum. Carmakers are shifting their new products heavily towards electric (largely due to legislation that's already on the books). Prices of electric cars are only now starting to go down. That's another thing that I forgot to mention earlier... while the average cost of an electric vehicle will drop naturally as they become more mainstream (which they are) I have my doubts that your average Californian will be able to afford what the govt is saying they'll have to drive.

I have no problem with pushing in the direction of electrification. This summer made me take a different look at my gas consumption, and what that means for my finances as well as where those dollars end up. My issue is this law, and what the clear (to me) motivations behind it.

I think the motivation behind it as fighting climate change. As much as people often deny it's man made, if you throw a bag of trash in your back yard every week, soon you no longer have a back yard. You have a garbage dump. For some reason people think the air that we breathe is somehow different.

As far as affordability is concerned, by the time these measures are fully implemented there will be a large availability of used EV's on the market. Much like yourself I'm not a fan of government mandates. That's probably my biggest objection to this entire thing. And in this case I think it's a matter of perspective. If you really believe that man made climate change is having a huge negative impact to the climate, your objection may be less than if you don't.

A couple of things.

Solar is having a big impact on the power grid. Solar with battery storage is real popular because the highest demand is from 4-9 pm. California is prime real estate for solar. Expect every household and business with a decent parking lot to have solar.

Second, fossil fuels are about twice as efficient than the internal combustion engine. Add in all the solar and hydro (we could use more water for that) carbon discharges decrease even further.

It is totally driven by climate change. We are literally burning up right now. More carbon. Fewer power lines. They preemptively cut off power during high wind/fire season because of the damage to power lines.

They have tried mass transit, high density housing and a lot of other things to get people from point A to B, and nothing really works.

I don’t think Californians are dipturds. We know it’s coming and are taking measures.

We really are at a “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” type scenario.

I am not totally on board with everything that comes out of Sacramento. But they may have it more right than wrong on this issue.

When electrical costs skyrocketed due to the fires, solar began to make a lot of sense. It has a decent payback now because electrical costs have basically doubled in the past 5 years.

Economics have local factors that are not always apparent to those sitting thousands of miles away.

I will probably install solar next year. My next vehicle will be electric.

Thanks for the region-specific insight.

It's always good to hear from those who know of a subject personally.

I have no issues with solar. It makes perfect sense. I no longer own a home in Florida since we sold it a few years ago being in the down size mode of life. We had solar installed down there nearly 10 years ago.

I have no problem with electric vehicles. At least in theory. I would buy one tomorrow if the issues of charging and charge duration were improved. I have no doubt all of that will be improved. We are going to be in the market for a new vehicle at some point in the near future. It will be a hybrid

It just seems like restrictions are imposed without considering the unintended consequences. I just found it funny how one day they were talking about a ban on gasoline powered vehicles, then talking about restricting when people can charge their electric vehicles because there isn't enough electric capacity.

On a side note, I still think hydrogen is the answer. Limitless, clean supply of energy. I don't know what some of the unintended or predictable consequences might possibly be, but I do think we have advanced enough to be able to put images of the Hindenburg going up in flames on the back burner.

FWIW, I have an electric vehicle, and we drove it to Florida a few months back. I thought it was going to suck to have to do it that way, but it actually wasn't bad. We stopped in Atlanta and stayed at a hotel that had inclusive charging, which was nice. I'm guessing/hoping that it becomes more mainstream for hotels to offer that as an option. The biggest thing that I can think of being on the horizon is what can eventually replace lithium. I know that they're working on other resources, I think magnesium being one of them. Lithium is in short supply and I believe hard to get.

I don't really know what happened to hydrogen. I thought fuel cell technology was going to be the way of the future as well. When you burn hydrogen, all you end up with is water...may not be a bad thing for a state such as California. Where I think it gets tricky on that front is developing or obtaining hydrogen as a reliable, net-positive fuel resource, but I'm not 100% sure on that. All I know is that the fuel cell aspect seems to have pittered out and I never really knew why.

Good post.

I won't go too deeply into my concerns, but it seems to be the elephant in the room that no one ever talks about... For decades, the green campaign led with "so we don't have to rely on foreign oil". We equated it to dirty energy held by our enemies. Over more recent years the focus has fallen on "greedy" oil companies, who also never pay their fair share in taxes while they rip us off. I'm not saying either isn't true.

My question is this: what makes everyone think electric companies will play nice and "work for the good of the people"? I think (know) we're not looking deep enough into the next great rip-off, and the corporations and politicians are lining up to line-out their pockets. What measures are we taking to protect consumers while we're trying to push all the chips over to the side of electric providers?

"When electrical costs skyrocketed due to the fires" it was (in large part) because of PG&E's downright neglect in keeping the grid safe. They weren't doing their agreed upon job in protecting the public. Not just cutting corners -- total neglect to safety measures stacked on years of lies. So (stop me where I'm wrong) they are sued, fined, file for bankruptcy protection, need a bailout from the government, and then Newsom hires PG&E's own attorneys to figure out how to bail them out??

Investigation: Newsom’s PG&E ...firm had represented PG&E for years.

So the taxpayer pays for "damages" (including hundreds of deaths) directly caused by a for-profit public utility, and then has to endure doubling prices? Sounds about right.


Also, looking to CA, there are other legitimate issues...

“When households adopt solar, they’re not paying their fair share,” This link speaks to other factors driving up the price of electricity. Mainly, the fact that solar users use the grid but pay none of the fixed costs. Also the fact that increased prices lead to more subsidies for those that can't pay the bills... which drives up the price for those that can afford it (for now, anyway).


I know it won't happen, but we really need to get a grip on who pays for infrastructure going forward. I think it's insane that public utilities are monopolies due to the same infrastructure that they claim they can't afford to repair or update... while making billions. I constantly pass a windfarm with blades fixed because "infrastructure" won't allow for two-way traffic during peak times. Wildfires, ongoing problems, blackouts... billionaires and politicians throw their hands in the air and look to us. Damn, my restaurant provided a much needed public service... wish I could have picked up the phone and call the gubment instead of shelling out 90k for a new parking lot. "You really need to send someone out and fix this parking lot... there has been a lot of traffic!"



Also: It's funny how some of our best conversation about "green", climate change, etc... always take place in strange corners of a political thread lol.

I think the strangest part of that is how politicians have made it such a political division it's the only place we can talk about it. This is the first time I recall having this debate on the board that it's continued this long without becoming highly political. I find that quite refreshing.

If there is one area I would not have an issue with government control, it is utilities such as electric, water, internet. True "public" utilities, that supply services at "cost +", or free and paid for by local/regional taxes

Wow, I missed this story five days ago. These zealots are off the hook nuts, now terrifying librarians. They have no low.

From my own experience on the matter, I think anytime you deal with companies that have a stranglehold on a certain commodity or service, there is sure to be corruption to follow. What I'm hoping happens, in California and pretty much everywhere, is that significant technological advancements can be made to decentralize the grid. The problem with oil and fossil fuels is that we can't just go generate our own at any point on our properties.

As it stands right now, from what I've read on here from posters like arch, is that we do obviously have the ability to generate our own electricity to the point where it can be plugged back into the grid, but we are severely lacking in efficiency on that front, obviously in addition to the costs of things like solar panels and whatnot. Plus, it doesn't 100% alleviate what you're saying when it comes to the fact it would still be the utility companies in charge via one aspect or another. I just hope there is opportunity for great strides to be made in having consumers themselves pushing toward a net-zero or better level of electric consumption.

Fingers crossed.

"I wanna ban your books and I'm gonna carry a gun to show how serious I am!" Nut jobs.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Idaho is a weird backwater state filled with white nationalists and religious whackadoos. It’s the festering wound of the NW.

I will add a couple of more points.

It is not just PG&E, SCE and SDG&E have all had the same challenges with winds causing fires, causing billions of dollars of damage. At the end of the day someone has to pay and that someone is the rate payer. It sucks, but that is the reality.

Every time there is a macro change, their will be winners and losers, and the gas companies such as Exxon and Chevron are scrambling to figure out how they wont collapse in the future. Utility companies are in the same boat. First they think that the grid is going to collapse because people are switching to solar, then everyone that has a hybrid is installing a home charging station. It's a tough world and things will be in transition for a while.

I was told something many years ago and have found it to be a universal truth. People and business will adapt to the lowest cost of energy as a commodity no matter what. When something comes along that is cheaper, they move towards it. Pick an example, there are lots of them. Coal, natural gas, Ethanol, nuclear, solar, wind, geothermal, etc, etc.. No one uses green energy because its more expensive, you use it because it is cheaper than the alternative. The same applies to most other commodities including water.

There is a lot of work going on with hydrogen as an alternative fuel source. Someday it may be there. Then we will argue about the how environmentally friendly fuel cells are, just like lithium..

They shutdown a coal power plant around here a few weeks ago. Now utility company is telling everyone to keep their thermostat at 78. If they want to convert infrastructure to green energy, fine. But when converting infrastructure, you don't shutdown the old system until the new system is ready to take over. If I did that, I would have lost my job years ago.

And now we hear the "They're picking one me!" defense. Sounds like the judge isn't buying it....

New York judge says he will bar selective prosecution claim in Trump Organization criminal trial

A Manhattan judge indicated Monday he won't allow attorneys for the Trump Organization to accuse Manhattan prosecutors of targeting the company out of animus for former President Donald Trump.

New York County Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan said at an at-times testy hearing, six weeks before the company's Oct. 24 fraud and tax evasion trial is scheduled to begin, that he expects arguments and evidence to focus on the charges.

"I will not allow you in any way to bring up a selective prosecution claim, or claim this is some sort of novel prosecution," Merchan said, later adding that he "will have very little patience at trial any questions that are not in a good faith basis."

An attorney for the Trump Organization said earlier during the hearing that she thinks that's why prosecutors investigated the company's former chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg. The executive who spent decades by Trump's side at the company entered a guilty plea in the case on Aug. 18, acknowledging that he was part of a scheme to receive more than $1.7 million in off-the-books perks and compensation.

"I believe that Mr. Weisselberg believes he was targeted because of his association with Mr. Trump," said the attorney, Susan Necheles.

The company and Weisselberg were charged in July 2021 with more than a dozen counts of fraud and tax evasion. Weisselberg's guilty plea set off a series of fraught exchanges between defense attorneys and prosecutors about deadlines related to declaring which experts and evidence will be usable at trial.

Those issues spilled into the courtroom Monday in a series of heated exchanges between Trump Organization attorneys, prosecutors and Merchan.

Necheles said Weisselberg's admission of guilt changed the calculus for for the company's defense, leading her to withdraw a previous notice sent to prosecutors about the experts the defense intends to call.

"We are now restructuring our defense and we are determining what experts we will be calling, and we may have to call a new expert," Necheles said.

An assistant district attorney accused the company of trying to delay the trial, which is scheduled to begin Oct. 24, "into November."

Merchan, who appeared miffed about Trump Organization attorneys asking for extra time to file certain motions, doubled down on the Oct. 24 start date.

"One of the accusations is that the defense is trying to stall, you know, it's starting to feel that way a little bit," Merchan said.

Merchan gave both sides one week to file new motions and responses. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Sept. 28.

Outside the courtroom, Necheles told reporters that while Weisselberg has admitted guilt, he only named one other executive as having allegedly participated in the scheme.

"If no one else at the company knew about his individual wrongdoing, what kind of case is this?" Necheles asked.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-...XA8pm8W7-8yoouUoPeWTOzOvPcRRxNtdlg07i9gE

Delay, delay, delay, appeal.

