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5 hours ago, FrostyWinnipeg said:

 

GOP congressman asks if US Forest Service can 'change the course of the moon's orbit' to fix climate change
    
The good news is a Republican U.S. Congressman appears to believe climate change is real and can be fixed. The bad news is he thinks the federal government can somehow alter the orbit of the moon – or the earth – to do so.

"Is there anything that the National Forest Service or BLM [Bureau of Land Management] can do to change the course of the moon's orbit or the Earth's orbit?" Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) asked Jennifer Eberlien, the Associate Deputy Chief at the U.S. Forest Service, as the Daily Dot reports. "Obviously that would have profound effects on our climate."

His "profound effects" remark seemed to be an afterthought.

For those who will say the Congressman from Texas was just kidding, he began his query by saying, "I was informed by the immediate past director of NASA that they've found the moon's orbit is changing slightly and so is the earth's orbit around the sun. We know there's been significant solar flare activity."

Eberlien politely did her best to hold back a guffaw, replying, "I would have to follow up with you on that one, Mr. Gohmert."

"Yeah, well if you figure out a way that you and the Forest Service can make that change, I'd like to know," Gohmert said.


*sigh* This idiot ought not to be allowed out in public without a responsible adult.

 

Edited by Tracker
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'Out of control': Legal experts weigh in on Trump DOJ's seizing of Adam Schiff's phone records
   
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) is not pleased with the latest development suggesting the Trump-led U.S. Department of Justice seized his phone records and targeted Democratic lawmakers. Now, legal experts are weighing in with their take on the dangers such actions pose to America's democracy.

According to The New York Times, David Laufman, a former official for the Justice Department official who worked a number of leak investigation cases, expressed concern about the situation given former President Donald Trump's apparent vendetta against Schiff.

"Notwithstanding whether there was sufficient predication for the leak investigation itself, including family members and minor children strikes me as extremely aggressive," Laufman said, adding, "In combination with former President Trump's unmistakable vendetta against Congressman Schiff, it raises serious questions about whether the manner in which this investigation was conducted was influenced by political considerations rather than purely legal ones."

'Out of control': Legal experts weigh in on Trump DOJ's seizing of Adam Schiff's phone records - Alternet.org

Republicans Push To Export Absurd Arizona-Style Election Audits To Other States;  GOP lawmakers from Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia want to conduct unnecessary, conspiratorial audits of the 2020 election in their home states.

Arizona state Senate Republicans’ “audit” of 2020 election results in Maricopa County is so unprofessional and illegitimate that many election officials won’t even refer to it as an audit. 

But the GOP’s audit fever is spreading nevertheless: Driven by the same lies about election fraud that underpin the Arizona audit, Republican lawmakers and conservative activists in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are clamoring for their states to launch their own sham reviews. Another so-called forensic audit ― a term veteran election officials have not used before ― could soon begin in Georgia’s largest county. Embattled Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz (R) visited Arizona last week with dreams of convincing his state ― which, unlike the others, former President Donald Trump won ― and others to replicate the process. Other GOP lawmakers, including several with plans to seek higher office next year, have flocked to Phoenix too. 

Republicans Push To Export Absurd Arizona-Style Election Audits To Other States | HuffPost

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34 minutes ago, Tracker said:

raises serious questions about whether the manner in which this investigation was conducted was influenced by political considerations rather than purely legal ones."

how very polite.

Democrats don't understand who they are dealing with.

 

Edited by Mark F
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1 minute ago, Mark F said:

how very polite.

Democrats don't understand who they are dealing with.

 

Every indication is that the Democrats are naïve about the intent and willingness of at least some of the GOP to oppose and destroy American democracy by rigging the electoral process and using force to overturn legitimate results they do not like. They GOP is backed by corporate money and supported by rabid elements such as the Proud Boys, Oathkeeprs and "Christian" fundamentalists, to name a few.  

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One of my thoughts is all the fake recounts  are to serve one purpose. Its so when the next election is held the system that that stopped Trump from turning over the will of the people won't be there or can be circumvented. Its just part of the preparation for next time. Just like the gerrymandering and new voting rules. Its all to keep people in power who can't get legitimately elected.

Edit: And to get people mentally ready to accept that when it happens.

Edited by the watcher
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1 hour ago, Mark F said:

how very polite.

Democrats don't understand who they are dealing with.

