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The Big Lie at the Big Box Store: Sears, Kmart Sold Shirts Proclaiming Insurrectionist Ashli Babbitt an 'American Patriot' The big box retailers pulled the products from their online marketplaces after being called out on Twitter six months to the day of the Capitol riots. In the six months since the insurrection that took place at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, there have been countless lies told by the right wing about the events and intent of that day, but perhaps the biggest is that the shooting of Ashli Babbitt as she attempted to breach the Speaker’s Lobby through a smashed window somehow rendered the military veteran turned QAnon conspiracist a martyr. To be sure, Babbitt’s death was senseless—senseless because it was in service to the irrational, inane, yet persistent lie that Donald Trump is somehow the duly elected president of the United States. (Spoiler alert: He’s not.) However, that hasn’t stopped fellow conspiracists from praising Babbitt as a “patriot”—and now, American retailers seeking to profit from the third-party retailer market are getting caught in the crosshairs. As the nation and media reflected on the insurrection and ongoing investigation on Tuesday, Aaron Rupar, associate editor of politics & policy at Vox made another discovery at two of the country’s most recognizable retail brands. Sears and Kmart, both American big box pioneers now under the same ownership, were each selling “Ashli Babbitt ‘American Patriot’” t-shirts in their online marketplaces. Sears, Kmart Sold Shirts Proclaiming Insurrectionist Ashli Babbitt an 'American Patriot' (theroot.com)

If nothing else, it brought some needed publicity to the CFL during a time when COVID was throttling every sport. Who knows, it may have perked up some interest in US players to come check the CFL out. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

More than the money that he is leaching from his supporters, which is important, Trump has a desperate need to see himself as having been cheated out of his rightful place in the winner's circle of the White House. From all reports, Trump's father was a demanding, impossible to please authoritarian Nazi sympathizer. Any son who has had a father-figure like Trump's, is riddled with self-doubt and a visceral need to refuse to admit any failing whatsoever. Any less than perfect victory is a confirmation that he is not good enough and never will be, and the sadistic nature of the father is adopted by the son. Make no mistake- if sending one or all of his children and associates to jail will keep him out of jail, he will absolutely do it.

In legalese there is something referred to by the acronym "SLAP" otherwise known as a strategically leveraged lawsuit. The aim is to not win, but to publicly defend self and hope that the suit will intimidate the defendant. Judges do have the option of throwing the suit out of court immediately as frivolous and even awarding punitive damages to the defendant. However, the GOP has stacked the courts as much as they could with toadies, so who knows what will happen.

The Spaniards managed to kill over 10 million without the help of automatic weapons or explosives. The practice of slaughtering opponents is not restricted to Europe or North America. It happened in Africa, Asia and South America. Even the aboriginal peoples in North America practiced genocides when able. There's a lot of blood on a lot of hands. And it is going on in mainland China right now with Uighurs, Mongolians and Tibetans.

The attackers apparently posed as American DEA agents.

Asian culture is fixated on rhino horns as an aphrodisiac. For a while, game wardens in Africa and Asia were spraying a penetrating dye onto the horns of the live animals but it seems the poachers found a way to get around that.

Trump reportedly 'shocked' his former chief of staff with refusal to stop praising Nazi leader Adolf Hitler Back in 2017, the inventor of Godwin's Law made it clear that comparing someone to a Nazi, when they are literally praising the Nazis, was completely fair. That came during the sequence of events at Charlottesville, where violent white supremacists marched to Nazi slogans and one deliberately killed peaceful protester Heather Heyer by driving over her with a car. Trump responded by a statement that there were "very fine people" on both sides of the events, then he doubled-down on that statement with a claim that he was only supporting the Nazis in their praise for a Confederate traitor. In 2018, Trump explicitly declared "I'm a nationalist," in a speech ostensibly supporting Ted Cruz. "You know, they have a word," said Trump. "It sort of became old-fashioned. It's called a nationalist. And I say really, we're not supposed to use that word. You know what I am? I am a nationalist. Use that word." So when The Guardian published an account on Wednesday morning that Trump defended Hitler while on a tour of military cemeteries … is anyone really surprised? "Hitler," said Trump, "did a lot of good things." The pro-Hitler conversation is from a book titled Frankly, We Did Win This Election, by Wall Street Journal reported Michael Bender which is slated for publication next week. On a 2018 trip to Europe in which Trump was supposed to go to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery to visit the graves of 2,300 Americans who were killed in World War I. Instead, Trump skipped out on the visit, claiming it was too wet, while actually telling his advisers that he had no interest in visiting soldiers who were "losers" and "suckers." During that visit, it was already known that then chief of staff John Kelly tried to explain the circumstances of both World Wars, to explain how the actions taken after World War I contributed to the rise of the Nazis, and how that led to World War II. Trump responded by saying that he "didn't understand why the United States would intervene on the side of the Allies." But the new book goes further. It explains how Trump "stunned" Kelly by his direct support of Hitler. Kelly reputedly told Trump that he was wrong to support the murderous dictator, "but Trump was undeterred." Instead, Trump kept pointing to how Hitler supposedly pulled Germany out of its economic slump in the 1930s. Trump reportedly 'shocked' his former chief of staff with refusal to stop praising Nazi leader Adolf Hitler - Alternet.org (This is further proof that even a diaper can hold only so much poop, and then start leaking out)

