"The Global Consciousness Project, also known as the EGG Project, is an international multidisciplinary collaboration of scientists, engineers, artists and others continuously collecting data from a global network of physical random number generators located in 65 host sites worldwide. The archive contains over 10 years of random data in parallel sequences of synchronized 200-bit trials every second."
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, January 25, 2021
There’s a saying, that one becomes like the object their hatred.
In which case, many Evangelical and other sects of Christendom have become like the radical Muslims that they so despised and feared.
Haters are not isolationists, they seek to join groups of others, which for them, provides strength, and anonymity, with diminished, or absent accountability or responsibility.
Dr. John R. “Jack” Schafer, Ph.D. is a retired FBI Special Agent, now Professor at Western Illinois University in the Law Enforcement and Justice Administration (LEJA) Department. While with the FBI, he served as behavioral analyst assigned to the FBI’s National Security Behavioral Analysis Program. Dr. Schafer earned his Ph.D. in psychology at Fielding Graduate University, Santa Barbara, California, has authored numerous articles and books, conducted research, is a consultant, and lectures domestically, and internationally.
Through his behavioral research, that found that, among other things, that “Hate masks personal insecurities. Not all insecure people are haters, but all haters are insecure people. Hate elevates the hater above the hated. Haters cannot stop hating without exposing their personal insecurities. Haters can only stop hating when they face their insecurities.”
His 7-stage model of hate is:
Stage 1: The Haters Gather
Stage 2: The Hate Group Defines Itself
Stage 3: The Hate Group Disparages the Target
Stage 4: The Hate Group Taunts the Target
Stage 5: The Hate Group Attacks the Target Without Weapons
Stage 6: The Hate Group Attacks the Target With Weapons
Stage 7: The Hate Group Destroys the Target
Dr. Edward Ludwig “Ed” Glaeser, Ph.D., is the Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, where he has taught since 1992. In 2004, he authored a paper entitled “The Political Economy of Hatred,” which stated in part that, “People say that they hate because the object of their hatred is evil. Hatred relies on people accepting, rather than investigating, hate-creating stories. Hatred declines when there is private incentive to learn the truth.”
How Self-Proclaimed “Prophets” From A Growing Christian Movement Provided Religious Motivation For The Events January 6 At The U.S. Capitol
by Dr. Brad Christerson, PhD
January 12, 2021 – 8:24am EST
In addition to symbols of white supremacy, many of the rioters at the Capitol on January 6 carried signs bearing religious messages, such as “Jesus Saves” and “In God We Trust” while others chanted “Jesus is my savior and Trump is my president.” In a video interview, one of those who breached the Senate floor describes holding a prayer to “consecrate it to Jesus” soon after entering.
Many white evangelical leaders have provided religious justification and undying support for Trump’s presidency, including his most racially incendiary rhetoric and policies. But as a scholar of religion, I argue that a particular segment of white evangelicalism that my colleague Richard Flory and I call Independent Network Charismatic, or INC, has played a unique role in providing a spiritual justification for the movement to overturn the election which resulted in the storming of the Capitol.
INC Christianity is a group of high-profile independent leaders who are detached from any formal denomination and cooperate with one another in loose networks.
Prayer Marches
In the days and hours leading up to the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 the group Jericho Marchorganized marches around the Capitol and Supreme Court building praying for God to defeat the “dark and corrupt” forces that they claimed, without evidence, had stolen the election from God’s anointed president – Donald Trump.
Jericho March is a loose coalition of Christian nationalists formed after the 2020 presidential election with the goal of overturning its results. Leading up to and following the Capitol violence, their website stated: “We are proud of the American system of governance established by our Founding Fathers and we will not let Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, January 22, 2021
Following are excerpted portions of the in-depth interview, which may be read in its entirety, or heard, via the link at the end this entry.
Book ‘Kill Switch’ Examines The Racist History Of The Senate Filibuster
TERRY GROSS, HOST: Congress is trying to return to normal after the insurrection. But what is normal? There are more threats of violence surrounding the inauguration. The norm-breaking that became the norm during the Trump presidency is about to change with the Biden administration. Another change will be the new Democratic majority in the Senate. After newly elected Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock are sworn in, the Senate will be evenly divided, 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats. But Vice President Kamala Harris will have the tie-breaking vote.
But how much power does that actually give Democrats in the Senate? A majority is not enough to pass legislation anymore and hasn’t been for a long time because of the modern use of the filibuster. It takes three-fifths of the Senate to override a filibuster, which means the minority only needs 41 votes to prevent any bill from even coming to a vote. My guest Adam Jentleson says the modern use of the filibuster has crippled American democracy, enabling the minority to systematically block bills favored by the majority. He’s the author of the new book, “Kill Switch,” about the rise of the modern Senate. He knows the ins and outs of Senate rules because he worked as Harry Reid’s deputy chief of staff when Reid was the Democratic leader. Jentleson joined Reid’s staff in 2010 and stayed until 2017.
“Kill Switch” is a history of how the filibuster started as a tool of Southern senators upholding slavery, and then later was used as a tool to block civil rights legislation. The book concludes with Senator Mitch McConnell’s advances in the use of filibuster as an obstructionist tool. Jentleson is now public affairs director at Democracy Forward, which was founded in 2017 to fight corruption in the executive branch.
ADAM JENTLESON: Slowly, over the course of time, but primarily to serve the interests of slave states and try to preserve slavery against the march of progress and a growing majority of both states and Americans who wanted to abolish slavery. The filibuster did not exist in name or practice until about the middle of the 19th century. So this was well after all of the Founding Fathers had passed away. James Madison was one of the longest lived and an ardent opponent of the filibuster to the extent that it sort of was coming into existence in the 1830s. And he passed away in the early 1830s.
John C. Calhoun (1782-1850), United States Representative of South Carolina-CD6, 10th Secretary of War, 16th Secretary of State, Senator of South Carolina, and 7th Vice President (1825-1832), ardent slavery proponent, and slave owner.
So the progenitor of the filibuster, its main innovator, was John C. Calhoun, the great nullifier, the leader, father of the Confederacy. And Calhoun innovated the filibuster for the specific purpose of empowering the planter class. He was a senator from South Carolina. His main patrons were the powerful planters. And he was seeking to create a regional constituency to empower himself against the march of progress and against – what was becoming clear was a superior economic model in the North. So Calhoun started to innovate forms of obstruction that came to be known as the filibuster.
GROSS: So you describe John Calhoun as, like, basically, the father of the filibuster. Let’s be clear who he was. I mean, he not only wanted to protect slave owners, he argued that slavery created racial harmony and improved the lives of slaves. You quote him in the book. He said, never before has the Black race of Central Africa, from the dawn of history to the present day, attained a condition so civilized and improved, not only physically, but morally and intellectually. Amazing that he could justify that slavery was improving the lives of enslaved people.
JENTLESON: That’s right. And it’s important to note at this time, you know – not to give people of that era too much credit for being enlightened. But, you know, there was a shift in public opinion going on regarding slavery in the United States. The abolitionist movement was beginning to gain traction. And, you know, while folks weren’t exactly at the enlightened state of believing in full equality, they recognized that slavery had – was, at best, a necessary evil, emphasis on the evil.
And so Calhoun took it upon himself to argue that there was nothing evil about it. In that same speech that you quoted, he went on to explain that slavery was not a necessary evil, but, quote, “a positive good.” He was such an ardent defender and such a vehement racist that he couldn’t even accept the sort of antebellum acknowledgement that there were parts of the institution that were evil. So it was very clear what his motivations were. He wanted to preserve slavery. And the filibuster was what he deployed to achieve that goal.
GROSS: So we’ve established that needing a supermajority to pass legislation was not what the founders wanted. They wanted simple majorities. You’ve talked about how the filibuster was initiated in the mid-19th century and the ways it was used to enable slave owners and to keep the institution of slavery. But you write that the only time the filibuster was used during Jim Crow with any consistency was to block any form of civil rights legislation and that this happened through the 1960s.
So give us an example of that – like, of the systematic use of the filibuster to block civil rights legislation.
JENTLESON: So what Southern senators faced starting in the 1920s was majority support for civil rights bills. These were rudimentary civil rights bills. These were anti-lynching bills and anti-poll tax bills, but they were civil rights bills nonetheless. These bills started passing the House with big majorities. They had presidents of both parties in the White House ready to sign them, and they actually had enormous public support. Gallup polled the public on anti-lynching bills in 1937 and found 70% of Americans supporting federal anti-lynching laws. And they polled anti-poll tax laws in the 1940s and found 60% support. So Southern senators started to block these bills in the name of minority rights Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, January 20, 2021
While I am not now, nor have I ever been, a member of any political party, I am completely simpatico with Senator Sasse’s observations, and remarks.
Competition is good, wholesome, and healthy, and strengthens each competitor. So in a very real way, it would be disastrous for our political system – which for all practical purposes, is comprised of but two political parties – to suffer the loss of one. Instead, we should be seeking to increase the number of viable competitors.
The GOP’s problems are myriad, not the least of which are cowardice, and failure to stand for truth, and oppose lies, no matter their source, or who promulgated them. As evidenced by what they did the past 4 years, if the party cannot will not stand for “truth, justice, and the American way,” what will they fall for?
As the colloquial saying – and song by the same name – goes, “you’ve got to stand for something, or you’ll fall for anything.”
Sadly, the GOP has already fallen.
The following article contains abbreviated excerpts of the original, which may be found linked at the conclusion.
QAnon Is Destroying the GOP From Within
Until last week, too many in the Republican Party thought they could preach the Constitution and wink at QAnon. They can’t.
Eugene Goodman is an American hero. At a pivotal moment on January 6, the veteran United States Capitol Police officer single-handedly prevented untold bloodshed. Staring down an angry, advancing mob, he retreated up a marble staircase, calmly wielding his baton to delay his pursuers while calling out their position to his fellow officers. At the top of the steps, still alone and standing just a few yards from the chamber where senators and Vice President Mike Pence had been certifying the Electoral College’s vote, Goodman strategically lured dozens of the mayhem-minded away from an unguarded door to the Senate floor.
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If and when the House sends its article of impeachment against Trump to the Senate, I will be a juror in his trial, and thus what I can say in advance is limited. But no matter what happens in that trial, the Republican Party faces a separate reckoning. Until last week, many party leaders and consultants thought they could preach the Constitution while winking at QAnon. They can’t. The GOP must reject conspiracy theories or be consumed by them. Now is the time to decide what this party is about.
The newly elected Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. She once ranted that “there’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take this global cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles out, and I think we have the president to do it.” During her campaign, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy had a choice: Disavow her campaign and potentially lose a Republican seat, or welcome her into his caucus and try to keep a lid on her ludicrous ideas. McCarthy failed the leadership test and sat on the sidelines. Now in Congress, Greene isn’t going to just back McCarthy as leader and stay quiet. She’s already announced plans to try to impeach Joe Biden on his first full day as president. She’ll keep making fools out of herself, her constituents, and the Republican Party.
If the GOP is to have a future outside the fever dreams of Internet trolls, we have to call out falsehoods and conspiracy theories unequivocally. We have to repudiate people who peddle those lies.
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America’s Junk-Food Media Diet
The way Americans are consuming and producing news—or what passes for it these days—is driving us mad. This has been said many times, but the problem has worsened in the past five years. On the supply side, media outlets have discovered that dialing up the rhetoric increases clicks, eyeballs, and revenue. On the demand side, readers and viewers like to see their opinions affirmed, rather than challenged. When everybody’s outraged, everybody wins—at least in the short term.
This is not a problem only on the right or only on obscure blogs. The underlying economics that drive Read the rest of this entry »
For the ignorant – and, that’s most people – it’s a SCOTUS ruling handed down June 17, 2019 that ruled that, “The Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment prohibits only governmental, not private, abridgment of speech.”
In other words, Censorship laws DO NOT apply to the Private Sector.
Thank the so-called “conservative” Supremes who handed down that ruling. They are: KAVANAUGH, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which ROBERTS, C. J., and THOMAS, ALITO, and GORSUCH, JJ., joined.
So, Mr. Dorsey, and every other private company does NOT have to abide by anti-censorship laws.
Furthermore, what in the hell is Ted Cruz doing meddling, trying to tell Twitter how to run their business? That jacked-up twat probably doesn’t even own one share of Twitter.
What fucking hypocrite that son-of-a-bitch is!
I’d have loved to have seen Mr. Dorsey ask Cruz that question – “Are you telling me how to run my business?” – and follow it up with this one:
“Exactly what laws are you accusing me, and/or my company, of breaking?”
Of course, the obvious answer is ‘none.’
And remember: This is Political Theater for Banana Republican Ted Cruz, who feigns not-so-righteous indignation on behalf of those who would vote for him in future elections, Presidential, or not. And chances are, we’ll see that Texas turd make a Presidential run for the border in 2024.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, January 17, 2021
Oh yeah… add QAnoners, Deep Staters, Alex “InforWars” Jonesers, Stop the Stealers, militia members, neo-Nazis, White Supremacists, Proud Boys, and other nutzos – including Banana Republicans.
That is the “Party of Donald Trump.”
“This gathering should send a message to them; this isn’t their Republican party anymore, this is Donald Trump’s Republican party, this is the Republican party that will put America first.”
–– Donald Trump, Jr., January 6, 2021 at the “America First/Stop the Steal” (or whatever they called it) “officially known as the “March to Save America,” was largely organized by a 501(c)(4) group known as Women for America First” rally on The Ellipse, a 52-acre park south of the White House, which can be seen in the background
Speaking of which…
Here’s what the Liar in Chief and his clan were doing while the Capitol Building was under seige.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, January 13, 2021
The actions of Banana Republicans in the House that did NOT vote to impeach President Donald J. Trump a SECOND time, are simply mind-numbing.
