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All Trump's Men..
Quote:If what Gaetz told Carlson is any indication, the news surrounding the federal investigation into his conduct could get even worse for him. “I really saw this as a deeply troubling challenge for my family on March 16, when people were talking about a minor, that there were pictures of me with child prostitutes — that’s obviously false, there will be no such pictures because no such thing happened,” Gaetz volunteered, even though the child pornography allegations were not publicly known before he brought it up. It’s unclear if Gaetz was trying to get ahead of yet another story. But what is clear is that no lawyer would recommend responding to news of a federal investigation by going on national TV and volunteering that sort of derogatory information. During a Fox News interview on Wednesday morning, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said he’ll remove Gaetz from committees if the allegations against him turn out to be true, and couldn’t explain why Gaetz was the only Republican to vote against an anti-human trafficking bill in 2017.
Matt Gaetz’s disastrous Tucker Carlson interview, explained - Vox
  • Bizarre story, Gaetz alleging a giant conspiracy without any evidence and rather unlikely since the investigation started under Bill Barr, who really didn't want to be seen with him:
Quote:The Politico report points out that the investigation of Gaetz's conduct began under the Trump administration, undercutting allegations that it's driven merely by partisan bias. In 2020, the Politico reporters add, "Then-U.S. Attorney General William Barr was briefed on the Gaetz probe and did not take issue with it, a source familiar with the matter told Politico. Barr and the Office of the Attorney General received multiple briefings on the Gaetz probe, beginning in the summer of 2020, a second person familiar with the probe said. They encouraged Florida prosecutors to move as quickly as they needed to and take whatever steps were appropriate." According to Dixon and Swan, Barr even avoided attending a GOP event because of Rep. Gaetz's presence.
New report reveals why Bill Barr didn't want to get caught anywhere with Matt Gaetz - Alternet.org
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Quote:The saga of Devin Nunes' thin-skinned attempts to not just shut down a Twitter account belonging to an imaginary bovine, but sue the human being behind that account, are legendary. And hilarious. When the congressman most famous for leaping from an Uber to skulk around the White House grounds decided to sue a pair of parody accounts—and Twitter, and everyone else who was standing around laughing at his massive dufitude—Fox News called it "a major lawsuit." For weeks, Fox and other outlets kept viewers up to date on the latest developments in the case of the congressman versus the cow … a case in which Nunes literally sued over being called "uddely worthless" and a post saying that his "boots are full of manure."

The breathless right-wing coverage didn't stop even when it became clear that judges found Nunes' suits just as ridiculous as everyone else. Nunes lost his suit against Twitter. And lost a defamation suit against The Washington Post. And lost a defamation suit against CNN. and lost a defamation suit against political strategist Liz Mair. And lost multiple claims against Fusion GPS. And lost a suit against journalist Ryan Lizza. And was forced to drop a suit against a fruit farmer for calling Nunes "a fake farmer."

Those are only a subset in a long line of silly lawsuits filed, and lost, by Devin Nunes. But as Nunes was making himself the court jester of frivolous suits, he was also raking in cash. Each one of these lawsuits was trumpeted in right-wing media as another example of his willingness to fight the dreaded "deep state" and push back against "liberal bias." That coverage helped Nunes rake in over $11 million in campaign cashAs it turns out, it wasn't just Fox News helping Nunes make a mockery of the courts. Because Bill Barr and the Department of Justice became fully—and almost certainly illegally—involved in Nunes' attempt to lasso a nonexistent cow.
Why the DOJ's war on Devin Nunes' cow is anything but funny - Alternet.org
  • Another ridiculous idiot in the Trump orbit
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Quote:Conservatives are increasingly relying on a courtroom defense that they don't know what they're talking about and everyone knows it, according to a new piece by Jake Whitney published in The Daily Beast. That defense, dubbed the 'No Reasonable Person' defense, has been made by a string of prominent conservatives, including Sidney Powell, Alex Jones, and Tucker Carlson. It argues that 'no reasonable person' would believe the statements they make, which ostensibly gives them the right to say whatever they want—no matter how reckless or untrue. The 'No Reasonable Person' defense is significant because it shows that conservative media stars and their networks, and even prominent conservative lawyers, are finally admitting that they are not reliable sources of facts: They are opportunists and entertainers, first and foremost," he explained.
Conservatives keep telling judges that 'no reasonable person' would believe what they say: analysis - Alternet.org
  • Claiming insanity after the crime as a way to dissolve responsibility
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Quote:But that isn't enough for Trump, who said of Kavanaugh, "There were so many others I could have appointed, and everyone wanted me to. Where would he be without me? I saved his life. He wouldn't even be in a law firm. Who would have had him? Nobody. Totally disgraced. Only I saved him."
Trump goes off on Justice Brett Kavanaugh in a new interview: 'Totally disgraced' - Alternet.org
  • Curious comment, he who was supposed to nominate only A list people admits coming up short, nominating a disgraced loser just because he things he would be owned favors. And when the favors don't come, there is the revenge, no surprise here..
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Quote:"Barrack stands accused of being an agent of the United Arab Emirates without registering with the attorney general," Aftergut explains. "That would violate 18 USC §951, what prosecutors sometimes call the 'espionage-lite' statute — 'lite' because Barrack didn't pass to foreign adversaries classified information or the names of double agents. He merely — allegedly — earned $1.5 billion for his company by being the UAE's unregistered 'pitchman' inside the Trump campaign and administration from 2016 to 2018."

