US Politics

[Tracker]

30 minutes ago, bustamente said:

These people are flat out nuts

And he is not without followers. I cannot recall where I first heard this, but "Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers".

[Mark F]

2 hours ago, Tracker said:

Anti-Vax Leader Traveling Country With Guns, Flamethrower, and Fake Badge in Quest to Arrest Dem Governors

"Freedom"

is the right to own a flame thrower.

Edited January 2, 2022 by Mark F

[Mark F]

not sure, but I think this is a bona fide ad. hard as it is to believe.

 

Unrivaled Performance

Our flamethrowers deliver the power, performance and safety to set even the biggest challenges up in smoke. Unlock the true performance of your flamethrower with our fuel thickening Napalm Mix

 

insane.

 

https://throwflame.com/

Edited January 2, 2022 by Mark F

[Wanna-B-Fanboy]

7 minutes ago, Tracker said:

And he is not without followers. I cannot recall where I first heard this, but "Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers".

Who is: The man who convinced trump to run for president.

 

I'll take "Idiot fat asses" for $500 please.

Edited January 2, 2022 by wanna-b-fanboy

[TrueBlue4ever]

So I missed this story in December, but Devin Nunes is now officially gone:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/12/06/gop-rep-devin-nunes-resigns-from-congress-to-become-ceo-of-trumps-media-company.html

And Marjorie Taylor Greene has been permanently yanked from Twitter for COVID misinformation: 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6302175

[Tracker]

Canadian political scientist warns his country must face 'horrible' possibility of US becoming a 'right-wing dictatorship' by 2030
   
As a political science professor at the Royal Roads University in Colwood, British Columbia, Thomas Homer-Dixon is only about 35 miles from the U.S. border — and in an op-ed published by the Globe and Mail on New Year’s Eve, he grapples with the frightening possibility that Canada’s neighbor to the south could be under a fascist dictatorship only eight years from now.

“By 2025, American democracy could collapse, causing extreme domestic political instability, including widespread civil violence,” writes Homer-Dixon, author of the book “Commanding Hope: The Power We Have to Renew a World in Peril” and founder of Royal Roads’ Cascade Institute. “By 2030, if not sooner, the country could be governed by a right-wing dictatorship. We mustn’t dismiss these possibilities just because they seem ludicrous or too horrible to imagine.”

Homer-Dixon, in his op-ed, warns that if former President Donald Trump returns to the White House in January 2025 — possibly by stealing the 2024 election with the help of the Republican Party — there will be major implications for Canada.

“Returning to office, he’ll be the wrecking ball that demolishes democracy, but the process will produce a political and social shambles,” Homer-Dixon writes. “Still, through targeted harassment and dismissal, he’ll be able to thin the ranks of his movement’s opponents within the state — the bureaucrats, officials and technocrats who oversee the non-partisan functioning of core institutions and abide by the rule of law. Then, the stage will be set for a more managerially competent ruler, after Mr. Trump, to bring order to the chaos he’s created.”

The Canadian government, he warns, is facing an “unfolding crisis” to the south and needs to think long and hard about how it will respond if United States goes full-fledged authoritarian.

“A terrible storm is coming from the south, and Canada is woefully unprepared,” Homer-Dixon explains. “Over the past year, we’ve turned our attention inward, distracted by the challenges of COVID-19, reconciliation and the accelerating effects of climate change. But now, we must focus on the urgent problem of what to do about the likely unraveling of democracy in the United States. We need to start by fully recognizing the magnitude of the danger. If Mr. Trump is reelected, even under the more optimistic scenarios, the economic and political risks to our country will be innumerable.”

Homer-Dixon laments that it isn’t excessive to use the “f word” to describe the political threat facing the U.S. — the “f word” being “fascism.”

[Tracker]

Trump Jr and Ivanka are refusing to comply with NY AG’s subpoenas: report
   
Donald Trump, Jr. and Ivanka Trump are refusing to comply with legal subpoenas issued by the New York State Attorney General.

AG Letitia James subpoenaed the Trump siblings last month, but according to ABC News court documents say a “dispute has arisen between the OAG and the Individual Trump Parties regarding the Subpoenas.”

Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump “will file motions to quash the subpoenas as soon as Monday, the filing indicated.”

The subpoenas demand testimony from the adult Trump children in a civil suit filed by James into how the Trump Organization and Donald Trump valued assets. The former president, according to his former attorney Michael Cohen, inflated the value of his real estate holdings when applying for loans or credit, then deflated their value for tax purposes.

