US Politics

[Tracker]

It seems to me that the last and only credible presidential candidate the GOP has would be Mitt Romney, but his self-preservation instinct is strong enough to keep him out of that roiling disaster that is unfolding within that party. 

Edited March 13, 2023 by Tracker

[Tracker]

'Another crisis is building' at Fox News as second defamation lawsuit gets green light for trial


A defamation lawsuit against Fox News by voting machine company Smartmatic appears to be headed to trial after the New York Supreme Court gave the green light last week.

An analysis by The Guardian found that the $2.7 billion lawsuit could be "more dangerous" than the $1.6 billion lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems. In both cases, Fox News personalities are accused of falsely claiming President Joe Biden won the election because of a voting machine conspiracy.
"The Earth is round. Two plus two equals four," Smartmatic's 2021 complaint began. "Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the 2020 election for President and Vice President of the United States. The election was not stolen, rigged, or fixed. These are facts. They are demonstrable and irrefutable."

The complaint also noted: "Defendants did not want Biden to win the election. They wanted President Trump to win re-election … They also saw an opportunity to capitalize on President Trump’s popularity by inventing a story.”

Over 100 false claims were made about Smartmatic on Fox News, the complaint said.

In its Friday ruling, New York's high court declined to dismiss defendants Fox News, host Maria Bartiromo, and former host Lou Dobbs. Fox News host Jeanine Pirro and attorney Sidney Powell were dismissed from the lawsuit.

https://www.alternet.org/fox-news-lawsuit/

[HardCoreBlue]

5 minutes ago, Tracker said:

'Another crisis is building' at Fox News as second defamation lawsuit gets green light for trial


A defamation lawsuit against Fox News by voting machine company Smartmatic appears to be headed to trial after the New York Supreme Court gave the green light last week.

An analysis by The Guardian found that the $2.7 billion lawsuit could be "more dangerous" than the $1.6 billion lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems. In both cases, Fox News personalities are accused of falsely claiming President Joe Biden won the election because of a voting machine conspiracy.
"The Earth is round. Two plus two equals four," Smartmatic's 2021 complaint began. "Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the 2020 election for President and Vice President of the United States. The election was not stolen, rigged, or fixed. These are facts. They are demonstrable and irrefutable."

The complaint also noted: "Defendants did not want Biden to win the election. They wanted President Trump to win re-election … They also saw an opportunity to capitalize on President Trump’s popularity by inventing a story.”

Over 100 false claims were made about Smartmatic on Fox News, the complaint said.

In its Friday ruling, New York's high court declined to dismiss defendants Fox News, host Maria Bartiromo, and former host Lou Dobbs. Fox News host Jeanine Pirro and attorney Sidney Powell were dismissed from the lawsuit.

https://www.alternet.org/fox-news-lawsuit/

But the Courts previously ruled it's entertainment and not to be believed.

And here we are.

Ffs if the courts don't finally do the right thing here then there is no stopping Fox and other outlets from continuing to run roughshod over truth making gobs and gobs of money along the way..

[Tracker]

3 hours ago, HardCoreBlue said:

But the Courts previously ruled it's entertainment and not to be believed.

And here we are.

Ffs if the courts don't finally do the right thing here then there is no stopping Fox and other outlets from continuing to run roughshod over truth making gobs and gobs of money along the way..

In this case, there is money involved rather than a criminal prosecution, so a different set of standards. I really hope the civil courts will restore some semblance of consequences to such  abhorrent actions.

[blue_gold_84]

https://apnews.com/article/biden-guns-mass-shooting-monterey-park-uvalde-489c236fd6ed12ab5d74a67ce5ecd501

Quote

SAN DIEGO (AP) — President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order on Tuesday aiming to increase the number of background checks to buy guns, promote better and more secure firearms storage and ensure U.S. law enforcement agencies are getting the most out of a bipartisan gun control law enacted last summer.

The Democratic president plans to unveil his latest efforts at curbing gun violence in a speech from Monterey Park, California, said a senior White House official, who discussed the order before its signing on the condition of anonymity.

Biden’s rhetoric has only grown stronger around guns — he routinely calls for banning so-called assault weapons in his speeches — and Democrats didn’t push such a vocal anti-gun platform even during the Obama administration, when Biden was vice president. But Biden has been emboldened by the midterms after his regular talk of gun control didn’t result in massive losses, and he’s expected to continue to push for strong changes as he inches toward a 2024 run, his aides say.

