All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[JB]

Alec Baldwin Must Surrender Cell Phone for ‘Forensic Search’ in ‘Rust’ Death Probe, Judge Says
https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/...probe-1273000/

Santa Fe County Sheriff’s investigators were granted a search warrant Thursday to seize Alec Baldwin’s personal iPhone as they continue their investigation into the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, officials said. Hutchins was killed on the set of the western movie Rust two months ago.

The warrant issued by the Santa Fe County Magistrate Court gives detectives the right to perform a “forensic download” of Baldwin’s text messages, images, videos, “deleted” items and any “cloud drives” which might contain evidence related to the ill-fated production, the paperwork states.

[numberthirty]

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/12/16/p...ing/index.html

Democratic Rep. Alan Lowenthal announces he will not seek reelection in 2022

[Mister Mets]

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/12/16/p...ing/index.html

Wow, we were already well ahead of the numbers before the 2010 Republican landslide.

These things very much take awhile and that is on normal cases. It took me 2 months from my crime to my arrest, then 5 months from my arrest to be sentenced. And I am just a local nobody who had a public defender.

Lawyers file motions, question evidence, witness statements, etc... I mean it can take awhile. Then add a high profile case to the mix a lawyer who knows how to work the system a defendant who does not spill his life story and crime to the police ten seconds of an arrest, and even in investigating, interview witnesses, loo at any video, read text message, social media, evidence collected that has to be test and it aint like CSI where a lab test is done in two hours.

We want the legal system to work fast, we see tv shows where a crime happens and a guy is in jail tried and convicted with in a week but that just aint how it goes and it is frustrating.

These are good points.

To add to this, some crimes are more obvious than others. If someone is caught with drugs or attacks another person without provocation, it can be a relatively easy conviction assuming that there's evidence. Incitement or treason can be more subtle, as small nuances can be the difference between something being protected speech and something being a felony that can send Roger Stone to jail for several years.

[Mister Mets]

So what is it with the right's hatred of unions? What's wrong about an organization that fights so employees can receive higher pay, better benefits and representation?

Historically, unions have been associated with criminal organizations like the mafia.

There is a current argument that unions add unnecessary regulations.

Republicans would also be opposed to unions because these are large organizations which support the Democratic party, and organize voters towards that end. Democrats feel similar animus against large organizations that mobilize voters in favor of Republicans (IE- the NRA.)

There was nothing he could do, they used reconciliation, which only needed 51 votes and can't be filibustered. He was as powerless as the rest of the Democrats as the GOP bankrupted the country.

If Democrats want to be able to use reconciliation, it becomes a tool for Republicans.

The presumption here is that Trump was ever going to or could be a technocratic politician versed in the minutia and complications of policy and structure. He wasn't elected to be versed in the details of legislation or economics but to make the executive decisions. That's why there were all these comparisons to Andrew Jackson when he was elected and who I can't imagine having the foolishness to be tripped up by a reporter and made to look foolish about something he considers inconsequential.

Trump has advisors who could be versed in minutia.

But how can someone who can't explain the complications of policy be in any position to determine its legality? If he's unaware of the details of legislation, shouldn't we ignore anything he has to say about it, and point out to anyone who takes his comments seriously that we all know he's ignorant?

That certainly describes the "Stop the Steal" folks. Donald Trump was complaining about election fraud even while the votes were still being counted. This shows that "fraud" was just another way of saying "outcome we don't like". However, if you claim it's "fraud", then Congress can overturn the election results, because a claim of fraud is sufficient for them to do that, right? It's just as good as actual fraud, when your only motive is to stay in power no matter what.

That's pretty much their argument. Claim there's fraud and that the suspicion of fraud (because of people you tricked) means the election should go back to Republican-leaning state legislatures.

The other argument for the Trump side was that the changes in election policy due to Covid and other reasons (IE- unions and chambers of commerce working together in advance to support the winner of the election) made it difficult for Trump to make bad-faith claims, or for legislatures to make election policies that keep out supporters of Democrats. It did end up being a close election so there may be a change in the election fights when Republicans start realizing they can benefit from higher turnout.

[babyblob]

If Democrats want to be able to use reconciliation, it becomes a tool for Republicans.

If I remember right Congress used it 3 times during the Clinton Administration. And the GOP Bitched and moaned.

Then Congress used it under GW Bush more then once and the Dems pitched a fit.

Then Obama used it and of course the GOP moaned and moaned.

Trump used and and guess what happened? The Dems Bitched and Bitched.

