[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.

Paleocon wrote:
Hobear wrote:

Can I just say thank you for your small but great efforts in helping feed those kids & families. Seeing the little bit of food insecurity in the community is scary enough.

It's a good reminder that the few that take advantage of the system shouldn't ruin it for those who need it.

It's ironic that the folks who scream loudest about not making "law abiding gun owners suffer" for folks literally murdering scores of school kids are all too often the same ones caterwauling to shut down school lunch programs for the faint possibility that one of those kids may get a grilled cheese for free when he can actually pay for it.

Yep, my state just made school lunch free and the amount of people annoyed over feeding a whole state of kids breakfast & lunch week days for a measly $50 in taxes a year is amazing. The good this will do outweighs so much awful. And yet this will be something I am sure people will rail on.

Hobear wrote:
Paleocon wrote:
Hobear wrote:

Can I just say thank you for your small but great efforts in helping feed those kids & families. Seeing the little bit of food insecurity in the community is scary enough.

It's a good reminder that the few that take advantage of the system shouldn't ruin it for those who need it.

It's ironic that the folks who scream loudest about not making "law abiding gun owners suffer" for folks literally murdering scores of school kids are all too often the same ones caterwauling to shut down school lunch programs for the faint possibility that one of those kids may get a grilled cheese for free when he can actually pay for it.

Yep, my state just made school lunch free and the amount of people annoyed over feeding a whole state of kids breakfast & lunch week days for a measly $50 in taxes a year is amazing. The good this will do outweighs so much awful. And yet this will be something I am sure people will rail on.

It is certainly an interesting interpretation of their stated religion that is able to reconcile these positions with "living a life of Christ".

iaintgotnopants wrote:
Mixolyde wrote:

I'm not sure what is more surprising, that the police have a do not SWAT list, that they use it, or that they put a trans woman on it and didn't SWAT her anyway.

It's the last one. That one is the most surprising.

Of course it is, I was being rhetorical.

Man this guy is corrupt. Or at the very least appears to be.

Clarence Thomas Had a Child in Private School. Harlan Crow Paid the Tuition.

What's another $150,000 between a billionaire with business in front of the court and their close, close SCOTUS judge friend who never disclosed a dime of the money?

What's weirder is that Thomas seemed to fully understand such gifts needed to be disclosed because he did exactly that when another one of his "friends" gave him $5,000 for his kid's education.

Oh the spin they are trying this morning is it's a great nephew and that's not listed in the disclosure forms. Only child, step child, grandchild etc.

I wonder how much more dirt they are going to find related to this perfectly normal, not corrupt in any way at all, relationship.

...get out your wheelbarrows, JC...

More importantly, what, if any, consequences will there be? My old weather-forecasting knee suggests none. He certainly won't 'resign in disgrace'. That's not a thing anymore.

polypusher wrote:

More importantly, what, if any, consequences will there be? My old weather-forecasting knee suggests none. He certainly won't 'resign in disgrace'. That's not a thing anymore.

Double certainly not while there's a D in the White House and a D senate majority.

Has someone put together a heat-map of the "most fascist US states" ?

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Republicans on Wednesday approved bills to ban diversity programs in colleges and prevent students and teachers from being required to use pronouns that don’t correspond to someone’s sex, building on top priorities of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The two proposals were given final passage by the Republican supermajorities in the House and Senate. DeSantis is expected to sign the bills into law.

Proud Boys Enrique Tarrio, 3 others guilty of Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy

WaPo wrote:

Former Proud Boys chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio and three other members of the extremist group were found guilty Thursday of seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

A jury deliberated for seven days in Washington before finding Tarrio, 29, and the others guilty on 31 of 46 counts. The jury handed down not guilty verdicts on four counts and returned to deliberate on a remaining 11 counts. The result was another decisive victory for the Justice Department in the latest of three seditious conspiracy trials held after what it called a historic act of domestic terrorism.

Over nearly 15 weeks of trial, prosecutors alleged that the Proud Boys on trial saw themselves as Trump’s “army.” Inspired by his directive to “stand by” during a September 2020 presidential debate and mobilized by his December 2020 call for a “wild” protest when Congress met to certify the election, prosecutors said the men sought to keep Trump in power through violence.

Tarrio, 29, and the others were charged in a 10-count indictment. The charges included conspiring to oppose by force the lawful transition of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 presidential election, conspiring to obstruct Congress’s confirmation of the election result, and actually obstructing the joint session of Congress. The legal maximum penalty for either seditious conspiracy or the obstruction charges is 20 years in prison.

I hope this will deter would-be Rambos for the 2024 election. But I'm more worried about corrupt election officials who've snuck into local precincts since 2020.

Stele wrote:

Oh the spin they are trying this morning is it's a great nephew and that's not listed in the disclosure forms. Only child, step child, grandchild etc.