 

I don't think Democrats understand WHAT  they are dealing with. Trump was never the cause of their problems, he is a symptom. He's the bad lungs of Covid that can kill you but there's a virus that's really  the cause. They are a society that doesn't care for each other or for common decency . A society that accepts the shooting deaths of children in the name of personal rights. That jails more people( mostly people ofcolour) than any other western country yet allowed rich white people to destroy the economy with a known scam in 2008 with no punishment.  A rich country that is 32nd to 35th in life expectancy. I could go on but these issues haven't sprung up with Trump. He just embraced the scummy dirty part of that country openly and more than any other leader. The only politician that really embraced real change in that country was Bernie Sanders . But the Democrats wouldn't accept him or support real change.  I truly believe they are pooched.

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16 minutes ago, Bigblue204 said:

I think it's rather naive that some seem to think the dems don't know whats going on. They know. This is who they are.

In Germany during the Nazi era, when they were rounding up Jews ( they had already done that with gays, the physically disabled and the mentally ill), they managed to find Jews who supported this, because, a) they were hoping to be eaten last and b) they just could not believe what was coming, even though Hitler laid out his agenda in Mein Kampf.  I think many Americans, Democrats and Republicans cannot conceive that a fascist dictatorship could actually come to power in America. 

3 minutes ago, bustamente said:

First investigate you opponents, next regain power and throw said opponents in jail, Fuddy duddy Democrats are in for a world of hurt and they have no one to blame but themselves 

There will be more than Democrats who will suffer: unions, gays, environmentalists, Muslims, Semites, Hispanics, Jews, Asians, blacks, and the "wrong kind" of Christians. 

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Top Democrats threaten to subpoena Bill Barr and Jeff Sessions over new bombshell: 'A gross abuse of power'
   
Top Democratic lawmakers are calling for former U.S. Attorneys General Bill Barr and Jeff Sessions to testify over new revelations about the U.S. Department of Justice's targeting of Democratic lawmakers.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Democratic Whip **** Durbin (D-Ill.) on Friday released a joint statement in response to the reports about the Department of Justice's actions under the Trump administration.

"The revelation that the Trump Justice Department secretly subpoenaed metadata of House Intelligence Committee Members and staff and their families, including a minor, is shocking. This is a gross abuse of power and an assault on the separation of powers," Schumer and Durbin said in their statement. "This appalling politicization of the Department of Justice by Donald Trump and his sycophants must be investigated immediately by both the DOJ Inspector General and Congress."

They added, "This issue should not be partisan; under the Constitution, Congress is a coequal branch of government and must be protected from an overreaching executive, and we expect that our Republican colleagues will join us in getting to the bottom of this serious matter."

They said they're prepared to subpoena the former officials if they refuse to testify voluntarily.

Top Democrats threaten to subpoena Bill Barr and Jeff Sessions over new bombshell: 'A gross abuse of power' - Alternet.org

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Just now, Tracker said:

Top Democrats threaten to subpoena Bill Barr and Jeff Sessions over new bombshell: 'A gross abuse of power'
   
Top Democratic lawmakers are calling for former U.S. Attorneys General Bill Barr and Jeff Sessions to testify over new revelations about the U.S. Department of Justice's targeting of Democratic lawmakers.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Democratic Whip **** Durbin (D-Ill.) on Friday released a joint statement in response to the reports about the Department of Justice's actions under the Trump administration.

"The revelation that the Trump Justice Department secretly subpoenaed metadata of House Intelligence Committee Members and staff and their families, including a minor, is shocking. This is a gross abuse of power and an assault on the separation of powers," Schumer and Durbin said in their statement. "This appalling politicization of the Department of Justice by Donald Trump and his sycophants must be investigated immediately by both the DOJ Inspector General and Congress."

They added, "This issue should not be partisan; under the Constitution, Congress is a coequal branch of government and must be protected from an overreaching executive, and we expect that our Republican colleagues will join us in getting to the bottom of this serious matter."

They said they're prepared to subpoena the former officials if they refuse to testify voluntarily.

Top Democrats threaten to subpoena Bill Barr and Jeff Sessions over new bombshell: 'A gross abuse of power' - Alternet.org

All little less talk and a little more action. 

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15 minutes ago, JCon said:

All little less talk and a little more action. 