Here, we have a President ON VIDEO TAPE who:
1.) Encouraged and invited rioters to come to Washington, D.C. SPECIFICALLY on January 6, 2021 in order to “stop the steal” writing on Twitter December 19, 2020 that “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!”
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2.) Though his deliberately provocative rhetoric, incited a riotously violent insurrection in which the thousands upon thousands of Trump2020 mobsters there present stormed and laid siege to the Capitol Building and deliberately disrupted a Joint Session of Congress in which the Electoral College Votes were being counted to certify Joseph R. Biden as the President-elect
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, January 10, 2021
Thank goodness for citizens with integrity who help see to it that our nation’s governance continues without problems, despite the will of those who would otherwise thwart the will of the people, and the rule of law. THOSE people ARE patriots, though they garner little attention, and make no boast about their often-thankless work.
Many, if not most, of their postulates, warnings, and conclusions, were entirely spot-on.
Preventing a Disrupted Presidential Election and Transition
August 3, 2020
Executive Summary
In June 2020 the Transition Integrity Project (TIP) convened a bipartisan group of over 100 current and former senior government and campaign leaders and other experts in a series of 2020 election crisis scenario planning exercises. The results of all four table-top exercises were alarming. We assess with a high degree of likelihood that November’s elections will be marked by a chaotic legal and political landscape.We also assess that the President Trump is likely to contest the result by both legal and extra-legal means, in an attempt to hold onto power. Recent events, including the President’s own unwillingness to commit to abiding by the results of the election, the Attorney General’s embrace of the President’s groundless electoral fraud claims,and the unprecedented deployment of federal agents to put down leftwing protests, underscore the extreme lengths to which President Trump may be willing to go in order to stay in office.
In this report, TIP explains the basis for our assessment. Our findings are bolstered by the historical experience of Bush v. Gore (2000) and other U.S. electoral dysfunctions. The closest analogy may be the election of 1876, a time of extreme partisanship and rampant disenfranchisement, where multiple states proffered competing slates of electors, and the election was only resolved through a grand political bargain days before Inauguration — one that traded an end to Reconstruction for electoral peace and resulted in a century of Jim Crow, leaving deep wounds that are far from healed today.
Among the findings we highlight in the report:
• The concept of “election night,” is no longer accurate and indeed is dangerous. We face a period of contestation stretching from the first day a ballot is cast in mid-September until January 20. The winner may not, and we assess likely will not, be known on “election night” as officials count mail-in ballots. This period of uncertainty provides opportunities for an unscrupulous candidate to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the process and to set up an unprecedented assault on the outcome. Campaigns, parties, the press and the public must be educated to adjust expectations starting immediately.
• A determined campaign has opportunity to contest the election into January 2021. We anticipate lawsuits, divergent media narratives, attempts to stop the counting of ballots, and protests drawing people from both sides. President Trump, the incumbent, will very likely use the executive branch to aid his campaign strategy, including through the Department of Justice. We assess that there is a chance the president will attempt to convince legislatures and/or governors to take actions – including illegal actions – to defy the popular vote. Federal laws provide little guidance for how Congress should resolve irregularities when they convene in a Joint Session on January 6, 2021. Of particular concern is how the military would respond in the context of uncertain election results. Here recent evidence offers some reassurance, but it is inconclusive.
• The administrative transition process itself may be highly disrupted. Participants in our exercises of all backgrounds and ideologies believed that Trump would prioritize personal gain and self-protection over ensuring an orderly administrative handoff to his successor. Trump may use pardons to thwart future criminal prosecution, arrange business deals with foreign governments that benefit him financially, attempt to bribe and silence associates, declassify sensitive documents, and attempt to divert federal funds to his own businesses.
These risks can be mitigated; the worst outcomes of the exercises are far from a certainty. The purpose of this report is not to frighten, but to spur all stake holders to action. Our legal rules and political norms don’t work unless people are prepared to defend them and to speak out when others violate them. It is incumbent upon elected officials, civil society leaders, and the press to challenge authoritarian actions in the courts, in the media, and in the streets through peaceful protest. Specific recommendations include:
• Plan for a contested election.If there is a crisis, events will unfold quickly, and sleep-deprived leaders will be asked to make consequential decisions quickly. Thinking through options now will help to ensure better decisions. Approach this as a political battle, not just a legal battle.In the event of electoral contestation, sustained political mobilization will likely be crucial for ensuring transition integrity. Dedicated staff and resources need to be in place at least through the end of January.
• Focus on readiness in the states, providing political support for a complete and accurate count. Governors, Secretaries of State, Attorneys General and Legislatures can communicate and rein-force laws and norms and be ready to confront irregularities. Election officials will need political and public support to see the process through to completion.
• Address the two biggest threats head on: Lies about “voter fraud” and escalating violence.Voting fraud is virtually non-existent, but Trump lies about it to create a narrative designed to politically mobilize his base and to create the basis for contesting the results should he lose. The potential for violent conflict is high, particularly since Trump encourages his supporters to take up arms.
• Anticipate a rocky administrative transition. Transition teams will likely need to do two things simultaneously: defend against Trump’s reckless actions on his way out of office; and find creative solutions to ensure landing teams are able to access the information and resources they need to begin to prepare for governing.
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About the Transition Integrity Project
The Transition Integrity Project (TIP)¹ was launched in late 2019 out of concern that the Trump Administration may seek to manipulate, ignore, undermine or disrupt the 2020 presidential election and transition process. TIP takes no position on how Americans should cast their votes, or on the likely winner of the upcoming election; either major party candidate could prevail at the polls in November without resorting to “dirty tricks.” However, the administration of President Donald Trump has steadily undermined core norms of democracy and the rule of law and embraced numerous corrupt and authoritarian practices. This presents a profound challenge for those – from either party – who are committed to ensuring free and fair elections, peaceful transitions of power, and stable administrative continuity in the United States.
The American people have the right to choose their next president without intimidation or interference in the normal electoral process. Believers in democracy and the rule of law should therefore be prepared to take action to ensure that the results of the 2020 presidential election reflect the will of the American people. Like many authoritarian leaders, President Trump has begun to lay the groundwork for potentially ignoring or disrupting the voting process, by claiming, for instance, that any mail-in ballots will be fraudulent and that his opponents will seek to have non-citizens vote through fraud. Similarly, he has frequently expressed the view that he is entitled to additional time in office and that his opponents are seeking to steal the election. If President Trump’s future actions violate long-standing legal and ethical norms relating to presidential elections, there is also a risk that they will push other actors, including, potentially, some in the Democratic Party, to similarly engage in practices that depart from traditional rule of law norms,out of perceived self-defense.
The goal of TIP is to highlight these various electoral and transition-related risks and make recommendations to all actors, individual and institutional, who share a commitment to democracy and the rule of law.² The recommendations shared here reflect input from both Republicans and Democrats committed to these values. However, because the primary threat to the integrity of the election and transition appears to come from the Trump Administration, most of the recommendations in this memo focus on how actors committed to the rule of law can restrain or counter anti-democratic actions the Trump Administration and its supporters may take in connection with the 2020 election.
That TIP’s concerns are widely shared is reflected in the media attention which this project has already begun to garner. (For a list of articles as of late July 2020, see Appendix A.)
About the Scenario Exercises
In June 2020, TIP organized four scenario exercises to identify risks to the rule of law or to the integrity of the democratic process in the period between Election Day (November 3, 2020) and Inauguration Day (January 20, 2021), with an eye toward mitigation and/or prevention of worst-case outcomes.
At this point it seems possible that either candidate may achieve a decisive electoral victory, but the goal of TIP’s scenario exercises was to gain a better understanding of the tests our democratic institutions
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¹ Rosa Brooks and Nils Gilman launched the Transition Integrity Project in December 2019 to focus on identifying and mitigating threats to democracy and administrative continuity in the period between Election Day and Inauguration. TIP has received advice and input from dozens of experts representing both major political parties. TIP is directed by Zoe Hudson. Inquires can be sent toinfo@transitionintegrityproject.org.
² TIP recognizes and shares the view that the Electoral College is profoundly anti-democratic, and that numerous long-standing practices also function to create structural biases in our voting system. For present purposes, however, these constraints are treated as givens.
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could face in the event that candidates defy the norms that have underpinned American political practice for decades.Specifically, TIP wanted to examine some of the unknowns: How far might candidates go in contesting negative electoral outcomes or disrupting the normal transition process? How well would American institutions hold up if one or both candidates refused to “play by the rules”?
The four scenarios were developed after a consultative process involving outreach to experts on elections and transitions, political violence and instability, governance, and scenario planning and game design. Each of the four scenarios developed was different. (See Appendix B for a summary of the scenarios and key actions.) In one scenario, the exercise posited that the winner of the election was not known as of the morning after the election and the outcome of the race was too close to predict with certainty; in another, the exercise began with the premise that Democratic party candidate Joe Biden won the popular vote and the Electoral College by a healthy margin; and in a third, the exercise assumed that President Trump won the Electoral College vote but again lost the popular vote by a healthy margin. The fourth exercise began with the premise that Biden won both the popular vote and the Electoral College by a narrow margin.
Sixty-seven people participated as active “players” in one or more of the scenario exercises, while dozens more participated in the exercises as observers and offered feedback during debriefing sessions. Participants included members of both major political parties, former high-ranking government officials (including, for example, two former governors), senior political campaigners, nationally prominent journalists and communications professionals, social movement leaders, and experts on politics, national security, democratic reform, election law, and media.
Each simulation exercise involved seven teams, each composed of 2-3 people.The teams were constructed to allow players considerable flexibility to adopt different identities at different points in the game. Using a “matrix game”³ format, the teams were: (1) The Trump Campaign [“Team Trump”]; (2) The Biden Campaign [“Team Biden”]; (3) Republican Elected Officials; (4) Democratic Elected Officials; (5) Career Federal Government employees (civilian and military) and political appointees; (6) Media (right wing, left wing and mainstream); and (7) the Public (this team consisted of polling experts). Teams were made up of participants with “real life” experience in the types of roles they were asked to play. Under the rules of the matrix game, teams presented with the initial scenario could take any action they wanted. The chances of success of each team action were determined based on robust argumentation among all teams and the adjudication of a White Cell, as well as a randomizing factor based on dice rolls. It is important to note that the exercises were not designed to model or simulate legal strategy, but rather to better understand the potential political mobilization and media dynamics surrounding potential electoral contestation, and how candidates might exercise political power to achieve a win.
Key Insights from the Scenario Exercises
The scenario planning exercises were conducted in June 2020. Developments since then have only confirmed that there is every reason to be concerned that our electoral rules and norms are under threat. In an interview with Chris Wallace, President Trump suggested that he might not abide by the results of the election if he loses. The President deployed agents from Homeland Security to Portland to suppress racial
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³ A “matrix game” approach emphasizes and facilitates creativity and dynamic interaction between teams representing major stakeholder groups. Participants make multifaceted, competitive arguments about not only their own in-tended actions, but also the actions of each of their allies, partners, and competitors. The iterative “contest of ideas” design forces players to interrogate and critique actions in real-time – which provides insight not only into what could happen, but also the reactions those actions may elicit. The game play focuses on players’ intentions, which makes this modality useful for analyzing competing strategies.
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justice protestors, a move that outraged many, including the Republican former head of Homeland Security, and indicates President Trump’s appetite to deploy federal agents even against the will of local elected officials. He has announced plans to expand this deployment to blue cities in swing states, raising the specter of electoral intimidation. President Trump has speculated about whether the election should be postponed and Attorney General Bill Barr expressed confusion about whether the date of the election could be moved. (As a legal matter, only Congress can move the day of the Presidential election.) Trump also demanded that the election results be called immediately on Election Day, e.g. before all mail-in ballots can be counted. And the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued a statement warning that foreign countries are again trying to interfere in the US election.
Two words of caution about the findings from the exercises. First, TIP intentionally did not Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, January 9, 2021
NOTE TO THE READER: What you’re about to read is substantiated, corroborated, and well-documented fact. As far back as late 2019, into June, and later August 2020, there was significantly strong reason to believe/suspect that, if he were not re-elected, President Trump would misuse and abuse the power of the Office of the President to stay in power – to instigate a political coup – by some means. A full and complete bipartisan report was written to that effect, about the possible and likely scenarios, with full sources cited, by a diverse group which included Pentagon experts, analysts, and others renown in their fields. Where opinion was offered, it was reasoned, thoughtful, and expert. Their disturbing findings were wholly accurate, though largely ignored. As well, there remains ongoing and substantiated evidence that the insurrection on American soil against a Constitutional governmental process was planned months in advance -and- that President Trump was setting the tone for events that would later transpire, and culminate on January 6, 2021 in the attack upon the Congress as they met to certify the Electoral College vote of Joe Biden as President-elect. NONE of the events throughout were haphazard, happenstance, or accidental – EVERY ACTIVITY WAS PLANNED, ORCHESTRATED, AND COORDINATED.
The domestic terror events of January 6, 2021 – an attack upon the United States Congress – were not accidental.
They were not happenstance.
They did not pop up overnight like mushrooms after a rain shower.
They were planned, orchestrated, an coordinated in full view of the public.
More disturbingly, there is substantial evidence demonstrating that the President was not merely complicit as an oblique by-stander egging on seemingly random activity, but that he was actively – albeit covertly – engaged in establishing and creating the circumstances in which he would later inject himself to provide guidance, and offer direct encouragement that very day to the ultimate participants in a political coup undertaken by private citizens at his behest.
For those, and for other reasons, he should be arrested, held without bond, and then tried. The punishment for such criminal activities are not mere slaps upon the wrist. They include a mandatory death penalty.
And that is by NO MEANS the only violation of Federal law with which they can, and should, be charged.
