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Tracker

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  1. GOP Ex-Sen. Inhofe Retired Due To Long COVID After Opposing COVID Aid Former Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) attributed his decision to retire due to the long-term effects of COVID-19, telling local newspaper Tulsa World that certain symptoms were still affecting him day-to-day. Inhofe voted against multiple coronavirus aid packages meant to help Americans at the height of the pandemic, including the Families First Coronavirus Response Act approved overwhelmingly by 90 senators in March 2020, and the American Rescue Plan in March 2021. The 88-year-old did not say which symptoms he was dealing with. But he suggested he was in good company, alleging that other elected representatives in Congress are also struggling with long COVID behind the scenes. “Five or six others have (long COVID), but I’m the only one who admits it,” Inhofe told Tulsa World. At least one Democratic senator, Tim Kaine of Virginia, has spoken openly about his experience with lingering symptoms after contracting COVID-19.
  2. Putin continues to consolidate his position by killing off any possible dissent.
  3. When you have an inconsistent QB who has half of a good game and a good QB who has an off day, you get...the 2022 Grey Cup game.
  4. To illustrate the thinking of some of the conservative-supporting folks in our province: Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Manitoba · REMINDER: 911 is ONLY for emergencies Yesterday, Manitoba RCMP received a 911 call from a woman in Steinbach who was angry about the long drive thru line at the new Burger King. We realize you aren’t you when you’re hangry, but this is not a valid reason to dial 911.
  5. "Unforgivable insult": George Santos wants to make AR-15 the "National Gun of America" Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., is backing a bill to make the AR-15 rifle — a gun that has been used in some of the deadliest mass shootings in the country — the "National Gun of the United States." Santos this week joined primary sponsor Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., in backing the bill, as did gun store owner Rep. Andrew Clyde, R- Ga., and Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., who ran a gun-themed restaurant called "Shooters Grill." Moore announced the bill this week claiming, "any government that would take away one right would take away them all," AL.com first reported. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, rebuked Santos, and called his support of the bill "outrageous and appalling." "This bill, which attempts to glorify the weapons that have been part of such horrific tragedies, adds unforgivable insult to injury for those families," Hochul said in a statement to Gothamist. https://www.salon.com/2023/02/24/unforgivable-insult-george-santos-wants-to-make-ar-15-the-national-of-america/
  6. South Carolina GOP bill would subject those obtaining abortions to death penalty This article originally appeared on Truthout. Republican lawmakers in the South Carolina state legislature have introduced a bill that would equate an abortion of a fetus or an embryo to the murder of a living, already-born person, allowing the state, if passed into law, to convict and possibly execute a person if they obtain abortion services. House Bill 3549 would amend a proposed bill, entitled the South Carolina Prenatal Equal Protection Act of 2023, to define fetuses and embryos at any stage of development after conception as legal persons. Any instance of an abortion would be considered an assault and/or homicide under the bill's provisions. As such, the bill would subject people convicted of having an abortion to the same penalties of an assault or murder under state law — which includes the death penalty, if sought by state prosecutors in such instances. It's unclear as of right now how likely the bill is to pass. However, it is presently being co-sponsored by several members of the Republican caucus — 19 members of the state House of Representatives in total (equal to more than 15 percent of the total number in that chamber and more than 21 percent of the total House Republican membership). Critics of the bill say that its language can potentially punish pregnant people for more than just abortion — any person who has a miscarriage, for example, could be found liable for murder under its provisions too. "You can be charged with murder…. The end of the pregnancy establishes a crime," said Vicki Ringer, director of public affairs at Planned Parenthood South Atlantic South Carolina, in a series of tweets explaining the bill's provisions. "You have to prove innocence."
