Saturday, February 13, 2021

The De-Trumpification Of America Should Be Like The De-Nazification Of Germany

Like Nazi, Trump supporters are evil and dangerous. As to what percentage of Nazis and what percentage of Trumpers are dangerous and profoundly evil is a question that has yet to be answered. My guess would be that around 10% of German Nazis were dangerous and profoundly evil and judging by what I've seen from Republican voters, right wing social media and MAGAt that I have engaged on social media, I would estimate that the percentage damgerous and profoundly evil MAGAts is atleast 15% and unlike the de-Nazification of Germany the de-Trumpification of America will be much more difficult to achieve.

America is unwilling to execute these morally and genetically depraved individuals not is America willing to shut down the liars and social media thugs who spread the lies of Trumpism. Because of America's unwillingness to shutdown the Nazi propaganda machine we humans will continue to be preyed upon by the same ilk who stormed the US Capitol. How much of this savage mob can be tamed is up for debate. My guess is maybe 50%.

What we can do is at least keep a close eye on the MAGAts like we did on the radicalized Muslims. What makes the MAGAts more of a threat than radicalized Muslims is their sheer numbers, their ignorance, and their firepower.

The odds of teaching a Nazi or Trump supporter a lesson in humanity is slim and none. Their depravity shows in the functioning and structure of their brains.

The time for wishful thinking, theories and conjecture regarding the dangers and depravity needs to come to an end. We know everything we need to know. Knowing what a vile and evil man Trump was 74 million members of his mob voted for him and many of them committed crimes for him. Only seven Republican senators voted Trump quilty in his impeachment. Republicans are for the most part criminals and traitors from their leaders down to their base. Can a nation survive with such high precentage of criminals and traitors? I think not.

Thursday, February 4, 2021

Republican Liars and Fox News Liars Are Finally Being Punished But Not Nearly Enough

MIAMI (AP) — A voting technology company is suing Fox News, three of its hosts and two former lawyers for former President Donald Trump — Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell — for $2.7 billion, charging that the defendants conspired to spread false claims that the company helped “steal” the U.S. presidential election.

The 285-page complaint filed Thursday in New York state court by Florida-based Smartmatic USA is one of the largest libel suits ever undertaken. On Jan. 25, a rival election-technology company — Dominion Voting Systems, which was also ensnared in Trump's baseless effort to overturn the election — sued Guiliani and Powell for $1.3 billion.

Unlike Dominion, whose technology was used in 24 states, Smartmatic's participation in the 2020 election was restricted to Los Angeles County, which votes heavily Democratic.

Smartmatic's limited role notwithstanding, Fox aired at least 13 reports falsely stating or implying the company had stolen the 2020 vote in cahoots with Venezuela's socialist government, according to the complaint. This alleged “disinformation campaign” continued even after then-Attorney General William Barr said the Department of Justice could find no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

For instance, a Dec. 10 segment by Lou Dobbs accused Smartmatic and its CEO, Antonio Mugica, of working to flip votes through a non-existent backdoor in its voting software to carry out a “massive cyber Pearl Harbor," the complaint alleged.

“Defendants’ story was a lie," the complaint stated. "But, it was a story that sold.”

The complaint also alleges that Fox hosts Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro also directly benefitted from their involvement in the conspiracy. The lawsuit alleges that Fox went along with the “well-orchestrated dance” due to pressure from newcomer outlets such as Newsmax and One America News, which were stealing away conservative, pro-Trump viewers.

Roy Gutterman, a media law professor at Syracuse University, said the lawsuit is compelling and based on specific examples and facts, not frivolous claims.

“This is a perfect example of why we have the law of defamation in first place,” said Gutterman, a former reporter.

Fox News Media, in a statement on behalf of the network and its hosts, rejected the accusations. It said it is proud of its election coverage and would defend itself against the “meritless” lawsuit in court.

Fox "is committed to providing the full context of every story with in-depth reporting and clear opinion,” the company said in a written statement.