Election deniers advanced to November ballots in 27 states, report finds

The results of the November contests could have a tremendous impact on future elections, including 2024, when former President Donald Trump may seek re-election.

Candidates who deny the results of the 2020 election have advanced to November ballots in statewide races for positions that will oversee, defend or certify elections in more than half of the states, according to a nonpartisan group tracking the races.

In the races in 27 states for governor, attorney general and secretary of state, at least one election-denying candidate will be on the ballot who has echoed former President Donald Trump’s continuing false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him, according to a report to be published by States United Action, which has closely tracked the progress of election deniers throughout the 2022 primary season.

NBC News obtained the report ahead of its release this week.

Many of the general election contests will be competitive races in critical battleground states — among them Arizona, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Michigan — whose outcomes could have enormous impacts on the results of the next presidential election in those states.

“The stakes are really high in terms of what’s on the line in 2024,” States United Action CEO Joanna Lydgate said, “with the worst-case scenario [being] that we see an election [result] that doesn’t represent the will of American voters, which is particularly a concern when we have close election results.”

According to the group’s latest “Replacing the Refs” report — the final one documenting the total progress made by election deniers running for governor, attorney general and secretary of state throughout the primary season — at least 43 election deniers running for governor, secretary of state or attorney general will move on to the November election in 27 states. (The group's final version includes results from the last round of primaries Tuesday, in New Hampshire, Delaware and Rhode Island.)

In three states — Arizona, Michigan and Alabama — election deniers are set to appear on general election ballots in races for all three jobs. The first two are among the states where President Joe Biden eked out his narrowest victories in 2020.

In Arizona, the Republican nominees for the top three statewide offices that administer, defend and oversee elections (Kari Lake, who is running for governor; Mark Finchem, who is running for secretary of state; and Abraham Hamadeh, who is running for attorney general) have all questioned Biden’s presidential victory or falsely said the election was outright stolen from Trump.

In Michigan, the Republican nominees for the same offices — Tudor Dixon for governor, Matthew DePerno for attorney general and Kristina Karamo for secretary of state — have said the election was stolen.

Election deniers running for governor will be on November ballots in 18 states, while others running for attorney general will be on fall ballots in 10 states, and election deniers advanced in secretary of state primaries in 12, the States United Action analysis found.

Candidates who questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election in their states advanced in recent weeks to the November ballots in Maryland (the GOP nominees for governor and attorney general, Dan Cox and Michael Peroutka), Wisconsin (the GOP nominee for governor, Tim Michels) and Massachusetts (the GOP nominees for governor and secretary of state, Geoff Diehl and Rayla Campbell).

Election deniers also advanced from primaries this year in crucial battleground states like Pennsylvania and Nevada.

The Republican nominee for governor in Pennsylvania, Doug Mastriano, has only doubled down on his false claims about the 2020 election. Pennsylvania’s governor gets to appoint the secretary of state, meaning the top race packs an especially strong punch in terms of the future of honoring election results there.

The Republican nominee for secretary of state in Nevada, Jim Marchant, has said he would not have certified the 2020 results. In the crucial swing state, efforts among Trump allies to overturn the last presidential election have persisted since the race.

“We don’t know how these [general election] races will pan out, but even a single election denier winning office in a single state is a five-alarm fire that puts our democracy at risk,” Lydgate said.
Ramifications for 2024

If they are elected, such candidates would have the power to oversee, administer, defend or certify elections — including in 2024, when Trump might seek re-election.

While those candidates have falsely claimed Trump won the 2020 election or cast doubt on the legitimacy of Biden’s win, their remarks are not necessarily predictive of what any of them would do in power in 2024. Experts, however, say their remarks suggest that they could use their offices to contribute to an even more robust effort to overturn the next presidential election.

“While all of these officials are required to act in accordance with the relevant state laws and election laws, there is still a fair amount of discretion that higher-level officials, like secretaries of state, have in how elections are administered," said elections expert Rick Pildes, a New York University School of Law professor. "And even without violating the law, one can worry that officials will use that discretion in ways that make it more difficult for eligible voters to vote."

Pildes also said “a much more dangerous scenario to worry about” would be if a secretary of state, an attorney general or a governor refuses to acknowledge the results of an election, claiming “there has been something defective in the process.”

Secretaries of state in most states oversee the state offices that administer all elections, but the two other positions also have tremendous power when it comes to elections.

State attorneys generals can launch or defend against election lawsuits that can ultimately affect how and which votes are or are not counted — such as suits seeking to include or challenge ballots. They also provide legal guidance to election officials about how to interpret state policies governing elections, and they maintain prosecutorial powers for election fraud, voter intimidation and other potential election crimes.

And without definitive action by Congress to reform the Electoral Count Act, governors continue to have the ability to exploit ambiguities in the law to ensure favored candidates succeed. (For example, if a governor recognized what critics call “fake” electors as legitimate, Congress would be obliged to count them under several conceivable scenarios. Dozens of such “fake electors” in five swing states that Biden won emerged during the 2020 election, although no governor approved any of the rival slates and Vice President Mike Pence, presiding over the count, refused to validate them.)

“Of course, if any such official were to be acting illegally, one would hope the courts would overturn those actions,” Pildes said. “Even so, it would introduce a lot of instability in the election process, casts doubt on election legitimacy, and likely prolongs the resolving of the election — all of which are in and of themselves harmful.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/el...iQnycLSTgugHxT6vpqYgMyUJmI-r1qcjthDy1CrU

If they can't win elections they'll just steal them. All the while making up lies convincing their blind followers it's the other side that's doing it.

I saw where Florida flew 2 planes of migrants to Marthas's Vineyard. Good for them. Keep it up. Send a bunch to Washington D.C. Make the border problem their problem too. They are the ones not doing a damn thing about it. It's got to be cheaper to buy them all a plane ticket or bus ticket. Send thousands a month. Sooner or later it will be seen as a crisis.

If you're responding to OCD's video about folks showing up at the library, your response is more appropriate than you realize.

IIRC, that line from the Shining happened when Jack Nicholson's character went nuts and started terrorizing his family/loved ones.

Desantis is a moron,, Just like Abbot in Texas. All they got are stunts like this. It won't make a lick of difference. These northern cities will embrace these immigrants. They will pull them in and them. Then they'll put them to work to help with the Labor shortage. Something Texas and Florida are just to damn short sighted to see.

The only real problem I have with it is a lack of notice. I mean border states know that immigrants are crossing the border daily. I don't have a problem with that burden being shared. But you are right that it's being used as a political stunt. If the actual goal was to share the burden of the cost of illegals crossing the border, Abbot and DeSantis would let the places they're sending these people to know they were coming. Instead they're trying to use it as a gotchya political moment.

That's exactly it. I, too, think it's unfair for a lot of the "non-border" states to basically say "out of sight, out of mind," but the way that those governors are reacting is purely for political points, and to continue appealing to the lowest common denominator. I mean, that's pretty much been DeSantis' M.O. is trying to pwn his opponents, but it seems to work for him.

Now, again, if those states had come out and said something along the lines of "Okay, you have volunteered yourselves as sanctuary states, we will be implementing a plan to send you X amount of people each month to these destinations in order to alleviate the disproportionate amount of burden we face on the border" then I wouldn't really argue with it.

Sending immigrants sua sponte (there's one, Frank) to Martha's vineyard is a stunt.

That's exactly how I feel as well. I think all 50 states should help bear the burden of the costs of illegal immigration. It's certainly not right that only border states suffer the brunt of it. But if that is done it should be a coordinated effort and not a political stunt.

Not my intention.

You liberals still haven't run me off.

SuperBrown still lives!

(Props to the refs)

Who's trying to run you off? You provide us with cheap entertainment.

really cheap.

As others have stated, it's a cheap political stunt. Transparent and not subtle or even helpful (weren't they getting all bent outta shape when the govt was processing these people in and then bussing them to different/random spots?). But you can't tell me you didn't kinda chuckle when after just like a week or two of these busses showing up in NY and Chicago, they start talking about how it's a humanitarian crisis.

And shipping them OUT of their "sanctuary" city.

Pretty sure I've been hearing about this being a humanitarian crisis for years.
That terminology started before Biden took office.

I’m honestly a little surprised you’re not riding on the Trump train still. Maybe DeSantis has begun his covert hostile takeover operation.

It’ll be interesting, because at some point those two will need to have their Highlander battle.

Martha's Vineyard declares a HUMANITARIAN CRISlS over influx of just FIFTY Venezuelan migrants. Republicans slam liberal island's 'pathetic' reaction and ask: 'What about the THOUSANDS arriving in Texas every single day?'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...grant-heaven-says-inhumane.html#comments

That's a DAMN good question.

I guess illegals are welcome, just somewhere else.

Too bad blue states can't load trucks with common sense and education and flood red states with those.

That's fantastic! More reason to ship them to New York and California... of course the leaders there are say they can't accept any more and are trying to figure out if they can charge Abbott with Kidnapping because they finally realize that having a bunch of illegals in their state is a problem...

The border is a friggin problem.. .and while I agree, shipping them to other states isn't going to help the actual problem, I friggin love it... hope we keep sending them to the blue states...

I don't see how Texas is short sighted.. we have enough labor force thank you very much...

but wait... they are a sanctuary city... Massachusetts is a sanctuary state... they should be welcoming more immigrants with open arms!

Too bad they don't send the ILLEGALS to your door step and expect you to take care of them.





SERIOUSLY!! ILLEGALS. But when they are in Texas, it's fine for 'sanctuary cities' to love it. But when they get sent to those cities? hell no. We'll ship them out of our city. We can't take them.

But, the 'border is secure'.

Your hair is on fire. I mean we have domestic terrorists and traitors in our government and every neighborhood in the country. We can just weed them out and replace them with immigrants who appreciate America's values. And FYI, there is no such thing as an illegal person. Undocumented immigrants are not illegal people, they are just people struggling to find a better life. The kind of free life in a democracy your ilk would trash to get your way. I'd much rather have them next door than you.

They are illegal immigrants. ILLEGAL immigrants. Don't change the topic. They are ILLEGAL, and the sanctuary cities they are getting sent to don't want them there. They want them somewhere else. Period, end of discussion.

They are domestic terrorists and traitors! Stop distracting with the fake ass border emergency. It's only an emergency to your ilk. The rest of us see the issue and will address it when Republicans get the hell out of the way. If only we could load y'all on trucks and ship you south.

Fine.. then they can come into the country the correct way... you want them living next door? Let Greg know where to send the next bus...

Fake border emergency?!? We've had more illegals crossing the southern border this year than any year... we've had hundreds die trying to cross that border..... we've had massive drugs that are killing our youth cross the border this year...

I get that you're all up in Jan 6th and those that are guilty should be punished... but to say the border problem is fake is just turning a blind eye...

What the hell are you talking about????????????????????????

Who is domestic terrorists and traitors? The illegal immigrants? Fake border emergency? It's only a fake emergency until those illegals get sent north, right?

That is your opinion.

We will see how happy they are if this continues. I bet you are wrong. You are already seeing the zombie mayor in Chicago sending folks to the suburbs. The President is already complaining. Maybe you should send the governors your address so they know where the next group is to be sent since you are so welcoming.

And being short sighted? They have already had hundreds of thousands dumped on their doorstep. How many more should they take before you don't see them as being short sighted? Heck, you can't even see that this is a problem. You don't have any room to talk about being short sighted.

