The Cover Contest Weekly Winners ThreadSo much winning!!
"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." - Sinclair Lewis
“It’s your party and you can cry if you want to.” - Captain Europe
This is pretty interesting. Forbes magazine is saying that they will pretend that any company that hires any WH Press Secretary in a job is dishonest.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/randall...h=2787f41c5710
Now that's the supervillain cool I have been expecting for some time. Forbes is not my favorite rag, but this is boss.From Day One at the Trump White House, up has been down, yes has been no, failure has been success. Sean Spicer set the tone with the inauguration crowd size – the worst kind of whopper, as it demanded that people disbelieve their own eyes. The next day, Kellyanne Conway defended Spicer’s lie with a new term, “alternative facts.” Spicer’s successor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders lied at scale, from smearing those who accused Trump of sexual harassment to conjuring jobs statistics. Her successor, Stephanie Grisham, over the course of a year, never even held a press conference, though the BS continued unabated across friendly outlets. And finally, Kayleigh McEnany, Harvard Law graduate, a propaganda prodigy at 32 who makes smiling falsehood an art form. All of this magnified by journalists too often following an old playbook ill-prepared for an Orwellian communication era.
As American democracy rebounds, we need to return to a standard of truth when it comes to how the government communicates with the governed. The easiest way to do that, from where I sit, is to create repercussions for those who don’t follow the civic norms. Trump’s lawyers lie gleefully to the press and public, but those lies, magically, almost never made it into briefs and arguments – contempt, perjury and disbarment keep the professional standards high.
So what’s the parallel in the dark arts of communication? Simple: Don’t let the chronic liars cash in on their dishonesty. Press secretaries like Joe Lockhart, Ari Fleischer and Jay Carney, who left the White House with their reputations in various stages of intact, made millions taking their skills — and credibility — to corporate America. Trump’s liars don’t merit that same golden parachute. Let it be known to the business world: Hire any of Trump’s fellow fabulists above, and Forbes will assume that everything your company or firm talks about is a lie. We’re going to scrutinize, double-check, investigate with the same skepticism we’d approach a Trump tweet. Want to ensure the world’s biggest business media brand approaches you as a potential funnel of disinformation? Then hire away.
This isn’t cancel culture, which is a societal blight. (There’s surely a nice living for each of these press secretaries on the true-believer circuit.) Nor is this politically motivated, as Forbes’ pro-entrepreneur, pro-growth worldview has generally placed it in the right-of-center camp over the past century — this standard needs to apply to liars from either party. It’s just a realization that, as Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously said, in a thriving democracy, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. Our national reset starts there.
Thirteen Charged in Federal Court Following Riot at the United States Capitol Approximately 40 charged in Superior Court
Thirteen individuals have been charged with federal crimes. The defendants and charges are outlined below:
- Cleveland Meredith was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, with making interstate threats to Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
- Richard Barnett, of Arkansas, was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful entry; violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds; and theft of public money, property, or records. Barnett allegedly entered a restricted are of the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.
- Lonnie Coffman, of Alabama, was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, with possession of an unregistered firearm (destructive device) and carrying a pistol without a license. It is alleged that Coffman’s vehicle contained 11 explosive devices known as Molotov cocktails and firearms. It is further alleged he was in possession of two firearms. Coffman was arrested and is currently being held. His detention hearing is scheduled for Jan. 12, 2021.
- Mark Leffingwell, was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; assault on a federal law enforcement officer; and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. Leffingwell allegedly entered the Senate side of the Capitol and when stopped by law enforcement, struck an officer in the helmet and chest. Leffingwell is currently being held and has a detention hearing in district court today.
- Christopher Alberts, of Maryland, was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, with carrying or having readily accessible, on the grounds of the United States Capitol Building, a firearm and ammunition. Specifically a Taurus G2C, 9mm handgun and 9mm caliber ammunition. The defendant appeared in district court and was released. He has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Jan. 28, 2021.
- Joshua Pruitt, was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority. The defendant appeared in district court and was released. He has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Jan. 28, 2021.
- Matthew Council, of Florida, was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. Council allegedly unlawfully entered the Capitol building, and when stopped by law enforcement, he pushed the officer.
- Cindy Fitchett, of Virginia, was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; or knowingly, with intent to impede government business or official functions, engaging in disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds; and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
- Michael Curzio, of Florida, was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; or knowingly, with intent to impede government business or official functions, engaging in disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds; and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
- Douglas Sweet, of Florida, was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; or knowingly, with intent to impede government business or official functions, engaging in disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds; and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
- Bradley Ruskelas, of Illinois, was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; or knowingly, with intent to impede government business or official functions, engaging in disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds; and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
- Terry Brown, of Pennsylvania, was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; or knowingly, with intent to impede government business or official functions, engaging in disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds; and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
- Thomas Gallagher was charged on Jan. 7, 2021, with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; or knowingly, with intent to impede government business or official functions, engaging in disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds; and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Original join date: 11/23/2004
Eclectic Connoisseur of all things written, drawn, or imaginatively created.