The first step towards change is awareness, which is not always kind or comforting. Everything costs something, and the impetus of change is discomfort.

Are you accusing our PM of being sleepy?

And they were not alone. This does not exonerate the Canadian politicians and religious leaders or the British in any way, but pretty much all invading/occupying forces (not just armies) have done much the same. It seems to be a tragic fact that humans are not only capable of doing such things, but willing and eager to so so.

Hair loss, like insanity, is inherited- you get it from your kids.

Sooo.... there is a rationale for leaving statues of Adolph Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini (to name a few) up in public view?

We broke the 40 new cases mark! GREAT!!!

189 People Dead in 500+ Shootings Over Fourth of July Weekend Karen Ducey/Getty News Over the Fourth of July weekend, there were more than 500 shootings across the United States taking the lives of at least 189 people. The Gun Violence Archive has compiled data on the number of shooting incidents over a 72-hour period between Friday and Sunday. In New York alone, there were 26 victims of 21 shootings. In Chicago, 95 people were shot, 16 of them fatally. Of those killed, one was Chrys Carvajal, a member of the Illinois Army National Guard. There were also several mass shootings over the holiday weekend. Eight people were injured in a shooting in Fort Worth, Texas, on Sunday. Four children were shot in Virginia on Friday afternoon; all are expected to recover. A 17-year-old died after a shooting in Ohio that injured 12 others at a block party. In a tweet, the Gun Violence Archive stated that by its count, there have been more than 20 mass shootings in July alone.

GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Ripped For Reprehensible New Claim About COVID-19 Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s latest comments about the coronavirus drew fierce backlash on Monday. In a threaded “message from America to the swamp” that she posted on Twitter, the Georgia Republican bombastically declared that “no one cares” about the more transmissible delta variant of COVID-19 that is now making its way across the United States “or any other variant.” “All voters are over Covid,” the QAnon conspiracy theory-endorsing lawmaker claimed, even though around 11,000 new infections are being recorded daily. No one cares about the Delta Variant or any other variant. They are over covid & there is no amount of fear based screaming from the media that will ever force Americans to shut down again. Forced masks and vaccines will cause Dems to lose big. All voters are over covid. — Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) July 6, 2021 Elsewhere in the thread, Greene said Fox News was part of the “fake news media” and told people who “don’t like America or our flag” to “get the hell out of our GREAT country & go live in some other shithole Socialist or Communist country.” Greene has previously likened House mask mandates to the Holocaust and praised people who refuse to receive a coronavirus vaccine, which scientists worldwide have said is key to thwarting the pandemic.

They could make it as a zombie movie like "Dead Heat."

Roger Stone's aide is throwing Women for America First 'under the bus' Roger Stone associate Kristin Davis is behind a new column blaming Women for America First for being behind the organizing of the "Stop the Steal" rally and saying that Stone had nothing to do with it, reporter Nancy Levin discovered Sunday. Writing in a conspiracy theory publication, Davis explained that all Stone did was stand outside his hotel with an entourage waiting for a car to pick them up. "I booked Roger to speak at the Rally to Save America the night prior and was led to believe by Women for America First that he was supposed to speak the following afternoon on January 6th, at a rally they organized which featured President Donald J. Trump. After a completely peaceful rally on January 5th, which attracted thousands of brave American patriots, we woke up the next morning expecting to attend the rally at the Ellipse," the column read. "However, despite Women for America First promoting Stone as a speaker and insisting that they were sending a transport for Mr. Stone and our team to the Willard Hotel, the escort never came," the piece continued. "As we were waiting, the staff at the Hotel Willard asked anyone congregating in the lobby to stay out of the cold to step outside in order to adhere to COVID-19 guidelines set forth by the Mayor of Washington, D.C. A simple walk outside, which lasted mere minutes, is the first part of the dishonest conspiracy theory by the mainstream media and Democrat (sic) elected officials that Mr. Stone was somehow organizing the insurrection, or had some sort of advance knowledge of what was going to happen later that day." Raw Story has never reported that Stone was part of the organizing of the event, but those members of the Oath Keepers militia who were working as the security for Stone are accused of being linked to the plotting of violence. Roger Stone's aide is throwing Women for America First 'under the bus' - Alternet.org Justice Department filings showed Jessica Watkins saying to allies that the task "sounds like a sweet gig," meaning the guarding of Stone. "Looks like we might be security for Roger Stone, if we end up rolling with the Oath keepers(sic)," Watkins texted Donovan Ray Crowl on Jan. 1. Crowl texted back later that day saying, it "should be fun." Crowl was cited for believing that there would be a "literal war" in the United States on Jan. 6. Crowl's lawyer said in the court documents that his client wasn't doing anything other than security on Jan. 6, but other messages prosecutors got showed that the Oath Keepers were coordinating with "30-40" people during the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Watkins and Crowl were both indicted on charges of conspiracy, conspiracy to injure an officer and destruction of government property. Stone appears to be denying that he and the security had discussed anything outside of their work for him. Women for America First was behind the rally, according to permits requested from the Parks Service.