It is a political stunt but I'm perfectly fine with this happening. In fact, I encourage it, No one gives a crap about this issue (or any issue for that matter) until it is at their doorstep.

Maybe something of substance will now happen.....I doubt it.

'Clowns and sheep'.

I’d like to agree with you that nobody cares about issues until it’s at their doorstep, because I often think that’s the case. However, it’s becoming less so. I mean, we had January 6 happen and it’s amazing how many think it wasn’t a big deal, or even a good thing.

As far as this thread goes, I hope they actually work something out constructively so that we all play our part and start looking like a country again l, instead of trying to be the bigger antagonist than the other side, but my hopes are slim.

There’s just too much anger, fear and irrationality. We’ve all collectively devolved and want to blame someone for it rather than looking at how we can actually work together.

I refuse to give recognition to these GOPer cries over the border while their leaders are acting like idiots, trying to taunt sanctuary cities, and they are still supporting full-on fascist MAGA. As far as I'm concerned those immigrants are better people.

Playing politics with human lives. So typical of the cons. Blue wave III coming up. Enjoy cons.

The only real complaints I've been hearing is that these places want a heads up that illegals are being sent there so they are prepared. It's not as if these border states don't know they will be crossing the border. But when you start sending them to the VP's home, you're just being an ass hat. But hey, all you have to do is read this thread to see more people are interested in pwning the libs than solving the problem.

Yep, they point out the issues that plague every administration and blame the Dems for every plague, as if a Republican administration did anything at all to help the issues that plague us all. Lol. Oh well. The GOPer party of obstruction continues. Cutting off their collective noses in spite of their faces. Hell bent to make Biden look bad and making trump their savior. Like the good little deplorable lap dogs they are.

They don’t care about the thousands in Texas and Arizona and New Mexico. Bring ‘em all in just not in my neighborhood. That is the elites for you. Do my lawn . Clean my house. But don’t come to my neighborhood. Dump hundreds into Eagle Pass Texas, pop. 25k or so but don’t bring any to NYC , pop. 9 million or so. The height of hypocrisy is the President flies thousands of illegal immigrants into towns, many in he the dark of night , he buses thousands more into towns without providing any support, and all is okie dokie. If governor Abbott or Desantis fly/ bus them to NYC, Chitown or DC and the world is ending for you lefties. What a joke!! Good for my governor! He is standing up for the citizens of his state.

Here is a way to deal with the problem. Have our leadership grow a pair and protect our border. No more buses, no more flights. Piece of cake!

After migrants arrived in Martha's Vineyard, a community gathered to welcome them

After the unexpected arrival of nearly 50 migrants flown Wednesday into Martha's Vineyard, local organizations and community members have been providing around-the-clock support.

"As we do with any shelter operation, we are focused on meeting the immediate needs of people we are sheltering, and engaged in contingency planning if the situation changes," according to a news release from the Dukes County, Mass., Emergency Management Association.

"We are grateful to the many local and neighboring community members who have reached out with offers of support," the statement adds.

Residents across Martha's Vineyard said they were scrambling to care for the immigrants, who arrived on two separate planes. The flights, which originated in San Antonio, Texas, were paid for by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, according to his office.

"Everything from beds to food to clothing to toothbrushes, toothpaste, blankets, sheets — I mean, we had some of it ... but we did not have the numbers that we needed," said Lisa Belcastro, who runs the island's homeless shelter, in an interview with NPR.

Migrants arrived in a cloud of confusion

Most of the migrants that arrived at the New England summer vacation spot were from Venezuela, and many spoke little to no English. Local Spanish-speaking high school students were brought in to serve as translators.

Edgartown Police Chief Bruce McNamee told NPR that many of the migrants were confused as to why they were dropped off without warning.

"There is a lot of concern. We have talked to a number of people who've asked, 'Where am I?' And then us trying to explain where Martha's Vineyard is has been a challenge," McNamee said.

Elizabeth Folcarelli, chief executive of the nonprofit Martha's Vineyard Community Services, told The Associated Press she was wrapping up work for the day when she saw nearly 50 migrants carrying luggage and backpacks approaching her office.

The migrants, according to Folcarelli, carried red folders with brochures advertising the services of her organization.

"They were told that they would have a job. and they would have housing," Folcarelli told the AP.

They thought they were headed toward sanctuary

Three migrants separately described to NPR how they were lured onto the plane with promises of help getting work. Each was told they were being flown to Boston and, once they arrived, they could more quickly get work because they were told it is a "sanctuary city."

Andres Duarte, a 30-year-old Venezuelan, told NPR he had recently crossed the border into Texas, and eventually went to a shelter in San Antonio.

A woman, who he and other migrants identified only as Perla, approached them outside the shelter. She made hotel arrangements for them, offered them food, and then got them on a plane.

In a statement to NPR, a spokesperson for Gov. DeSantis confirmed that the migrants were transported by Florida under a state program that was funded by the legislature earlier this year.

"States like Massachusetts, New York and California will better facilitate the care of these individuals who they have invited into our country by incentivizing illegal immigration," the statement reads.

https://www.npr.org/2022/09/16/1123...d58AlJvDgawl7E_VekWKqI5fc5L24IulMY_ssEtQ

Migrants arrive to a warm welcome on Martha's Vineyard

EDGARTOWN - A big effort from a small island to welcome about 50 Venezuelan migrants and make them feel at home. A steady stream of locals from Martha's Vineyard dropped off bins of clothes and bags of food at a shelter set up in St. Andrews Episcopal Church Thursday.

Through an interpreter, one of the migrants described his first interactions with locals after he got off a plane that had come straight from Texas. "Everybody was like, 'who are you?' 'No, who are you?' And everybody's like, 'well?'"

Translator Claudia Quesada was happy to help clear up the confusion. She just happened to be on the Vineyard performing in a play by a Chilean playwright. "It's funny 'cause we all, the cast, we all speak Spanish and this morning it's like, 'hey we need anybody who can help translate,' so we're like 'hey, we're here!'"

She said the group of migrants had no idea they were headed to an island. "The woman just told him that, 'I'm going to take you to Massachusetts,'" she said, translating. "They're extremely grateful for everyone's hospitality, and everyone's been so welcoming and kind."

"I just feel really badly for the people. You know it's a tragedy," said one woman who dropped off bags of fruit. "It's really upsetting that these poor people have been used," said another woman who stopped by on a bike offering to donate money. "I am so sorry for them, and I hope that they settle in somewhere and are cared for."

A team of volunteers with Martha's Vineyard Community Services set up cots and tables with food.

"Also just comforting and letting them know. They were dropped off without any real idea. The very first thing that every individual has said as they come up is, 'Do you have work?'"

Those were essentially the words a migrant told reporters Thursday through an interpreter. "If there was somebody that could ask to give me the opportunity to give me a chance to stay here and work, because his journey was a month and 20 days and it has to be worth it," said the interpreter. "That's what he wishes."

https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/migrants-arrive-warm-welcome-marthas-vineyard/

So then what the heck is the problem. Everybody can just suck it up, quit whining and take care of their illegals. Shoot most of the ones in Martha’s Vineyard can be put up on obama’s luxurious estate. Plenty of room.

Curious why since they are so welcoming we are hearing so many complaints about them getting them. Why are these huge sanctuary cities complaining so much about so relatively few compared to population? Why are people so adverse to controlling our border???

If you paid attention you would know. Firstly, you seem to wish to ignore immigration law. People have the right to come here and file for asylum. They have aright to a hearing on the matter. If they didn't border states could simply send them back. And sending them to people's residences show your utter lack of total foolery. Your desire to pwn the libs and nothing else. It's sad and sickening.

And since you obviously missed it, it's not the problem of immigrants coming to sanctuary cities. It's the problem of nobody being told they are coming. They just show up with nobody having been able to prepare. And before you make yourself look foolish again, border states know they're coming. In the case of Martha's Vineyard, they aren't a sanctuary "city". It is a residential area with no manufacturing or other major employers. Yet they were told they would be sent where jobs would be awaiting them. Oh, that's right, they're illegal so lying to them is perfectly alright. I forgot.

And if you want to get into who has room for them, according to that logic Mar-a-Lago has a lot of room.

And I'm sure what ever news you are watching probably hasn't informed you that border states receive a huge amount of federal funding to help pay for programs for the cost of these people.

You see, I'm all for this being an issue that every state be a part of. Of course if you bothered to read the entire thread you would already know this. I have no problem with every state taking in these people and helping burden the cost and impact. But despite what seems to be the reaction of many, it needs to be a combined effort. Their should be communication between the states at least to the point locations can be prepared to take them in.

Because despite what many people seem to indicate, these people are no less human beings than we are.

Talk to some border patrol agents and they will tell you how “fake ass” the border crisis is. It’s a crisis partly because our President would rather penalize border patrol agents for something they did not do, a big lie, instead of protecting our border.

And none of those people you keep attacking are traitors or terrorists or insurrectionists. In fact , every dang one of them would defend America 🇺🇸 if she were attacked. As opposed to 52% of dems who said they would not.

So why is it you are ok with 2 million + people crossing our border illegally every year. I know you love illegals and hate a large percentage of Americans, but I think people should come in the right way, legally. Radical idea I know, but makes sense to me.

That’s all well and good, but tell me what should be done about it, rather than point out the obvious that DeSantis and Abbott are self-interested d-bags.

But that’s all you need to do in the modern day R party. I can’t even remember the last measure they put forth that was for the greater good.

You just brought up a lot of conjecture and suppositions with very little facts.

The saddest part of this story is that these people did it right. They followed the rules.
Upon arriving, they surrendered themselves to ICE. They applied for asylum as refugees fleeing political violence. They didn't try to sneak in, which means that they are LEGAL immigrants- at least until they receive their hearings.

And then DeSantis pulls this crap on people who didn't deserve it. Paid for 2 planes to 'deport' them from a state he doesn't govern.

Have you seen video from Martha's Vineyard?
Real Americans doing what we've always done: taking in the tired, the sick, the poor... and now, the hijacked/kidnapped.

Oh so you talk to border patrol agents all the time. Lol

And a lot of the people we keep attacking are domestic terrorists and insurrectionists.

And you don’t have a shrewd of evidence that 2 million people illegally cross our border every year do you? That’s just a number someone pulled out of your butt and stuffed into your mouth right?

Cons ..all you cons crack me up. Just lies. You believe the biggest lies coming from the biggest liars of all time. Possibly the the biggest liars the world has ever seen before.

On tax payers dime. Florida tax payer paid for their free trip. I heard a lot of these folks where headed for New England anyways. Now thanks to Florida tax payers our federal taxes wern’t used. DaSantis did U.S. tax payers a favor and screwed Florida tax payers.

They are human beings not American citizens. And since you are big on immigration law, how many of those people applying for asylum are from Mexico?? Because as I am sure you know, you must apply for asylum in the first country you come to. So if they are not from Mexico they should have applied for asylum in Mexico. How many do you think did? So we have no legal obligation to grant them an application if they did not.

Regardless , releasing a bunch of unvetted illegals into our country who “promise “ they will come back for their hearing is just plain dumb. They are in the wind. Btw, for all those sweet words from supposed residents of Martha’s Vineyard, about how “welcoming” they are, they must not be that welcoming since all the illegals are on the mainland under the care of the national guard, at a military base I believe. I guess they wore out their welcome.