It seems it is a great tool to be used but only if your side is the one using it. if the other side does they are accused of abusing the rules to push their agenda through and abusing power.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Biden Warns Unvaccinated: Winter Of ‘Severe Illness And Death’ Ahead

"But there's good news,” the president said. “If you're vaccinated, and you have your booster shot, you’re protected.”

**********

Soaring COVID-19 Infections Rattle Europe, Fuel Dread About Holidays

The U.K. recorded the highest number of confirmed new COVID-19 infections Wednesday since the pandemic began.

**********

United Airlines Bounces Passenger Who Wore Underwear On His Face In COVID Protest

Adam Jenne gets his knickers in a twist. Anti-vaxxers are such fools.

[worstblogever]

On this date in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, as well as 2020, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day posted profiles of the U.S. House Representative from South Carolina’s 2nd Congressional District, Joe Wilson, who made himself notorious back in 2009 at President Obama’s first State of the Union speech when he took the unprecedented act to disregard all decorum by standing up and screaming, “YOU LIE!” at the leader of the free world during a nationally televised State of the Union speech. At least when Waldorf and Statler heckle on the Muppets, they make it funny. The GOP closed ranks, and only one member of the GOP voted to admonish him for it. Perhaps that should come as little surprise, because he once expressed his disappointment that nobody in the Democratic Primary in 2008 addressed Obama’s birth certificate. That seems to also fall into a pattern, because Joe Wilson was also a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans while a state legislator, tried denying his former boss on Capitol Hill, Strom Thurmond, had ever had an affair with an African-American woman, calling it “unseemly” and a “smear” that anyone would do so (meanwhile, genetic tests proved it true). In a debate about the soon-to-be Iraq War in 2002, Rep. Wilson denied that the United States supplied WMDs to Saddam Hussein in the 1980s to justify a need for force… and since voting to send our brave young men and women to fight in that conflict, Wilson has voted over a dozen times now against healthcare funding for veterans. He’s still using military conflicts to make irrational political points, though, as he claimed President Obama had only started airstrikes against ISIL because he wanted to distract Americans from Benghazi (where investigators found no administration wrongdoing), the IRS Scandal (where no malicious wrongdoing was found), and Obamacare (which is actually a positive thing). Which is to say, Rep. Wilson spends a lot of time jumping at shadows, as he also was highly suspicious of Planned Parenthood after watching the hoax videos produced by the Center for Medical Progress.

So, while Joe Wilson has a district tailor fit to keep electing conservatives, things were hardly copacetic down in South Carolina’s 2nd District. Rep. Wilson hosted a town hall that, quite frankly, devolved into his constituents chanting “YOU LIE!” back at him, because he was feeding them some less-than-honest statements regarding the GOP’s attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. This was in spite of the fact that Wilson was another of the GOP’s witless morons who was duped by Sasha Baron Cohen on “Who is America?” that year, having himself recorded on video endorsing the idea of arming toddlers, saying, "A 3-year-old cannot defend itself from an assault rifle by throwing a Hello Kitty pencil case at it".He still insists he’s not a lunatic.

Joe Wilson was shown during the 2018 elections to have received campaign donations from the indicted Russian influencer Igor Fruman during the 2018 elections. As in “Lev and Igor”, the chucklef***s who were looking to aid Russia’s attempts to screw with Ukraine on behalf of Donald Trump. And yet, his district and its +12 lean sent him back to the Capitol Building again in 2020, after he won re-election with 55% of the vote. Which, based on that amicus brief we mentioned above, he’s somehow trying to help Donald Trump in a way that he’s also challenging the legitimacy of his own re-election.

Because he’s a seditious f***ing moron. We don’t have a nicer way to put that, so we won’t. Now in his eleventh term, well… let’s just say Joe Wilson hasn’t changed much:

• May 15th, 2020: Wilson votes against the HEROES Act, to further support the healthcare industry and citizens affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
• December 10th, 2020: Wilson signs his name to an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, begging them to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The same election that he won re-election in.
• January 7th, 2021: Joe Wilson votes for the objection to the electoral college’s votes in the 2020 election, a failure to send any sort of message that he wasn’t intimidated or sympathetic to those who attacked the Capitol to attempt a violent coup.
• January 13th, 2021: Rep. Wilson votes against the second impeachment of Donald Trump, because the Republican Party no longer feels like they should be accountable for anything, including failed coups that result in the deaths of both their participants and police officers.
• February 4th, 2021: Joe Wilson votes to keep Marjorie Taylor Greene’s committee assignments, because he wouldn’t want her to be accountable for all the bigoted remarks and conspiracy theories she’s spread online (probably because she’s a kindred spirit).
• February 25th, 2021: Wilson votes against HR 5, the latest version of the Equality Act, that would provide workplace protections for LGBTQ Americans.
• March 3rd, 2021: Rep. Wilson votes against HR 1, a bill created to prevent the corruption of money in politics, and protect voter access to the ballot box.
• March 3rd, 2021: Joe Wilson votes against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021.
• March 10th, 2021: Wilson votes against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, because he feels people deserve to die in poverty during a pandemic.
• March 17th, 2021: Rep. Wilson votes against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, likely because they feel the 2nd Amendment remaining absolute is more important than preventing people with a history of domestic abuse from owning a firearm (which statistics show, makes them more likely to use those firearms against women in their lives).
• May 19th, 2021: Rep. Wilson votes against HR 3233, the creation of a commission to investigate the Capitol Attack.
• November 5th, 2021: Joe Wilson votes against HR 3684, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

While Joe Wilson is in a perpetual state of declaring whatever conservative windmill tilt of the moment as “a crisis of Biden’s making”, he has been almost entirely silent regarding the attack on our Capitol on Jan. 6th, other than paying minimal lip service after the attack, save for how in mid-January, Wilson made the gesture of thanking the traumatized officers of the Capitol Police by buying them Chik-Fil-A, because of course it had to be a way to get money towards an anti-LGBTQ corporation. We’re sure the officers preferred cheap-ass fast food on one afternoon instead of getting his support for a bipartisan investigation into who was responsible to the attack.

Make no mistake, Joe Wilson is a disingenuous cheap shot artist who does no good for the country except to smear anything that isn’t conservative as “destroying this country”, and we’ll be better off whenever he f***s off back to South Carolina instead of haunting Congress for years.

[Tami]

A youth group took a holiday sign to a sheriff’s home. He’s accused of holding a gun to the chaperone’s head.

Members of a church youth group giggled as they taped a Thanksgiving decoration to Bingham County Sheriff Craig Rowland’s door in Blackfoot, Idaho, and ran back to their friends in a nearby vehicle. The paper turkey with “thank you!” written in black letters was supposed to be a surprise for the sheriff’s wife.

But as the group’s adult chaperone, Chelsea Cox, began to drive away on Nov. 9, Rowland — wearing long johns and holding a gun — appeared in the middle of the street, the girls later told investigators. At first, they said, they thought he was joking. Then, after the car rolled to a stop, Rowland allegedly approached the vehicle and pointed the gun at two girls in the front seat before turning the weapon toward Cox, according to a 10-page affidavit.

On Tuesday, Rowland was charged with aggravated battery and aggravated assault — both felonies — and exhibition or use of a deadly weapon, a misdemeanor.

In an interview with investigators, Rowland did not deny pulling Cox out of the car by her hair and pointing a gun at her head, though he said he did not have his finger on the trigger, according to the affidavit. Rowland added that he’d drank one alcoholic beverage Nov. 9 but “was clear as a freaking bell” during the 8 p.m. incident.

The youth group members, seven girls between the ages of 12 and 16, had been delivering what they called “thankful turkeys” to several homes that night, Cox told investigators. At each house, they taped a turkey to the door, rang the doorbell and ran away before the recipient knew who had done it. The group had made a turkey for Rowland’s wife and delivered all but two before reaching the sheriff’s home.

[Zauriel]

Virginia, a blue state flipped red.

Andrew and Chris Cuomo are both disgraced and out of work.

Jussie Smolett is disgraced and convicted.

Kyle Rittenhouse is acquitted.

Some of President Biden's supporters are already losing faith in him and it's not a full year into his term.

Senators Manchin and Sinema are selling their souls to the corporate interests.

This is rather a terrible year for Democrats

[Tami]

'Conflicted Congress': Key findings from Insider's five-month investigation into federal lawmakers' personal finances

49 members of Congress have violated a law designed to stop insider trading and prevent conflicts-of-interest

Congress and top Capitol Hill staff have violated the STOCK Act hundreds of times. But the consequences are minimal, inconsistent, and not recorded publicly.

We rated every member of Congress on their financial conflicts and transparency.

[The site again nerffed the url of the link. The missing part is business insider (no space). You can do a Google Search for the title.]