During Trump's presidency, veteran television journalist Dan Rather used the phrase "flock of felons" to describe all the Trump associates who were convicted of or pled guilty to federal crimes — a list that includes Paul Manafort (who was Trump's 2016 campaign manager before Kellyanne Conway came on board), veteran GOP operative Roger Stone, Michael Flynn (who briefly served as national security adviser in the Trump Administration), Rick Gates (a 2016 Trump campaign aide) and Michael Cohen (Trump's former personal attorney and "fixer"). Barrack, unlike Manafort or Stone, hasn't been convicted of anything, and he has entered a "not guilty" plea.

"Some legal analysts have minimized the main charge against Barrack saying that by simply registering, he could have avoided the violation, but this excuse misses the point," Aftergut argues. "The way that our government uses, or the citizenry perceives, information from a person completely changes when they know that a foreign country is controlling and directing the individual. Reporting reduces the agent's ability to influence U.S. foreign policy priorities and public opinion in favor of that country." The former federal prosecutor adds, "That influence is what Barrack is alleged to have monetized, just as did former General Michael Flynn. Flynn, while on Turkey's payroll, wrote a November 2016, election-eve op-ed pitching that country's image and need for American support. He was still being paid by Turkey months later when he became Trump's national security advisor."
Former federal prosecutor explains why the case against Trump ally Tom Barrack is so damning - Alternet.org
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Quote:Former Chief Strategist in the Trump White House, Steve Bannon, has been accused of serving as a media coach for disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in the months before he was arrested. Ahead of a planned interview with 60 Minutes that in the end would never occur, Epstein was sitting in the study of his New York City mansion with a camera aimed at him, practising for his broadcast appearance. Mr Bannon, who was appointed as the chief executive officer of the Trump campaign in August 2016, was both asking Epstein questions during the mock interview and coaching him on how he should approach it, according to the book Too Famous: The Rich, the Powerful, the Wishful, the Notorious, the Damned by writer Michael Wolff.
‘You don’t look at all creepy’: Steve Bannon accused of coaching Epstein before his arrest | The Independent
  • We thought it was the Democrats that were pedofiles (at least according to Qannon)
  • The above hasn't diminished Bannon's influence, quite the contrary:
Quote:The "stolen election/voter fraud" theme is now the official GOP talking point. As Maddow observed, Republicans everywhere are now using it and will continue to use it in 2022 and beyond. The tactic is being chiefly promoted and driven by Steve Bannon, Donald Trump's former chief of staff, and reinforced through his daily podcasts, which, like NBC News, ProPublica and others have pointed out, are now virtually required listening for most Republican officials, whether elected or intent on being elected. This is where their marching orders are coming from.
How Steve Bannon's daily podcast is running the entire GOP agenda - Alternet.org
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Quote:Newly unredacted records from a whistleblower complaint in the State Department have shed light on more allegations against former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and members of his former staff.
According to documents obtained by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Pompeo and others were accused of misconduct.

