[News] Post a Political News Story

Ongoing discussion of the political news of the day. This thread is for 'smaller' stories that don't call for their own thread. If a story blows up, please start a new thread for it.

I think fang is mocking the conspiracy nutters around these exercises. I know I am. My Jade Helm link is to the conspiracy nuts in TX in 2015.

Jonman wrote:

Y'all are acting like the military isn't constantly running exercises like this, and hasn't been fighting in actual guerilla warfare non-stop for the last twenty years.

This. Back in the fifties when he was at the pentagon, one of the scenarios my father had to help plan out was Canada embracing communism and the Russians invading the US from the northern border. They had no actual intelligence or reason to think Candada was going to become a hostile nation, but it was plausible enough to wargame.

To the surprise of no one, the former Michigan House Speaker, Republican Lee Chatfield, has been raping his brother’s wife for a decade.

allegedly.

All the red flags were there - a Christian Republican homophobic white male involved in conservative politics. Also she was 15 when it started so Matt Gaetz just got interested.

Edit: the survivor here is a member of the ultra conservative Christian book publishing family Zondervan, so if I know my conservative Christian playbook, they’ll find a way to make this her fault in a day or two.

And he says it was a consensual affair. Which to me is an admission of guilt considering it started when she was 15 and he was in positions of power over her throughout. (he was a teacher, sports coach and athletic director at the school she went to before he was a politician)

Time for somebody's ass to get primaried. Can't have this kind of thing in the modern republican party - truth is the enemy.
This Republican senator just admitted the 2020 election wasn't rigged

What a rarity: a Republican on the same ballot as Biden not insisting that votes for them were good and true, but votes for Biden were from fraud and a sprawling conspiracy no one has managed to crack after multiple investigations and audits.

Georgia DA investigating Trump closer to decision on charges

AP wrote:

ATLANTA (AP) — The prosecutor weighing whether Donald Trump and others committed crimes by trying to pressure Georgia officials to overturn Joe Biden’s presidential election victory said a decision on whether to bring charges could come as early as the first half of this year.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said in an interview with The Associated Press last week that her team is making solid progress, and she’s leaning toward asking for a special grand jury with subpoena power to aid the investigation.

“I believe in 2022 a decision will be made in that case,” Willis said. “I certainly think that in the first half of the year that decisions will be made.”

But Willis told the AP that she hasn’t imposed deadlines on her staff and has urged them to be thorough in their examination.

...

Willis declined to speak about the specifics, but she confirmed that the investigation’s scope includes — but is not limited to — a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a November 2020 phone call between U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Raffensperger, the abrupt resignation of the U.S. attorney in Atlanta on Jan. 4, 2021, and comments made during December 2020 Georgia legislative committee hearings on the election.

People will read into this what they will, but it was also reported that Trumps lawyers met with Willis several weeks ago.

Then on December 18th Trump made the following statement seemingly out of nowhere on his website (wasn't his version of Twitter supposed to be up like months ago?).

Statement by Donald J. Trump wrote:

All the Democrats want to do is put people in jail. They are vicious, violent, and Radical Left thugs. They are destroying people’s lives, which is the only thing they are good at. They couldn’t get out of Afghanistan without disgracing our Country. The economy and inflation are a disaster. They’re letting thugs and murderers into our Country—their DA’s, AG’s, and Dem Law Enforcement are out of control. This is what happens in communist countries and dictatorships, and they don’t think they’ll be held accountable for rigging the 2020 Presidential Election. The Jan. 6 Unselect Committee is a coverup for what took place on November 3rd, and the people of our Country won’t stand for it.

It's like their campaign slogan wasn't "lock her up" or something.

If I'm going to have to deal with a putative dictator, I'd at least like him to be less of a petulant narcicisst.

(Yes, I know petulant narcissism is a prerequisite.)

Prederick wrote:

If I'm going to have to deal with a putative dictator, I'd at least like him to be less of a petulant narcicisst.

(Yes, I know petulant narcissism is a prerequisite.)

He really does sound a bit like Gerald O'Hara talking about how he will be saved from penury by his Confederate bonds.

Kinda surprised Inskeep let himself get railroaded like that. I realize it’s tough to prevent trump from hijacking the interview and sh*tting all over it but you would expect one of the top interviewers in the country to be up to the challenge. 2/5.

Trump is like a little dog. Physics-defyingly loud and aggressive until a bigger dog walks into the room.

A great NPR interview from this morning that was the first time since 2015 Steve Inskeep was allowed to chat with him again.

He hit him hard and called out T-bag Trump on all his BS. Also cut in are all the recent events that he is using to pull the discussion together. I don't know if that is how the youtube is setup but the radio version was very well done.

Edit: The best part is Steve has him so on his ropes that T-bag bails at the 9 minute mark of a 15 minute scheduled interview right before he gets to 1/6.

Edit of the edit, I had thought it was Ari Shapiro, thanks Robear.