Giuliani and Powell did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

For Smartmatic, the effects of the negative publicity were swift and devastating, the complaint alleges. Death threats, including against an executive’s 14-year-old son, poured in as Internet searches for the company surged, Smartmatic claims.

With several client contracts in jeopardy, the company estimates that it will lose as much as $690 million in profits over the next five years. It also expects it will have to boost spending by $4.7 million to fend off what it called a “meteoric rise” in cyberattacks.

“For us, this is an existential crisis,” Mugica said in an interview. He said the false statements against Smartmatic have already led one foreign bank to close its accounts and deterred Taiwan, a prospective client, from adopting e-voting technology.

Like many conspiracy theories, the alleged campaign against Smartmatic was built on a grain of truth. Mugica is Venezuelan and Smartmatic’s initial success is partly attributable to major contracts from Hugo Chávez's government, an early devotee of electronic voting.

No evidence has emerged that the company rigged votes in favor of the anti-American firebrand, and for a while the Carter Center and other observers held out Venezuela as a model of electronic voting. Meanwhile, the company has expanded globally.

Smartmatic is represented by J. Erik Connolly, who previously won what's believed to be the largest settlement in American media defamation, at least $177 million, for a report on ABC News describing a company's beef product as “pink slime.”

“Very rarely do you see a news organization go day after day after day against the same targets," Connolly said in an interview. “We couldn't possibly have rigged this election because we just weren't even in the contested states to do the rigging.”

Fox, after receiving a demand for retraction from Smartmatic’s lawyers in December, aired what it called a “fact-checking segment” with an election technology expert. In the segment, the expert said there was no evidence of tampering — something the defendants knew from the start and reported elsewhere on the network, the complaint alleges.

Far from making the company whole, Mugica said he saw the segment — in which an unidentified voice asks questions referenced in the retraction letter — as an admission of guilt.

Gutterman said that any after-the-fact correction can be a mitigating factor but doesn't get of the defendants entirely off the hook if they are found to have previously been propagating false claims. With the line between fact and opinion increasingly blurred in the current media landscape, he said he expects the lawsuit to force news outlets trying to capitalize on support for Trump to reconsider how far to stretch the limits.

“This is certainly a wake-up call that, just because you’re dealing in opinion and not straight news, you can’t openly put anything on the air,” he said. “Facts are still facts.”

An Open Letter To Liz Cheney

It's rare that a Republican does something moral and magnanimous. Liz Cheney's condemnation of Trump and his MAGAts is both moral and magnanimous in spite of her motivations for do it.

Liz,

Have you woken up to the fact yet that the GOP base is depraved?

It took Kasich a couple of years to accept the reality and pundit on both sides are still scratching their heads or pretending to scratch their heads and to why the GOP base still voted to Trump. Don't over think it. Hillary can explain it to you but I think deep down you already know answer.

Unlike 99% of Americans, you are set for life.

Ask yourself this.

Is lie spreading right wing media really responsible for 75 million Americans voting for Trump?

Is right wing media responsible for 60% of Republican supporting the attack on the capitol.

Is right wing media responsible for the Trump mob shouting, Hang Mike Pence?

Could liars like Tucker Carlson and Hannity exist without the depravity of the GOP base?

I am trying not to gloat at the destruction of the GOP and even though I am not in agreement with most of conservatism I do think we need a real conserative voice. Sadly, the MAGAts don't even know what liberalism or conservatism is.

Regardless of the Senate vote the GOP will remain splintered just as all the yes men and MAGAts can't put Trumpy Dumpty together again.

If the GOP returns to the philosophy of Reagan then in reality it will have to have policies similar to Clinton and Obama.

The GOP is in a shambles, morally and philosphically. It has no core and most of the base is depraved, deceitful, deranged, traitorous and unAmerican. You can't fix that.

The Bible Belt will remain the sewer that it will always be for atleast two more decade unless COVID-19 turns much more deadly.

If the FCC enforces truth in advertising for poltical ads the GOP will be doomed. I did the math.

So Liz, I think it would be good if you gave you base a great big giant fact enema and let the shit fall where it may. Keep putting America first.