Dozens of federal lawmakers and at least 182 top congressional staffers are violating a federal conflict-of-interest law known as the STOCK Act. Others are failing to avoid clashes between their personal finances and public duties.

Members get a green rating if their financial compliance is solid. Yellow means caution — their actions are borderline and deserve greater scrutiny. Red means danger — that a member has multiple issues that could expose them to ethical problems.

IMO there is some room to assessing cause, as in, making honest mistakes especially if you are a freshman in Congress. Those that heve been nn Congress a long time, should know better.

[Xheight]

Trump has advisors who could be versed in minutia.

But how can someone who can't explain the complications of policy be in any position to determine its legality? If he's unaware of the details of legislation, shouldn't we ignore anything he has to say about it, and point out to anyone who takes his comments seriously that we all know he's ignorant?

That's pretty much their argument. Claim there's fraud and that the suspicion of fraud (because of people you tricked) means the election should go back to Republican-leaning state legislatures.

The other argument for the Trump side was that the changes in election policy due to Covid and other reasons (IE- unions and chambers of commerce working together in advance to support the winner of the election) made it difficult for Trump to make bad-faith claims, or for legislatures to make election policies that keep out supporters of Democrats. It did end up being a close election so there may be a change in the election fights when Republicans start realizing they can benefit from higher turnout.

I believe you were talking about Trump in interview setting going solo not his everyday job a president where he had advisors. Holding up the Steal and sending it back to the states was probably one of those kind of technical/legal things given to him as an option. I don't think the "emergency" argument was exclusively Trump. https://www.dw.com/en/us-election-ma...ump/a-55433216 It was played down as being a factor but in media general reporting it did point to factors that go right to some questions about WHO is making requests for ballots.

heck even a Guardian story trying to shoot down worries about mail-in bias

Michael McDonald, a professor at the University of Florida who closely tracks voter turnout, said there were factors not discussed in the study that were important to consider when assessing turnout. Some of the biggest increases in turnout from 2016 to 2020 were in states where voters automatically receive a ballot, he said.

Better data https://www.metaculus.com/questions/...n-or-absentee/

it seems there is no official certification on the number of ballots cast in-persion/via mail/on election day. it seems the best estimate is prof. mcdonald's elections project, which would give

65,642,049 mail-in ballots / 158,383,403 total ballots = 41.45 %

sic

[Tami]

Florida man using thong as mask in protest kicked off United Airlines flight

A Florida man was kicked off a United Airlines flight Wednesday after attempting to fly with a red thong on his face in place of a mask.

Adam Jenne told NBC affiliate WBBH that he's pulled the panties stunt on several flights in an effort to make a statement.

“I think the best way to illustrate absurdity is with absurdity,” he said. "Every single flight has been met with different reactions from the flight crew."

The United flight crew was not amused. Jenne was removed from the flight.

[Tami]

Trump White House made 'deliberate efforts' to undermine Covid response, report says

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration engaged in “deliberate efforts” to undermine the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic for political purposes, a congressional report released Friday concludes.

The report, prepared by the House select subcommittee investigating the nation’s Covid response, says the White House repeatedly overruled public health and testing guidance by the nation’s top infectious disease experts and silenced officials in order to promote then-President Donald Trump's political agenda.

In an interview with the subcommittee, Birx said when she arrived to the White House in March 2020 — more than a month after the U.S. declared a public health emergency — she learned that federal officials had not yet contacted some of the largest U.S. companies that could supply Covid testing.

Birx also told the panel that Atlas and other Trump officials “purposely weakened CDC’s coronavirus testing guidance in August 2020 to obscure how rapidly the virus was spreading across the country,” the report said. The altered guidance recommended that asymptomatic people didn’t need to get tested, advice that was "contrary to consensus science-based recommendations," it said, adding, "Dr. Birx stated that these changes were made specifically to reduce the amount of testing being conducted.

[shooshoomanjoe]

Trump White House made 'deliberate efforts' to undermine Covid response, report says

These republican politicians and conservative media have villainized the vaccine and COVID precautions yet they've take the vaccine themselves. What game are they playing with republican voters.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Trump White House made 'deliberate efforts' to undermine Covid response, report says

A foolish decision on steroids. If Trump took COVID seriously and did all he could to mitigate the deaths from the virus, he would’ve been hailed as a hero and probably would’ve won a second term.

These republican politicians and conservative media have villainized the vaccine and COVID precautions yet they've take the vaccine themselves. What game are they playing with republican voters.

Short and sweet: “I got mine, **** everyone else!”