  7. Republicans fear being 'eaten' alive by the 'extremists and loons' they helped empower: columnist According to a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems, what far-right Fox News pundits say on the air and what they are actually thinking can be two very different things. Dominion, the Washington Post reports, has uncovered actual e-mails and text messages that Fox News hosts like Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity sent during the lame duck period of late 2020 and early 2021 — when attorney Sidney Powell and other allies of then-President Donald Trump were falsely claiming that Dominion's voting equipment was used to help now-President Joe Biden steal the election. In those e-mails and texts, Fox News pundits acknowledge that Trump lawyers' claims of a stolen election were nonsense. And Dominion alleges that despite knowing the truth, Fox News shamelessly promoted the Big Lie anyway. Fox's attorneys, fighting the lawsuit, have maintained that the cable news outlet's hosts were simply asking questions in late 2020/early 2021 — not going out of their way to promote defamatory lies. Defamation, under the standards the U.S. Supreme Court laid out in New York Times v. Sullivan in 1964, is extremely difficult to prove. Defamation, according to the late Chief Justice Earl Warren and his colleagues, must involve "actual malice." Sloppy reporting and careless mistakes, according to the Sullivan standard, do not constitute actual malice. Nor does inflammatory rhetoric. And ironically, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his GOP allies in the Florida State Legislature are trying to weaken Sullivan’s protections for journalists at the same time that Fox News' lawyers are trying to use them for protection in a major lawsuit. In an opinion column published on February 24, the Washington Post's Paul Waldman argues that Fox News — like House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) — is being eaten alive by the very extremism it has been promoting. Looking back on that lame duck period of late 2020/early 2021, Waldman recalls, "On air, Fox was spreading lies about supposed election fraud and bringing on guests without concern for their credibility, including Rudy Giuliani and GOP lawyer Sidney Powell. Meanwhile, Fox's stars and executives privately belittled those same people and the claims they were making…. At the same time, Fox News tried to suppress the truth. Reporters for the organization who corrected false claims were reprimanded and threatened." Waldman notes some of the things that Fox News hosts said in private, according to Dominion. Hannity, for example, wrote that Giuliani was "acting like an insane person," and Carlson wrote, "Sidney Powell is lying." The Post columnist argues, "These documents make clear not only that Fox News stars and executives think their audience is a bunch of half-wits, but also, that they live in fear that the audience will turn on them unless they tell viewers exactly what they want to hear regardless of the facts. Who taught that audience to believe conspiracy theories and to assume that any unwelcome information must be a sinister lie? Fox News, of course." Similarly, Waldman emphasizes, McCarthy is afraid to be honest about the events of January 6, 2021 because he fears offending the MAGA conspiracy theorists he has been encouraging. But by doing so, according to Waldman, the House speaker is sending out a message that the GOP is comprised of "extremists and loons who are far more interested in the obsessions of a spectacularly unpopular ex-president than in the genuine problems the country faces." "Like the trembling dissemblers of Fox News," Waldman laments, "McCarthy must feel that he has no choice: Feed the beast or be eaten by it. Winning the future is an idea they cannot latch on to because they are so frantic to survive one more day. Republican elites are not powerless. They helped make this mess and could nudge their base back toward reality if they chose. But they're too afraid to try." https://www.alternet.org/2659464967/
  8. Providing that he doesn't have another meltdown.
  9. None of this will make a dent in the faux outrage by the cretins in the US over how this was the fault of Biden, immigrants, the left wing, trans peoples and the global cabal.
  10. I endured three years in southern Alberta near High River and have never regretted the decision to get the hell out of there. It cost a lot of money to make the move but worth every penny. Manitoba is not Eden, but much more sane overall despite Stefansson et al trying to change that. I remember some 30 years ago then-Prime Minister Jean Chretien saying after visit to Alberta, that he understood Quebec separatists and all the other marginal political interests in Canada but he just could not understand how the wealthiest province in Canada could have so much to be militant about,
  11. And yet...... 'Incredible reach': Donald Trump gloats about 'off the charts' ratings from East Palestine visit Former President Donald Trump on Thursday shared a "viewership report" on his Truth Social app to gloat about the media ratings of his Wednesday publicity stunt in East Palestine, Ohio, where a February 3rd Northfolk Southern freight train derailment poisoned the surrounding environment with toxic substances. As Mediaite noted, "Trump's live remarks from East Palestine, Ohio were ignored by the three major cable news networks on Wednesday: CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News," while "Newsmax and OAN, both to the right of Fox News, carried the remarks live and offered analysis following the event. The report Trump shared noted that 'outlets like Fox News are woefully derelict' in their limited reporting on the trip." It states: VIEWERSHIP REPORT President Trump’s 2/22 visit to East Palestine, OH TOTAL PEOPLE THAT SAW COVERAGE (SOCIAL+ TRADITIONAL): 178,052,414 TOTAL SOCIAL MEDIA USERS THAT SAW COVERAGE: 144,037,338 TOTAL TRADITIONAL VIEWERS THAT SAW COVERAGE: 34,015,076 "This report searched for the term 'East Palestine' + 'Trump' what you will see is while traditional outlets like Fox News are woefully derelict in their reporting with what you did, the word is still getting out there in a big way. Specifically, when the announcement was made last week there was a bump of coverage reaching about 2 million on social channels and 10 million on other channels. However, your numbers this Wednesday were off the charts with incredible reach, 144MM on social and 34MM in other channels. The visit meant a lot for the people of East Palestine and the surrounding communities. The trip gave them hope and raised the awareness needed to combat the incompetence of the Biden Administration. As you will see a sharp spike in the positive sentiments as well."