United States Attorneys and other Federal agents who are soft-pedaling their crimes by merely charging them with the Federal equivalent of “trespass” are not doing our nation any favors or service, whatsoever.
Conspiracy is another crime with which they could ALL be charged, even after they’re convicted of any other crime. Furthermore, they could EVERY ONE be charged under one case. Conceivably, this event has the potential to be the single largest Federal prosecution, EVER.
Some readers may not know how GRAVE this entire matter of the Presidentially-instigated Trump2020 insurrection is.
If you’ll continue reading the increasing volume of news reports, you’ll see the mounting evidence of OPEN conspiracy… that was, and is, a crime against our nation, our Constitution, our people, our way of life… of Liberty itself – the likes of which we have NOT SEEN since the era of the Civil War.
Those folks are not just a mere haphazard collection of conspiracy theorists, whackos, and the lunatic fringe.
THEY ARE BRAZEN CRIMINAL CONSPIRATORS AGAINST THE UNITED STATES.
Trump, and Trump, Jr., and his ENTIRE MAGA crowd – at least EVERY SINGLE PERSON PRESENT THERE THAT DAY – can, and should, be charged with violation of serious Federal crimes, not the least of which are under Title 18 United States Code, Chapter 115, TREASON, SEDITION, AND SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES
-but-
ALL OF THEM – including the President himself – can, and should, be charged with CONSPIRACY, for there is SUBSTANTIAL and MOUNTING EVIDENCE that there REMAINS a conspiracy to overthrow the United States government.
Not only did they sell merchandise online and conspire about it OPENLY for well over 2 months, but they had a website for it, as well!
In fact, as far back as September 7, 2020, Sasha Abramsky wrote in The Nation that, “Is Trump Planning a Coup d’État? Many observers — including Republicans — worry that he is.” In it, he wrote in part that, “Michael Steele, a former chair of the Republican National Committee, has come to share Fried’s* conviction that Trump is a threat to the Republic, although Steele believes the Trump cult is more about naked political opportunism than any grand fascist ideology.” [*Charles Fried, Ronald Reagan’s Solicitor General, Republican, Harvard Law School professor, board member of groups like the Campaign Legal Center, Checks and Balances, and Republicans for the Rule of Law.]
“Steele in recent months concluded that Trump, aided and abetted by the GOP’s congressional leaders, is willing to “open up a Pandora’s box of mischief” to remain ensconced in the White House, Steele says.
“He’s laying down the predicate
— taking shots at vote by mail and saying he already knows there’s fraud —
and therefore it’s likely he won’t accept the results of the election.”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, January 8, 2021
The Trump presidency, and the White Supremacist social unrest during his administration were exclusively caused by Russian KGB Chief Vladimir Putin.
It should be noted that the KGB has changed names several times, and has also been known as the GRU, and FIS, FSB, FSS, or SVR – by whatever name it’s called itself, it’s a Russian intelligence agency – a rose by any other name, you know. But otherwise, all the same old folks during Russia’s communist era are still in power. And Putin, who relatively recently was allegedly “approved” by about 75% of the Russian population who voted (We know how they vote, right? Ballot box stuffing.), Ol’ Vlad is now effectively “President for Life,” and will remain in power until 2036, at which time he’ll be the ripe old age of 84. So much for “reform,” eh?
Some, most notably Republicans, have hailed the alleged “demise” of “the former Soviet Union” in favor of whatever government is now in place in Russia, under whatever banner they may fly over themselves at any given time.
We’ll be fighting in the streets With our children at our feet And the morals that they worship will be gone And the men who spurred us on Sit in judgement of all wrong They decide and the shotgun sings the song
I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution Take a bow for the new revolution Smile and grin at the change all around Pick up my guitar and play Just like yesterday Then I’ll get on my knees and pray We don’t get fooled again
…
Meet the new boss Same as the old boss
“Meet the new boss… same as the old boss.”
Again, a communist by another other name.
But let’s get one thing ABSOLUTELY straight: Russia has NEVER been America’s friend, nor our ally at any time in history. NOT EVER! Not even during WWII when Stalin, FDR, and Churchill sat together for an outdoor photograph at The Tehran Conference: November 28 – December 2, 1943, the subsequent Yalta Conference, and the final Potsdam Conference during which representatives from the 3 nations (United States, United Kingdom, and Russia) strategized for the defeat of Hitler’s Nazi Germany forces during WWII. Perhaps the oft-repeated adage that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” may seem apropos in such a case. While it doesn’t necessarily indicate friendship, per se, it merely illustrates cooperation for a mutually beneficial cause.
But more to the point… the conclusion arrived at by our nation’s intelligence agencies, their analysts, and the Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence, is that Russia interfered in our 2016 election, preferred Donald Trump as their candidate to win, and made significant effort toward ensuring that he was elected.
Why?
Because Russian intelligence had long known about Trump’s myriad weaknesses as a “leader,” about his corrupt practices as a “businessman,” of his well-known penchants for aggrandizing and narcissism, his numerous personal failures as a human being, and every possible weakness he had… and they exploited it to the hilt for THEIR own benefit, because they KNEW that he was a patsy, a pussy, a weakling, a bully, an idiot, an ignoramus, and worse -and- that he could be easily manipulated. Trump was, for the Russians, a tool to be used to achieve their means, and they worked tirelessly to ensure his election.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, January 7, 2021
U.S. Capitol Police in plain clothes stand behind barricaded doors to the House floor and draw pistols upon Trump 2020 mobsters who violently invaded the U.S. Capitol Building, Wednesday, January 6, 2021 during the Constitutionally-ordered tallying of the states’ certified Electoral College votes.
The shocking events that unfolded yesterday in our nation’s capitol – rioting thugs, marauders, and hooligans who violently overthrew and violently invaded our Nation’s Capitol building complex thereby participating in insurrection after being egged on by their losing candidate, the soon-to-be-former President Trump – are unprecedented. Not since the War of 1812 when British soldiers breached and burned our nation’s capitol has the capitol been invaded. The sad part is, that it was brought about EXCLUSIVELY by a Lying, Lawless and Treasonous American President – Trump – whom the GOP has coddled and cultivated.
Again, yesterday’s domestic terroristic events were brought about exclusively by President Trump, who has consistently falsely asserted that he “won” the 2020 General Election, despite numerous Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, January 6, 2021
“To those Republicans, many of which may be voting on things in the coming hours: You have an opportunity today.You can be a hero, or you can be a zero. And the choice is yours. But we are all watching. The whole world is watching, folks. Choose wisely.”
“These guys better fight for Trump. Because if they’re not, guess what? I’m going to be in your backyard in a couple of months!”
– Donald Trump, Jr., in a meandering, expletive-filled speech delivered almost entirely in shouting, to the mob gathered for the “Save America March” assembled on the White House Ellipse, suggesting that he would support primary campaigns against Republicans who did not side with his father on confirmation of the state’s certified Electoral College vote results. After a speech given by the President, the exclusively White mob later rioted, became insurrectionist, and violently overthrew the Capitol Building, rampaging, looting, destroying, and wreaking havoc, and mayhem.
Donald Trump Jr. speaks Wednesday, January 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C., at a rally in support of President Donald Trump called the “Save America Rally.” The “rally” was a mob in waiting, which later rioted, becoming insurrectionists, and violently overthrew the nation’s Capitol Building. image by Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, January 5, 2021
“Truth matters.”
Hmm… where have we heard that before, eh?
ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos on “Good Morning America”: “David Worley, a Democrat member of the State Election Board, which you chair, has asked you to open an investigation into the call. Will you open that investigation?”
Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was interviewed by George Stephanopoulos, ABC News Chief Anchor on “Good Morning America” Monday morning, January 4, 2021 following Sunday’s news that President Trump and his team had called the Georgia Secretary of State and asked him to “find” enough votes to overturn the official results and throw the election to Trump.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger: “I believe that – because I had conversation with the President, also he had conversation with our chief investigator after we did the signature match audit of Cobb County last week – there may be a conflict of interest.
“I understand that the Fulton County District Attorney wants to look at.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, January 4, 2021
When analyzing language, we’re told that the number of times that a word is mentioned often indicates its importance. Samuel Johnson expressed it this way in Rambler #2 (March 24, 1750) by writing that, “Men more frequently require to be reminded, than informed.”
It should also be borne in mind that sometimes, when making a request, or even in casual conversation, per se, language is sometimes “coded,” meaning that one word stands for, and substitutes for another idea, or thought. Consider the 2004 book “I Heard You Paint Houses”: Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran & the Inside Story of The Mafia, The Teamsters & the Last Ride of Jimmy Hoffa” which became a motion picture entitled “The Irishman,” directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel, and Ray Romano, among others.
The sentence “I heard you paint houses” was euphemistic (coded) language meaning to murder someone, that the person speaking the sentence was inquiring with the listener if the listener was a “hit man,” or murderer for hire, and obliquely, that the speaker wanted someone killed.
Trump’s beverage of choice is Diet Coke. It doesn’t seem to be working.
“I would like you to do us a favor though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it. I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say Crowdstrike… I guess you have one of your wealthy people… The server, they say Ukraine has it. There are a lot of things that went on, the whole situation. … The other thing, There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it… It sounds horrible to me.”
While the following list is neither the entire, nor complete list, it is a listing of the words that are germane to the topic of the phone call with the Georgia Secretary of State as it pertains to the November General Election in which Trump lost to Biden in that state, for which Trump sought illegal relief from the Secretary of State.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, January 3, 2021
By now, unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, or just checked in from an overnight trip to Mars, you’ve heard the news that the soon-to-be-former President suborned conspiracy and fraud from the Georgia Secretary Of State Brad Raffensperger.
The Washington Post, in conjunction with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, first published the story, which was quickly picked up by other news reporting outlets, including the Associated Press, Reuters, CNN, New York Times, NPR, and many others, including international news outlets.
The Loser in Chief and POS45 LEFT, and Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger RIGHT
Throughout the entire call, The Lying Sack of Shit in Chief, aka the Loser in Chief and Criminal in Chief, was consistently inconsistent in asserting his “the Earth is flat” debunked fraudulent election claims.
And even though his figures throughout the hour-long recorded phone call were inconsistent, there was one thing he consistently stated, in many ways, that he wanted : For the GA SOS to invalidate enough votes from the already-certified election results which would cause the election to be thrown to him.
If that’s not corrupt – to blatantly ask (numerous times) for a criminal act to be performed (to suborn fraud and conspiracy, “suborn” being defined by Black’s Law Dictionary, 8th ed. 2004, as “to induce (a person) to commit an unlawful or wrongful act, esp. in a secret or underhanded manner”) – I don’t know what is.
And, as it turns out, it is illegal, at the State -and- Federal levels.
Republicans should rejoice that laws exist which regulate behavior involving elections and voting, and not just at the ballot box, either.
Georgia Code Title 21 – Elections Chapter 2 – Elections and Primaries Generally Article 15 – Miscellaneous Offenses
Section § 21-2-604. Criminal solicitation to commit election fraud; penalties
(a) (1) A person commits the offense of criminal solicitation to commit election fraud in the first degree when, with intent that another person engage in conduct constituting a felony under this article, he or she solicits, requests, commands, importunes, or otherwise attempts to cause the other person to engage in such conduct.
(2) A person commits the offense of criminal solicitation to commit election fraud in the second degree when, with intent that another person engage in conduct constituting a misdemeanor under this article, he or she solicits, requests, commands, importunes, or otherwise attempts to cause the other person to engage in such conduct.
(b) (1) A person convicted of the offense of criminal solicitation to commit election fraud in the first degree shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than three years.
(2) A person convicted of the offense of criminal solicitation to commit election fraud in the second degree shall be punished as for a misdemeanor.
(c) It is no defense to a prosecution for criminal solicitation to commit election fraud that the person solicited could not be guilty of the crime solicited.
(d) The provisions of subsections (a) through (c) of this Code section are cumulative and shall not supersede any other penal law of this state.
Code 1981, § 21-2-604, enacted by Ga. L. 2011, p. 683, § 21/SB 82.
-AND-
2010 Georgia Code TITLE 16 – CRIMES AND OFFENSES CHAPTER 4 – CRIMINAL ATTEMPT, CONSPIRACY, AND SOLICITATION § 16-4-7 – Criminal solicitation O.C.G.A. 16-4-7 (2010) 16-4-7. Criminal solicitation
(a) A person commits the offense of criminal solicitation when, with intent that another person engage in conduct constituting a felony, he solicits, requests, commands, importunes, or otherwise attempts to cause the other person to engage in such conduct.
(b) A person convicted of the offense of criminal solicitation to commit a felony shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than three years. A person convicted of the offense of criminal solicitation to commit a crime punishable by death or by life imprisonment shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than five years.
(c) It is no defense to a prosecution for criminal solicitation that the person solicited could not be guilty of the crime solicited.
(d) The provisions of subsections (a) through (c) of this Code section are cumulative and shall not supersede any other penal law of this state.
A person, including an election official, who in any election for Federal office-
(1) knowingly and willfully intimidates, threatens, or coerces, or attempts to intimidate, threaten, or coerce, any person for-
(A) registering to vote, or voting, or attempting to register or vote;
(B) urging or aiding any person to register to vote, to vote, or to attempt to register or vote; or
(C) exercising any right under this chapter; or
(2) knowingly and willfully deprives, defrauds, or attempts to deprive or defraud the residents of a State of a fair and impartially conducted election process, by-
(A) the procurement or submission of voter registration applications that are known by the person to be materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent under the laws of the State in which the election is held; or
(B) the procurement, casting, or tabulation of ballots that are known by the person to be materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent under the laws of the State in which the election is held,
shall be fined in accordance with title 18 (which fines shall be paid into the general fund of the Treasury, miscellaneous receipts (pursuant to section 3302 of title 31), notwithstanding any other law), or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.