It makes perfect sense that sanctuary cities and sanctuary states are the right place for illegals to go. After all, they are such “welcoming people”. lol

Why don’t you google “border patrol agents talking about border situation” and see what they have to say. While you are at it google “number of illegals coming into USA past 12 months. That number is not a secret. The money we spend on illegals could better be spent helping America’s Heroes.

I just looked at an NBC website. They cited 239,000 illegals crossing the last month. You do the math.or maybe NBC is a conservative news agency. lol

The immigration crisis is trench warfare with a lot of shouting and shooting of mouths, but at the end of the day there is no movement and no chance for victory or peace.

Both sides have adopted unreasonable positions to get their supporters to provide more ammunition, but don’t want to change things.

Compromise is not an option and what is needed.

Miami Herald

‘Sadistic lie.’ Venezuelans flown to Martha’s Vineyard search for a way off the island
Bianca Padró Ocasio

Fri, September 16, 2022 at 5:30 AM

Standing on a cobblestone sidewalk in a touristy downtown neighborhood of this island thousands of miles from his native Venezuela, a young man used a cellphone Thursday night to record a message to Florida’s governor.

“Listen, Ron Desantis, one more Venezuelan speaking here,” he said, turning to film the crowd that had come to see the migrants flown by the state of Florida to Martha’s Vineyard and the Episcopalian church where they were now sleeping, eating and praying. “And, well, just grateful for the little prank you pulled on us.”

“You hit a home run.”

About 24 hours after they unwittingly agreed to board private planes to the island, a group of nearly 50 migrants — most, if not all, hailing from Venezuela — remained in limbo Thursday night as volunteer attorneys worked to understand their legal situations.

Migrants in the group said they’d agreed to fly to Massachusetts on the promise of jobs and assistance but didn’t realize they were bound for Martha’s Vineyard. No one on the island knew they were coming and, according to their attorneys, they’d been given falsified U.S. addresses by immigration officials, perhaps ensuring that they’d be deemed in the country illegally.

“They were told there was a surprise present for them, and that there would be jobs and housing awaiting for them when they arrived. This was obviously a sadistic lie,” said Rachel Self, a Boston immigration attorney who was assisting with the migrants’ cases.

Local church members and politicians rushed to help. TV cameras on tripods overtook a small one-way street in front of the St. Andrews Episcopal Church, where the families had taken up temporary shelter. Neighbors biked or walked their dogs to witness the scene for themselves.

Inside St. Andrews, volunteers walked in and out all day in shifts. They accepted food. They took in bags of candy. They accepted warm clothes. Staff from the Salvation Army pledged to stay “as long as it takes.”

Earlier in the day, they had Mass together. In the evening, everyone was called to dinner behind the parish so they could eat far from the cameras and microphones. Many miles away from home, the families ate a plate of foods they recognized, complete with plantain tajadas

Attorneys who flocked to St. Andrews to assist the families said the help they were getting on the island stood in stark contrast to the treatment they received on their way there, alleging the migrants endured layers of deception that led them to hop on the planes and could even be entitled to protections conferred to migrants who are victims of crimes.

Self said the migrants were intentionally used to create chaos and crisis, as no government agency or humanitarian organization was alerted about the group’s arrival in Martha’s Vineyard. Self said the problem was exacerbated when officials with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security allegedly falsified addresses on the migrants’ immigration paperwork, and said they could change them upon arriving in Massachusetts.

READ MORE: ‘A new low’: What some Miami Venezuelans think of migrants taken to Martha’s Vineyard

“Agents apparently chose random homeless shelters all across the country from Washington to Florida, to list the migrants mailing addresses, even when told by the migrants that they had no address in the U.S.,” Self claimed.

The group of migrants, Self said, were being asked to appear in jurisdictions near homeless shelters all across the country as early as next Monday. She said the migrants were essentially “kidnapped.”

“There is no other reason to list as someone’s mailing address a homeless shelter in Tacoma, Washington when they ship him to Massachusetts. It is sickeningly cruel throwing obstacles in the way of people fleeing violence and oppression, some of whom walked through 10 countries in the hopes of finding safety,” Self said. “It is shameful and inhuman. Many of these victims were deprived of medical care despite clear existing injuries. These are human beings who were deprived of basic human rights.”

The only frame of reference for the migrants, attorneys said, were two maps tucked inside a red folder that had school-level maps of the U.S. and Martha’s Vineyard. The U.S. map had a red line that linked Texas to Massachusetts. The Martha’s Vineyard map had a red dot in the middle.

Juan Ramirez, 24, from the Andean state of Táchira in Venezuela, said he landed in immigration detention in Texas when he crossed the border 15 days ago. After he was released in San Antonio, an unidentified woman offered to take them to a place where she promised they would be better served.

The woman said their destination wasn’t going to be like one of those cities full of Venezuelans with fewer resources to go around, like Miami or New York, according to one migrant who asked not to be named. The woman, the migrant said, suggested she was waiting to reach a certain quota of people to fill the plane’s seats so they could make the trip happen.

“It was a plane ticket they gifted us in Texas, a private plane, a private flight and they left us here. But they told us they would welcome us here, they would help us, they would give us shelter, they would give us work,” Ramirez said.

But the peak season for employment at Martha’s Vineyard just ended, as the season changes and part-time residents leave.

“When we get here we find the surprise that no one knew we were coming here,” said Ramirez.


Ramirez said volunteers and attorneys have been helping them since yesterday and figuring out plans to move them to other cities, but nothing certain has materialized.

“To these wonderful people who find themselves plane-wrecked on our island, I have a message for all of them,” said Self. “You are not alone. We have your backs. We are proud to be here for you.”


https://www.yahoo.com/news/sadistic-lie-venezuelans-flown-martha-093000674.html

It has been widely reported that these people have hearings scheduled all across the nation in different immigration courts. You have zero evidence to the contrary. What you are arguing is that you don't think we should follow the law. Because they have the right to be here until they have that hearing. So what you're doing is suggest we not follow the law. And as for your suggestion that immigrants don't show up for these hearings, that claim has been debunked time and time again. But that's what people such as yourself love to do. Just throw crap against the wall hoping something sticks.

11 Years of Government Data Reveal That Immigrants Do Show Up for Court

https://www.americanimmigrationcoun...ent-data-reveal-immigrants-do-show-court

I have no idea where you come up with some of the crazy crap you post. Immigrants do NOT have to apply for asylum in Mexico!

Is it legal to cross the U.S. border to seek asylum?

People arriving at the U.S. border have the right to request asylum without being criminalized, turned back or separated from their children—even during a pandemic. Here’s how the process works:

https://www.rescue.org/article/it-legal-cross-us-border-seek-asylum

If you want to know where these people came from, do some reading. It seems like you really need to. Obviously you've just been spouting off things that aren't true so informing yourself would certainly be helpful. But just a hint, no, they're not Mexicans.

Then give those places notice. And stop acting like sending them to some small residential island and the Vice President's home isn't a political stunt. It's not attractive.

Just wanted to point out that none of the immigrants DeSantis flew to Martha's Vineyard were even in Florida. They were in Texas. He flew them from Texas to Florida and then put them on a connecting flight to Martha's Vineyard. Don't let this trump wannabe fool you....

DeSantis addresses Florida funds used to fly migrants from Texas to New England. Here’s what he had to say

State funds used to transport migrants ‘intending to come to Florida,’ governor says

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis addressed the use of state funds to fly undocumented immigrants who are “intending to come to Florida” from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard during a news conference in Daytona Beach on Friday.

“So our view is you got to deal with it at the source,” DeSantis said. “And if they’re intending to come to Florida, or many of them are intending to come to Florida, that’s our best way to make sure that they end up in a sanctuary (jurisdiction).”

DeSantis stated that Florida has not seen “any major movements of people into Florida.” The governor said that the migrants on those flights were in Texas prior to arriving in Martha’s Vineyard, though they did land in Florida briefly.

“They went from Texas to Florida, to Martha’s Vineyard, he said. “And with the flight, there’s also going to be buses, and there will likely be more flights.”

The governor said the money for the flights came from $12 million in the budget earmarked for “transport of unauthorized aliens from this state,” according to Section 185 of the HB 5001 budget.

According to voting records, HB 5001 received widespread bipartisan support, passing with 105 votes in the Florida House of Representatives and 33 votes in the Florida Senate. Only three representatives voted against the measure.

“I’ll tell you this, the legislature gave me $12 million, we’re going to spend every penny of that to make sure that we’re protecting the people of the state of Florida,” DeSantis said.

The governor claimed 40% of the migrants in Texas are looking to come to Florida.

“So they’ve been in Texas, identifying people that are trying to come to Florida, and then offering them free transportation to sanctuary jurisdictions,” Desantis said.

The governor did not say who was identifying people trying to come to Florida, though he did explain the process of identifying which migrants will “try to get to Florida.”

“We have people on the ground (in Texas) — and it’s pretty consistent: about 40% mentioned Florida — and so what we’re trying to do is profile who do you think is going to try to get to Florida,” DeSantis said. “So that’s how you’re doing it. They’re not told that they’re going to stay in Florida. They’re told that their ultimate destination, in this case, was what was up in Massachusetts and with Martha’s Vineyard.”

DeSantis denied accusations that the migrants did not know they were going to Martha’s Vineyard prior to their arrival.

“The folks that are contracted, not only do they give him a release form to sign, they actually give them a packet, and in that packet included a map of Martha’s Vineyard,” he said. “So it was obvious that that’s where they were going.”

DeSantis said that the migrants were all transported on a voluntary basis.

The governor has received scrutiny over his move to fly these migrants to Martha’s Vineyard.

Earlier on Friday, faith leaders held a news conference in Orlando to speak out against the flights.

“The reality is that through our Florida history, immigrants have helped to build our economy, our businesses and our communities. And that’s it. Point blank period. Immigrants helped build Orlando, immigrants helped build the state of Florida and we need to make sure that we’re recognizing that they’re coming here to work,” Samuel Vilchez Santiago, state director of the American Business Immigration Coalition Action, said.

DeSantis is also receiving some questions from within his own party.

State Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Petersburg, posted online, questioning the use of state funds.



“I’m awaiting clarification on where the funds came from and if the authorization for them is not from this language, where is it from,” Brandes said, referring to Section 185 of the budget.

https://www.clickorlando.com/news/l...to-new-england-heres-what-he-had-to-say/

Make no mistake about it. DeSantis is flying them into Florida from Texas based solely on what "people on the ground" are telling him that these people want to come to Florida. It appears none of these funds are allocated to pay to bring these immigrants from Texas to Florida. In order to spend the money to send them out of Florida, he must somehow get them into Florida in the first place. For anyone trying to uphold this BS by claiming this isn't a political stunt, just stop.

On top of that, the bus contractor hired by Abbott has a gag order where they can’t speak to NY officials.

https://www.businessinsider.com/bus...-agreement-not-talk-officials-2022-9?amp

I'm not sure what part of wanting some communication in advance that they're sending these people some are missing. I guess they endorse playing political games with human beings.

But he was going to build the wall... smh.

Exactly what domestic terrorists and traitors would say.

Well, like most Dems, especially progressive Dems, I think there are bigger fish to fry right now. But we are not blind to the border issues or illegal crossings, as some think we are. We believe that national security, a traitorous party, and a criminal FPOTUS is the far more significant concern of the moment. Let us stabilize our democracy first, then focus on all the other minutia.

And Steve Bannon put the Shake and Bake on them. Claiming, just like this little girl that he was helping.



And then this happened.