If Hillary is correct about the GOP base being 50% filled with depraved people, your chances of remaining in politics is 50-50. I think the depravity rate is 80%. Throa a Hail Mary.

Here's the back story.

A wild day that defined the Republican

Rep. Liz Cheney survived to fight another battle but on a raucous and defining day, the appeasement of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene by House Republicans sent their party lurching further down the road to extremism.

The moral crisis in the GOP after Donald Trump's exit from Washington was epitomized by a showdown that saw Cheney, a lifelong ideological conservative, forced to fight off a challenge to her leadership post after she voted to impeach a President who sparked a violent coup attempt.

At the same time, Greene, a belligerent conspiracy theorist who thinks the GOP's problem is that it lost the presidential election too gracefully, got a pass from colleagues despite promoting a sick stew of QAnon lies and fantasies.

The struggle for the future direction of the party exploded in a manic meeting of the House Republican Conference that ended when Cheney prevailed comfortably in a secret ballot -- after she refused to apologize to angry acolytes of the ex-President after choosing the Constitution over Trump.

Biden's First 100 Days

Greene had earlier learned that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy would not strip her committee assignments -- a day after she was called into his office over her past extreme views and offensive social media posts. The Democratic-led House is however expected to act where McCarthy failed in a floor vote on Thursday.

The fact that Cheney has faced more criticism from her colleagues than Greene in recent days reflects how the GOP's traditional values are under siege and the vast power that extremists and conspiracy theories welcomed into the party by Trump are accumulating.

For weeks, and especially following the insurrection incited by Trump on January 6, the Republican Party has been locked in a prolonged duel between those swearing loyalty to their leader in exile, and others who want to move on from his anti-democratic tenure.

But Wednesday's leadership punt on Greene, a first term member from Georgia, made this clear: Scared of repudiating Trump's base, the House GOP is racing at top speed towards its extremist fringe to validate millions of Americans living in an alternative reality even if Cheney's survival suggests that privately many GOP members don't believe the election was stolen.

A 9/11 truther, who touted anti-Semitic conspiracies and expressed support for assassinations of Democratic leaders, Greene is no longer the outlier in her party across America's vast heartland -- Cheney is.

Secret ballot

House Republicans vote to keep Liz Cheney in leadership after she defends her impeachment vote

Cheney, who, until the Trump insurrection, was a reliable vote for the President save on some foreign policy issues, made a powerful statement by winning in a 145 to 61 vote to keep her leadership post. Her victory was a sign that in private at least, there are some in the House Republican Party who are willing to stand up to extremism -- even if many lack the courage to do so in public. Her triumph will encourage orthodox Washington conservatives -- including many in the Senate who supported her, to think the fight for the future direction of the party is not hopeless.

But Cheney still faces the very real prospect of a primary challenge in her fervently pro-Trump state of Wyoming.

And while the lawmakers did not have to declare to their colleagues how they voted on Cheney's retention of the House Conference Chair job, it would not be surprising to see some of the most enthusiastic Trump supporters in the caucus publicly reveal their votes against her.

"This is clearly a moment to define where the party is going and the party is choosing a Hell of a path here," Mary Katharine Ham, a prominent conservative writer and CNN political commentator, told CNN's Anderson Cooper before Cheney's vote total was announced.

Greene said in the meeting that her past social media posts did not represent who she was. But her sense of being impervious to the customs of her fast-shifting party shone through a defiant interview with the Washington Examiner that published as Wednesday's meeting went on.

"Kevin McCarthy and all these leaders, the leadership, and everyone is proving that they are all talk and not about action, and they're just all about doing business as usual in Washington," Greene said.

Profound consequences

House Democrats move swiftly to strip Marjorie Taylor Greene of committee assignments

In many ways, Wednesday's meeting accelerated the direction the party has been heading at least since many parts of its traditional base became disillusioned with the establishment following years of war and the 2008 financial crisis. Trump's weaponizing of the issue of race and swift social change after Barack Obama's presidency continued the conspiratorial trend while his seditious post-election behavior removed the last restraints to an all-out embrace of extremism.