I want to listen but I honestly hate the sound of his voice so much I don't think I could take 9 minutes of his spewing crap.

farley3k wrote:

I want to listen but I honestly hate the sound of his voice so much I don't think I could take 9 minutes of his spewing crap.

A majority of it is Steve talking and walking listeners through. The best parts are him putting Tbag on the ropes and him creating more nonsense which is immediately debunked.

He then explains that GOP have backed them selves into a corner we have called out here before. They both have put such lack of faith in the election they now realize they've told people to not vote for them because it's rigged but now they also need votes so they need to say yeah it's fake but really it's not and it is safe and Biden is president so we lied but we didn't and we made sure those snakes didn't get us.....

I see we're back to the, "this time we're really done with Trump!" discussion...

Brother, you say “Ari”, but don’t you mean “Steve”? Innskeep? Or did I miss something?

farley3k wrote:

I want to listen but I honestly hate the sound of his voice so much I don't think I could take 9 minutes of his spewing crap.

So, I’m not the only one then. I even had this problem from reading the transcript in his voice and had to stop.

gewy wrote:
farley3k wrote:

I want to listen but I honestly hate the sound of his voice so much I don't think I could take 9 minutes of his spewing crap.

So, I’m not the only one then. I even had this problem from reading the transcript in his voice and had to stop.

Man I must be in the minority. I consider Trump is the best orator of his generation, and certainly the best orator alive, with Obama a DISTANT second. Trump can communicate feelings and emotions that are wholly detached from the rules of grammar. He becomes the avatar of whatever crowd he’s speaking at, both fueling and being fueled by the crowd’s most basic, animalistic urges.

He’s a reincarnated Revivalist minister who never lets words get in the way of his message. I absolutely understand why people who don’t read good worship him.

Seth wrote:

Man I must be in the minority.

You enjoy listening to him talk?

Rezzy wrote:
Seth wrote:

Man I must be in the minority.

You enjoy listening to him talk?

It’s like a siren’s call, and I can only listen to so much before I start agreeing with him and have to turn it off. (Seriously, the Jan 6 coup speech should be studied, but not the transcripts since the word salad doesn’t really matter. It needs to be watched.)

Students Are Doing What Adults Won’t in the Fight Against Omicron

Thousands of students are walking out of class to protest conditions at U.S. schools—and challenge adults who are placing profit over their well-being.

It isn't really news but is isn't really a satirical clip....but it is honest, and depressing.

Watch: Rand Paul tells students "misinformation works" in resurfaced 2013 video

"I never ever cheated and I don't condone cheating," he says, "but I would sometimes spread misinformation. And this is a great tactic. Misinformation can be very important."

He tells the story of how, when he was a student, he tricked a bunch of classmates into studying the wrong topic to give him an edge on a test.

"So that's my advice," he concludes. "Misinformation works."

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes charged with seditious conspiracy in Jan. 6 Capitol riot

Washington Post wrote:

Stewart Rhodes — founder and leader of the extremist group Oath Keepers, whose members are accused of being key players in the Jan. 6 attack on Congress — has been indicted and arrested in connection with the riot, officials said Thursday.

The 56-year-old, who was at the Capitol that day but has said he did not enter the building, is the most high-profile person charged in the investigation so far. He is charged with seditious conspiracy, along with 10 other Oath Keepers members or associates, officials said.

Most of those individuals were previously arrested, but one, 63-year old Edward Vallejo of Phoenix, Arizona, is also facing charges as part of the case against the Oath Keepers for the first time. Officials said Rhodes was arrested this morning in Little Elm, Texas, and Vallejo was taken into custody in Phoenix.

A federal grand jury in the District leveled the new charges focusing on what prosecutors say is a core group of Oath Keepers adherents who allegedly planned for and participated in obstructing Congress on the day lawmakers certified President Biden’s 2020 election victory.

The indictments unsealed Thursday mark the first time anyone has faced charges of seditious conspiracy for the Jan. 6 attacks, though prosecutors have long signaled they were considering using that rarely-applied section of federal law.

In interviews with The Washington Post over the past year, Rhodes — a former Army paratrooper and Yale Law graduate who has become one of the most visible figures of the far-right anti-government movement — has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.

farley3k wrote:
He tells the story of how, when he was a student, he tricked a bunch of classmates into studying the wrong topic to give him an edge on a test.

What a colossal asshole. How does lying to classmates improve your own test scores?

JC wrote:
farley3k wrote:
He tells the story of how, when he was a student, he tricked a bunch of classmates into studying the wrong topic to give him an edge on a test.

What a colossal asshole. How does lying to classmates improve your own test scores?

Comparatively.

If a curve is in use, when a group of classmates score poorly, it lowers the curve, thus raising the score of anyone who did better than the average.

and it is a bit like the squid game - every contestant you knock out puts you closer to winning.

Well, it's been a good run y'all, but I think I'll either vote Plague or Asteroid for 2024.