Steve Bannon pleads not guilty to NY state charges of money laundering, conspiracy and fraud related to border wall effort

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/08/poli...surrender-border-wall-charges/index.html

They keep being conned over and over and over again.

I don’t disagree there are bigger issues in the country, but I think what Pit has been talking about - and what I agree with - is at least giving up advance notice for now. There are so many teams and staffers who work for all involved. Putting something in place now where people get sent to these locations with advance notice, routing, etc. seems like it could just be a practical thing to do.

But, to your point, that’s not what any of these republicans care about at the core.

Wow! The reDtards are going to be in bad shape in 24 with Big orange, DeSantis, and Abbott doing time.

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/commentary/trump-qanon-music-ohio-rally-20220918.html

Scary ... Not sure what else to say

Want to know the ironic part of this? If the news media ignored the stunt, it would have gone away and never accomplished it's intent. Instead, they made it into a huge story.

It deserves to be in the news - and Fox was already promoting and promoting these actions.

DeSantis Admits Mass Migration Not Really A Big Problem In Florida Right Now
Sara Boboltz
Tue, September 20, 2022, 5:48 PM·3 min read


Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) offered a bit more insight Tuesday into why he is spending hundreds of thousands in state taxpayer funds chartering private flights to transport migrants to states that lie hundreds of miles away.

Lately the Republican governors of Texas and Arizona have been deploying a strategy to raise awareness of the surge in people crossing the southern U.S. border by busing them to cities run by their political rivals. Last week, DeSantis joined in, claiming credit for two flights from San Antonio to the tony Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard.

Among the many legal and ethical questions DeSantis raised with his stunt was a simple logistical one: Why didn’t he start with migrants in his own state?

“The problem is, we’re not seeing mass movements of them into Florida, so you end up with a car with maybe two,” DeSantis told reporters at a news conference.

“It’s just coming in onesie, twosies,” he said.

DeSantis is apparently seeking to discourage migrants from thinking they can settle in his state, saying his administration has “done a lot of intelligence” on the matter and found that 30% to 40% of people attempting to cross the southern U.S. border want to end up in Florida.

“And so, we have to go and figure out, OK, who are those people likely to be? And if you can do it at the source and divert to sanctuary jurisdictions, the chance they end up in Florida is much less,” DeSantis said.

Last Wednesday, about 50 migrants ― most of them from Venezuela ― were left to fend for themselves upon arrival on Martha’s Vineyard, as no one in DeSantis’ camp had let local authorities know about the plan.

Authorities in Delaware spent much of Tuesday preparing for the possibility that DeSantis would send another planeload of migrants there. Flight tracking websites indicated that the planes that took off from San Antonio last week were plotting a similar course to a small airport near President Joe Biden’s house, but the flights did not take off as scheduled.

The migrants brought to Martha’s Vineyard filed a class action lawsuit against DeSantis and his administration on Tuesday, following reports that they had been purposefully mislead about the circumstances of their travel.

While the Florida governor has been criticized widely for treating migrants inhumanely, he has garnered plenty of support in his own party.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell voiced approval for the idea of transporting migrants to Northern cities.

“I personally thought it was a good idea,” McConnell told reporters Tuesday, saying: “If you added up all of the illegals that’ve been taken to Chicago or Washington or Martha’s Vineyard, it would be fewer than people down in Texas have to deal with on a daily basis.”

The surge in migration along the Mexico border has come after years of political and economic instability in countries across Central and South America. People crossing into southern border states either wish to apply for asylum protections or to stay in the country illegally to live and work in relative safety.



https://news.yahoo.com/desantis-admits-mass-migration-not-214854757.html

This is how you admit it's a political stunt without saying it's a political stunt.

Sadly, they're piggy-backing off the 2016 movement. They could drive those buses straight into the ocean and still probably use the resulting furor for political gain.

Umm really? It’s not huge news for two US state Governors to traffic asylum seekers from a state to another state without notice, just for their GOP sheep and a political video op? Of course it’s a huge story. It’s freaking criminal and this should be prosecuted as such. GOP’ers pffft.

Well it's the medias fault for reporting the terrible things they do. Haven't you heard? It should be left up to FOX News and the right wing media sources to twist these stories and nobody else should say anything about it.

.

Oh come now Mcturtle face…these immigrants were legally in the USA! Stupid stunt by GOPers.

The details are in the video in the link. Not sure how to post a video emnbedding in an article



Military documents show Ohio GOP House candidate misrepresented military service
Wed, September 21, 2022, 2:14 PM

Campaigning for a northwestern Ohio congressional seat, Republican J.R. Majewski presents himself as an Air Force combat veteran who deployed to Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, once describing “tough” conditions including a lack of running water that forced him to go more than 40 days without a shower. But military documents obtained by the Associated Press through a public records request tell a different story.


https://www.yahoo.com/news/military-documents-show-ohio-gop-181414325.html

Stolen Valor. Scum.

ill never understand it. dude was stationed in japan, and did a deployment in Qatar in the air force. that's freaking cool, so why lie about it? especially knowing people are gonna obviously see your service record, and there's veterans who served with you who gonna roast you for lying about your service and call you out. the people you're representing already has your back due to you being a veteran, combat or not. bro that combat crap isn't something to be proud of, like a freaking marketing tool. if some of us even have the ability to share the experience, we're supposed to talk about our experience so that people can take into account all perspectives and impacts of events like war, and why it should be prevented.

but instead im constantly seeing clowns use it like a freaking wrestling narrative.

here's an in-depth article of this dude:

https://news.yahoo.com/maga-candidate-campaigning-afghanistan-vet-183133879.html

so we use our military experience to then encourage an insurrection at the capitol, now? tell me this doesn't remind you of that one vet who always ask for a military discount everywhere he goes. we all know one, or a few. so that's already bad enough that he's encouraging revolts against the government over election lies and trump. but then he gotta lie about his service, too? how insecure is he that he can rationalize it and keep it moving? the end really justifies the means, huh?

and what exactly is the endgame here? OCD, Pit. guys im sorry i dont understand their endgame. they aren't being clear what they're upset about and what their overall goals are.

House passes election law overhaul in response to Jan. 6
MARY CLARE JALONICK
Wed, September 21, 2022, 12:03 AM


WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has passed legislation to overhaul the rules for certifying the results of a presidential election as lawmakers accelerate their response to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and Donald Trump’s failed attempt to remain in power.

The bill, which is similar to bipartisan legislation moving through the Senate, would overhaul an arcane 1800s-era statute known as the Electoral Count Act that governs, along with the U.S. Constitution, how states and Congress certify electors and declare presidential election winners.

While that process has long been routine and ceremonial, Trump and a group of his aides and lawyers unsuccessfully tried to exploit loopholes in the law in an attempt to overturn his defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 election. Democrats are pushing to pass the bill before the end of the year and ahead of the 2024 election cycle as Trump is considering another run.

While at least 10 GOP senators have signed on to the Senate version, the House vote fell mostly along party lines. House Republicans — most of whom are still aligned with Trump — argued that the legislation shouldn't be a priority and that it is a political vehicle for Democrats ahead of November's midterm elections.

The final vote was 229-203, with nine Republicans joining all Democrats in voting for the bill. None of the nine Republicans is returning to Congress next year.

The legislation would set new parameters around the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress that happens every four years after a presidential election. The day turned violent last year after hundreds of Trump’s supporters interrupted the proceedings, broke into the building and threatened the lives of then-Vice President Mike Pence and members of Congress. The rioters echoed Trump’s false claims of widespread fraud and wanted Pence to block Biden’s victory as he presided over the joint session.

The legislation intends to ensure that future Jan. 6 sessions are “as the constitution envisioned, a ministerial day,” said Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, a Republican who co-sponsored the legislation with House Administration Committee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif. Both Cheney and Lofgren are also members of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.

Ahead of the vote, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the legislation is necessary as there have been attempts in states across the country to change election laws to make it easier to nullify future results.

“Now we have a solemn duty to ensure that future efforts to undermine our elections cannot succeed,” Pelosi said.

The bill would clarify in the law that the vice president’s role presiding over the count is only ceremonial and that he or she cannot change the results. It also sets out that each state can only send one certified set of electors after Trump's allies had unsuccessfully tried to put together alternate slates of illegitimate pro-Trump electors in swing states where Biden won.

“This bill will make it harder to convince people that they have the right to overthrow an election,” Lofgren said.

The legislation would increase the threshold for individual lawmakers’ objections to any state's electoral votes, requiring a third of the House and a third of the Senate to object to trigger votes on the results in both chambers. Currently, only one lawmaker in the House and one lawmaker in the Senate has to object. The House bill would set out very narrow grounds for those objections, an attempt to thwart baseless or politically motivated challenges.

In addition, the bill would require courts to get involved if state or local officials want to delay a presidential vote or refuse to certify the results.

The House vote comes as the Senate is moving on a similar track with enough Republican support to virtually ensure passage before the end of the year. After months of talks, House Democrats introduced their legislation Monday and held the quick vote two days later in order to send the bill across the Capitol and start to resolve differences. A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation this summer and a Senate committee is expected to vote on it next week.

While the House bill is more expansive than the Senate version, the two bills cover similar ground and members in both chambers are optimistic that they can work out the differences. And despite the mostly party-line vote in the House, supporters are encouraged by the bipartisan effort in the Senate.

“Both sides have an incentive to want a set of clear rules, and this is an antiquated law that no one understands,” said Benjamin Ginsburg, a longtime GOP lawyer who consulted with lawmakers as they wrote the bill. “All parties benefit from clarity.”

House GOP leaders encouraged their members to vote against the legislation. They said the involvement of courts could drag out elections and said the bill would take rights away from states.

The bill is an “attempt to federalize our elections,” Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., said on the House floor. He argued that voters are more focused on the economy and other issues than elections law.

“In my area of Pennsylvania, nobody is talking about this," Reschenthaler said.

Illinois Rep. Rodney Davis, Lofgren’s GOP counterpart on the House Administration Committee, said Democrats are “desperately trying to talk about their favorite topic, and that is former President Donald Trump."

Democrats said the bill was not only a response to Trump, but also a way to prevent objections and mischief from all candidates in the future.

“If you think that this legislation is an attack on President Trump, you simply haven’t read the legislation because there’s nothing in there attacking President Trump,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., another member of the Jan. 6 panel. “This is about reforming the Electoral Count Act so it works for the American people.”

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., was blunter. He criticized Republicans who have defended Trump's actions that day and who have downplayed the seriousness of the former president's attempts to overturn the results of the election.

Hoyer called the Republican opposition a “rationalization of what I believe is treason. ... It was rationalized then, and sadly it is being rationalized now.”

The nine Republicans who voted in support of the legislation are all either retiring or were defeated for reelection in their GOP primaries this year. Eight of the nine voted for Trump's impeachment immediately after the insurrection.

The nine Republicans are Cheney and Reps. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Fred Upton of Michigan, Peter Meijer of Michigan, Tom Rice of South Carolina, Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, John Katko of New York and Chris Jacobs of New York.



https://www.yahoo.com/news/house-vote-election-law-overhaul-040352527.html?.tsrc=bell-brknews


Republicans think this is an ataack on trump because they know trump tried to overthrow the election and has plans to try again in the future should he get the opportunity.
There is absolutely no reason for anyone to vote against this bill unless they have intentions to try another coup

Yup.

What's the problem?? We're sending asylum seekers to states that have said they would welcome illegal immigrants... I hope we keep sending them... spread the wealth... you want open borders? fine... then let the blue states share in the responsibility for these 'asylum seekers'....