If we're taking into account the people who ran for President, that suggests the challenges are okay if you really like the nominee who lost, or if the losing nominee isn't pretending they actually won. That is a standard.
I think you may be conflating everyone in the GOP, from commentators to elected officials, as speaking with one voice, when that's not the case. We can look at individuals who say something stupid and consider the potential penalties for that (IE- if a commentator called the rioters heroes, it might violate the standards of his employer.)
With scale and scope, is the standard that it's okay when it's a handful of members of Congress, but not when it reaches a certain threshold?
Some members of Congress objected about the 2016 election, which did come down to narrow margins in a few key states.
Senator Barbara Boxer of California was objecting to certification of votes made by states she did not represent in 2004, as did many of the members of the House in 2000, 2004 and 2016.
I've posted numerous links suggesting that the Florida election was close, but that by most standards, George W Bush did win.
A Post report one year after the election suggests that Bush would have won according to the recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archi...-f7978cc25dfa/
Do you think the badly designed ballots were relevant to what the courts should have said? Should they have declared that votes for Buchanan were probably votes for Gore, and swing the election to him that way?
Sincerely,
Thomas Mets
Mets it is not okay when they contest an election and add to the lies that lead to a coup. You said that Howley and Cruz had no way of knowing what was going to happen. No one did you say. **** the only ones who seemed to think there would be no trouble was the Capital Hill Police and National guard which they will answer for. media was talking about the possibility of trouble, not on that scale sure but they talked about possible riots.
If they wanted to start a conversation about the election and ask questions fine. Never mind the fact that this has been done for a couple months in both the media and courts. But you do not do it when a mob is down the street. You damn sure dont do it a half hour after they scrubbed blood off the floors and were stepping on broken glass.
Trump has been saying for over a week that they were going to take back the government on the 6th. His supporters have been posting on Twitter and Facebook and other places they were going to take back the government, stop the count, storm the capital, load up on guns and ammo, the revolution begins on the 6th, I hope Pelosi catches one, etc.. How can two people one who is smart enough to get a book deal, the other who has rising to the rank of Senator, not be smart enough to see what was going to happen? How could they not see the damage they were doing? I dont like either man but they are not stupid people. They fact is they did know, they just did not care. In fact Howley cared so little that people were storming the capital and in the process of murdering a cop that he was fund raising. How do you excuse this?
Last edited by babyblob; 01-09-2021 at 11:37 AM.
This Post Contains No Artificial Intelligence. It Contains No Human Intelligence Either.
It wasn't just the butterfly ballot, it was the punch ballots.
It was clear that the Florida voters wanted Gore.
Bush lost the popular vote, and should have lost Florida and the Presidency. The Democrats had every right to be upset and try to challenge, yet Mets wants to "BOTH SIDES" this and compare 2000 to what Trump and the GOP is doing this year.The research shows that 45,608 of the 56,000 ballot papers (87% of the total) contained votes for Mr Gore, compared with 17,098 containing votes for Mr Bush (33%). In 1,367 cases, voters punched every hole except that for Mr Bush.
In cases where the voters cast invalid "overvotes" in the presidential election, but then cast valid votes in the US senate contest lower down on the same ballot, 70% voted Democrat, Mr Gore's party, and only 24% voted Republican.
No one is buying it.
There came a time when the Old Gods died! The Brave died with the Cunning! The Noble perished locked in battle with unleashed Evil! It was the last day for them! An ancient era was passing in fiery holocaust!
Alleged Pelosi lectern thief, horned helmet-wearing suspect arrested in connection with Capitol riot
Federal authorities say they've arrested two of the alleged Capitol rioters who went viral for their part in the siege of the building.
Adam Johnson, 36, of Parrish, Florida, who was seen in a viral photograph carrying Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lectern through the halls, is being held in Pinellas County Jail and pending charges after federal marshals picked him up Friday night, according to the United States Attorney’s Office of the District of Columbia.
Johnson is allegedly the man in the photo taken during Wednesday's raid of the U.S. Capitol by Donald Trump's supporters where he is waving to the camera while holding the lectern in his right arm, according to investigators. Johnson, who was clean shaven in his mugshot, appeared in the photo with a beard and a wool hat with "Trump" written on the top.