 

[bustamente]

If Trump can become President again then the people of America are truly some of the dumbest people on earth, not saying that Biden is all there but when you listen to both one speaks with empathy and understanding and the other talks gibberish and some kind of english.

[Tracker]

 

 

                      

[Tracker]

“They’re still doing his bidding”: GOP caught working with Trump lawyer to kill tax probe, Dems say.  GOP and Trump's team "appear to have acted in coordination to bury evidence," Rep. Jamie Raskin says

The House Oversight Committee quietly dropped an investigation into whether former President Donald Trump improperly profited while in the White House.

House Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., told The New York Times on Tuesday that the committee won't enforce a court-supervised settlement that required Trump's former accounting firm Mazars USA to turn over his financial records to Congress.

"I honestly didn't even know who or what Mazars was," Comer, who spent years in the minority on the committee as it investigated Trump's finances, claimed in a statement to the outlet. "What exactly are they looking for? They've been 'investigating' Trump for six years. I know exactly what I'm investigating: money the Bidens received from China."

Documents produced by Mazars while the House was controlled by Democrats indicated that foreign governments spent large sums on visits to Trump's Washington hotel in efforts to sway the former president's foreign policy dealings, Forbes reported.
Comer's statement came after Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the top Democrat on the committee, in a letter to Comer sounded the alarm over the move and accused the Republicans of acting "in league with attorneys for former President Donald Trump to block the committee from receiving documents subpoenaed in its investigation of unauthorized, unreported and unlawful payments by foreign governments and others to then-President Trump."

Raskin added that he had reviewed correspondence between a lawyer for Mazars and Patrick Strawbridge, a Trump attorney, detailing how Strawbridge was aware that House GOP members were to cease procuring further document production. 

"In the face of mounting evidence that foreign governments sought to influence the Trump administration by playing to President Trump's financial interests, you and President Trump's representatives appear to have acted in coordination to bury evidence of such misconduct," Raskin wrote.

https://www.salon.com/2023/03/14/theyre-still-doing-his-bidding-caught-working-with-lawyer-to-probe-dems-say/

[bustamente]

 

[HardCoreBlue]

On 2023-03-13 at 3:31 PM, Tracker said:

It seems to me that the last and only credible presidential candidate the GOP has would be Mitt Romney, but his self-preservation instinct is strong enough to keep him out of that roiling disaster that is unfolding within that party. 

Maybe this is sanity's only hope. They eat each other. 

[Tracker]

1 hour ago, HardCoreBlue said:

Maybe this is sanity's only hope. They eat each other. 

They are doing that already. Trump and DeSantis are at each other's throats, as are Taylor-Green and Boebert as they jockey for position to become Trump's footstool, and the Republican PAC is suing Trump for siphoning off money. This is just the beginning- as the GOP sinks further and further in the polls and donations dry up, it will be down to axes in a trench warfare as each seeks to save their own skins and find someone else to blame. Besides the usual suspects- socialists, Jews, Muslims, gays, Asians and so forth.

[Wideleft]

 

 

[Tracker]

       

Tennessee GOP congressman pocketed $25,000 donated for his stillborn son's memorial: report

Freshman Congressman Andy Ogles (R-TN) appears to have pocketed $25,000 he crowdfunded to build a memorial for his stillborn son, reportedThe New Republic on Wednesday.

"An investigation by NewsChannel5 found that Ogles set up a GoFundMe in 2014 after his son was stillborn. Ogles said he wanted to build a garden where families could bury their stillborn children and sit on benches by the gravestones. The GoFundMe raised almost $25,000, but the garden was never built," said the report. "GoFundMe confirmed that Ogles received the money. He declined to answer any of NewsChannel5’s questions about what happened to the funds."

https://www.alternet.org/tennessee-republican-25000-sons-memorial/

[HardCoreBlue]

13 minutes ago, Tracker said:

       

Tennessee GOP congressman pocketed $25,000 donated for his stillborn son's memorial: report

Freshman Congressman Andy Ogles (R-TN) appears to have pocketed $25,000 he crowdfunded to build a memorial for his stillborn son, reportedThe New Republic on Wednesday.

"An investigation by NewsChannel5 found that Ogles set up a GoFundMe in 2014 after his son was stillborn. Ogles said he wanted to build a garden where families could bury their stillborn children and sit on benches by the gravestones. The GoFundMe raised almost $25,000, but the garden was never built," said the report. "GoFundMe confirmed that Ogles received the money. He declined to answer any of NewsChannel5’s questions about what happened to the funds."

https://www.alternet.org/tennessee-republican-25000-sons-memorial/

Another example to throw on to the heap that demonstrates the true ilk of the GOP.