100% agreed. The blue states are sanctuary states, and cities, right up until illegals get there...............Then they're all "hey, we didn't know they were coming." "lets ship them off somewhere else. We can't afford to house them, and feed them." But they expect Texas, Florida, Arizona, New Mexico. etc to do just that?

It was a lousy day for old Donnie. The civil suit James filed will be his financial undoing, potentially sending him away on a RICO charge or many fraud charges. It is likely that one or more of his children will also be charged. Perhaps all of them. Later in the evening, the applet court overruled the lower court's decision. This allows the FBI and intelligence community to resume investigating their case(s) against Trump immediately.

How many times do people need to explain to you that all people want is a heads up that they're coming? And since when is it okay for the governor of Florida to send people to Texas in order to recruit people to be flown into Florida so he can send them to another location? If he wants to find people who are in his own state, then fine. He's lying to these people who are actually here legally and sending them somewhere that nobody knows they're coming to. And you applaud that.

It's like when your sister and her 2 kids come to visit.
If she calls and tells you she'll be there in 2 weeks you prep the guest rooms and do some different grocery shopping. Everything goes smoothly. On the other hand, if she shows up at your door with her 2 kids out of the blue at 2 am, you still take her in and feed them and put them up. It is a lot more stressful though.

You contards are once again completely ignoring the simple fact that asylum seekers are not illegally in the USA. They are being processed and this political video op was just a stunt that now extended and complicated their legal immigration process. Murica!

Not really. And you have a messed up sister bro.

The thread has pointed out that they have hearings scheduled and are here legally at least until the time of their hearings. Being honest about that doesn't suit their agenda.

...and now, they are thousands of miles from where those hearings will take place.

You gotta love how GOPers outsmart themselves playing to the radical base. Desantis will probably be charged for his stunt. Trump is crooked as hell and gets caught so often that he is personally removing himself from the equation.

DeSantis to face trial for suspension of prosecutor who defied abortion ban law
Richard Luscombe
Fri, September 23, 2022, 4:00 AM·3 min read

A Florida prosecutor suspended by Ron DeSantis for defying a new 15-week abortion law says a federal judge’s decision to send his reinstatement appeal to trial means a reckoning is coming for the state’s Republican governor.

Andrew Warren, a Democrat, was removed as Hillsborough county state attorney on 4 August after saying he would not enforce the abortion ban or prosecute providers of gender transition treatment for young people.

DeSantis cited Warren’s alleged “woke agenda” in reasons for his decision.

At a hearing in Tallahassee on Monday, Judge Robert Hinkle denied motions from DeSantis to dismiss Warren’s lawsuit, and another by Warren seeking an immediate return to office, instead requesting their differences be settled at a trial in the coming weeks.

“The governor now has to answer it to a court of law where facts matter and where you have to tell the truth,” Warren said in an interview with the Guardian.

“It’s a victory for the truth. A federal judge has ruled that the governor has to come into court to explain the reasons behind my suspension, to show that it wasn’t political, to show that it wasn’t in violation of my free speech rights, to show that it wasn’t in violation of the voters’ rights to have the state attorney of their choice.”

The closely watched case is expected to give clarity to DeSantis’s power to purge elected officials who disagree with him. In recent weeks, the governor has also removed four members of a school board in Broward county that defied him over Covid-19 mask mandates.

“The governor is entrusted by the people of Florida to utilize his constitutional powers and may suspend elected officials in Florida who refuse to enforce the law,” DeSantis’s office said in a statement following Monday’s hearing.

Critics, however, have accused the governor of selective application of the principle. The Orlando Sentinel noted that DeSantis has taken no action against so-called “constitutional” sheriffs who say they won’t enforce certain gun laws.

But he did act in 2019, suspending the Broward county sheriff, Scott Israel, a Democrat, for “neglect of duty”.

Warren said he believed a trial, which could begin as early as next month, would cut through any political posturing.

“This has always been a fight for democracy, and rule of law, and for elections,” he said.

“This is our fight for the truth. And now the people will get the truth because the governor is being forced to explain himself.

“Ultimately, he may be called to testify in court. The court was pretty clear that it wants to hear from the governor in terms of the explanations about the suspension to make sure that the reasons why I was suspended are consistent with Florida law, and with federal law.”

Warren said his reinstatement was not the sole objective of his lawsuit.

“I would have liked to be back in office already but there’s more at stake than just my job,” he said.

“Regardless of what party you belong to, or who you vote for, yours always matters. No elected official has the right to throw out anyone’s vote. And the governor here has tried to throw out the votes of hundreds of thousands of Floridians and overturn an election.

“If he gets away with it, what’s left of our democracy? What’s the point of having elections?”

Warren ran as a progressive when he unseated long-term incumbent Republican Mark Ober as Hillsborough county state attorney in 2016, and was re-elected with 53% of the vote four years later.

He immediately set about enacting policies that upset conservatives, the Tampa Bay Times reported, including a pledge to introduce programs to rehabilitate convicts and prevent recidivism.

According to Tampa’s Fox13, Susan Lopez, whom DeSantis appointed in Warren’s place, has already reversed several of his policies, including the reinstatement of a controversial law enforcement “bike-stop” measure that critics say unfairly targets minorities.


https://www.yahoo.com/news/desantis-face-trial-suspension-prosecutor-080029336.html

It was a bad week for your boy and ketchup. Lol

She was 12, I was 30....lol...what a perv.

WTH is that supposed to mean? Trash ass post. It was his wife when they were dating, she was born in 51 and 24 in this pic. So sad. Trump with his daughter in a provocative pose after telling the world he would do his daughter... Now you guys run with this. Shameful.

It's easy to see who has the perv mind here... you people are disgusting. The guy acknowledged a teacher he had known since she was little at a speech to teachers and you make him out to be a pedo, while your entire party is chock full of them.

You have no place to throw shade when libtards are doing stuff like this:


Libtard Hospital And Schools Giving Kink Sex Toys To Children.

Sickening. There is a term for this: Grooming

What a trash article. I don't believe any of that BS. You have brain rot. reDtards, PFFFT.

The truth is hard for you to hear. Suck it up. Its your ilk doing that.

If you dont like fox news, heres another. Theres more if you google it.

https://nypost.com/2022/09/05/chicago-hospital-teams-with-schools-to-promote-sex-toys-to-kids/

So you offer another reDtard rag? You better put the drink down now.

Suck it up. You represent the party of child groomers.

LMAO, every link on google is to a reDtard rag OR some conspiracy site. Beyond Binary: Gender in Schools is the topic that has all those red panties in a ruffle. A type of GOPer trigger topic similar to critical race theory in the way MAGAts react. But because scholars study it and the words confuse the average bubba, it has to be pedos. You can't make this level of stupid up IMHO. I don't even know where you got the sex toys bit. Dolls with privates or something? I'm sure no teacher is handing a kid a dildo. Maybe before you spread trash like this, you should educate yourself. Unlike those google links you claimed were all over, this link will take you to a few thousand scholarly articles about the subject and the long evolution that brought us here. Let me know if you need help reading them.

Click here for Facts

Maybe you should read the actual articles. And reduce your drug intake.

My drug intake is perfect; thank you very much. And I read two over-the-top hyperbolic articles chock full of words like pedo, libtards, liberal cabal, etc. They rank right up there with the excellent reporting on 4chan.

I hope a bunch of reDtards leave their brains to science so we can figure out how a fat orange criminal loser turned 70 million GOPers into idiots.

Then you skipped tye actual content of the article. Hope your grand children enjoy being sexually groomed, convinced they are trans, and given sex toys by their woke libtard teachers.

Eve, we aren't dealing with normal people around here, so having a normal conversation is impossible. Heck, even Bill Maher is turning against these people.

Donald Trump shares Truth Social photo proclaiming him as second only to Jesus
Joshua Zitser 3 hours ago


Former President Donald Trump shared a post on his Truth Social account on Friday, declaring him as "second" only to Jesus.

The post by Truth Social user @austinnegrete said: "Jesus is the Greatest. President @realDonaldTrump is the second greatest."

It accompanied an image of a painting of Jesus by artist Dan Wilson.

Trump "ReTruthed," or reposted, the Jesus comparison to his 4.1 million Truth Social followers.

It isn't the first time that the former president's supporters have compared him to Jesus.

In 2019, Georgia Rep. Barry Loudermilk claimed Jesus was treated more fairly before his crucifixion than Trump was treated throughout his first impeachment.

"When Jesus was falsely accused of treason, Pontius Pilate gave Jesus the opportunity to face his accusers," said Loudermilk during a debate on the House floor, per TIME magazine. "During that sham trial, Pontius Pilate afforded more rights to Jesus than the Democrats have afforded this President in this process."

In the same year, The Washington Post reported that white, conservative evangelicals who approved of Trump's performance as president promoted the idea that he was heaven-sent.

Trump has made these grand proclamations himself. In August 2019, Trump told reporters in reference to trade with China: "I am the chosen one." He also shared tweets describing him as the "King of Israel" and "the second coming of God."

And in October 2020, per the Independent, he claimed to have had a conversation where somebody told him he was the most famous person in the world. Trump told his supporters in North Carolina that Jesus Christ was actually more famous than him.

Insider contacted Trump's post-presidency office for comment on Saturday morning but did not immediately receive a response.


https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-shares-post-proclaiming-him-second-only-to-jesus-2022-9


All kinds of bat crap crazy

When you think everyone who tries to help common people are communists I would be careful trying to classify what normal is.

So Ted Cruz is basically saying republicans are a bunch of scared little weaklings afraid of trump.
We knew that, he's finally admitting it out loud


Ted Cruz said Republicans don't criticize Trump because if they do, 'he turns around and punches them in the face' for it.
Katie Balevic


Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said his Republican peers are hesitant to criticize former President Donald Trump because if they do, Trump "turns around and punches them in the face."

Cruz made the comments at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin on Saturday while speaking to The Washington Examiner's David Drucker.

"Why are people reluctant on the Republican side to criticize Donald Trump? It's a number of things," Cruz said. "Unlike many people in politics, if someone criticizes him, he turns around and punches them in the face."

Cruz said he witnessed meetings in which "different Republican senators would criticize" Trump, who would then "spend the whole meeting just slamming them with a stick."

"I like what we accomplished under Trump. I think there's an incredible record of policy victories," Cruz said. "I disagree with a lot of the things Donald Trump says. And I made a decision that I wasn't going to be giving color commentary on MSNBC for every tweet or every statement that was obviously indefensible."

"I think that's the right balance, and I'll tell you for any Republican, that was a complicated decision: How do you deal with Trump?" Cruz added. "When he does things that are good and praise-worthy, I will praise him, and when he says things I disagree with, I'm just not going to engage in the day-to-day color commentary."

Cruz and Trump were staunch opponents in the 2016 presidential election, during which time Trump made several disparaging comments about Cruz and his family, though he later apologized. Cruz later became one of Trump's strongest allies.



https://www.businessinsider.com/cruz-gop-wont-criticize-trump-he-punches-them-in-face-2022-9

A human scab. Running like a criminal.

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

"The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict."

"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it."

"There comes a time when silence is betrayal."

So many famous quotes apply to this quote from Ted Cruz - what a total POS.