[Tracker]

Trump called her an ‘incredible woman’ — but a new report reveals the disturbing past of Ashli Babbitt
   
Ashli Babbitt has been heralded by Trump and his MAGA supporters as a martyr, but the reality tells a vastly different story.

Babbitt, 35, was an Air Force veteran who was fatally shot by a Capitol Police police officer as she attempted to climb through a broken window of a door leading to the Speaker’s Lobby inside the U.S. Capitol during the terrorist attack on Jan. 6.

Since her death, former President Donald Trump has praised Babbitt, calling her an “innocent, wonderful, and incredible woman,” taped a posthumous video for her birthday, and demanded the Justice Department reopen an investigation into her death. Trump supporters idealize her as a soldier for justice who was wrongfully murdered. Her name and photo have been emblazoned on T-shirts and flags at Trump rallies.

However, Associated Press spoke with a woman by the name of Celeste Norris who says the Babbitt she knew was dangerous and violent. “I lived in fear because I didn’t know what she was capable of,” Norris told the AP. “I was constantly looking over my shoulder.”

Trump called her an ‘incredible woman’ — but a new report reveals the disturbing past of Ashli Babbitt - Alternet.org

'The committee has broken through Trump's wall' and knows exactly what he did during riot: CNN's Jamie Gangel
   
CNN reporter Jamie Gangel on Monday said that the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riots has gained direct testimony describing former President Donald Trump's actions as he watched his supporters storm the Capitol.

Speaking with host Jake Tapper, Gangel broke down what sources have been telling her about testimony the committee has secured.

"The source said, quote, there's a collection of people with relevant information," she said. "Translation, Jake: 'Firsthand' indicates the committee is now hearing from people with direct knowledge. It could be someone who was in the room, someone on the phone, but these are people with firsthand information. I would say, bottom line, Jake, this means the committee has broken through Trump's wall."

Trump had indicted to top allies such as Mark Meadows and Steve Bannon that he did not want them cooperating with the committee, but it seems that the committee has nonetheless gathered testimony from other Trump officials to create a full picture of the president's actions during the riots.

During her talk with Tapper, Gangel elaborated on one potential witness who could have given the committee significant information.

"One witness that we know of who has given a deposition to the committee is Keith Kellogg," she said. "He was former vice president Mike Pence's national security adviser who happened to be with Trump in the White House on January 6th when the riot was going on."

[bustamente]

All they need is video of Trump dancing in the WH as the riot was going on

 

[Tracker]

Ex-Trump aide Peter Navarro says 100 House members were "ready" to carry out election coup

In the year since last Jan. 6, we've heard numerous accounts of unsuccessful "coup plots" allegedly or reportedly devised by Donald Trump's allies and followers. But this week, in an interview with Rolling Stone, former White House adviser Peter Navarro revealed a scheme that, by his account, nearly worked to keep the former president in office. 

Although officially a Trump adviser on trade and economic issues, Navarro has become a leading promoter of Trump's grandiose claims that the 2020 election was "stolen" through widespread voter fraud. 

Following Trump's defeat in November of that year, Navarro told Rolling Stone, the adviser did "research" on how Trump could be legally and rightfully reinstalled — at least in Navarro's mind — for a second term. 

That research apparently laid the foundation for the "Green Bay Sweep," an ambitious scheme that would have required the cooperation of former Vice President Mike Pence and every Republican member of the House of Representatives. During the certification of electoral votes on Jan. 6, Pence would "provide a public forum" in which grievances and complaints about "fraud and election irregularities could be aired in 24-hours of televised hearings to the American public."

Once Congress had created a legal basis for challenging the Electoral College votes, in Navarro's narrative, there would have then been an unspecified "mechanism" — definitely not mentioned in the Constitution — "that would allow those likely illegal [Electoral College] votes to be sent back to the states for further review."

At this juncture, Navarro said, at least some Republican-dominated states would "withdraw any certification" of their electoral votes, making an Electoral College majority impossible. That would have thrown the presidential election into the House — and that part actually is in the Constitution — with each state's delegation casting one vote. Since Republicans controlled more states than Democrats, Trump would presumably have been "elected" to a second term. 

"My role in the whole thing was basically to provide Congress, via my reports, the analytical material they needed to actually make the challenges," Navarro explained. "And the president himself had distributed Volume One of the report to every member of the House and Senate a week or so earlier.

"It's a well thought-out plan based on sound, constitutional law and existing legislative precedent. And all it required was peace and calm on Capitol Hill for it to unfold," he added.