 

24 minutes ago, Wideleft said:

 

 

“If this Legislature collectively decides that legislating hate against children is our priority, then I am going to make it painful — painful for everyone,”

We need more of these types of approaches where dangerous lunacy, drivel and knuckle dragging thoughts lurk.

Well done.

Edited March 16, 2023 by HardCoreBlue

[Tracker]

'Had to borrow $10 million': MyPillow CEO complains company in debt due to pushing Trump 2020 election lies

Right-wing extremist and MyPillow CEO, Mike Lindell, said during an interview with former President Donald Trump strategist, Steve Bannon, his successful company is in debt thanks to "voting machine companies."

Bannon and Lindell have both "repeatedly pushed Trump's baseless claims that the 2020 election was 'stolen' through an unprecedented, nationwide voter fraud conspiracy" — one Fox News has admitted was false.
Former federal prosecutor and Republican Ron Filipkowski shared a clip from the interview via Twitter, writing, "Mike Lindell reveals that MyPillow is going broke because of his battle to prove Trump won, and he had to borrow $10 million to keep things going."

READ MORE: 'Like a cover-up': Mike Lindell says he will sue Kevin McCarthy for sharing January 6th footage with Fox News

Bannon asked the multi-millionaire, "The loan you took out at MyPillow — people were all over you about this?"

Lindell replied, "Yeah, last year, actually there were three separate loans, as the machine companies continue to sue us for billions of dollars."

The CEO continued, "we had to borrow almost $10 million dollars. We're an employee owned company. It just baffles me, Steve, you've got all these machine companies — these voting machine companies, that nobody even knew their name before, but everybody protects them. And yet you attack a USA company, MyPillow, and my employees, and it's just disgusting.

https://www.alternet.org/mypillow-ceo-10-million-debt/

[Wideleft]

13 minutes ago, Tracker said:

       

Tennessee GOP congressman pocketed $25,000 donated for his stillborn son's memorial: report

Freshman Congressman Andy Ogles (R-TN) appears to have pocketed $25,000 he crowdfunded to build a memorial for his stillborn son, reportedThe New Republic on Wednesday.

"An investigation by NewsChannel5 found that Ogles set up a GoFundMe in 2014 after his son was stillborn. Ogles said he wanted to build a garden where families could bury their stillborn children and sit on benches by the gravestones. The GoFundMe raised almost $25,000, but the garden was never built," said the report. "GoFundMe confirmed that Ogles received the money. He declined to answer any of NewsChannel5’s questions about what happened to the funds."

https://www.alternet.org/tennessee-republican-25000-sons-memorial/

Ogles is attracting more and more attention for Santos-like reasons:

 

When Ogles was one of the holdouts to approving Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as House speaker, he claimed he was “an economist” — a claim he has made several times — along with other embellishments. But NewsChannel 5 in Nashville found that he had taken only one course in economics, at a community college, and received a C. Ogles first entered college in 1990 and did not get a degree until 2007.

................

Our reporting shows that Ogles’s résumé enhancement is not a recent development. In a 2009 résumé submitted for a job, he claimed numerous roles with businesses and on boards of organizations that were exaggerated or could not be corroborated. A consulting firm he claimed to run from 2003 to 2010 cannot be found in Tennessee corporate records. Indeed, during his various bids for public office in this period, local newspapers described him as a restaurateur, not a business consultant.

........................

 

In a January C-SPAN interview, when asked what he did before he came to Congress, Ogles said: “I was an entrepreneur young in my career. Fast-forwarding to my midlife crisis, I was in law enforcement and international sex crimes.”

As NewsChannel 5 documented, Ogles was sworn in as a volunteer reserve deputy with the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office in July 2009 but lost that position two years later for not meeting minimum standards, making no progress in field training and failing to attend required meetings. The “international sex crimes” referred to a part-time position as chief operating officer of an anti-trafficking group, Abolition International, that paid a total of $4,000 in 2011, according to the tax filing of the organization.

...........................

Ogles lists impressive achievements as an executive at E. Net Media & Consulting of Nashville from 2003 to 2010. (The résumé says he was an executive vice president, but his 2015 LinkedIn profile described him as president and owner.) The résumé states that at E. Net Media he represented “a variety of clients ranging from small start ups to Fortune 500 companies.” We could not corroborate his assertions.

No corporate record exists for E. Net in Tennessee state records, although Ogles has set up other corporate entities, public records show. Tennessee corporate records show two companies with similar names were formed by other people before 2003, but neither was associated with Ogles.