A man who helped get migrants on DeSantis flights to Martha's Vineyard says he feels betrayed: 'I never ever, ever knew it was a governor' behind the stunt

https://www.yahoo.com/news/man-helped-migrants-desantis-flights-160958598.html


A man who helped recruit migrants to get on flights bound for Martha's Vineyard as part of a stunt by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this month says he feels deceived and had no idea that the Republican politician was behind the operation.

"I have nothing to do with the deception," the man, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said during an interview with CNN published on Tuesday.

"I was always aware that it was a benefactor who was paying for things. I repeat I never ever, ever knew it was a governor or politician, so my only will was to help people," the recruiter said, adding that "yes, of course," he feels betrayed.

The man, also a migrant, told CNN that he was living on the streets of San Antonio, Texas, for about a month before he met a woman identified as "Perla," who he said roped him into the scheme.

He said the woman made an offer to him, promising him money, food, and clothes as long as he found other migrants willing to get on flights to Massachusetts from Texas.

She also gave the man $10 McDonald's gift certificates to give to those who agreed to get on the planes, the man told CNN.

"She had told me that the people who were going to Massachusetts, before I sent them, she had told me that they were going to receive them," the man told CNN. "They were going to be given shelter, a place to stay. They were going to help them with the language, and those who had children, they were going to study."

About 50 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, were taken on two chartered planes to the upscale liberal Massachusetts island of Martha's Vineyard unannounced from Texas on September 14.

The flights were organized by DeSantis, an outspoken critic of the Biden administration's immigration policies.

A Boston-based nonprofit has since filed a federal class action lawsuit on behalf of a group of the migrants against DeSantis and other Florida officials, alleging that they carried out a "scheme to defraud vulnerable immigrants to advance a political motive."

The suit says that the migrants were persuaded with $10 McDonald's gift certificates and false promises of employment, housing, and other assistance to get them to board the planes out of San Antonio, Texas.

A woman identified as "Perla" and a man identified as "Emanuel" are named in the lawsuit, which says they waited outside of shelters in Texas and persuaded migrants with $10 gift certificates to tell them about the transport "pretending to be good Samaritans offering humanitarian assistance."

The recruiter who spoke to CNN said his "only intention was to help the people so they could get some stability."

"Everything was always voluntary. No one was ever forced to do anything," he added.

The man said once the migrants touched down in Martha's Vineyard, he received a worried message from one of them after they realized that no one was expecting them.

"There's nothing here. We're adrift here, these people didn't even know we would arrive," said part of the message, CNN reported.

The man told CNN that he then contacted the woman identified as "Perla," who texted him: "Tell them to call the numbers we gave them. The church. The state has to take care of them."

Locals on Martha's Vineyard quickly came to the aid of the migrants who were later relocated to a military base in Cape Cod that's designated as an emergency shelter.

An attorney representing a group of the migrants told Insider last week that the immigrants have been left "traumatized" by the stunt.

_______

couple things:

1. from just a political perspective, good on the GOP for highlighting some of the hypocrisy coming from liberal elitist, such as the ones who are part of the Martha's Vineyard demographic.

2. if evidence is confirmed to show that the governor of florida is using taxpayer funds to intentionally human traffick migrants to cities across the country for a political stunt, i hope he is publicly arrested, convicted, and thrown in prison.

Thats not human trafficking. You should look up the definition.

Human trafficking involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act. Every year, millions of men, women, and children are trafficked worldwide – including right here in the United States. It can happen in any community and victims can be any age, race, gender, or nationality. Traffickers might use the following methods to lure victims into trafficking situations:

Violence
Manipulation
False promises of well-paying jobs
Romantic relationships
Language barriers, fear of their traffickers, and/or fear of law enforcement frequently keep victims from seeking help, making human trafficking a hidden crime.

Traffickers look for people who are easy targets for a variety of reasons, including:

Psychological or emotional vulnerability
Economic hardship
Lack of a social safety net
Natural disasters
Political instability
The trauma caused by the traffickers can be so great that many may not identify themselves as victims or ask for help, even in highly public settings.



The 3 most common types of human trafficking are sex trafficking, forced labor, and debt bondage. Forced labor, also known as involuntary servitude, is the biggest sector of trafficking in the world, according to the U.S. Department of State. Debt bondage is another form of human trafficking in which an individual is forced to work in order to pay a debt.

Sex trafficking disproportionately affects women and children and involves forced participation in commercial sex acts. In the United States, any child under the age of 18 who has been involved in a commercial sex act is considered a trafficking victim. Women and girls make up 80% of the people trafficked transnationally. Yearly, traffickers exploit 1 million children in the commercial sex trade.

Perceptions of human trafficking often involve women forced into prostitution. This is just one aspect of human trafficking. Survivors of trafficking also include men and children, and these survivors are exploited by any number of means. Victims may be forced into any of the following types of labor, among others:

• domestic servitude
• agricultural work
• manufacturing
• janitorial services
• hotel services
• construction
• health and elder care
• hair and nail salons
• prostitution
• strip club dancing

Some survivors are “mail-order” brides who believe they are going to a new country for marriage, but instead are enslaved. All nationalities and ethnic groups are vulnerable to human trafficking. Any given country may be a source of forced labor, a place of transit, or a destination.




https://sf-hrc.org/what-human-trafficking


reminder to the board: this is similar to a conservative telling someone to learn their history, who themselves don't know their history.

so anyway,

lets be clear here: this is what we know about NOW. i can only imagine the amount of crap that will be coming out in the coming weeks due to investigations. i hope this was the actions of individuals acting on their own, and not sponsored by the state.

Similar to CONSERVATIVES?

Hey, you don't like me, okay, I get that. I do happen to know a fair amount about human trafficking, and sex trafficking thanks to a cousin that WAS a pastor in the Atlanta area. The baldies, as their called. The way kids get caught up, kidnapped, drugged, etc. Even young adults.

It's sickening to me.

yes, thats what i said. Eve's response is similar to when conservatives tell people to know their history despite not knowing their history.

there's nothing incorrect about that comment.

Okay. But, you made it about conservatives. Not me.

Now, perhaps you will come after me, perhaps not. But I do know a few on here that will.

i didnt even bother you. do you want to have an argument? i guess i can make up something on the fly and we can go at it, if you'd like. let me know.

I didn't bother you. I replied to a statement you made. It's fine, you can make something up if you wish - that's what this board does.

ok cool since this is what you want:

why do you always reply to me based on my response to someone else?

will i, Swish the Great Habitual DT prisoner, ever experience a time where Arch replies/response to the ACTUAL article i post, instead of the RESPONSE i post to someone else?

or do i need to go ahead and chalk that up to the game?

I don't know.

"reminder to the board: this is similar to a conservative telling someone to learn their history, who themselves don't know their history"

You have another post in a different thread insinuating all MAGA's support that person from Italy.

This is what happens when we generalize.

I AM conservative. I voted for Trump . Over? Hillary. But I get castigated and labeled immediately. Have it your way. We can fight, if you want. It seems no one wants to have a conversation.

Explain how theyre being forced or coerced into labor against their will. They came to this country on their own. They got transported to a sanctuary city that is open to them. Thats not human trafficking.

ok but you see what i mean? even when given the chance to just give your thoughts on the article/issue at hand, you still won't.

you keep getting mad about the generalizations, but then you never seem to get around to posting thoughts on the actual issue directly, which then leads to the implication that says you fit that generalization.

will you give your thoughts on the new italian PM, the things she has said, supported, and associated with? or will you continue trying to convince me that you're a conservative for some reason.

I don't know a damned thing about the Italian pm, nor do I need to. There. Italy is NOT my country. I'm not from there, at any point. I've never been there. I don't care. The italian people apparently voted.


I don't watch FOX news, only time I hear about Tucker Carlson is on here. The end.

Please teach me about why you feel like you do. IMO sending them to a City where people voted for their right to stay, yet don't want them i their community is OK. I would really like to know bro.

so these migrants were coerced and lied to by people intentionally using their situation to illegally transport them to other cities.

Eve, was there an official agreement between the sponsor/state and the local authority the migrants arrived in to receive said migrants? no

were these migrants told that they were being relocated under false pretense? yes.

were the arrangements with the local authorities of destination that the sponsor/state told the migrants were headed a lie? yes

unlawful restraint can be done by force, intimidation, or deception, right? were the migrants deceived? yes.

so you seem to think that in order to be a human trafficking victim, it requires force at all times. Eve, are you claiming that women who end up sex trafficking victims are somehow NOT victims, because there was a instance in the timeline were the woman voluntarily took an action -such as getting on a plane - despite being deceived into the act?

you know the answer to that question, but watch you come back with some lame ass response with some tired version of "thats different".

so, we have migrants coerced into being transported by a sponsor and/or state under the notion that there will be educational and work opportunities, despite no arrangements being made with the local authorities at the final destination.

sounds a lot like human trafficking to me.

see my response i just made to Eve.

just because its a successful political stunt doesn't mean its justified to intentionally commit the crime to make the point. still consequences to actions, right?

so we got crimes committed. the only thing now is how high up the food chain does it go? at least in texas, straight to the governor. florida? we will see.

so based on this post, does this mean that in any future discussions dealing with international politics, you won't be posting in those threads because you aren't from <insert country>?

just want to make sure i FULLY understand you.

Not disagreeing with you bro, but also not agreeing with you. As I have posted many times on these boards I am against illegal imagrants. However I am always for legal immagrants.

You cant make up your own definition.

Human traffing involves forcing people into labor against their will. That didnt happen.

right but that support or non-support has nothing to do with the issue of state governments illegally transporting migrants across state lines for a political stunt.

like, i dont have to be against illegal immigrant AND support a state lying to migrants about why they're being relocated to a certain city. that's two different issues.

but i didn't make up my own definition, and you're the one trying to narrow the definition. strange.

Its not strange. Its not human trafficing either.

illegal was there an agreement with the states the illegals showed up in? Did the states the illegals showed up have pre knowledge, or not? There were no promises for the illegals in the states they came to. You expect florida and texas to just take them all in and make them cozy and offer jobs? Why NOT send them to the sanctuary states, just like they showed up unannounced in the other states? That is NOT human trafficking, unless you consider those illegals them selves human traffickers.

I though, as we've been told hundreds of times by this admin and Kamala, that the illegals were under control. I guess not. Just need Florida and Texas, and Arizona and new mexico to handle them all.

YOu wanna let them in? But, keep them somewhere else. Got it.

No, bro... the only thing illegal was their "illegal transportation".

GTHOH

I agree 110 percent about a political stunt.

yea, it's definitely strange, and definitely human trafficking. moving on.




so the way/justification in which the state lies and illegally transports migrants is determined by whether or not they're legal? interesting.



that has nothing to do with what the state authority does with the illegal immigrants between other states. try to keep up here.


so with illegal immigrants, it's not prior knowledge, but whats called wilful blindness. this would apply if the migrants in questioned knew they were being transported as a political stunt, and knew that the arrangement told to them by the sponsor/state was false. the answer to that would be no, because the migrants believed they were being relocated to another city/state for educational and job opportunities.

prior knowledge applies to the sponsor/state who KNEW what they were telling the migrants were wrong prior to the coercion, but still either committed the criminal act, or did nothing to stop it. what determines whether its knowledge or wilful blindness is whether or not the sponsor/state knew the actual fact at hand.


again, the actions of the illegal immigrant does not give the sponsor/state authority to commit it's own crimes.

that's like saying because i stabbed somebody and arrested, the officers can then legally come into the holding cell and beat the crap out of me if they choose. it doesn't work like that. it's NEVER worked like that. why in god's name are you posting as if it works like that?

but look at the first thing you posted. bro this whole post made it clear you're ok with the mistreatment of human beings by the state simply based on whether or not they legally came here. good god.