  12. Idaho lawmakers want to criminalize mRNA vaccines. Here's what happens if their bill passes Political polarization in the United States has created bitter divides over all kinds of public health measures — ranging from abortion rights to COVID-19 protections. Yet in Idaho, a deep-red state in which Donald Trump carried 63.8% of the popular vote in the 2020 election, Republican legislators are taking their conspiratorial beliefs regarding COVID-19 a step further by attempting to criminalize mRNA vaccines. Indeed, last week two Republican lawmakers in Idaho introduced House Bill 154 proposing that "providing" or "administering" mRNA vaccines should be criminalized. Specifically, doing so would be a misdemeanor. "I think conservatives were very opposed to lockdowns and mask mandates, which were not shown to be very effective in curbing the spread of COVID-19; that opposition seems to have led to a distrust of the mRNA vaccines." "Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a person may not provide or administer a vaccine developed using messenger ribonucleic acid technology for use in an individual or any other mammal in this state," the bill states. "A person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor." In other words, doing so could result in jail time and/or a fine. If passed, the bill proposes that the law should go into effect this summer on July 1, 2023. As the COVID-19 pandemic enters a new phase, the proposed legislation is a reminder that some GOP lawmakers aren't done fear-mongering over COVID-19 vaccines just yet. "We have issues that this was fast tracked," Idaho state Sen. Tammy Nichols stated, though the notion that the vaccine was "rushed" has been consistently pointed out as a myth by experts. "There's no liability, there's no access to data," Nichols added, which is also false.
  13. Apparently they have sent about 40 of these already and the Russians take the bait every time.
  14. Understandable.
  15. Also big time Trump supporter. If they scare enough people, one is going to crack and give up others.
  16. ‘Putin’s Chef’ Leaks Grisly Corpse Photo in Public Betrayal of Kremlin If there were ever a time for the Kremlin to worry about an uprising by its most out-of-control private army, now would appear to be it. Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin has gone from accusing the Russian military of treason to flooding the internet with gruesome photos of the country’s war dead. “Who is to blame for them dying? Those who should have resolved the issue of supplying us with sufficient quantities of ammunition are to blame,” Prigozhin said Wednesday in comments to a pro-war Telegram channel, singling out Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov. A day earlier, he accused both of trying to “destroy” the Wagner Group by deliberately choking off their ammunition supply. To drive his point home on Wednesday, he released a photo showing rows upon rows of bloodied and maimed corpses that he said were Wagner fighters killed trying to keep the Kremlin’s grip on Ukraine. “No steps have been taken to issue ammunition. I am posting a photo below, this is one of the gathering points for the dead. These are guys who died yesterday due to ammunition hunger. There should have been five times less of them,” Prigozhin said. “Wagner, like a beggar crowd funding, is asking unit commanders to help in some way. We will not leave Bakhmut. We’ll just die twice as much as we already have, until everyone’s gone. And when the Wagernites run out, then most likely Shoigu and Gerasimov will have to take up machine guns,” he said. While Prigozhin has never been shy about blasting Russia’s top military brass, his outrage is rapidly spreading throughout the ranks of the pro-war military bloggers the Kremlin has relied on to bolster public support for the war. And it’s threatening to overshadow the “everything is going according to plan and we’re all united” message Putin wants to send ahead of the one-year anniversary of the full-scale invasion, when the Kremlin has only slight territorial gains and a whole generation of young dead men to show for the military conquest. Even as Putin took to the stage at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium for his pro-war rally Wednesday, Wagner supporters (or bots) flooded the chat of an online livestream of the event with angry messages demanding the military “give ammunition to Wagner!” Prigozhin–who was known for his role commanding armies of Russian trolls long before he admitted to being the puppetmaster of the mercenary group–was suspected of unleashing the messages. Several pro-Kremlin Telegram channels have also begun conducting polls on who followers would want to see win in the “terrible confrontation”–Shoigu and Gerasimov, or Prigozhin. Ninety six percent of the more than 15,000 people who responded to one poll on Tuesday voted for Prigozhin. But anger at the Russian military command has already spread far beyond Prigozhin, and even Wagner. Igor Bezler, one of the Kremlin’s most well-known proxy commanders from Russia’s first wave of aggression against Ukraine in 2014, called for Shoigu and Gerasimov to be assassinated in an intercepted call with an FSB officer recently, according to Ukrainian intelligence. (Interpretation: there is a power struggle between the founder of the Wagner Group and Putin. Putin seems to be seeing Prigozhin as someone who could topple him and become dictator of Russia. Putin's generals may have deliberately cut off or minimized ammunition and weapons to the Wagner mercenaries at the front lines so as to thin out their ranks. This is a festering issue that has to end in death(s) among the highest ranks in Russia. (