Ex-Trump aide Peter Navarro says 100 House members were "ready" to carry out election coup | Salon.com

[bustamente]

You can pretty well guarantee that if Trump got a second term his AG would be putting anyone against him in jail and would be well on his way of becoming Emperor for life, Democrats will get a taste of this in the mid terms when they loose the House and maybe the Senate. Republicans are already fixing the Presidential race right under the Democrats noses, the Dems may control the Presidency , House and Senate but the Republicans as minority are running the country

[Bigblue204]

Wasn't Trump supposed to be arrested and in Jail by now? I seem to remember something about that...

[Wanna-B-Fanboy]

I fear that 2025 will be the last gasp of that republic.

[TrueBlue4ever]

Sadly, Trump is not the real problem. He is the “useful idiot” who the Republican establishment only needs as the rallying figurehead for the brainwashed masses who vote for “him”. Like Cheney running things when Bush 2 was the puppet President, there will be a smarter, more corrupt puppet master behind the scenes who will call the shots and more quietly destroy democracy. If they can compete with Putin and his attempt to take down the USA through chaos. 

[Tracker]

1 hour ago, TrueBlue4ever said:

Sadly, Trump is not the real problem. He is the “useful idiot” who the Republican establishment only needs as the rallying figurehead for the brainwashed masses who vote for “him”. Like Cheney running things when Bush 2 was the puppet President, there will be a smarter, more corrupt puppet master behind the scenes who will call the shots and more quietly destroy democracy. If they can compete with Putin and his attempt to take down the USA through chaos. 

Peter Navarro, Trump's former advisor and confidant, created a plan that had an appearance of quasi-legality and would allow Trump and his stormtroopers to overturn the election results on the pretext of illegal voting (with no proof at all), and order the military to seize voting machines. The real scary part is that Navarro claimed that he had 100 senators and congressmen ready to back the plan to the hilt, including a declaration of martial law. If that doesn't scare the poop out of Americans, nothing will.  In a poll taken about a month ago, 30% of Republicans said that they were OK with violence being used to install a GOP president if they lost the next election.

[the watcher]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/05/trump-capitol-attack-democracy-election-insurrection-index

An idex is being created of over 1,000 public figures involved in trying to overturn a legitimate election. It's good to see a strong pushback as the way I view, as it stands  , legitimate elections in the US are highly unlikely  to happen if the current path continues.

Edited January 5, 2022 by the watcher

[bustamente]

14 hours ago, Tracker said:

Peter Navarro, Trump's former advisor and confidant, created a plan that had an appearance of quasi-legality and would allow Trump and his stormtroopers to overturn the election results on the pretext of illegal voting (with no proof at all), and order the military to seize voting machines. The real scary part is that Navarro claimed that he had 100 senators and congressmen ready to back the plan to the hilt, including a declaration of martial law. If that doesn't scare the poop out of Americans, nothing will.  In a poll taken about a month ago, 30% of Republicans said that they were OK with violence being used to install a GOP president if they lost the next election.

If you saw him on TV last night it's pretty well certain that in Republican controlled States they are not going to count votes and just give the Electoral votes to the Republican Presidential candidate. Guys like Navarro think they are so smart but eventually they get what's coming to them

[bustamente]

Trump postpones his lying news conference for tomorrow where he would of spouted out lies and taken no questions. Someone must of gotten to him telling him the more he says the more ammo the Government has against him

[Tracker]

1 hour ago, bustamente said:

If you saw him on TV last night it's pretty well certain that in Republican controlled States they are not going to count votes and just give the Electoral votes to the Republican Presidential candidate. Guys like Navarro think they are so smart but eventually they get what's coming to them

It would be nice to think that the Trumpers will get what is coming to them,  but reality is another matter. In the 1930s when several of the richest and most powerful families conspired to overthrow Roosevelt because he was instituting policies of increasing taxes on the rich and massive public works projects to spur the US out of the Great Depression. The plot was foiled only when the US Marine Corps commanding general was approached by the conspirators and initially pretended to go along but alerted the Secretary of Defence, who, along with Roosevelt, summoned the cabal to Washington and threatened them all with long jail terms and/or hangings. This made the group rethink their goals, but none, NONE went to jail.  Nixon ought to have gone to jail, but was pardoned for "national healing". I expect that it will be much the same again for Trumpers- the flunkies will go to jail for token sentences but the big fish will swim away.