The publication reports: "The alleged misconduct included false or misleading statements to the agency's legal department, misuse of government resources on personal and political activities potentially prohibited by the Hatch Act, verbal abuse of employees by Mike and Susan Pompeo and directives to staff not to communicate in writing in order to evade transparency laws.""
Newly unredacted documents reveal a litany of allegations from Mike Pompeo’s time at the State Department - Alternet.org
  • Being an entitled sleazeball was a prerequisite for being in Trump's government
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Quote:On September 17, Flynn was at the “Opening the Heavens” Conference at the Lord of Hosts Church in Omaha, Nebraska. That event claimed to be “an annual, multi-day event where the prophetic heart of God and the manifestation of His supernatural power are demonstrated to those in attendance and [those] viewing online around the world!” READ: 'Intentional deception': Mark Meadows releases damning details about Trump ahead of hearing with Jan. 6 panel Flynn spoke alongside a number of “prophetic” pastors, including Gene Bailey, executive director of Kenneth Copeland ministries, whose spiritual warfare preaching got the heavy-metal treatment last year. Flynn’s speech made news due to QAnon’s reaction to it. It was said to be Satanic, ironic given QAnon’s resemblance to the Satanic Panic of the 1980s. Flynn’s speech resembled a 1984 sermon by Elizabeth Clare Prophet, founder of the Church Universal and Triumphant, a New Age apocalyptic group best known for their move to bunkers in Montana to await a prophesied nuclear apocalypse in 1990. Not only was it a failed doomsday cult, but it was a theosophic movement, something associated with Lucifer by its 18th-century founder.
A former Trump aide is trying to build a violent, ultranationalist, right-wing Christian takeover of the US - Alternet.org
  • This guy was National Security Advisor, and this is only a fraction of the scary stuff (coup d'etat, US should have a single religion, etc.) that's out there..
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Quote:United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas claimed on Thursday that COVID-19 vaccines are engineered from cells taken from terminated pregnancies. "The conservative Justice’s statement came in a dissenting opinion on a case in which the Supreme Court declined to hear a religious liberty challenge to New York’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate from 16 health care workers. The state requires that all health care workers show proof of vaccination," Politico reported... 

Doctors, legislators, journalists, and casual observers were in utter disbelief and horror that a sitting Supreme Court Justice would peddle such an outrageous conspiracy theory, which was hatched by a propaganda outlet called First Draft in 2020 and thoroughly debunked..
'Disgusting': Clarence Thomas skewered for claiming that COVID-19 vaccines come from 'aborted children' - Alternet.org
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Quote:One of most noticeable peculiarities in Santos’s finances is his rapid accumulation of wealth before his run for Congress in 2022, said Jordan Libowitz, the communications director for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Santos provided his own campaign with a loan of $700,000, apparently from the $750,000 salary that he reported earning from his company, the Devolder Organization, in his most recent financial disclosure. Santos also reported more than $1 million in dividends from Devolder.

However, during his unsuccessful campaign for Congress just two years earlier, Santos reported having no assets and a salary of $55,000. “He went from essentially no money in 2020 to millions in 2022,” Libowitz noted. Santos’s financial situation becomes murkier upon closer examination of his company. The incoming congressman created the Devolder Organization in May 2021, just weeks after his prior employer, Harbor City Capitol, was accused of running a Ponzi scheme by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Santos was not implicated in and has denied any knowledge of the scheme.

It remains unclear what exactly Devolder is, as little information exists online about the company and Santos has given several different explanations as to its function. On his campaign website in 2021, Santos described the company as his “family’s firm” and claimed to oversee assets worth $80 million there. However, in an April interview with the Daily Beast, Santos suggested that he created the Devolder Organization to help former Harbor City employees “who were left adrift.”

On his 2022 financial disclosure form and in a recent interview with Semafor, Santos described Devolder as a capital introduction business that included “deal building” and “specialty consulting” for “high net worth individuals.” Santos also suggested to Semafor that the Devolder Organization explained his rapid accumulation of wealth, saying he “landed a couple of million-dollar contracts” within the company’s first six months. The Devolder Organization was dissolved in September of this year for failing to file an annual report. However, after the Times’s Dec. 19 report about Santos, the company was reinstated on Dec. 20, according to the Florida Department of State.

“We don’t know very much about this business that he said he created, made millions off of, then folded,” Libowitz noted. “It doesn’t seem to have had any footprints anywhere.” Libowitz and Ghosh both suggested there is a possibility the company was not legitimate and was used to get around campaign finance limits.
Scrutiny turns to George Santos’s campaign funding | The Hill
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