This will all have profound consequences for the country. There have always been wide, and proper, ideological differences between Democrats and Republicans. They are, if anything, widening.

But this is not a new front in the perennial duel over health care or taxes. One of America's great parties, by elevating unhinged radicals such as Greene, and by threatening those like Cheney who accept the truth of Biden's win last year, is implicitly rejecting the sacred values of the American political system itself and its essential underpinning of objective truth and fact.

Those who declared a final victory for democracy when Trump left town after his attempt to steal President Joe Biden's victory may have spoken too soon.

Weak leadership

Why Kevin McCarthy has already failed his first big leadership test

Wednesday's turmoil also underscored how McCarthy has capitulated to the extreme forces within his caucus and in the country. A week after his pilgrimage to make up with Trump after his tepid criticism of his role inciting the Capitol insurrection, the leader refused to strip Greene of her committee posts.

The spectacle of the leader being led around by a congresswoman who has been in Washington for four weeks either showed great political weakness or cynical calculation. He will leave it to House Democrats to rebuke Greene. While that makes McCarthy look feckless, it also suggests he concluded that it is better for him politically for Democrats to punish a Make America Great Again hero than for his caucus to alienate their base.

Yet his failure to deal with the Greene issue himself means that many of his members -- especially those from more vulnerable districts -- now face a choice between voting in the full House to punish a Trump supporter or to open themselves to accusations they are endorsing her crazed rhetoric.

McCarthy condemned Greene's social media activity in a statement and accused Democrats of not meeting him half way on finding a solution that would have reallocated Greene's committee posts. (Critics had complained she was placed on an education committee, following her claims that several school massacres were "false flag operations.")

But he also stated that he took Greene at her word that she now recognized that her conduct as a member of Congress needed to be of a higher standard than when she was a private citizen.

"The voters decided that she can come and serve," McCarthy said after the meeting, adding that Greene had denounced her own social media activity.

In her comments to the Examiner, in which she again alluded to lies that Trump won the election and insulted Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell, Greene showed she has no incentive to reform her behavior.

"Now, we have Joe Biden in the White House and Nancy Pelosi at 80 million years old as speaker, and we've got a Senate that we don't control anymore, with, you know, Mr. Big Turtle in charge up there just, just losing gracefully, losing gracefully," Greene said in the interview.

GOP senators set to avoid moral choice

Why Mitch McConnell chose *this* moment to condemn Marjorie Taylor Greene

Local activists and other outliers in Washington such as Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger might argue that all is not lost for the GOP and that the reckoning will take many months, as memories fade of the Trump presidency.

But many of those state Republican officials who stood firm in the face of the ex-President's attempt to overturn election results are facing the similar kind of assaults and likely primary challenges as Cheney and the other nine House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump.

And Republican senators, such as McConnell, who called Greene a "cancer," and others who condemned her remarks would insist that they are standing up for the institutional values of the party that saved the world for democracy by winning the Cold War against communism.

Yet in the next few weeks, the vast majority of GOP senators are expected to vote to acquit Trump in his Senate impeachment trial. Most will take refuge in a questionable constitutional conceit that the trial is moot since Trump is an ex-President.

This will spare them having to wrestle with the moral choice of what to do with a commander in chief who sent his supporters on a deadly march on another branch of government. Their motivation is the same as those who are appeasing Greene -- a desire to avoid antagonizing the party base and to avoid primary challenges in order to retain their hold on power.

Should There Be a Bounty On Anti-Maskers?

Almost every customer and employee is unmasked in this video of a Florida supermarket

Maura Hohman and Sam Brock

Thu, February 4, 2021, 9:46 AM

When NBC's Sam Brock walked into a Naples, Florida, grocery store to buy a sandwich on Wednesday, he didn't expect to see almost every employee and customer in the supermarket, people of all ages, not wearing a mask.

Collier County and city regulations require masks in businesses, but it quickly became apparent that these rules weren't being enforced. In fact, a sign outside the store stated that customers don't have to wear masks if they have a medical condition preventing them from doing so and that store employees "cannot legally ask" them about it to verify.