( Pub. L. 103–31, §12, May 20, 1993, 107 Stat. 88 .)
-AND-
18 USC 241: Conspiracy against rights
Text contains those laws in effect on January 3, 2021 From Title 18-CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
PART I-CRIMES
CHAPTER 13-CIVIL RIGHTS
§241. Conspiracy against rights
If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same; or
If two or more persons go in disguise on the highway, or on the premises of another, with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege so secured-
They shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, they shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 696 ; Pub. L. 90–284, title I, §103(a), Apr. 11, 1968, 82 Stat. 75 ; Pub. L. 100–690, title VII, §7018(a), (b)(1), Nov. 18, 1988, 102 Stat. 4396 ; Pub. L. 103–322, title VI, §60006(a), title XXXII, §§320103(a), 320201(a), title XXXIII, §330016(1)(L), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 1970 , 2109, 2113, 2147; Pub. L. 104–294, title VI, §§604(b)(14)(A), 607(a), Oct. 11, 1996, 110 Stat. 3507, 3511.)
-AND-
2 USC 10307: Prohibited acts Text contains those laws in effect on January 3, 2021 From Title 52-VOTING AND ELECTIONS Subtitle I-Voting Rights CHAPTER 103-ENFORCEMENT OF VOTING RIGHTS
§10307. Prohibited acts
(a) Failure or refusal to permit casting or tabulation of vote
No person acting under color of law shall fail or refuse to permit any person to vote who is entitled to vote under any provision of chapters 103 to 107 of this title or is otherwise qualified to vote, or willfully fail or refuse to tabulate, count, and report such person’s vote.
(b) Intimidation, threats, or coercion
No person, whether acting under color of law or otherwise, shall intimidate, threaten, or coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any person for voting or attempting to vote, or intimidate, threaten, or coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any person for urging or aiding any person to vote or attempt to vote, or intimidate, threaten, or coerce any person for exercising any powers or duties under section 10302(a), 10305, 10306, or 10308(e) of this title or section 1973d or 1973g of title 42.1
(c) False information in registering or voting; penalties
Whoever knowingly or willfully gives false information as to his name, address or period of residence in the voting district for the purpose of establishing his eligibility to register or vote, or conspires with another individual for the purpose of encouraging his false registration to vote or illegal voting, or pays or offers to pay or accepts payment either for registration to vote or for voting shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both: Provided, however, That this provision shall be applicable only to general, special, or primary elections held solely or in part for the purpose of selecting or electing any candidate for the office of President, Vice President, presidential elector, Member of the United States Senate, Member of the United States House of Representatives, Delegate from the District of Columbia, Guam, or the Virgin Islands, or Resident Commissioner of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(d) Falsification or concealment of material facts or giving of false statements in matters within jurisdiction of examiners or hearing officers; penalties
Whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of an examiner or hearing officer knowingly and willfully falsifies or conceals a material fact, or makes any false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements or representations, or makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry, shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
(e) Voting more than once
(1) Whoever votes more than once in an election referred to in paragraph (2) shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
(2) The prohibition of this subsection applies with respect to any general, special, or primary election held solely or in part for the purpose of selecting or electing any candidate for the office of President, Vice President, presidential elector, Member of the United States Senate, Member of the United States House of Representatives, Delegate from the District of Columbia, Guam, or the Virgin Islands, or Resident Commissioner of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(3) As used in this subsection, the term “votes more than once” does not include the casting of an additional ballot if all prior ballots of that voter were invalidated, nor does it include the voting in two jurisdictions under section 10502 of this title, to the extent two ballots are not cast for an election to the same candidacy or office.
(Pub. L. 89–110, title I, §11, Aug. 6, 1965, 79 Stat. 443 ; renumbered title I, Pub. L. 91–285, §2, June 22, 1970, 84 Stat. 314 ; amended Pub. L. 91–405, title II, §204(e), Sept. 22, 1970, 84 Stat. 853 ; Pub. L. 94–73, title IV, §§404, 409, Aug. 6, 1975, 89 Stat. 404 , 405.)
And yet, as of this writing, there has been only ONE reporting outlet with the gumption to tell it like it is.
“Georgia state law includes two provisions that criminalize “solicitation of election fraud” and “conspiracy to commit election fraud.” Trump’s detractors also pointed to a federal statute that criminalizes “the procurement, casting, or tabulation of ballots that are known by the person to be materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent.”
“Anthony Michael Kreis, a Georgia State University law professor, said: “The Georgia code says that anybody who solicits, requests or commands or otherwise attempts to encourage somebody to commit election fraud is guilty of solicitation of election fraud. ‘Soliciting or requesting’ is the key language. The president asked, in no uncertain terms, the secretary of state to invent votes, to create votes that were not there. Not only did he ask for that in terms of just overturning the specific margin that Joe Biden won by, but then said we needed one additional vote to secure victory in Georgia.”
““There’s just no way that if you read the code and the way the code is structured, and then you look at what the president of the United states requested, that he has not violated this law — the spirit of it for sure,” Kreis continued.
“Kreis added that the phone call could not be divorced from recent episodes in which Trump amplified a false conspiracy theory about Raffensperger’s family and his vows to end the political careers of people like the secretary of state and Kemp for upholding Biden’s victory in the election. He also said Trump’s request for a specific number of votes — just enough to prevail by one — undercut the notion that he was simply asking for the truth.
““If I’m the president of the United States and my pardon power is not — does not extend to state acts, I don’t think that in the last few days of my term that I would want to be engaging in activities that even remotely subject me to the possibility of state criminal prosecution,” Kreis said. “That’s what makes this even more bewildering to me, is because if he had sensible advisers they would just keep him off the phone.”“
Regarding the claims of inaccurate, or otherwise invalid absentee, and mail-in ballots, which require signatures, the Liar in Chief claimed that there were “thousands and thousands” of ballots illegally cast which did not properly have signatures authenticated properly.
Brad Raffensperger, Georgia Secretary of State:
“President Trump, we’ve had several lawsuits, and we’ve had to respond in court to the lawsuits and the contentions. Um, we don’t agree that you have won. And we don’t — I didn’t agree about the 200,000 number that you’d mentioned. And I can go through that point by point.
“What we have done, is we gave our state Senate about one and a half hours of our time, going through the election issue by issue, and then on the State House, the Government Affairs Committee, we gave them about two and a half hours of our time, going back point by point on all the issues of contention. And then just a few days ago we met with our U.S. Congressmen, Republican Congressmen, and we gave them about two hours of our time talking about this past election. Going back, primarily what you’ve talked about here focused in on primarily, I believe, is the absentee ballot process. I don’t believe that you’re really questioning the Dominion machines. Because we did a hand re-tally, a 100% re-tally of all the ballots and compared them to what the machines said and came up with virtually the same result. Then we did the recount, and we got virtually the same result. So I guess we can probably take that off the table.
“Mr. President, the challenge that you have is, the data you have is wrong. We talked to the congressmen and they were surprised.
“But they — I guess there was a person Mr. Braynard who came to these meetings and presented data and he said that there was dead people, I believe it was upward of 5,000. The actual number were two. Two. Two people that were dead that voted. So that’s wrong. There were two.”
The GBI (GA Bureau of Investigation) examined signatures (which change over time) on ballots and found no problems.
The entire state’s ballots was recounted at least three times – and once manually – and no problems were found which would have affected the outcome of the race.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, January 2, 2021
There is little-to-no question that the damage done to the Republican Party by the Liar/Narcissist/Loser in Chief has taken a toll upon the party, and it may well be years before they can recover from the 4-year onslaught.
There is also little-to-no question that they have been their own worst enemy. That is not to say that the Democrats are all light and goodness, for they are not. Hillary Rodham Clinton did her damndest to hobble the party by literally having the party’s directors and upper level managers sign a contract over to her relinquishing, and ceding control of the party to her. While that was not illegal, it was unethical has hell, and spelled the end of Bernie Sanders candidacy, who, with crowds surpassing those of Hillary and Trump combined, and with a political history that was unwavering and consistent, appeared TWICE as if he would be the party’s nominee. But for Hillary.
Her corrupted actions were detailed in a book authored by Donna Brazile, which was entitled “Hacks.”
And, perhaps you may recall how she later revealed in her book, an excerpt of which was made into a Politico article, what she’d found when she was briefly DNC chair, specifically, how a back-room deal was struck between Hillary and the DNC a year before the 2016 election campaign season began.
“I had promised Bernie when I took the helm of the Democratic National Committee after the convention that I would get to the bottom of whether Hillary Clinton’s team had rigged the nomination process, as a cache of emails stolen by Russian hackers and posted online had suggested. I’d had my suspicions from the moment I walked in the door of the DNC a month or so earlier, based on the leaked emails. But who knew if some of them might have been forged? I needed to have solid proof, and so did Bernie.
“So I followed the money. My predecessor, Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, had not been the most active chair in fundraising at a time when President Barack Obama’s neglect had left the party in significant debt. As Hillary’s campaign gained momentum, she resolved the party’s debt and put it on a starvation diet. It had become dependent on her campaign for survival, for which she expected to wield control of its operations.”
“When I got back from a vacation in Martha’s Vineyard, I at last found the document that described it all: the Joint Fund-Raising Agreement between the DNC, the Hillary Victory Fund, and Hillary for America.
“The agreement—signed by Amy Dacey, the former CEO of the DNC, and Robby Mook [Hillary’s Campaign Manager] with a copy to Marc Elias [General Counsel for Hillary’s campaign]—specified that in exchange for raising money and investing in the DNC, Hillary would control the party’s finances, strategy, and all the money raised. Her campaign had the right of refusal of who would be the party communications director, and it would make final decisions on all the other staff. The DNC also was required to consult with the campaign about all other staffing, budgeting, data, analytics, and mailings.”
Contributing writer at The Atlantic and senior fellow at EPPC
Senator Josh Hawley isn’t just engaging in civic vandalism—he is an emblem of a weak and rotten Republican Party.
Ryan Christopher Jones / The New York Times / Redux
Those hoping for a quick snapback to sanity for the Republican Party once Donald Trump is no longer president should temper those hopes.
The latest piece of evidence to suggest the enduring power of Trumpian unreality is yesterday’s announcement by Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri that he will object next week when Congress convenes to certify the Electoral College vote.
Hawley knows this effort will fail, just as every other effort to undo the results of the lawful presidential election will fail. (A brief reminder for those with faulty short-term memories: Joe Biden defeated Trump by more than 7 million popular votes and 74 Electoral College votes.) Every single attempt to prove that the election was marked by fraud or that President-elect Biden’s win is illegitimate—an effort that now includes about 60 lawsuits—has flopped. In fact, what we’ve discovered since the November 3 election is that it was “the most secure in American history,” as election experts in Trump’s own administration have declared. But this immutable, eminently provable fact doesn’t deter Trump and many of his allies from trying to overturn the election; perversely, it seems to embolden them.
One such Trump ally is Tommy Tuberville, the newly elected senator from Alabama, who has suggested that he might challenge the Electoral College count. And there are others. But what makes Hawley’s declaration ominously noteworthy is that unlike Tuberville—a former college football coach who owes his political career in a deep-red state to Trump’s endorsement in the GOP primary against Jeff Sessions—Hawley is a man who clearly knows better. According to his Senate biography, he is “recognized as one of the nation’s leading constitutional lawyers.” A former state attorney general, Hawley has litigated before the Supreme Court. He graduated from Stanford University in 2002 and Yale Law School in 2006. He has clerked for Chief Justice John Roberts; he taught at one of London’s elite private schools, St. Paul’s; and he served as an appellate litigator at one of the world’s biggest law firms.
It is one thing for Hawley to position himself as a populist, something he had done even before he was elected in 2018; it is quite another for him to knowingly engage in civic vandalism and, in ostentatiously unpatriotic ways, undermine established norms and safeguards. This is precisely what Senator Hawley is now doing—and he is doing so in the aftermath of Trump’s loss, when some political observers might have hoped that the conspiracy mindset and general insanity of the Trump modus operandi would begin to lose their salience.
A longtime acquaintance of the Missouri senator explained to me Hawley’s actions this way: “Hawley never wants to talk down to his voters. He wants to speak for them, and at the moment, they are saying the election was stolen.”
“He surely knows this isn’t true,” this acquaintance continued, “and that the legal arguments don’t hold water. And yet clearly the incentives he confronts—as someone who wants to speak for those voters, and as someone with ambitions beyond the Senate—lead him to conclude he should pretend the lie is true. This is obviously a very bad sign about the direction of the GOP in the coming years.”
Think about this statement for a moment: The incentives Josh Hawley and many of his fellow Republicans officeholders confront lead them to conclude that they should pretend the lie is true.
Those who have hoped that Republicans like Senator Hawley would begin to break free from Trump once he lost the election have not understood the nature of the change that has come over the party’s base.
Trump was the product of deep, disturbing currents on the American right; he was not the creator of them. Those currents have existed for many decades; we saw them manifested in the popularity of figures such as Sarah Palin, Patrick J. Buchanan, Newt Gingrich, Oliver North, and many others. But their power grew in force and speed over the past decade. In 2016, Trump tapped into these currents and, as president and leader of the Republican Party, he channeled those populist passions destructively, rather than in the constructive ways that other Republicans before him, such as Ronald Reagan, had done. (Even if you’re a progressive who loathed Reagan, the notion that he was a pernicious and malicious force in American politics in the style of Trump is simply not credible.)