..............................

The résumé also claims Ogles “secured [a] $10 million tax incentive, for film industry positioned VR Limited, to negotiate $35 to $50 million development package in Tennessee.” But no such deal can be found in a search of Tennessee news clips, let alone a company called VR Limited in the film industry. Bob Raines, the executive director of the Tennessee Entertainment Commission, has been with TEC since 2002 and said he was unfamiliar with any such deal.

...........

 

Ogles’s 2009 résumé says he was vice president of another Nashville company, called Franklin Investment & Holding, from June 1995 to January 2002. The résumé says that the company had “varied investments in retail, restaurant, real estate, hotel, and apartment properties” and that Ogles “increased portfolio share” by 25 percent and achieved continued growth of 18 to 25 percent a year.

But Tennessee corporate records show the firm, formed with Ogles’s brother Justin and a third partner, was in existence only for a fraction of that time. It was created in August 2001 and then dissolved a year later.

...................

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/03/10/tennessee-congressman-andrew-ogless-rsum-is-too-good-be-true/

 

[Tracker]

2 minutes ago, Wideleft said:

Ogles is attracting more and more attention for Santos-like reasons:

 

When Ogles was one of the holdouts to approving Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as House speaker, he claimed he was “an economist” — a claim he has made several times — along with other embellishments. But NewsChannel 5 in Nashville found that he had taken only one course in economics, at a community college, and received a C. Ogles first entered college in 1990 and did not get a degree until 2007.

................

Our reporting shows that Ogles’s résumé enhancement is not a recent development. In a 2009 résumé submitted for a job, he claimed numerous roles with businesses and on boards of organizations that were exaggerated or could not be corroborated. A consulting firm he claimed to run from 2003 to 2010 cannot be found in Tennessee corporate records. Indeed, during his various bids for public office in this period, local newspapers described him as a restaurateur, not a business consultant.

........................

 

In a January C-SPAN interview, when asked what he did before he came to Congress, Ogles said: “I was an entrepreneur young in my career. Fast-forwarding to my midlife crisis, I was in law enforcement and international sex crimes.”

As NewsChannel 5 documented, Ogles was sworn in as a volunteer reserve deputy with the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office in July 2009 but lost that position two years later for not meeting minimum standards, making no progress in field training and failing to attend required meetings. The “international sex crimes” referred to a part-time position as chief operating officer of an anti-trafficking group, Abolition International, that paid a total of $4,000 in 2011, according to the tax filing of the organization.

...........................

Ogles lists impressive achievements as an executive at E. Net Media & Consulting of Nashville from 2003 to 2010. (The résumé says he was an executive vice president, but his 2015 LinkedIn profile described him as president and owner.) The résumé states that at E. Net Media he represented “a variety of clients ranging from small start ups to Fortune 500 companies.” We could not corroborate his assertions.

No corporate record exists for E. Net in Tennessee state records, although Ogles has set up other corporate entities, public records show. Tennessee corporate records show two companies with similar names were formed by other people before 2003, but neither was associated with Ogles.

..............................

The résumé also claims Ogles “secured [a] $10 million tax incentive, for film industry positioned VR Limited, to negotiate $35 to $50 million development package in Tennessee.” But no such deal can be found in a search of Tennessee news clips, let alone a company called VR Limited in the film industry. Bob Raines, the executive director of the Tennessee Entertainment Commission, has been with TEC since 2002 and said he was unfamiliar with any such deal.

...........

 

Ogles’s 2009 résumé says he was vice president of another Nashville company, called Franklin Investment & Holding, from June 1995 to January 2002. The résumé says that the company had “varied investments in retail, restaurant, real estate, hotel, and apartment properties” and that Ogles “increased portfolio share” by 25 percent and achieved continued growth of 18 to 25 percent a year.

But Tennessee corporate records show the firm, formed with Ogles’s brother Justin and a third partner, was in existence only for a fraction of that time. It was created in August 2001 and then dissolved a year later.

...................

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/03/10/tennessee-congressman-andrew-ogless-rsum-is-too-good-be-true/

 

The GOP continues to cover themselves with excrement and their followers continue to applaud and shower them with money. The rich, like Koch and Thiel see them as useful idiots and the unwashed masses see them as messiahs.

[Tracker]

Chinese Sugar Daddy Arrested For $1 Billion Fraud

Steve Bannon’s Chinese money man, who also has ties to other Trump figures like Jason Miller, has been arrested in New York on fraud charges.