Aflie Oakes, the owner of the supermarket in question, Oakes Farms Seed to Table, told Brock about his views on masking in an interview that aired Thursday on TODAY.

"I know that the masks don't work, and I know that the virus has not killed 400,000 people in this country. That's total hogwash," Oakes said. "Why don't we shut the world down because of a heart attack? Why don't we lock down cities because of heart attacks?"

In the U.S., more than 450,000 people have died from COVID-19. Florida's COVID-19 death toll surpassed 27,000 on Monday, according to a local NBC affiliate. Public health experts have said for months that widespread masking will prevent the spread of the virus and save lives, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "experimental and epidemiological data support community masking."

"Probably the most important thing is we see mask use up over 85%," Dr. Atul Gawande, a former member of President Joe Biden's COVID-19 advisory board, told TODAY. "That's been a critical part of getting these (COVID-19) numbers down."

Brock's video of Oakes' store, which he posted on Twitter Wednesday, has already been viewed over 2 million times and garnered largely outraged responses.

"They're all immune, until they're not. And then an overworked, overstressed healthcare professional has to clean up their mess," wrote one Twitter user.

"The management (at Oakes Farmes) is intentionally spreading a deadly virus," added another.

"Medical accommodation means you can get your groceries shopped and delivered to you at the sidewalk," tweeted a third. "Or delivered at home. Or some other method. It's not a free pass to be an a------."

Brock said the market is "unquestionably an outlier" and that most stores and supermarkets in the area follow the rules requiring masks in businesses. Collier County Commissioner Andy Solis, who proposed the mask mandate, expressed frustration over what Brock witnessed.

"It's very concerning to see images like this," he said on TODAY. "I'm worried that it will lead to more cases and overwhelmed hospitals."

Tuesday, February 2, 2021

Can Senators In Trump's Senate Impeachment Trial Ignore The Law And The Evidence And Find Trump Not Guilty?

You may not know it but jury nullification is legal and often a good thing. Jurors have the right and duty to judge the law as well as the evidence. If a jury thinks that the law is wrong they can vote a defendant not quilty even if they are guilty of breaking a bad law.

It's clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that Trump and his mob incited insurrection. Do the traitorous Republicans have the same luxury to not follow the law and dismiss the evidence as jurors in criminal trials? I hope not because I would like like to see Cruz and Hawley thrown into cages.

We know that the traitorous Republican senators will never do the moral thing but if they don't know the law they could end up in deep shit. Let's hope this happens.

Trump's senate impeachment trial date is February 8th.

How many senators will vote to convict Donald Trump?

https://brookings.edu › blog › fixgov › 2021/01/14 › h...

Jan 14, 2021 — Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) is the only senator who has said clearly that he is ... now January 19^th, which is the earliest the Senate could begin a trial. ... to rid the Republican Party of Trump it is likely that others will follow. ... Presidential pardons: Settled Law, unsettled issues, and a downside for Trump.

Trump impeachment trial is set for February ... - USA Today

https://usatoday.com › news › politics › 2021/01/24 › tr...

Jan 24, 2021 — In the trial, senators will vote to convict or acquit Trump. ... who will act as prosecutors arguing the case before the Senate, have largely kept ... running again for president, an office he has indicated he might pursue in 2024.

Most Senate Republicans back measure saying Trump ...

https://nbcnews.com › politics › congress › senators-be-...

Jan 26, 2021 — The Senate was sworn for Trump's impeachment trial Tuesday, but some Republicans are ... Follow NBC News ... Senate Republicans voted Tuesday for a measure that would have declared the ... now pending, you will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and the laws, so help you God?

Explainer: Is Trump's post-presidency impeachment trial ...

https://reuters.com › article › explainer-is-trumps-post-p...

14 hours ago — Many Senate Republicans have said they would vote to acquit ... have an impeachment trial after an official has left office, said Brian Kalt, a law ...

Answering the Biggest Legal Questions Behind Trump's ...

https://law.com › nationallawjournal › 2021/01/14 › answ...