What is happening in the GOP is that figures such as Hawley, along with many of his Senate and House colleagues, and important Republican players, including the former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, are all trying to position themselves as the heirs of Trump. None of them possesses the same sociopathic qualities as Trump, and their efforts will be less impulsive and presumably less clownish, more calculated and probably less conspiracy-minded. It may be that not all of them support Hawley’s stunt; perhaps some are even embarrassed by it. But these figures are seismographers; they are determined to act in ways that win the approval of the Republican Party’s base. And this goes to the heart of the danger.
The problem with the Republican “establishment” and with elected officials such as Josh Hawley is not that they are crazy, or that they don’t know any better; it is that they are cowards, and that they are weak. They are far more ambitious than they are principled, and they are willing to damage American politics and society rather than be criticized by their own tribe. I’m guessing that many of them haven’t read Nietzsche, but they have embraced his philosophy of perspectivism, which in its crudest form posits that there is no objective truth, no authoritative or independent criteria for determining what is true or false. In this view, we all get to make up our own facts and create our own narratives. Everything is conditioned on what your perspective is. This is exactly the sort of slippery epistemic nihilism for which conservatives have, for more than a generation, reproached the academic left—except the left comes by it more honestly.
The single most worrisome political fact in America right now is that a significant portion of the Republican Party lives in a fantasy world, a place where facts and truth don’t hold sway, where “owning the libs” is an end in itself, and where seceding from reality is a symbol of tribal loyalty, rather than a sign of mental illness. This is leading the party, and America itself, to places we’ve never been before, including the spectacle of a defeated president and his supporters engaging in a sustained effort to steal an election.
The tactics of Hawley and his many partisan confreres, if they aren’t checked and challenged, will put at risk what the scholar Stephen L. Carter calls “the entire project of Enlightenment democracy.” This doesn’t seem to bother Hawley and many in his party. But what he should know—and, one hopes, does know, somewhere in the recesses of his heart—is that he has moved very far away from conservatism.
Whether the Republican Party can be salvaged is very much an open question. I don’t know the answer. But here is what I do know: Patriotic Republicans and conservatives need to fight for the soul of the Republican Party, for its sake and for the sake of the nation. America needs two healthy and sane political parties. Trump’s departure on January 20 should open up space for at least a few brave and responsible figures to arise, to help ground the GOP in truth rather than falsehoods, reality instead of fantasy, and to use the instruments of power for the pursuit of justice.
Their task won’t be easy; right now the political winds are in their face rather than at their back. Trump’s hold on the GOP remains firm, and separating from Trump and Trumpism will trigger hostility in an often angry and radicalized base. The right-wing ecosystem is in a mood to find and (figuratively) hang traitors, whom it defines as anyone in the Republican Party who doesn’t acquiesce to Trump’s indecency and paranoia. Which in turn means that those hoping to lead a Republican reclamation project need to find ways to be shrewd and persuasive, to be crafty while maintaining their integrity. They need to connect with the base but find ways to elevate it instead of pandering to it. In better times, many Republican leaders have done so, starting of course with Abraham Lincoln, “the great hero of America’s struggle for the noblest cause,” in the words of his early 20th-century biographer Lord Charnwood. But others have done so as well.
Our collective hope should be that principled Republicans will find their voice and prevail—one courageous step at a time, one act of decency at a time, one year at a time.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, December 30, 2020
Blessed are those who have, for they shall be given more.
That’s not a genuine Bible verse, by the way. And if you’re any kind of decently well-read individual, with more than a perfunctory, or minimal knowledge of the Judeo-Christian collection of holy writings collectively known as the Bible, you would know that already.
And by that same token, of being any kind of decently well-read individual, you would also know that there is an eerie parallel to a saying that Jesus of Nazareth made about a related matter – the Parable of the Talents – as recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. A parable, of course, is a moralizing tale, a story meant to illustrate some matter, and to point out a wrong doing, or type of injustice in an unobtrusive, easy-to-understand manner.
We’re going to get to Georgia’s appointed Republican Senator whose net worth of $500M is BY FAR the wealthiest member of Congress in just a moment, but first you need some background for understanding.
Woodcut from Historiae Celebriores Veteris Testamenti Iconibus Representatae — dated to 1712 — depicts the Parable of the Talents as told by Jesus of Nazareth, in Matthew 25:14–30. Two men bring the money that was entrusted to them back to their master, while a third man searches for his money outside.
The story states that, in preparation for a journey of some duration, an owner/master entrusted and distributed his money to his 3 servants. The unspoken hope, or expectation those days, is that, upon his return, they would have increased the portion with which they were entrusted and charged.
To one, he gave he gave 5 talents (a monetary measurement), to another he gave 2, and to the third, he gave 1 talent. Upon his return, the first two who received 5, and 2, respectively, reported that they’d doubled the money. The third did not, and rather, reported that he buried the money in the ground, and had not gained anything. Upon hearing that news, the owner became enraged, called that servant lazy and wicked, fired him, then ordered that single talent to be taken from him and given to the one with 10.
That’s an important point, which you’ll see later, why.
Jesus of Nazareth, who was telling the story, made a moral assessment, and drew a conclusion based upon the actions of that one who did not return a profit, and reportedly said, “For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”
While the story is simply told, the meaning behind it is uncertain, though there have been many sermons preached about the tale. And yet, the audience hearing that parable then, in the era in which is was told, would have interpreted it quite differently from today’s audience, according to Dr. Richard L. Rohrbaugh, STD, Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Religious Studies at Lewis and Clark College, whose primary scholarly pursuit was establishing proper historical and cultural contexts for Biblical texts.
Dr. Rohrbaugh said that, in the era in which the story was first told, the audience would have understood that the “profit” was made through the exploitative abuse of others, and that the third servant was the one which would have been considered honorable by the standard of the day. Thus, that interpretation of the parable, would mean that the first two servants were shameful, instead of the third. When asked about the matter, Dr. Rohrbaugh said in part that,
“[G]iven the “limited good” outlook of ancient Mediterranean cultures, seeking “more” was considered morally wrong. Because the pie was “limited” and already all distributed, anyone getting “more” meant someone else got less. Thus, honorable people did not try to get more, and those who did were automatically considered thieves: To have gained, to have accumulated more than one started with, is to have taken the share of someone else.”
As he explained in the Biblical Archaeology Society, “In the ancient world, greedy people who did not want to get accused of profiting at someone else’s expense – which was considered shameful – would delegate their business to slaves, who were held to a different standard.” Dr. Rohrbaugh explained that the reasoning was that, “Shameful, even greedy, behavior could be condoned in slaves because slaves had no honor nor any expectation of it.”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, December 23, 2020
“You’re known by the company you keep,”
is a well-known maxim.
In which case, Kelly Loeffler obviously has a penchant favoring White Supremacists.
LEFT to RIGHT: Georgia’s appointed Banana Republican U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler, Joshua Motes, Arkansas Banana Republican U.S. Senator Tom Cotton, at a Loeffler campaign event September 3, 2020 in Gilmer County, GA
Even her newly-elected U.S. Representative Georgia conspiracy theorist QAnon nutty buddy Banana Republican Marjorie Taylor Green (14th CD) knew who Chester Doles was, and booted him from one of her campaign events.
But Loeffler, whose personal net worth of well over $500 million makes her, by far, the wealthiest Member of Congress, can’t be bothered to hire staff that’s worth a hoot in hell to ID bad apples.
Or, maybe she actually likes them.
Jewish Progressive action group Bend the Arc: Jewish Action recently posted this image to Twitter, and later provided it to HuffPost, which shows Joshua Motes standing between Banana Republicans Kelly Loeffler, and Tom Cotton at a Loeffler campaign event in Gilmer County, Georgia this past September 3, 2020. The image was originally posted by Chester Doles to the Russian social media site VK, a well-known haven for White Supremacists, neo-Nazis, and other right-wing radicals who have been kicked off Facebook, Twitter, and other American-based social media.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, December 20, 2020
The President has made seemingly countless false statements on equally seemingly innumerable subjects, across numerous categories. But a common thread, if it could be described as such, has emerged. And it is that everyone else is wrong, and he is the only one right. In his own mind, at least to hear him tell it, he’s always right, always correct, always and in every way perfect. And since he doesn’t need to ask forgiveness, he could very well be the reincarnation of Jesus of Nazareth.
But, more to the point.
Whose “landslide” are you talking about anyway, eh?
On November 27, 2016, then newly-President Elect Donald Trump tweeted: “In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.”
In the 2016 General Election, Republican candidate Donald Trump won 304 Electoral College votes, but lost the Popular Vote with 46.1%. His Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton won 227 Electoral College votes, but won the Popular Vote with 48.2%, or 65,853,514 votes cast, to 62,984,828 for the Republican.
In the 1972 General Election, Republican Richard Nixon won the Electoral College with 520 votes, and carried 60.7% of the Popular Vote. His Democratic opponent Senator George McGovern won 17 Electoral College votes, and won 37.5% of the Popular Vote.
In the 1984 General Election, Republican Ronald Reagan won 525 Electoral College votes, with 58.8% of the Popular Vote, while his Democratic opponent Walter Mondale won 13 Electoral College votes, and 40.6% of the Popular Vote.
He claimed a massive conspiracy “robbed” him of votes in 2016. Were those same conspirators at work in 2020?
During his first week in office, in a bipartisan meeting with Congressional leaders on Monday, January 23, 2017, POTUS said that “millions of unauthorized immigrants had robbed him of a popular vote majority,” as told by members of both parties who attended the meeting.
On Tuesday, January 24, 2017, at 1400 EST, Sean Spicer, Press Secretary for the POTUS, in a press conference stated that the POTUS personally believed that Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, December 20, 2020
If you think healthcare is expensive now, wait until ALL those with COVID-19 start getting sick as they age, after the Banana Republicans trash the “preexisting condition” healthcare provision in the PPACA, and insurance companies return to “cherry picking” and denials.
Won’t that be more fun than a barrelful of monkeys?!
COVID-19’s Long-Term Harms: What We Don’t Know Yet Could Hurt Us
Infectious diseases have afflicted humans for hundreds of thousands of years, shaping communities and cultures. The ways pathogens affect human health have been studied extensively for decades. We have learned that any given microorganism can be protean, or capable of changing, in its manifestations — from patients who experience no symptoms at all, to those who become acutely ill yet recover fully, to those who suffer chronic infection and live with the ever-present threat of deteriorating health.
In stark contrast, we have coexisted only one year with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and are still learning the diverse ways this novel virus affects human health. During the first week of December, the National Institutes of Health convened a two-day workshop involving public health officials, medical researchers, and patients dedicated to discussing the post-acute health consequences of COVID-19. One of the primary goals of the meeting — to provide a definition for the long-term sequelae, or health consequences and symptoms, following acute COVID-19 — proved elusive. Variably termed “chronic COVID,” “long haulers” and “long COVID” by physicians, patients and the media, whatever you call it, the protracted symptom complex following COVID-19, seemingly affecting all organ systems, has emerged as an unanticipated, devastating outcome of the pandemic.
The earliest data out of Europe and the United States painted a concerning picture: The majority of hospitalized patients remained symptomatic weeks or months after their acute illness, the most common symptoms being fatigue and shortness of breath in approximately half of patients studied. Even patients who were never hospitalized had persistent symptoms several weeks later. Over ensuing months, the full gamut of persistent symptoms emerged, ranging from chronic fatigue, sleep disturbance, cognitive impairment, fast heart rates and exercise intolerance. The exact incidence of these symptoms and their time-course Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, December 18, 2020
The President’s ongoing failure to secure America’s national security secrets – which are of significantly greater importance than illegal immigration – has cost untold lives, not only in the military service, but in the clandestine services as well. And precisely because these matters are TOP SECRET, they do NOT make front page news, nightly news, Faux newz, nor any other news gathering and reporting agency, such as the Associated Press.
This failure – which is by no means new, for it happened first in 2018, and can be traced back to 2016 as Russian election interference – can ALL be laid at the feet of the one-term Banana Republican POS45 Loser in Chief also known as “Donald J. Trump.”
There was a reason why the Russians wanted Trump elected.
Romney: “Stunning” That Trump Unresponsive To Russian Cyberattack
Utah Republican Senator Mitt Romney said on Thursday that it was “stunning” for the White House to not issue a response regarding multiple Russian cyber attacks upon U.S. government resources.
“I think the White House needs to say something aggressive about what happened. This is almost as if you had a Russian bomber flying undetected over the country, including over the nation’s capital, and not to respond in a setting like that is really stunning,” Romney said to Olivier Knox, SiriusXM’s Chief Washington Correspondent.
Utah Republican Senator Mitt Romney 12-17-20 Tweet on Russian cyber hack in US
The senator tweeted an abbreviated version of the statement he told SiriusXM’s Chief Washington Correspondent Olivier Knox in a prerecorded interview, noting the recent reports of Russian hacks into government agencies showed “alarming U.S. vulnerability” and “apparent cyber warfare weakness.”
On Sunday, reports emerged showing that the U.S. Treasury Department and a Commerce Department agency had been breached by a Russian military intelligence unit known as “Cozy Bear,” which is responsible for past hacks into government agencies.
The Republican senator’s comments come one day after Democratic Illinois Senator Dick Durbin voiced similar thoughts about the recent alleged Russian hacks, calling it “virtually a declaration of war by Russia on the United States and we should take that seriously.”
President Trump has not addressed the latest hacks reported by Reuters on Sunday, and CNBC reported that White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said Tuesday the administration is “taking a hard look into this.”
The White House had no response when asked about the matter by The Hill.
President-elect Joe Biden continues being outspoken regarding the latest suspected Russian hacking, and said his incoming national security team has been briefed by officials privy to the matter.
The President-elect said in part that, “My administration will make cybersecurity a top priority at every level of government — and we will make dealing with this breach a top priority from the moment we take office.Our adversaries should know that, as president, I will not stand idly by in the face of cyber assaults on our nation.”