This is what many predicted would happen as soon as Trump and his pack of hyenas were out of power-  a series of leaks that might seem minor at first but soon swelling into a flood of disclosures as the honest civil servants began to test the resolve of the Biden administration to pursue the miscreants, followed by a rush of those implicated or fearing to be implicated saving their own hides. We ain't seen nothin' yet.

 

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'Fascists are at the gates': Government watchdog delivers dire warning that the US 'is in grave danger’
   
Former Director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, Walter Shaub, is sounding the alarm on the current state of democracy in America.

Prompted by two stories: the push for infrastructure legislation over voting rights, and Thursday night's bombshell New York Times report that both Trump Attorneys General Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr had spied on Democrats in Congress, including their staffs, family members and even children, Shaub went to work to wake Americans up about just how bad he thinks things are.

And he's placing much of the blame on President Joe Biden's shoulders.

"I think Biden's doing a good job with the pandemic and several other things," Shaub tweeted Friday morning. "But I'm increasingly alarmed that he seems clueless about the threat to democracy and doesn't seem to have any real commitment to pushing legislation on voting rights or corruption. That's dangerous."

"I like him too," Shaub, who is now a Senior Ethics Fellow at the Project On Government Oversight, told a social media user who was defending Biden's popularity. "But I'm coming to the conclusion that he's clueless about the danger."

What danger?

"Grave danger."

"Listen, your online friends can go back to sleep if they want, just tell them to set their alarm clocks for quarter to fascism so they don't miss the handover," he warns, suggesting the fascists are winning.

"'LOSE THE HERO WORSHIP'," he tells Democrats, "and start pounding…folks in the White House & Congress [who] think it's enough to behave better than Trump. They've moved on from worrying about democracy and are spending all their political capital on fixing the roads and pipes."

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4 minutes ago, HardCoreBlue said:

Another way someone said it on Twitter, stop threatening and just do it.

Not voting for an independent commission should of been the last straw for the Democrats, none of the GOP leaders want to bargain in good faith they just want to obstruct so just bypass them but with Sinema and Manchin they don't have a chance

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Manchin at least has explained his rationale, and it’s not entirely incorrect. He remembers when Harry Reid was Senate majority leader and changed the rules surrounding the 60 vote threshold using the nuclear option. Then when the GOP regained the Senate McConnell used it to help ram through Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, saying he was simply following precedent. Manchin fears that any new rule imposed by the Dems now could cause long term pain if the GOP gets a chance to abuse it once back in power. And considering that, even with all the nonsense that went on in the Senate during the Obama and Trump terms, the best the Dems could do during the “blue wave” was to eke out a tie on the Senate, the odds are decent that Republicans re-gain control soon. And even if Republican voters are the minority in the US, they are most likely the most galvanized single voting group out there. Even on a 2 party system, Dems want to flip flop on old school vs moderates vs progressives. 

Edited by TrueBlue4ever
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its tragicomic, that with all thats going on, the thing that raises their ire, is somebody snooping on them.

lol.

seem to recall hearing endlessly sometime ago re nsa internet surveillance

 

"if youve done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear"

anyways, barrack hussein obama spied on Trump in his office, so whats the big deal anyway ./s

should be hearing that in about five minutes.

 

love shaub calling biden "clueless" 

cant stay away from this **** its like a massive car crackup.

 

 

Edited by Mark F
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New report reveals how Trump's 2020 lies unleashed waves of threat and intimidation against election official
   
After the New York Times' Maggie Haberman reported, on June 1, that former President Donald Trump believes he will be "reinstated" as president by August, many Trump critics — from liberals and progressives to Never Trump conservatives — warned that his delusions could inspire more attacks like the January 6 insurrection as well as an increase in threats against officials. The death threats, harassment and intimidation that election workers have been receiving from Trump supporters is the focus of in-depth article published by Reuters this week, and reporter Linda So shows that the abuse continues months after Trump's departure from the White House.

In her report, So emphasizes that the election workers who have suffered ongoing abuse range from high-level officials such as Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (a conservative Republican) to low-level and mid-level election workers. Raffensperger, following the 2020 presidential election, infuriated Trump and his allies — including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and far-right attorneys Sidney Powell and Lin Wood — by maintaining that now-President Joe Biden won Georgia fairly and that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the state as Trump claimed. And Raffensperger, along with his wife Tricia Raffensperger, have been inundated with death threats ever since

New report reveals how Trump's 2020 lies unleashed waves of threat and intimidation against election official - Alternet.org

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