Jan 14, 2021 — Trump the first president to be impeached twice will likely no longer be president ... Can the Senate hold an impeachment trial for a former president? ... Lawyers from the office of the Senate Legal Counsel have previously told federal ... Which lawyer would be willing to take on the case is another matter.

Patrick Leahy To Preside Over Trump's Senate Trial, Not John ...

https://npr.org › 2021/01/25 › sen-patrick-leahy-to-presid...

Jan 25, 2021 — Chief Justice John Roberts will not take on the role for the trial that begins ... Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., will preside over former President Donald Trump's trial in the Senate, ... More likely, Roberts, who has tried mightily to keep the Supreme ... he likes to remind people, a former trial lawyer and state prosecutor.

Republican Depravity Is Genetic

More Proof: Republican Depravity Is Genetic

GOP House member who voted to impeach Trump says his family sent around a signed petition disowning him for crossing the former president

Rep. Adam Kinzinger is a rare moral Republican who voted to impeach Trump.
It hasn't been a popular move within his party or among his constituents.
But in a new interview with Insider's Anthony Fisher, Kinzinger says members of his own family circulated a petition disowning him.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Related: Highlights from President Joe Biden's history-making inauguration

Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois is one of just ten Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump for his role in inciting the insurrectionist mob that attack the US Capitol on January 6. The lawmaker, who has been in Congress since 2013, tried to warn the GOP of the pernicious influence of the QAnon conspiracy theory, many months before Trump supporters stormed the building.

In response to his impeachment vote, Kinzinger has faced a wave of vitriol from the pro-Trump corners of his party. He's been called a "RINO" - or "Republican In Name Only" - received death threats, and is almost certain to face a Trump-supporting primary challenger for his House seat in 2022.

But the backlash isn't just among the public and other lawmakers. In a new interview with Insider opinion columnist Anthony Fisher, Kinzinger says members of his own family have turned on him due to his vote:

"My dad's cousins sent me a petition - a certified letter - saying they disowned me because I'm in 'the devil's army' now," Kinzinger said in a phone conversation on Thursday. "It's been crazy, when you have friends - that you thought were good friends that would love you no matter what - that don't."

In the interview, Kinzinger also talked about how he had a bad feeling there would be violence at the Capitol on January 6, so much so that he brought his gun to his office.

He also talked about the bond he shares with the other nine Republicans who voted to impeach, how he tries to convince Trump supporters that his vote was an act of conscience, and why he's not the least bit worried about losing his seat in Congress.

Read the full interview here.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Wednesday, January 27, 2021

Trump Lied About Vaccine Stockpiles

Is anyone surprised that Trump lied about the US having 20 million vaccine doses stockpiled? The good new is that COVID-19 is killing his MAGAt and a far higher rate than humans.

Azar: Stockpile Of Vaccine Doses Does Not Exist | Kaiser ...

https://khn.org › morning-breakout › azar-stockpile-of-...

Jan 19, 2021 — Some state leaders feel lied to by the Trump administration about the availability of additional vaccines, believing the federal government was ...

Vaccine reserve was exhausted when Trump administration ...

https://washingtonpost.com › health › 2021/01/15 › tru...

Jan 15, 2021 — But the approach had already changed, and no stockpile exists. Health and Human Services Secretary ...

Trump administration accused of deception in pledging ...

https://reuters.com › article › us-health-coronavirus-usa

Jan 15, 2021 — That tally falls far short of the 20 million vaccinations the Trump ... shipments of vaccines from the national stockpile next week, because there is no ... Polis said he was “extremely disappointed” that Azar had “lied to” his state.

Polis "shocked we were lied to" following report that COVID-19 ...

https://denverpost.com › 2021/01/15 › colorado-covid-...

Jan 15, 2021 — ... vaccine doses won't be coming because the federal stockpile already ... vaccine reserve already had been sent when Trump administration ...

Trump Admin Lies About Vaccine Stockpile, Endangering ...

https://portlandmercury.com › blogtown › 2021/01/15

Trump Admin Lies About Vaccine Stockpile, Endangering Oregon's Vax Plan. by Blair Stenvick • Jan 15, 2021 at 9:48 am ...