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) told congressional staffers this week the perpetrator behind the alleged cyberattack is “highly sophisticated.”
CISA officials said further that “it will take weeks, if not months, to determine the total number of agencies affected by the attack and the extent to which sensitive data and information may have been compromised.”
The hack is so serious it led to a National Security Council meeting at the White House on Saturday, said one of the people familiar with the matter. U.S. officials have not said much publicly beyond the Commerce Department confirming there was a breach at one of its agencies and that they asked the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI to investigate.
A key player in this ordeal is Michael Caputo, Assistant Secretary of Public Affairs in the Department of Health and Human Services, who on September 16, 2020 began a two month medical leave of absence. Earlier, he had undergone surgery at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, a week before David DiPietro, a spokesman for the Caputo family, issued a statement on Thursday, September 24, 2020, that following surgery, the Republican political strategist/lobbyist had been diagnosed with “squamous cell carcinoma, a metastatic head and neck cancer which originated in his throat.” Mr. Caputo moved to Russia in 1994 and advised Russian President Boris Yeltsin, his work also included worked for Russian media company Gazprom Media in 2000 where he worked on improving Vladimir Putin‘s image in the U.S.A.
Evidence that the Trump Administration may have deliberately downplayed the severity of the novel coronavirus was discovered in a tranche of emails obtained by the House subcommittee between numerous high-level administration health officials principally involving Caputo’s appointed science advisor Dr. Paul E. Alexander, PhD, a part-time Assistant Professor of Health Research Methods, Evidence and Impact at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada since 2015. Interestingly, Dr. Alexander’s educational pedigree is respectable: A Master’s degree in evidence-based medicine and clinical epidemiology from the University of Oxford and University of Toronto, and a Master’s training in health sciences at York University. In 2015, he received his doctorate from McMaster University in Health Research Methods. The Hamilton Spectator wrote on July 22 that Dr. Alexander “is a decorated academic whose peer-reviewed works have been published more than 60 times — six of which pertain to novel coronavirus research.”
Dr. Alexander actually sought to have COVID-19 run amok among America’s children and teens – and toward that end, advocated that no masks be worn in schools, and was the individual behind the Trump administration’s efforts to censor COVID-19 documents held by the CDC.
The House subcommittee report states in part that,
“Consistent with a“herd immunity” approach, the evidence obtained by the Select Subcommittee shows that Dr. Alexander privately acknowledged to other appointees that “[w]e always knew” that “cases will rise” as a result of the Administration’s policies. Yet even as he advocated for letting the coronavirus spread widely, Dr. Alexander also attempted to pass blame for the Administration’s failure to contain the virus to career scientists and public health officials. He also urged colleagues to suppress scientific information about the risk posed by the virus to minority communities that he admitted was “very accurate”out of concern that it would be “use[d] against the president.””
This is clear-cut evidence that Trump “Administration appointees undermined the nation’s public health response and put American lives at greater risk during the pandemic.”
The report also states that,
“Documents obtained by the Select Subcommittee show that top Trump Administration officials repeatedly communicated about pursuing a dangerous herd immunity strategy as far back as June 2020, despite public denials that the Administration was adopting this approach.”
On July 3, 2020, Dr. Alexander wrote to senior officials at HHS, including Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Michael Caputo, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Ryan Murphy, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs for Public Health Bill Hall, and Deputy Assistant Secretary and National Spokesperson Caitlin Oakley:
“So the bottom line is if it is more infectiouness [sic] now, the issue is who cares?If it is causing more cases in young, my word is who cares…as long as we make sensible decisions, and protect the elderely [sic] and nursing homes, we must go on with life….who cares if we test more and get more positive tests…”
The following day, July 4, 2020, Dr. Alexander wrote to Mr. Caputo and other HHS officials:
“There is no other way, we need to establish herd, and it only comes about allowing the non-high risk groups expose themselves to the virus. PERIOD.We continue the public health message of proper hygiene, hand washing, protecting elderly at your homes and nursing care facilities, social distancing and so on…but we go on and let our societies open up fully NOW. If the hospitalizations occur in young and they get severe illness, then that’s a different story and we will then have a huge mess on our hands and real nightmare. But that is not the case of now.”
In a follow-up message, he explained:
“Infants, kids, teens, young people, young adults, middle aged with no conditions etc. have zero to little risk….so we use them to develop herd…we want them infected…and recovered…with antibodies….hospitals are NOW geared, PPE in place, ICUs beds are on the ready, doctors and nurses alert, the syndrome is crystalized…etc.
Michael Caputo was appointed by Trump.
Similarly, on July 24, 2020, Dr. Alexander wrote to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Stephen Hahn, FDA Associate Commissioner for External Affairs John Wagner, and numerous HHS officials including Mr. Caputo, Mr. Murphy, and Ms. Oakley, suggesting that “it may be that it will be best if we open up and flood the zone and let the kids and young folk get infected” as a strategy to get “natural immunity…natural exposure….”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, December 16, 2020
Good-for-nothing bastard.
The late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had something to say about such abuse:
Whenever the government provides opportunities in privileges for white people and rich people they call it “subsidized” when they do it for Negro and poor people they call it “welfare.”
The fact that is the everybody in this country lives on welfare. Suburbia was built with federally subsidized credit. And highways that take our White brothers out to the suburbs were built with federally subsidized money to the tune of 90 percent.
Everybody is on welfare in this country.
The problem is that we all too often have socialism for the rich and rugged free enterprise capitalism for the poor. That’s the problem.”
From a sermon entitled “The Minister to the Valley,” February 23, 1968, from the archives of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Scores Of Private Charitable Foundations Got Paycheck Protection Program Money
Scores of private charitable foundations, set up by some of the nation’s wealthiest people, received money from the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program, which was created last spring to save jobs at small businesses as the coronavirus tanked the economy.
NPR has identified at least 120 foundations that collectively received more than $7.5 million in PPP funding. That’s a small slice of the overall program, which disbursed about a half-trillion dollars, but some of the foundations are linked to individuals of considerable means: An oil magnate, a cable television tycoon, a dermatologist called the father of modern hair transplantation, and an aviation entrepreneur who founded companies with annual sales of more than a billion dollars.
President Trump speaks as Jovita Carranza, Administrator of the Small Business Administration; Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin; and Ivanka Trump, advisor to the president, listen during a Paycheck Protection Program event in the East Room of the White House on April 28, 2020.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, December 15, 2020
If you want to know what a person will do, simply look at their past.
That’s a generally good rule to observe, and that principle is found in practically every activity of human life – even in politics.
So, let’s examine Georgia’s Banana Republican Senator David Perdue, who was formerly Dollar General CEO from 2003 to 2007 of the Goodlettsville, TN-based business.
David Perdue has been selling out Americans for a long time. As long as it made a fast buck for him, or whoever hired him, he was okay with that.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, December 11, 2020
Dynamite raises clouds of dust above Guadalupe Canyon, near the New Mexico-Arizona border. The Diamond A Ranch, which is located next to the construction site, has sued the government, claiming the blasting has sent “car-sized boulders tumbling down onto ranch property.” Image by John Kurc
The Trump administration is making it easier for illegal aliens to come into the United States.
The route along the U.S./Mexico border in Arizona and New Mexico has some of the most ruggedly inhospitable, and treacherous terrain in the nation. It is only barely accessible by foot, or mule, and is range for numerous wild animals, such as the jaguar, and ocelot – large cats – and a longtime wildlife migration corridor.
Construction crews using tons of explosives in a technique called “pioneering,” are leveling mountains and cliffs to make roadways for heavy equipment to access the area.
The private landowners complaint and lawsuit states that crews must first “make a level road, with the necessary grade and ability to support the weight of construction vehicles, and ultimately the wall itself.”
In a combined Federal lawsuit filed by private landowners near the Arizona-New Mexico border known as the malpais, or badlands, the owners of Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, December 11, 2020
Let’s get some perspective on the unimaginably massive amount of wealth just ONE of these three men (in the article below) have.
Jeff Bezos, Founder, and CEO of Amazon dot com is, as of this writing, the wealthiest man in the world, bar none. With an estimated net worth of $183.3 billion it’s often difficult to get a grasp on the amount of money that is. So, lets give it the good ol’ college try.
$183,000,000,000 –– it’s sometimes good to simply see the number of zeros in the figure.
If, from this point forward Mr. Bezos NEVER MADE ANY MORE MONEY, and spent $100,000 every day, it would take 5013 years to spend it all.
So, let’s up the ante… SIGNIFICANTLY.
Again, using the same premise, NEVER MAKING ANY MORE MONEY, and spent $1,000,000 ($1 million) every day, it would take 50 years. Mr. Bezos is presently aged 56. And, given the current life expectancy for men in the United States – especially, and particularly men of wealth, who have the finest of everything, including health care – he could reasonably be expected to live to age 86, or 30 more years. That’s according to figures from the Social Security Administration. So clearly, spending at that rate – $1,000,000/day – he couldn’t spend it all in his lifetime.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, December 4, 2020
In the business world, the acronym “OPM” stands for “Other Peoples’ Money.” But at the Federal level of the United States Government, it stands for “Office of Personnel Management.”
Although Amway multi-millionairess Betsy DeVoss is an employee of the United States Government as the Secretary of Education – an ironic, even hypocritical position for her, since she’s never attended, even as much as set foot in, a Public School in her lifetime, even as Secretary – it’s painfully obvious that she continues to operate by the OPM business principle.
She continues to be resoundingly criticized by many, not all of whom are her political compatriots. If there could be said to be a “guiding light” to her first-ever tenure as a public servant in the capacity which she’s occupied for the past 4 years, it’s more for us, less for you. And in this case, the “us” refers to her wealthy pals, and anyone with a harebrained idea parading under the banner of “choice” and “education.”
As an aside, it’s ironic that Banana Republicans oppose choice in so many areas, especially healthcare; they don’t want a Federal Option for health insurance, they don’t want a woman to have autonomy over her own body to choose to carry or not, etc.
But as “choice” pertains to DeVos and Company, it refers to so-called “charter” schools – the educational “Flavor of the Day” among Banana Republicans. Simply put, charter schools are private, often for-profit and Wall Street-traded entities that compete for limited public tax dollars against Public Schools. Think of them as leeches, mosquitos, and other blood-suckers that little-by-little siphon off the lifeblood from the host upon which they feast. Not quite the scenario of pigs at a trough, but very close enough, because if you attempt to get in between them and their food source, they’ll kill you.
Again, choice is good for them, but bad for you.
And that’s but one example where the hypocrisy of the Banana Republican party comes in.
What you would think if I were to tell you that an entity with no experience in education, was denied local approval, applied for, and was granted well over a million tax dollars to open a charter school, but it never opened, and they kept all the money?
Would you be okay with that?
What about this?
From the 2006/7 through the 2013/14 school year, over 537 prospective charter schools that NEVER EDUCATED EVEN ONE STUDENT, NEVER OPENED, yet received well over $45 million tax dollars?
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos speaks October 15, 2020 at Phoenix International Academy in Arizona.
Would you be okay with that?
What about a charter “school” that never opened even for one day in Pennsylvania, yet was granted well over $30 million by Secretary Betsy DeVos?
Would you be cool with that?
It all happened under Betsy DeVos’s oversight.
Enormous fraud, waste, and abuse is being perpetuated before our very eyes, and yet, we’re told bad is good, sweet is sour, abuse is good, taxes are bad, and government is corrupt by the very ones corrupting it, and lying to our faces about it all.
by Valerie Strauss
December 3, 2020 at 6:00 a.m. EST
Here’s a new, rather remarkable story about charter school grants recently awarded by the Education Department — including one for more than $1 million that went to a soccer club in Pennsylvania that had no experience running a school.
This is one of a number of pieces I have run in recent years about the Federal Charter School Program, which has invested close to $4 billion in these schools since it began giving grants in 1995.
Charter schools, a key feature of the “school choice” movement, are financed by the public but privately operated. About 6 percent of U.S. schoolchildren attend charter schools, with California having the most charter schools and the most charter students.
Charters had bipartisan support for years, but a growing number of Democrats have pulled back from the movement, citing the fiscal impact on school districts and repeated scandals in the sector.
Charter supporters say the 30-year-old movement offers important alternatives to traditional public schools, which educate the vast majority of U.S. students, and that the movement is still learning. Opponents say there is little public accountability over many charters and that they drain resources from traditional districts.
Research shows student outcomes are, overall, largely the same in charter and traditional public schools, although there are failures and exemplars in both.
Burris, who opposes charter schools, was named the 2010 Educator of the Year by the School Administrators Association of New York State, and in 2013, the National Association of Secondary School Principals named her the New York State High School Principal of the Year.
I asked the Education Department to comment on the grant to the soccer club, about which Burris writes, but did not get an immediate response. I will add it if I do.
By Carol Burris
In late September 2020, amid the covid-19 pandemic, the U.S. Department of Education awarded nearly $6 million to five organizations to open new charter schools. One of the five awardees was “The All Football Club, Lancaster Lions Corporation,” located in Lancaster, Pa. The club had no experience running either a private school or a charter school, yet nevertheless pitched the AFCLL Academy Charter School for a grant from the federal Charter School Program (CSP).
The CSP awarded the football club $1,260,750 to be spent within its first five years, even though their submitted application only received 70 of 115 possible points by reviewers — a failing grade of 61 percent. And the club did not have permission from the local school board to actually open the school.
That award of tax dollars to an unauthorized charter school shines a light on how the federal CSP is driven by an ideology with only one aim — to push taxpayer dollars into the hands of would-be private charter operators, even if the school appears doomed to fail from the start.
“A separate conservative group also wants the Michigan Supreme Court to invalidate the results that show President-elect Joe Biden won the state.