Yes, we should because the term "casual sex" implies that there is competitive sex and that would be worth reading, would it not?

My teachers were telling me that all through high school.

Apparently he has been reincarnated and is living in Vancouver, but waaaay off his meds.

White Supremacists March Unhindered in Front of Philadelphia City Hall Published Jul. 04, 2021 9:27AM ET -Andrew Kelly via Reuters Local residents jeered a group of men marching in front of the Philadelphia City Hall late Saturday wearing white face coverings and the insignia for the white supremacist group Patriot Front. Local media reported that there were dozens of the men, all wearing khaki pants, blue shirts, tan hats, and white face coverings. Some were waving flags or carrying shields. Some residents scuffled with the men as they tried to chase them away, and a journalist had his cellphone snatched as he took photos. The Texas-based Patriot Front group is described by the Anti-Defamation League as “a white supremacist group whose members maintain that their ancestors conquered America and bequeathed it solely to them.” Police were not seen intervening and no arrests were reported.

Ransomware Attack Before Holiday Leaves Companies Scrambling. At least 200 U.S. businesses were hit, according to a cybersecurity firm that believes Russians are behind the attack. Businesses around the world rushed Saturday to contain a ransomware attack that has paralyzed their computer networks, a situation complicated in the U.S. by offices lightly staffed at the start of the Fourth of July holiday weekend. It’s not yet known how many organizations have been hit by demands that they pay a ransom in order to get their systems working again. But some cybersecurity researchers predict the attack targeting customers of software supplier Kaseya could be one of the broadest ransomware attacks on record — even after a scourge of headline-grabbing attacks over recent months. “The number of victims here is already over a thousand and will likely reach into the tens of thousands,” said cybersecurity expert Dmitri Alperovitch of the Silverado Policy Accelerator think tank. “No other ransomware campaign comes even close in terms of impact.” The cybersecurity firm ESET says there are victims in least 17 countries, including the United Kingdom, South Africa, Canada, Argentina, Mexico and Spain. In Sweden, most of the grocery chain Coop’s 800 stores were unable to open because their cash registers weren’t working, according to SVT, the country’s public broadcaster. The Swedish State Railways and a major local pharmacy chain were also affected. Cybersecurity experts say the REvil gang, a major Russian-speaking ransomware syndicate, appears to be behind the attack that targeted the software company Kaseya, using its network-management package as a conduit to spread the ransomware through cloud-service providers. Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola said in a statement that the company believes it has identified the source of the vulnerability and will “release that patch as quickly as possible to get our customers back up and running.” Voccola said fewer than 40 of Kaseya’s customers were known to be affected, but experts said the ransomware could still be affecting hundreds more companies that rely on Kaseya’s clients that provide broader IT services. John Hammond of the security firm Huntress Labs said he was aware of a number of managed-services providers — companies that host IT infrastructure for multiple customers — being hit by the ransomware, which encrypts networks until the victims pay off attackers. “It’s reasonable to think this could potentially be impacting thousands of small businesses,” said Hammond, basing his estimate on the service providers reaching out to his company for assistance and comments on Reddit showing how others are responding. At least some victims appeared to be getting ransoms set at $45,000, considered a small demand but one that could quickly add up when sought from thousands of victims, said Brett Callow, a ransomware expert at the cybersecurity firm Emsisoft. Callow said it’s not uncommon for sophisticated ransomware gangs to perform an audit after stealing a victim’s financial records to see what they can really pay, but that won’t be possible at this scale. “They just pitched the demand amount at a level most companies will be willing to pay,” he said. Ransomware Attack Before Holiday Leaves Companies Scrambling | HuffPost