[HardCoreBlue]

14 minutes ago, Tracker said:

It would be nice to think that the Trumpers will get what is coming to them,  but reality is another matter. In the 1930s when several of the richest and most powerful families conspired to overthrow Roosevelt because he was instituting policies of increasing taxes on the rich and massive public works projects to spur the US out of the Great Depression. The plot was foiled only when the US Marine Corps commanding general was approached by the conspirators and initially pretended to go along but alerted the Secretary of Defence, who, along with Roosevelt, summoned the cabal to Washington and threatened them all with long jail terms and/or hangings. This made the group rethink their goals, but none, NONE went to jail.  Nixon ought to have gone to jail, but was pardoned for "national healing". I expect that it will be much the same again for Trumpers- the flunkies will go to jail for token sentences but the big fish will swim away.

Thanks for that uplifting speech but you're right.

[Bigblue204]

I said it earlier that Trump will never see the inside of a jail cell. That's just not how American justice works.

[bustamente]

The final outcome is to never let Trump see in the inside of the WH ever again, as for jail time I'll leave that to the various DA's looking into his finances.

[Tracker]

Former national archivist discusses Trump’s desperate campaign to keep his records sealed: 'I’m talking about prison time'
   
Almost a year after leaving the White House, former President Donald Trump continues to face a variety of investigations — from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s January 6 committee to New York State Attorney General Letitia James to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Trump’s team has fought aggressively to keep White House records out of the hands of Pelosi’s committee, and according to Daily Beast reporter Jose Pagliery, former U.S. national archivist John W. Carlin believes that Trump has good reason to want to keep those records under lock and key.

“An outgoing president’s White House records go straight to the National Archives and Records Administration, where they could be kept away from the public for up to 12 years,” Pagliery explains in an article published by the Beast on January 3. “However, President Joe Biden waived that presidential privilege when he allowed the bipartisan House January 6 Committee to request some documents about Trump’s final weeks in office. Trump sued to block that, and his odd claims of ‘residual’ executive privilege got knocked down by a federal judge who noted ‘presidents are not kings’ and an appellate panel that found his argument has ‘no basis.’”

Pagliery continues, “This epic fight over records is now reaching the Supreme Court. Those records could show whether the Trump White House plotted to use the Department of Justice to intimidate states to reject 2020 election results, schemed with rogue Republicans in Congress to halt certification of Electoral College votes that reflected Biden’s win at the polls, and interacted with rally organizers who brought the crowds that violently attacked the U.S. Capitol Building.”

Carlin was appointed to head the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration by President Bill Clinton in 1995. And Donald W. Wilson, also interviewed for Pagliery’s article, held that position from 1987-1993.

Carlin told the Beast that Trump is showing a sense of desperation when it comes to keeping his White House records away from the January 6 committee, saying, “Given how frantic they are.... there are things in those records that are going to make real trouble. I’m talking about prison time. It reinforces the fact that they know they’re in real trouble if these things are released — particularly if they’re released soon.”

According to Carlin, “It’s important that records are used to get the truth out. Nothing highlights that more than the controversy we're going through. Records are going to have a huge impact in determining who did what, particularly as you get to the Justice Department.”

Former national archivist discusses Trump’s desperate campaign to keep his records sealed: 'I’m talking about prison time' - Alternet.org

Edited January 5, 2022 by Tracker

[HardCoreBlue]

From the Washington Post US Attorney General Merrick commenting on holding all those responsible for the January 6th, 2021 riot at the Capitol:

"There cannot be different rules for the powerful and the powerless." 

Did he say this with a straight face? What a joke. Like seriously. What. A. Joke.

The legal 'system' is not a system. It's becoming more and more of a farce made up of a variety of silos where certain players responsible for it's interpretation and implementation in these silos hide behind the word 'independence' and/or terms like 'Justice is blind'. 

[Tracker]

20 minutes ago, HardCoreBlue said:

From the Washington Post US Attorney General Merrick commenting on holding all those responsible for the January 6th, 2021 riot at the Capitol:

"There cannot be different rules for the powerful and the powerless." 

Did he say this with a straight face? What a joke. Like seriously. What. A. Joke.

The legal 'system' is not a system. It's becoming more and more of a farce made up of a variety of silos where certain players responsible for it's interpretation and implementation in these silos hide behind the word 'independence' and/or terms like 'Justice is blind'. 

Agreed, but there are seeming anomalies- Epstein, Maxwell and Nygard are proof of that, so it is possible. Trump has a lot of money (although nowhere as much as he says he has) plus rabid followers, so who knows?