“The latest lawsuit, filed in the Eastern District of Michigan and before the state’s highest court, rely on unfounded allegations of widespread fraud and misconduct that judges in the state and across the country have previously rejected. Neither has a high likelihood of success.
“There is no evidence of mass fraud or wrongdoing that affected election operations in Michigan or elsewhere. Biden earned roughly 154,000 more votes than Trump in Michigan.”
Of course, the only other alternative is this alt-headline:
Trump Supporters Ask Judge To Turn A Democratic Republic Into Banana Republic
Sadly, that is the essence of what the deranged – yes, mentally deranged and deluded – Trump supporters are asking.
Think that’s a stretch?
Let’s examine some additional information – which outgoing loser POS45 prefers to call “fake news.” Remember, though: “Fake news” is superior to (better than, for the POS45 goons reading this) alt-reality.
“In banana republics, high government officials (who are sometimes lieutenant colonels) pressure other officials to carry out vendettas against political enemies and to defend their friends against harsh treatment by judicial institutions.
“President Trump has also repeatedly invoked the idea of the “deep state” to explain his troubles. The “deep state” is a notion that emerged from the days of pre-Erdoğan Turkey. It referred to networks of high officials in the government and military who were prepared to intervene if any group ever threatened the then-dominant politics of Kemalism—the secular, modernizing legacy of Mustapha Kemal, better known as Ataturk. The notion of a deep state, in other words, was a critique of forces who were prepared to use extra-legal and military means to protect the Turkish state against perceived enemies.
“What Trump calls the “deep state” in the contemporary United States, by contrast, the rest of us think of as the institutions of constitutional government. He seeks and expects from government officials one thing only: loyalty. Not to the Constitution, as their oath requires, but to him.
“What Trump calls the “deep state” in the contemporary United States, by contrast, the rest of us think of as the institutions of constitutional government. He seeks and expects from government officials one thing only: loyalty. Not to the Constitution, as their oath requires, but to him. Despite the fact that Jeff Sessions was the first senator to endorse his campaign, by recusing himself from the Russia investigation he showed that he was insufficiently loyal to the president; he therefore had to go. Trump wanted an Attorney General who would see his job as protecting the president from damaging investigations. He may have found his man in Bill Barr, who has advanced a theory of the chief executive that sees its occupant as having virtually limitless power—very much as Trump sees the office. Trump once asked, “Where’s My Roy Cohn?” He now seems to have found one.
“The term Trump invariably invokes when he is accused of serious wrongdoing in the exercise of his official duties is “hoax.” Until he came into office, a hoax was a scam perpetrated by someone trying to persuade people that some far-fetched claim was true, often to the claimer’s financial benefit. Trump tries to destroy our faith in institutions—and in the very idea of the truth–by insisting that elected and career officials who are loyal to the Constitution rather than to the occupant of the Oval Office are engaged in a “hoax” when they call him out for malfeasance. If one constantly insists they are engaged in a “hoax,” people may come to doubt that these officials are non-partisan. Invocation of the term is essential to Trump’s ability to survive the many scandals in which he is constantly involved.”
The history and development of the term “banana republic” has come to mean or refer to governments and their leaders that are: authoritarian; oligarchic, often at a local level; exert great power; corrupt; exploitative, often economically; politically unstable; function poorly for citizens and disproportionately benefit an elitist, often corrupt individual or group; conspiratorial, often with local government officials.
As we can already see, this President and his maladministration fit every one of those characteristics. But it is the last characteristic – “conspiratorial, often with local government officials” – which I wish to focus upon at it relates to this entry in particular.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, December 1, 2020
The Federal government under this administration has recently re-activated the Death Penalty, and has argued also for adding other methods of execution to the mix, which is now only comprised of lethal injection, including firing squad. Hell… why can’t they just give ’em some fentanyl?
I have no pity, and no mercy for such individuals as referenced in the story below. I have none for any members of a faith organization who abuse their children. NONE WHATSOEVER.
And though I oppose the Death Penalty on pecuniary principles exclusively – it’s simply far too costly to execute (bad pun… I know) the law – we could, perhaps, make exceptions for cases like this.
Once a jury finds them guilty, or they plead guilty, march their sorry asses to some place and give ’em the fentanyl.
Lawsuit: LDS Church officials, teacher knew of abuse but kept silent
by Mary Jo Pitzl, The Arizona Republic
30 November 2020
A lawsuit filed Monday charges that two Mormon bishops and a teacher failed to report a Bisbee, Arizona father’s repeated sexual and physical abuse of three of his children, despite a state law that makes reporting such offenses mandatory.It argues that the “clergy-penitent privilege” in the law, which keeps confessions confidential, does not apply to such cases. The teacher, a former border-patrol agent as well as the children’s Sunday school teacher, had a clear duty under the law in both of her roles to report the abuses to police, the suit alleges.
“Each of the Defendants had personal observations of the abuse, and also knew of the abuse outside of any confidential communication,” the complaint, filed in Cochise County Superior Court, alleges. The father’s abusive practices were discussed by church officials in routine meetings, and led to his excommunication in 2015 after church officials learned of his abuse of his daughter, then age 5.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of three of the six children of Paul and Leizza Adams, details Paul Adams’ repeated sexual abuse of his daughters over a seven-year period, including the rape of his infant daughter. Paul Adams was indicted on 11 counts of child sexual abuse in 2017 and was awaiting trial when he hanged himself in his prison cell later that year.
Leizza Adams, the mother, was convicted for child abuse in 2018 and was released from Perryville state prison in early October, state records show.
The children have since been adopted by various families and have different last names than their parents.
The suit names the Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as well as the Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Church.
In a statement Monday, an attorney for the church, Bill Maledon, wrote:
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, November 30, 2020
Laws punishing drunk, or impaired driving are based upon principles of public health and public safety. That is to say, laws forbidding and punishing drunk driving are based historically upon the damages, injuries, and deaths caused by those who have driven while intoxicated.
At some point, The People refused to be abused and victimized any longer, stood up, and resoundingly said ‘NO MORE!‘, and passed legislation making such behavior and associated acts a serious crime. In some states, it’s not uncommon to read of individuals charged with DUI, who are also charged with the felonies of either murder, or criminally negligent homicide in cases where their actions resulted in the death of another.
Have laws against DUI stopped the offense or eliminated the injuries, damages, and deaths associated with the same?
No, but they have so significantly reduced them to the extent that such offenses and their associated damages are now the exception, rather than the rule.
The same principle applies to tobacco use, and smoking. It is a known carcinogen, and its consumption and use is a well-documented cause of numerous types of cancers, associated diseases, suffering, and early death – most notably recently, renown guitarist Eddie Van Halen, who died of metastatic oral cancer contracted from smoking aged 65.
Consequently, taxes upon tobacco have been increased in many areas, and places where its consumption is permitted is severely limited.
And so, now, we have COVID to deal with. Fundamentally, as far as the net effect – death, damage, and destruction – how is that any different? Seriously. Well over 250,000 lives unnecessarily lost in LESS THAN THE SPACE OF A YEAR, and with well over 13,000,000 cases, the good ol’ USA is the world’s NUMBER 1 repository of COVID-19… by far!
Yaay!
Thanks (for nothing) Trump!
COVID-19, Masks and the Freedom to Drive Drunk
By Andrew Koppelman, Opinion Contributor
11/29/20 03:00 PM EST
Does freedom mean the right to refuse to wear a mask during the COVID-19 pandemic? Many Americans think so. It is President Trump’s most important legacy. Here’s one implication that is too little noticed: If that is what freedom means, then we owe drunk drivers an apology.
The idea is shaping our world. Ignoring urgent expert advice, an Idaho health board recently rescinded its mask mandate, while 100 new cases were reported in one day and the local hospital was running out of beds. (A couple of weeks later, it reversed itself and imposed the mandate.) The board member who led the change explained, “I agree we have a problem with this virus, but at the same time I object to the mandate the board passed because it restricts people’s right of choice and ability to comply or not comply under penalty of law.” Another member said, “I personally do not care whether anybody wears a mask or not. If they want to be dumb enough to walk out there and expose themselves or others to it, they can.” The story was reported in the Daily Beast under the headline, “This really happened.”
This is a new and unfamiliar conception of freedom. Some people, notably New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, have blamed libertarianism for this stuff, but the standard libertarian story is that people have the right to do what they want as long as they don’t hurt anyone else. Now we are told that they have a right of choice even if they do hurt other people.
But, if you’re concerned about masks’ infringement on individual liberty, then why endure DWI (driving while intoxicated) laws? Masks are a lot cheaper than the cabfare home from the tavern, and then there’s the Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, November 23, 2020
What is the word used to describe the condition in which someone believes as true something that’s blatantly not true?
By the way, “belief” is only necessary or required when there’s little-to-no evidence to give credence to a supposition – aka “conjecture” – and is similarly differentiated from theory, which is based upon some type, or degree, of evidence.
Deluded– holding to a falsebelief;deceivedthoroughly
Now, while I don’t consider myself to be either a religious, nor spiritual individual, per se, I do happen to be fairly well-versed in (good pun… I know), and know my way around the Judeo-Christian Scriptures, and this passage from 2 Thessalonians 2 seems entirely apropos (in case you’re reading Donald, that’d be “Second Thessalonians, chapter 2”):
verses 9-11 “The appearing of the lawless one, whose presence is according to the working of the Adversary, will be attended with various types of power, signs, and false amazements. Silly and naive people will be fooled by his evil deeds. They could be preserved from harm, but because they will refuse to love the truth and accept it, consequently, they will be covered over themselves with a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false.”
The three men who wrote that?
The Apostle Paul, his sidekick Silas, and Paul’s disciple/apostle Timothy.
Trump’s Legal Team Cried Vote Fraud, But Courts Found None
By Maryclaire Dale
November 22, 2020 GMT
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — As they frantically searched for ways to salvage President Donald Trump’s failed reelection bid, his campaign pursued a dizzying game of legal hopscotch across six states that centered on the biggest prize of all: Pennsylvania.
The strategy may have played well in front of television cameras and on talk radio. But it has proved a disaster in court, where judges uniformly rejected their claims of vote fraud and found the campaign’s legal work amateurish.
In a ruling late Saturday, U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann — a Republican and Federalist Society member in central Pennsylvania — compared the campaign’s legal arguments to “Frankenstein’s Monster,” concluding that Trump’s team offered only “speculative accusations,” not proof of rampant corruption.
Now, as the legal doors close on Trump’s attempts to have courts do what voters would not do on Election Day, and deliver to him a second term, his efforts in Pennsylvania show how far he is willing to push baseless theories of widespread voter fraud.
Rudy Giuliani, President Trump’s personal attorney and lead attorney for his re-election campaign, speaks to the media at a press conference held in the rear parking lot of Four Seasons Total Landscaping company – adjacent a sex shop and crematorium – on November 7, 2020 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The press conference took place just minutes after news networks announced that Joe Biden had won the presidency over Donald Trump after it was projected that he had won the state of Pennsylvania. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
It was led by Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, who descended on the state the Saturday after the Nov. 3 election as the count dragged on while the President played golf. Summoning reporters to a scruffy, far-flung corner of Philadelphia on Nov. 7, he held forth at a site that would soon become legendary: Four Seasons Total Landscaping – not the luxurious Four Seasons Hotel.
The 11:30 am. news conference was doomed from the start.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, November 22, 2020
Schizophrenia is a mental illness which is not fully understood, but is diagnosed by the presence of symptoms, many of which are unique to the disease, but by no means exclusive. Delusions (unshakable belief in something untrue), hallucinations (actual perceptions, not imagined, originating in the absence of a real object, either auditory, visual, olfactory, tactile, etc.), withdrawal from reality, and disorganized patterns of thinking and speech are among the most remarkable, and readily identifiable symptoms of schizophrenia.
Colloquially, most laypersons would note delusions and and hallucinations as the most renown symptoms of schizophrenia, and while they are correct, they often add paranoia (irrational distrust or suspicion of others), thus, in their estimation, “delusions” often become “paranoid delusions.” But again, because schizophrenia is a heterogeneous disease (consisting of dissimilar elements or parts, i.e., miscellaneous), paranoia doesn’t always accompany the diagnosis of schizophrenia.
Schizoaffective disorder is a very similarly related mental health condition which is characterized by a combination of schizophrenia symptoms, such as hallucinations or delusions, as well as mood disorder symptoms, such as depression or mania. And typically, treatment of schizoaffective disorder combines treatment for both symptoms – mood disorder, and schizoid features.
But the point being, it is the schizoid feature of delusion upon which I wish to focus, because it is perhaps the most renown, and most common.
At its core, delusions are strong beliefs in something that is untrue. And when I use the term “belief,” I mean specifically to refer to the level of personal, mental confidence – acceptance or conviction of the validity, or truth of something – that an individual possesses in something, some idea, some thought, theory, or tenet, that is as yet, largely unproven. And while I remain a critic and detractor of the Wikipedia website for numerous reasons, I will use this definition of delusion found upon the site because I find it inclusively succinct.
“A delusion is a fixed belief that is not amenable to change in light of conflicting evidence. As a pathology, it is distinct from a belief based on false or incomplete information, confabulation, dogma, illusion, or some other misleading effects of perception.”
For example, while it is untrue that the Earth is flat, there remains at least one “Flat Earth Society” whose members are adherents to the false, and disproven notion that the Earth is flat, rather than ball-shaped, or round. Thus, anyone who holds to that idea, is deluded.
And being so deluded in the presence of overwhelming and irrefutable abundance of evidence to the contrary, it would call into question the mental stability of the individual(s) holding forth that disproven and false idea as true, when it is so blatantly and obviously not true.
So it is with the GOP,
Donald John Trump,
and his cult-like supporters.