Nah. What I'm NOT okay with is the southern states being required to house and feed illegals, while northern states can call themselves sanctuary states and sanctuary cities, but then grope when illegals show up there.

I'm not okay with mistreatment of anyone, bro. Here's what SHOULD be done - ship them back from where they came from. If you aren't okay with that, and you're not okay with southern states shipping some of the illegals to northern states, you have no ground to stand on. Illegals.

She struggles with English bro.

Here's a question brainiac; if it's not human trafficking, why is it being investigated for human trafficking?

Because libtards struggle with reality.

1. In this case the 'Martha's Vineyard Migrants' fled Venezuela to escape mistreatment. Sending them back is most certainly a death sentence.
2. And they aren't "illegals." As asylum seekers, they are allowed to be here legally until their hearings decide their status. Most have fam or other support in towns all over the US, and are allowed to go there legally.

This is a "facts only" post.

Just trying to keep the conversation real.



Carry on, Dawgs.

Um... 'Libtards' aren't opening these investigations. Law Enforcement is.
This is happening.
In Real Life.

Struggle with that.

Per the Department of homeland security website, here is their webpage on what human trafficking is.
I don't know enough details to say yay or nay, but read this and you decide


What Is Human Trafficking?
Human trafficking involves the use of force, fraud, or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act. Every year, millions of men, women, and children are trafficked worldwide – including right here in the United States. It can happen in any community and victims can be any age, race, gender, or nationality. Traffickers might use the following methods to lure victims into trafficking situations:

Violence
Manipulation
False promises of well-paying jobs
Romantic relationships
Language barriers, fear of their traffickers, and/or fear of law enforcement frequently keep victims from seeking help, making human trafficking a hidden crime.

Traffickers look for people who are easy targets for a variety of reasons, including:

Psychological or emotional vulnerability
Economic hardship
Lack of a social safety net
Natural disasters
Political instability
The trauma caused by the traffickers can be so great that many may not identify themselves as victims or ask for help, even in highly public settings.

Many myths and misconceptions exist. Recognizing key indicators of human trafficking is the first step in identifying victims and can help save a life. Not all indicators listed are present in every human trafficking situation, and the presence or absence of any of the indicators is not necessarily proof of human trafficking.

The safety of the public as well as the victim is important. Do not attempt to confront a suspected trafficker directly or alert a victim to any suspicions. It is up to law enforcement to investigate suspected cases of human trafficking.

Not sure why the link came across as a non accessible video


https: //www.dhs.gov/blue-campaign/what-human-trafficking
Here is the link, I added a space after the https: in the address

Rep. Matt Gaetz Admits To Absurd GOP Priority If They Win Back House
Lee Moran
Tue, September 27, 2022, 3:02 AM·2 min read

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) all but admitted this week that he doesn’t care about enacting policy if the GOP wins control of the House in the November election.

Instead, the Donald Trump-adoring Florida Republican said control of the chamber should be primarily used to settle scores with Democrats.

Gaetz, appearing on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, called on Republicans to “open up every vector of attack” on Democrats as he echoed GOP calls for the impeachment of President Joe Biden and senior members of his administration for unspecified reasons.


The Republican mandate in this year’s midterm elections is “not to go hold hands in the warm spring rain with the Democrats, it is to investigate them, hold them accountable and we can do that without the Senate, without the White House,” Gaetz continued.


“And that’s why it should be investigations first (and) policy, bill-making to support the lobbyists and the PACs as a far, far diminished priority,” added Gaetz, who reportedly remains under investigation in a sex trafficking probe. He denies any wrongdoing.


https://news.yahoo.com/rep-matt-gaetz-admits-absurd-070213142.html

Once again, where is the forced labor or forced sex?

What labor was obtained by sending them to marthas vineyard?

Libtards have reading comprehension problems.

Seems you struggle a lot. Law Enforcement hasnt accused them of a crime.

i already posted the same thing, jester.

but some of these posters will justify anything to mistreat human beings, simply based on whether or not "illegal" is attached to the label.

i cant have a conversation with people who clearly view other human beings as sub-human.

Did I miss something in all these conversations? Is there any reason we can't just hold the sanctuary cities to their word, and have the southern states give them advanced notice and work out transportation schedules for the migrants to be transported? Can we also just be honest with the migrants?

Or, do we have to make sure someone gets pwned?

and now the christian conservatives are starting the war on halloween lolololol

Here's my issue with it. First, these people weren't even in Florida. They were in Texas. So he sent someone to another state to recruit people to come to Florida. Then after flying them to Florida, flew them to Martha's Vineyard. Why would anyone do that? Secondly they are not ILLEGALS. So that goes against what most people have been led to believe about this. They filed for asylum and are awaiting hearings. That's a legal process.

Then there's the selection of Martha's Vineyard. Martha's Vineyard isn't a city. It's a residential island. Anyone who knows anything about it fully understands that if you are going to send people somewhere prepared to help these people it would be a place with the resources in place to do so. Add all of that up and it is a political stunt plain and simple. The question about legality hinges around the fact that he actually spent Florida state money to go fly these people from Texas to Florida. Lies and falsehoods were told to these people to lure them in. I don't know enough about these types of laws to say if it was illegal. But at the very least it was sure shady as hell.

Edit to add. These were asylum seekers, not illegals....

While DeSantis was flying legal asylum seekers to Martha’s Vineyard, business owners in his state were struggling for workers

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/26/business/desantis-florida-business-owners/index.html

Don't believe the lies some are trying to sell.

Because that makes to much sense. And people just keep making excuses why this wasn't done. Because all they really care about is people getting pwned.

Looks like in the short term he did the asylum seekers a favor. He got them out of Ian’s wrath. That said he’s a douche of epic proportions and if he broke the law in doing this I hope he gets hammered.

Ron DeSantis Appointee Resigns After Alleged KKK Photo Surfaces

The picture reportedly shows Jeffery Moore at a Halloween party wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood and robe.

A Florida Republican has left his job after a photo of him, allegedly in a Ku Klux Klan costume, made the rounds online.

Gadsden County Commissioner Jeffery Moore, a Republican appointed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in July, resigned from the five-person county board of commissioners on Friday, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.

The photo reportedly shows Moore at a Halloween party wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood and robe, according to the newspaper.

Moore, the one white person on the board with four Black commissioners, lives in a county where 55% of the residents are Black, according to U.S. census data. Gadsden County is on the Georgia border, just west of Tallahassee.

Tracey Stallworth, a pastor in Gadsden County, told the Tallahassee Democrat there’d be a news conference on Wednesday calling on Moore and the governor to weigh in on the photo.

“It’s a very sad day in our history and a sad time for this county ... the blackest county in the state, this is not OK,” Stallworth said.

Moore, who didn’t elaborate on why he was resigning in his letter, also reportedly stopped his campaign to continue as county commissioner in November.

“Thank you for the opportunity to have served in the position, however for personal reasons I am no longer able to continue,” Moore wrote to DeSantis’ office.

The Tallahassee Democrat reported that Moore wrote he was “in the middle of hurricane preparations” and would contact them on Tuesday or Wednesday. Hurricane Ian is expected to strike Florida this week.

HuffPost has reached out to both Moore and DeSantis for comment.

The racist costume controversy comes over three years after another DeSantis-appointed official, Florida Secretary of State Michael Ertel, resigned when a photo emerged of him in blackface and dressed as a “Hurricane Katrina victim.”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ron-...Bxv9E0MYRX0atsxHvx6MLcLy3pY73o3Oq3eHLxJo

But I'm sure he believes in God and country and most likely isn't a globalist so everything is okay.

can i just buy klan robes online? or do i need to talk to my local seamstress to get one made?

Low class.

Should we help Florida like Trump helped Puerto Rico? Should Biden show up with paper towels to throw? Desantis will be a real American for a hot second this week as he begs for money. But Biden will do the right thing, he always does the right thing.

What's Biden doing for Puerto Rico?

Trump told guests he wasn’t using same White House toilet as Obama: ‘You understand what I’m talking about’

Donald Trump mistook a racially mixed group of Democratic staffers for domestic aides and asked them to serve the hors d’oeuvres, according to a new book.

The recently sworn-in president turned to the staffers for Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and others during a January 2017 meeting and asked them to get the canapes, according to excerpts from a forthcoming book from New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman published by Rolling Stone.

"Why don't you get" the food, Trump told the staffers, and then-White House chief of staff Reince Priebus rushed to correct him, but he made another bigoted comment in the same meeting by claiming Hillary Clinton had won the popular vote in 2016 due to ballots cast by "illegals."

“I don’t believe so, Mr. President," Pelosi said.

Trump periodically told visitors that his White House workspace had a "secret bathroom," and explained that he'd completely renovated the restroom after taking over for Barack Obama, but staffers would correct him and explain that only the toilet seats had been changed, which is customary during presidential transitions.

”You understand what I’m talking about," Trump said to one visitor, according to Haberman.

The guest, Haberman reported, “interpreted [the remark] to mean Trump did not want to use the same bathroom as his Black predecessor.”

https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-toilet/

Trump aides were stunned by his obsession with his staffers' sexuality: new book

Donald Trump often asked oddly personal questions about staffers' sexuality and made homophobic remarks about those he perceived might be gay, according to a new book.

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman's forthcoming book, "Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America" reveals that Trump's obsession with appearing to be masculine drives his startling behavior, such as a meeting early in his administration with vice president Mike Pence and campaign aide Jason Miller, whom he declared certainly "likes the ladies," according to excerpts published by The Daily Beast.

“You know how sometimes someone turns out to be gay later and you knew?" Trump said, according to the book. "This guy, he isn’t even like one percent gay.”

Trump was preoccupied with speculation about who in his orbit might be gay, and often mocked Trump Organization executive Alan Marcus as "queer" and “bragged that he paid the executive less," Haberman reported, and former employees said he would show off photos of women with whom he claimed to have known intimately.

“They also recalled Trump mocking gay men, or men who were seen as weak, with the words ‘queer’ or ‘f*ggot,’” Haberman wrote.

Haberman described one episode from a week before the second presidential debate in 2016, when then-adviser Reince Priebus asked Trump a hypothetical question from the point of view of a female transgender student about using the girls' restroom -- prompting a response that prompted stunned silence.

“C*cked or dec*cked?” Trump asked.

An unspecified individual broke the awkward silence by suggesting "dec*cked," and Trump responded by making a chopping gesture.

“With c*ck or without c*ck?” he said, according to Haberman.

An adviser asked what difference that made, and Trump suggested that detail would determine how he answered the question.

“What if a girl was in the bathroom and someone came in, lifted up a skirt, and a [censored] was hanging out?" Trump said, according to the book.

https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-lgbtq/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raw_Story
"The Raw Story (also stylized as RawStory) is an American progressive news website and online tabloid. The Raw Story is considered a hyperpartisan media outlet and has been described as "junk news"."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junk_food_news
"Junk food news (also known as junk news or junk journalism) is a sardonic term for news stories that deliver "sensationalized, personalized, and homogenized inconsequential trivia", especially when such stories appear at the expense of serious investigative journalism."


Wow... Please tell me this is where you get your daily news.

Hell no. Just stumbled on a link and remember it being posted here. But good to know. The stories are 100% believable though because the actual source is Maggie Haberman's new book on Donald Trump. It's breaking the internet tonight. Google it.