I mean come on guys, have you seen these forms they are SUPER hard to figure out. I mean, like comeon.../s

JLS wrote:

Proud Boys Enrique Tarrio, 3 others guilty of Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy

WaPo wrote:

Former Proud Boys chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio and three other members of the extremist group were found guilty Thursday of seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

A jury deliberated for seven days in Washington before finding Tarrio, 29, and the others guilty on 31 of 46 counts. The jury handed down not guilty verdicts on four counts and returned to deliberate on a remaining 11 counts. The result was another decisive victory for the Justice Department in the latest of three seditious conspiracy trials held after what it called a historic act of domestic terrorism.

Over nearly 15 weeks of trial, prosecutors alleged that the Proud Boys on trial saw themselves as Trump’s “army.” Inspired by his directive to “stand by” during a September 2020 presidential debate and mobilized by his December 2020 call for a “wild” protest when Congress met to certify the election, prosecutors said the men sought to keep Trump in power through violence.

Tarrio, 29, and the others were charged in a 10-count indictment. The charges included conspiring to oppose by force the lawful transition of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden after the 2020 presidential election, conspiring to obstruct Congress’s confirmation of the election result, and actually obstructing the joint session of Congress. The legal maximum penalty for either seditious conspiracy or the obstruction charges is 20 years in prison.

I hope this will deter would-be Rambos for the 2024 election. But I'm more worried about corrupt election officials who've snuck into local precincts since 2020.

But but it was a simple photo op! And though some got a bit rowdy, it was no worse than looting a Target! /s

jdzappa wrote:

it was no worse than looting a Target! /s

Which you'll also go to prison for doing!

Hobear wrote:
Stele wrote:

Oh the spin they are trying this morning is it's a great nephew and that's not listed in the disclosure forms. Only child, step child, grandchild etc.

I mean come on guys, have you seen these forms they are SUPER hard to figure out. I mean, like comeon.../s

Which is why I love how ProPublica included this photo in their article showing that Thomas actually did figure out the forms years before he was purchased by Crow.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/rTRfou7.png)

uh-huh, uh-huh. Go on....

Fox said in a court filing Wednesday that it settled the monster defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million to “buy peace,” and strongly opposed motions to unseal additional redacted material in the case.

“Fox agreed to settle this case, with this Court’s encouragement, in large part to bring to an end the continued media spectacle, and chill on First Amendment rights, that this case had become,” Katharine Mowery, an attorney for Fox, wrote in a letter to Judge Eric Davis.

“It would create profoundly perverse incentives the next time parties are encouraged to settle a high-profile trial,” Mowery added. “After all, if $787.5 million is not enough to buy peace, parties will certainly think twice before settling in the future.”

IMAGE(https://media.tenor.com/l1Mp9AmVHngAAAAM/sure-jim.gif)

Another day. Another story about how corrupt SCOTUS is. Seems a $100K to his wife was enough for Thomas to agree to help kill off the Voting Rights Act.

Judicial activist directed fees to Clarence Thomas’s wife, urged ‘no mention of Ginni’

Wapo wrote:

Conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo arranged for the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to be paid tens of thousands of dollars for consulting work just over a decade ago, specifying that her name be left off billing paperwork, according to documents reviewed by The Washington Post.

In January 2012, Leo instructed the GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway to bill a nonprofit group he advises and use that money to pay Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the documents show. The same year, the nonprofit, the Judicial Education Project, filed a brief to the Supreme Court in a landmark voting rights case.

Leo, a key figure in a network of nonprofits that has worked to support the nominations of conservative judges, told Conway that he wanted her to “give” Ginni Thomas “another $25K,” the documents show. He emphasized that the paperwork should have “No mention of Ginni, of course.”

Conway’s firm, the Polling Company, sent the Judicial Education Project a $25,000 bill that day. Per Leo’s instructions, it listed the purpose as “Supplement for Constitution Polling and Opinion Consulting,” the documents show.

In all, according to the documents, the Polling Company paid Thomas’s firm, Liberty Consulting, $80,000 between June 2011 and June 2012, and it expected to pay $20,000 more before the end of 2012. The documents reviewed by The Post do not indicate the precise nature of any work Thomas did for the Judicial Education Project or the Polling Company.

The arrangement reveals that Leo, a longtime Federalist Society leader and friend of the Thomases, has functioned not only as an ideological ally of Clarence Thomas’s but also has worked to provide financial remuneration to his family. And it shows Leo arranging for the money to be drawn from a nonprofit that soon would have an interest before the court.

In response to questions from The Post, Leo issued a statement defending the Thomases. “It is no secret that Ginni Thomas has a long history of working on issues within the conservative movement, and part of that work has involved gauging public attitudes and sentiment. The work she did here did not involve anything connected with either the Court’s business or with other legal issues,” he wrote. “As an advisor to JEP I have long been supportive of its opinion research relating to limited government, and The Polling Company, along with Ginni Thomas’s help, has been an invaluable resource for gauging public attitudes.”