"On or about January 7, 2021, the lectern was found by a member of the Senate staff in the Red corridor of the Senate wing off the Rotunda in the Capitol building," the arrest warrant said. "According to the House of Representatives’ curator, the Speaker’s lectern has a market value of more than $1,000."
The warrant cited reporting from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune which found Johnson's social media posts and reported he was in the Capitol during the siege.
Johnson has been charged with "one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; one count of theft of government property; and one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds," according to the U.S. Attorney's office.
No attorney information for Johnson was immediately available.
The U.S. Attorney's office also arrested Jacob Anthony Chansley, a.k.a. "Jake Angeli," Saturday. Investigators said he was the man seen in viral photos of the siege dressed in horns, a bearskin headdress, red, white and blue face paint, shirtless, and tan pants and carrying a 6-foot spear with an American flag tied below the blade.
Chansley made his way to the dais of the Senate chamber during the siege where he was photographed by other rioters, according to investigators.
He was charged with "knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, and with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds," according to investigators. No attorney information was immediately available.
The FBI said it is still searching for more suspects in Wednesday's incident, which left Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick and four others dead. Anyone with information is urged to contact the FBI tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
Last edited by Amadeus Arkham; 01-09-2021 at 11:46 AM.
"I love mankind...it's people I can't stand!!"
- Charles Schultz.
There was this tweet by Alex Kaplan:
https://twitter.com/AlKapDC/status/1347713838133731334
In the past 48 hours:
-Twitter banned QAnon accounts
-Twitter banned Trump
-Reddit banned r/donaldtrump
-Reddit banned the head moderator of r/conspiracy
-YouTube banned Steve Bannon's show
-Discord banned TheDonald dot win's channel
-Google banned Parler from its app store
And now FORBES magazine has officially sanctioned a papal bull on any corporation or business that hires Trump Press Secretaries:
Here's Actual Footage of Silicon Valley going after Trumpworld:
"I love mankind...it's people I can't stand!!"
- Charles Schultz.
While I support wholeheartedly the calls for that shameless whore, Ted Cruz, to resign, my inner pessimist already assumes he'll be the GOP Presidential candidate in 2024.
On a lighter note, being a student of history, I tried to rack my brains for another instance of a militaristic action in the Americas playing out as half-assed and ridiculous as the Capitol riot did. All I came up with was when Captain Morgan held a war council for his captains in preparation for attacking Cartagena. While he and the captains were in discussion on his flagship, the crew were partying, and some drunken pirate accidentally ignited the ship's powder magazine. The resulting explosion destroyed the ship and killed half of Morgan's captains and over 200 crewmen.
MAGNETO was right,TONY was right, VARYS was right.
Proud member of House Ravenclaw and loyal bannerman to House Baratheon
"I am an optimist even though I am told everything I do is negative and cynical" --Armando Iannucci
Good.
I'm not sure if Trump or Rudy should go to jail for this.
Whatever standard you use has to take into account existing law, and apply to all political figures. If heated rhetoric is not allowed from Trump, than it's not allowed from Democratic candidates. If Trump is to be jailed because protesters rioted, Democratic officials can be held responsible if their protests go bad. The law should not make a distinction between what is acceptable rhetoric or behavior because of what side protesters are on.
As I said to Kirby101, I think it's certainly possible that any trial will show further evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
In Congress I am represented by Chuck Schumer, Kirsten Gilibrand and Grace Meng. They'll likely vote against Trump in any impeachment. They'll probably call for an investigation which I do believe to be merited.
While we're citizens, we should still consider the legal and political implications of what we're asking for. If you point out that I'm not a member of Trump's defense, you should also point out to Trump's critics that they are not members of the prosecution. That is a type of attitude which would limit political discussion significantly. Your question about calling for things as citizens also neglects that a big part of political discussions is figuring things out, rather than immediately jumping to conclusions.
I would support it if Cruz and Hawley were to resign for being wrong and acting in bad faith. The same would apply to a lot of other legislators, but I'd be fine with many members of Congress resigning because they have failed to meet high standards. It's probably not going to happen, but it would be nice.
If you notice, people here have articulated different distinctions. A flaw with the idea that the distinction is obvious is that your line in the sand (What Cruz and Hawley did was different from what earlier officials did because there were more officials on their side) was different from Kirby101's (that what Cruz and Hawley did was inexcusable because it was after the riot, when it was clear how some people would interpret their actions) which was different from babyblob's (the problem is that it ended up encouraging rioters.)
Last edited by Conn Seanery; 01-09-2021 at 04:14 PM.
Sincerely,
Thomas Mets