  17. Trump Totally Embarrassed Himself In East Palestine Donald Trump put the capper on his trip to East Palestine, OH, by telling potentially poisoned people to have a good time and have fun. Trump also showed up with some branded bottled water, and because the people are his white supporters, he threw MAGA hats at them. If you are white, you get a MAGA hat. If you are brown or black, duck because a roll of household cleaning products are being flung in your general direction. The whole point of Trump’s trip was to get some free cable news coverage, of which he got none. Donald Trump treated a train derailment with unknown long-term environmental and human consequences, like a wedding reception that he crashed at Mar-a-Lago. The man is utterly incapable of acting like a normal human being, much less a president, for a minute. https://www.politicususa.com/2023/02/22/trump-totally-embarrassed-himself-in-east-palestine.html
  18. Ivanka Trump And Jared Kushner Subpoenaed In Jan. 6 Probe: Reports The special counsel overseeing the Justice Department’s investigation into former President Donald Trump’s efforts to stay in power has subpoenaed Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, according to multiple reports. Special counsel Jack Smith subpoenaed Donald Trump’s daughter and son-in-law to testify before a federal grand jury about Trump’s attempt to remain president after losing the 2020 election and his role in inciting an insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The subpoena was first reported by The New York Times and confirmed by ABC News.
  19. FL GOP bill would 'allow government officials to harass and bankrupt' opposers with defamation lawsuits Florida GOP State Rep. Alex Andrade proposed a bill that would simplify the process for fellow Republican officials, like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, to file defamation lawsuits against media and other "critics," Truthout reports. Per Tampa Bay Times, Andrade's legislation reflects one of DeSantis' "key priorities." Regarding defamation law, the United States Supreme Court New York Times v. Sullivan decision states, according to Tampa Bay Times, for one "to win damages from a defamation case, public figures — i.e., famous people, elected officials, etc. — have to prove publishers disseminated information knowing it was false, or with 'reckless disregard' for the truth." Proving the outlet published false information is not enough However, the state representative argues, Truthout reports: H.B. 951 laments that the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in New York Times v. Sullivan has 'foreclosed many meritorious defamation claims to the detriment of citizens of all walks of life' by placing such claims under the purview of the federal government and establishing a high standard of proof. However, the Oyez Project says the ruling maintains “to sustain a claim of defamation or libel, the First Amendment requires that the plaintiff show that the defendant knew that a statement was false or was reckless in deciding to publish the information without investigating whether it was accurate.” First Amendment lawyer and Director of Advocacy for Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF), Seth Stern said," DeSantis continues to make clear his disdain for freedom of speech and the press and to prioritize censoring dissent over governing." READ MORE: Why DeSantis supporters' response to Trump’s 'groomer' attack is 'hypocritical' and 'pathetic': conservative Similarly, another First Amendment attorney, Floyd Abrams, noted in a Law&Crime interview "it's blackletter law that a state cannot constitutionally provide less protection in libel litigation than the First Amendment requires." Cornell University defines "blackletter law" as "the well-established legal rules that are certain and no longer disputable." "Abrams says Andrade's bill "intentionally" disregards the blackletter law.
  20. If you follow that line of thought to its logical conclusion, all out going senators ought to be shot in the head on their way out of the senate. That would save the state hundreds of dollars in pensions and benefits. That is only logical, Jim.
  21. A 'benefit to society': Alaska GOP lawmaker touts 'cost savings' when 'child abuse is fatal' Alaska Republican state Representative David Eastman stunned his fellow lawmakers on Monday when he declared society benefits when children who are so badly abused die, because there’s less financial cost to the state for their care. “In the case where child abuse is fatal, obviously it’s not good for the child, but it’s actually a benefit to society because there aren’t needed government services and whatnot over the whole course of that child’s life,” Rep. Eastman said (video below) during a hearing of the Judiciary Committee, as the Anchorage Daily News reports. When pressed, he continued, saying: “Talking dollars, now you’ve got a $1.5 million price tag here for victims of fatal child abuse. It gets argued periodically that it’s actually a cost savings because that child is not going to need any of those government services that they might otherwise you know, be entitled to receive and need based on, you know, growing up in this type of environment.” Trevor Storrs, president and CEO of the Alaska Children’s Trust who was testifying at the hearing countered, “I’m really, I’m not even sure how to answer that, that there’s a cost saving to fit that to the death of a child. The impact that that has on a family and us as a society, when a child is lost, especially to child abuse, neglect is unmeasurable and it’s it’s a hugely tragic.”
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