Of the effort to keep Thomas’s name off paperwork, Leo said: “Knowing how disrespectful, malicious and gossipy people can be, I have always tried to protect the privacy of Justice Thomas and Ginni.”

Leo’s statement did not address questions about whether he had arranged other work for Ginni Thomas or how much money he directed to her in all from the nonprofit.

Conway, who was a senior adviser in the Trump White House, did not respond to messages seeking comment.

The Thomases did not respond to messages seeking comment. Ginni Thomas, a political activist and former GOP aide on Capitol Hill, has long maintained that she and her husband keep their careers separate.

In December 2012, the Judicial Education Project submitted an amicus brief in Shelby County v. Holder, a case challenging a landmark civil rights law aimed at protecting minority voters. The court struck down a formula in the Voting Rights Act that determined which states had to obtain federal clearance before changing their voting rules and procedures. Clarence Thomas was part of the 5-to-4 majority.

Thomas issued a concurring opinion in the case, arguing that the preclearance requirement itself is unconstitutional. Thomas’s opinion, which was consistent with a previous opinion he wrote, favored the outcome the Judicial Education Project and several other conservative organizations had advocated in their amicus briefs. He did not cite the Judicial Education Project brief.

This seems totally fine and reasonable.

Not really "news" but trump's treasonist bent just comes out more and more.

'No shame': Trump flips out about Jack Smith's 'Gestapo force'

"Back in the USA, but sadly I see so many really bad things happening to our Country," wrote Trump. "The DOJ and FBI are destroying the lives of so many Great American Patriots, right before our very eyes. The Court System is a RUBBER STAMP for their conviction and imprisonment. All this while the Radical Left protects and coddles extremists and murderers at a level, and with intensity, never seen before. GET SMART AMERICA, THEY ARE COMING AFTER YOU!!!"

So the courts are illegitimate, the election was rigged, etc. There isn't anything "American" he likes (except the hats made in China)

I dont think random unhinged thing Trump says is still newsworthy unless it's "gee prison is nicer than I thought it would be"

CNN: Fox demands Media Matters stop publishing leaked Tucker Carlson videos

CNN wrote:

Fox sent a cease-and-desist letter on Friday to Media Matters, the progressive watchdog, and its president, demanding that it take down embarrassing behind-the-scenes videos of Tucker Carlson attacking Fox News’ streaming service and making crude remarks while joking with staff.

The footage, published over the last week in a series of clips, comes in the wake of Carlson’s abrupt firing at the right-wing network and as a steady drip of leaked text messages show the former primetime star making racist and denigrating comments.

The sternly worded letter from Fox Corporation lawyers said the “unaired footage” is its “confidential intellectual property” and demanded Media Matters “cease and desist from distribution, publication, and misuse of Fox’s misappropriated proprietary footage, which you are now on notice was unlawfully obtained.”

“Reporting on newsworthy leaked material is a cornerstone of journalism,” Media Matters President Angelo Carusone said in response to Fox’s demand Friday. “For Fox to argue otherwise is absurd and further dispels any pretense that they’re a news operation. Perhaps if I tell them that the footage came from a combination of WikiLeaks and Hunter Biden’s laptop, it will alleviate their concerns.”

Media Matters wrote:

“Reporting on newsworthy leaked material is a cornerstone of journalism,” Media Matters President Angelo Carusone said in response to Fox’s demand Friday. “For Fox to argue otherwise is absurd and further dispels any pretense that they’re a news operation. Perhaps if I tell them that the footage came from a combination of WikiLeaks and Hunter Biden’s laptop, it will alleviate their concerns.”

Savage

Translation - "Make a move for your pens, Fox Lawyers, and you'd better be ready to write another gigantic check."

Shocking! Just shocking....well not that shocking

High crime in Republican cities fueled by guns, inequality

farley3k wrote:

Shocking! Just shocking....well not that shocking

High crime in Republican cities fueled by guns, inequality

I am convinced that it is meaningless to measure crime rates without a serious discussion about definitions and measurement criteria. Moreover, folks that insist that sh*t is getting worse because line go up are just professional liars in general.

When you make something like recreational drug use a crime, your crime rate goes up. When you criminalize mental health emergencies, the crime rate goes up. When you turn administrative violations into criminal infractions, your crime rate goes up. And when you measure the efficacy of your law enforcement departments (and justify their budgets accordingly) with crime "metrics", your crime rate skyrockets.

There is a truism in business that rings particularly true when it comes to crime: you get what you measure for.

Dammit, Taylor. You make it so hard to dislike you.

Paleocon wrote:

Dammit, Taylor. You make it so hard to dislike you.

Are you trying to actively dislike her?

Veloxi wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

Dammit, Taylor. You make it so hard to dislike you.

Are you trying to actively dislike her?

No. I generally have an allergic reaction to pop stars is all.

Paleocon wrote:
Veloxi wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

Dammit, Taylor. You make it so hard to dislike you.

Are you trying to actively dislike her?

No. I generally have an allergic reaction to pop stars is all.

OK boomer.