The AP reported:
A business tycoon long sought by the government of China and known for cultivating ties to Trump administration figures including Steve Bannon was arrested Wednesday in New York on charges that he oversaw a $1 billion fraud conspiracy.

Guo Wengui, 54, and his financier, Kin Ming Je, faced an indictment in federal court in Manhattan charging them with various crimes, including wire, securities and bank fraud. Guo was charged first in court papers under the name Ho Wan Kwok.

Guo was also using a vast social media network to spread COVID misinformation, election fraud lies, and QAnon conspiracies.  Wengui bought his way into Trump’s orbit and spent money on Trump figures like Mike Flynn, Bannon, and Jason Miller.

If it seems like roof is starting to cave in on Trump’s criminal political venture, that’s because it is. There is always shady money ready to flow into sketchy places like Trump world because people like Guo are always looking for access to power.

Steve Bannon is facing his own legal problem including New York state criminal charges for stealing from Trump supporters for his Build The Wall scam.

Guo is a reminder that whatever MAGA accuses Joe Biden of doing is usually what they are doing themselves.

[HardCoreBlue]

5 minutes ago, Tracker said:

Chinese Sugar Daddy Arrested For $1 Billion Fraud

Steve Bannon’s Chinese money man, who also has ties to other Trump figures like Jason Miller, has been arrested in New York on fraud charges.

The AP reported:
A business tycoon long sought by the government of China and known for cultivating ties to Trump administration figures including Steve Bannon was arrested Wednesday in New York on charges that he oversaw a $1 billion fraud conspiracy.

Guo Wengui, 54, and his financier, Kin Ming Je, faced an indictment in federal court in Manhattan charging them with various crimes, including wire, securities and bank fraud. Guo was charged first in court papers under the name Ho Wan Kwok.

Guo was also using a vast social media network to spread COVID misinformation, election fraud lies, and QAnon conspiracies.  Wengui bought his way into Trump’s orbit and spent money on Trump figures like Mike Flynn, Bannon, and Jason Miller.

If it seems like roof is starting to cave in on Trump’s criminal political venture, that’s because it is. There is always shady money ready to flow into sketchy places like Trump world because people like Guo are always looking for access to power.

Steve Bannon is facing his own legal problem including New York state criminal charges for stealing from Trump supporters for his Build The Wall scam.

Guo is a reminder that whatever MAGA accuses Joe Biden of doing is usually what they are doing themselves.

'It's all a sham' - Steve Bannon

Sure.

[blue_gold_84]

8 minutes ago, Tracker said:

...whatever MAGA accuses Joe Biden of doing is usually what they are doing themselves.

Every accusation is a confession.

[17to85]

1 hour ago, Tracker said:

'Had to borrow $10 million': MyPillow CEO complains company in debt due to pushing Trump 2020 election lies

Right-wing extremist and MyPillow CEO, Mike Lindell, said during an interview with former President Donald Trump strategist, Steve Bannon, his successful company is in debt thanks to "voting machine companies."

Bannon and Lindell have both "repeatedly pushed Trump's baseless claims that the 2020 election was 'stolen' through an unprecedented, nationwide voter fraud conspiracy" — one Fox News has admitted was false.
Former federal prosecutor and Republican Ron Filipkowski shared a clip from the interview via Twitter, writing, "Mike Lindell reveals that MyPillow is going broke because of his battle to prove Trump won, and he had to borrow $10 million to keep things going."

READ MORE: 'Like a cover-up': Mike Lindell says he will sue Kevin McCarthy for sharing January 6th footage with Fox News

Bannon asked the multi-millionaire, "The loan you took out at MyPillow — people were all over you about this?"

Lindell replied, "Yeah, last year, actually there were three separate loans, as the machine companies continue to sue us for billions of dollars."

The CEO continued, "we had to borrow almost $10 million dollars. We're an employee owned company. It just baffles me, Steve, you've got all these machine companies — these voting machine companies, that nobody even knew their name before, but everybody protects them. And yet you attack a USA company, MyPillow, and my employees, and it's just disgusting.

https://www.alternet.org/mypillow-ceo-10-million-debt/

Oh no! The consequences of my actions!

[HardCoreBlue]

13 minutes ago, 17to85 said:

Oh no! The consequences of my actions!

Or,

Oh joy! I know if I say this my idiot followers will continue to give me their cash!

[bustamente]

By the time they indict Trump he will POTUS again, his new AG will have everyone who has ever wrong him arrested.

[bustamente]

If you look closely you can see Putin's hand up his ass

 

[Tracker]