They are deluded, and their mental condition is immediately suspect.
Bluntly, they are sick.
If you don’t laugh after reading the headlines below and see the utter hypocrisy of the GOP… you may be a Trumper.
Those mofos just can’t be pleased.
Seriously.
They can’t.
First, they want the vote counting in Pennsylvania stopped… because.
Yes, because.
When the Montgomery County, Pennsylvania judge asked the Trump/GOP lawyers if they were alleging fraud… here’s the transcript from the oral argument:
THE COURT: In your petition, which is right before me — and I read it several times — you don’t claim that any electors or the Board of the County were guilty of fraud, correct? That’s correct?
MR. GOLDSTEIN: Your Honor, accusing people of fraud is a pretty big step. And it is rare that I call somebody a liar, and I am not calling the Board of the DNC or anybody else involved in this a liar. Everybody is coming to this with good faith. The DNC is coming with good faith. We’re all just trying to get an election done. We think these were a mistake, but we think they are a fatal mistake, and these ballots ought not be counted.
THE COURT: I understand. I am asking you a specific question, and I am looking for a specific answer. Are you claiming that there is any fraud in connection with these 592 disputed ballots?
MR. GOLDSTEIN: To my knowledge at present, no.
THE COURT: Are you claiming that there is any undue or improper influence upon the elector with respect to these 592 ballots?
MR. GOLDSTEIN: To my knowledge at present, no.
So the President’s own lawyers are not alleging fraud – at least not in Pennsylvania.
And now, we turn to Georgia, where the Associated Press has maintained silence on “calling” the race for either candidate, simply because it’s still “too close to call.”
Amidst that cacophony, the state’s Republican Secretary of State, Brad Raffensberger, has announced a “pre-emptive” move, of sorts, to not only canvass the count, and statistically sample it as well by performing a risk limiting audit, but as part of that process, they’re going to perform a manual, by-hand count of every single ballot cast in the Presidential race in Georgia. That means, that every single, solitary ballot will be touched by human hands to physically examine them for the vote cast in the Presidential race.
Of note, there are some conditions that, if one does not understand the terms, lack of understanding the phenomenon could be deliberately twisted to deceive the public. Those two most common events are called “undervote” and “overvote,” and describe the condition in which a voter does not cast a vote for a particular race (or may vote for more than one, though that now rarely occurs), but votes for other candidates or measures on the ballot. So, for example, in a given sample of 100 ballots examined, not all 100 voters will have cast ballots in every race. For the purpose of illustration, let’s say there is a grand total of 5 candidates and measures upon the ballot. Not all 100 voters will cast a ballot (make a decision upon) all 5 races. Some will, though not all will.
Thus, it’s entirely possible, and quite likely, that each race will have some “undervotes,” which are the number of voters who chose not to cast a ballot in those particular races. So, in Race 1, there could be 90 votes cast (70 + 20 for a+b), while in Race 2, there could be 100 votes cast (60+40 for a+b), and in Race 3, there could be 60 votes cast (50+10 for a+b), while in Race 4 there could be 98 votes cast (90+8 for a+b), and in Race 5, there could be 20 ballots cast (15+5 for a+b).
The results would look like this:
Hypothetical Election
Using an example of 100 total voters, this is to show that not all voters cast ballots in every race, and how to account for the discrepancies in the individual races.
Race/Question
Votes
a/b
Votes Cast
a+b
Undervotes
TOTAL
VC+U
Race 1
90
10
100
0
100
Race 2
70
10
80
20
100
Race 3
10
60
70
30
100
Race 4
15
85
100
0
100
Race 5
30
31
61
39
100
Secretary Raffensberger announced that the Presidential contest will undergo a risk-limiting audit, which requires a full by-hand recount in each of Georgia’s 159 counties, and said “It will be an audit, a recount and a recanvass all at once. It will be a heavy lift.”
Secretary Raffensberger said that 97 of Georgia’s 159 counties have submitted their final tallies from the election to his office, and that the margin of victory for Democratic Presidential candidate Joseph R. Biden, Jr. has increased to 14,111 over the incumbent Republican President Donald John Trump.
Trump’s campaign and the Georgia Republican Party sent a letter to Secretary Raffensberger on Tuesday, November 10, 2020 requesting a manual hand recount of all ballots cast in the state before his office certifies the election results. In their letter, the Trump campaign and Georgia state GOP allege unspecified voting discrepancies and errors at unmentioned locations in the state, and failed to provide any evidence to substantiate their claim.
In one case, the GOP & Cult of Trump want the counting stopped. In another, they want it to continue, and in yet another, they got what they wanted before they asked, and now they don’t like it.
Recount process in Ga. faces objections from Trump, GOP
by Mark Niesse, Tamar Hallerman, Amanda C. Coyne
The recount aims to verify election results reported so far in Georgia, where 16 electoral votes are at stake. Joe Biden held a 14,000-vote lead over Donald Trump as of Thursday morning.
Elections workers across the state are expected to work through the weekend to finish the labor-intensive task before the deadline.
Here’s what you need to know:
6:53 p.m.
Trump, Republicans complain about recount procedures
President Donald Trump’s campaign and the Georgia Republican Party raised objections Thursday to the state’s recount process, saying it doesn’t satisfy their demands for a hand count.
They wrote in a letter to their fellow Republican, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, that they have “serious concerns regarding the training and directives” for how the hand count will be conducted.
The letter seeks a re-review of absentee ballot signatures because the number of ballot rejections reported so far is lower than in the 2018 election. Ballot rejections declined in part because Georgia law changed to eliminate the requirement for voters to write in their birth years or addresses on ballot envelopes, instead only mandating their signatures.
In addition, the Republicans sought greater access for partisan monitors, more public notice before the recount begins Friday and strengthened ballot security protocols.
The secretary of state’s office gave no indication it plans to change recount procedures.
Gabriel Sterling, Georgia’s voting system manager, said Thursday that the process will be safe.
“This office spends a heck of a lot of time on making sure that the equipment involved is secure,” Sterling said. “The decentralized nature of votes in Georgia is a security measure in and of itself. It’s 159 counties. There’s not a single target.”
The county with the most votes in Georgia will begin its state-ordered recount on Saturday.
Fulton County will count by hand its 528,000 presidential ballots, which accounts for about 10.5% of the state’s entire tally.
The county sent a news release early Thursday evening saying the count will start Saturday at 7 a.m. and “continue daily” from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Wednesday.
The audit will be conducted “within public view” of the public, press and assigned party monitors, according to the news release. The tallying with be livestreamed, and the county is calling upon about 300 people to count ballots.
Gwinnett County is still finalizing the details for its manual recount, but elections officials have set the start time for 9 a.m. Friday, in part because they have to set up tables and equipment to accommodate the count.
Gwinnett has more than 416,000 votes to count by hand over the course of six days. The process will occur in the county elections warehouse, said county spokesman Joe Sorenson.
The county isn’t yet sure how many people it’ll need to complete the recount by the Wednesday midnight deadline, or how long officials will have to work each day, Sorenson said. Elections department employees and poll workers are expected to conduct the count, and local political parties can appoint official observers to watch the process.
DeKalb plans to start recount Saturday, Fulton details TBD
Our colleague Tyler Estep reports that DeKalb County plans to begin its manual recount of the presidential election at 7 a.m. Saturday.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger had said counties should begin their work by 9 a.m. Friday. But DeKalb elections director Erica Hamilton said during a Thursday afternoon elections board meeting that more time is needed to get things in order.
“There’s a lot of coordination which has to occur,” county attorney Viviane Ernstes said, referencing public safety measures and “the sanctity of moving those boxes” of ballots.
Hamilton said the plan is for the recount to take place from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. each day at the former Sam’s Club building off Turner Hill Road in Stonecrest until the work is complete. The plan is to utilize two shifts of 150 poll workers, who will work in pairs to complete the separating and counting of ballots.
Meanwhile, few details were available about the recount in Fulton County, the state’s largest trove of voters. A Fulton spokeswoman said the county was creating its plan and expected to release details later Thursday.
2:35 p.m.
Helpful primer on Georgia’s recount system
In case you have any lingering questions about how Georgia’s recount process will work, here’s a really digestible (and cute) primer the Secretary of State’s office showed county elections officials this morning:
The video was made by the organization VotingWorks, an election audit software company working with the state.
2:13 p.m.
Recount process explained
Many metro Atlanta counties are still determining when they’ll begin manually recounting hundreds of thousands of votes. They must do so by 9 a.m. Friday, the state’s mandatory start time.
Cobb County will begin the process at 9 a.m. Friday at the Jim Miller Park Event Center in Marietta. Gwinnett County expects to start at 9 a.m. in its elections warehouse. But Clayton, DeKalb and Fulton counties had not announced their timelines by 1 p.m. Thursday.
The count will involve dozens of elections department workers and poll officials, and it will likely last through the weekend and into next week.
Votes will be recounted in batches of 100 or less, with a two-person audit board handling each batch. Most counties will have multiple audit boards running at once to expedite the process. The state will recommend how many each should have in order to finish the count by the Wednesday midnight deadline.
“I want you to be very deliberate in your counting,” Vander Roest said. “Take your time.”
Each audit board will work at its own table, where staffers will stack the ballots by candidate. There will be separate stacks for votes for President Donald Trump, President-elect Joe Biden, Libertarian candidate Jo Jorgensen, write-in candidates and ballots with no presidential vote or an “overvote” — when a voter selects more than one candidate in a race requiring a single choice. Both members of the audit team should be counting together to verify the accuracy of their count, said Ginny Vander Roest, an election implementation manager with election audit software company VotingWorks.
Once each batch is complete, vote totals will be logged and ballots will be moved to secure containers for safekeeping.
“These ballots are the currency of the election,” Chris Harvey, the state’s elections director, said in a Thursday training webinar. “They need to be protected at all times.”
Monica Childers, a product manager with VotingWorks, recommended counties start with absentee ballots first before moving on to votes cast in person during early voting and on Election Day. Absentee ballots are filled out by hand, while early and Election Day votes are cast using machines. That means absentee ballots will likely be less uniform and may need closer scrutiny if a voter’s choice is not obvious. A superintendent will be designated to break ties if the members of an audit board disagree about a ballot.
Audit boards are only checking for presidential vote selection; they are not counting any down-ballot races or verifying signatures.
1:51 p.m.
Secretary of state self-quarantining
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is self-quarantining after his wife tested positive for COVID-19, Channel 2 Action News reported.
Raffensperger, 65, will get tested himself this afternoon. His exposure comes as the state is beginning a manual recount of more than 5 million presidential ballots. Counties were able to begin the process Thursday afternoon, and must start by Friday at 9 a.m. The recount must be finished Wednesday at midnight. Raffensperger will likely still be quarantining by then, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend a 14-day quarantine period for anyone who has had close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.
11/11/2020 — Atlanta, Georgia — Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger speaks with Georgia county elections directors without a face mask following a press briefing outside of the Georgia State Capitol building in downtown Atlanta, Wednesday, November 11, 2020. (Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com)
Credit: Alyssa Pointer / Alyssa.Pointer@ajc.com
1:02 p.m.
Georgia prepares for hand recount
The large, statewide hand recount of the nearly 5 million ballots cast in Georgia’s presidential race must start in every county by Friday morning and finish by Wednesday at midnight, state election officials said Thursday.
The recount aims to verify election results reported so far in Georgia. Joe Biden held a 14,000-vote lead over Donald Trump as of Thursday morning.
“The sooner you can get this started, the easier this will go,” said Monica Childers, a product manager with election audit software company VotingWorks, on a Thursday training call.
Elections workers across the state are expected to work through the weekend in order finish before the deadline.
“Frankly, I don’t see how many people cannot work on the weekends to get this done,” said Elections Director Chris Harvey.
Teams of election workers will check voters choices for each candidate and report results.
The recount will require human review of nearly 5 million ballots, stacked into piles sorted for each candidate and then tallied in each county.
Georgia has never conducted a statewide recount of paper ballots before, and it wasn’t possible before this year when the state added paper ballots to the process. Previous recounts were conducted by recalculating vote counts stored on computers.
The recount is certain to be a labor-intensive process starting just eight days before the Nov. 20 deadline for Georgia’s final results to be certified by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. At stake are Georgia’s 16 votes in the Electoral College, which is scheduled to meet to cast votes for president Dec. 14.
Raffensperger announced the recount Wednesday following demands from Trump’s defenders and calls for his resignation from his fellow Republicans, Georgia Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue.
Details of how the recount will be conducted were expected to be announced Thursday morning. Then county election officials can begin.
Observers from the Republican and Democratic parties will be present to oversee the process.
The recount will be conducted under Georgia’s new audit rules, which require election workers to review the printed text or filled-in bubbles on each ballot. Ballots won’t be rescanned by computers.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, November 22, 2020
The article should instead be headlined:
“Former Hong Kong University Post-Doctoral Student And Chinese YouTuber Start False Coronavirus Rumor, Steven Bannon And Fugitive Chinese Billionaire Amplify Message”
How Steve Bannon and a Chinese Billionaire Created a Right-Wing Coronavirus Media Sensation
by Amy Qin, Vivian Wang and Danny Hakim
Friday, November 20, 2020, 7:10 AM CST
Dr. Li-Meng Yan wanted to remain anonymous. It was mid-January, and Yan, a researcher in Hong Kong, had been hearing rumors about a dangerous new virus in mainland China that the government was playing down. Terrified for her personal safety and career, she reached out to her favorite Chinese YouTube host, known for criticizing the Chinese government.
Within days, the host was telling his 100,000 followers that the coronavirus had been deliberately released by the Chinese Communist Party. He wouldn’t name the whistleblower, he said, because officials could make the person “disappear.”
By September, Yan had abandoned caution. She appeared in the United States on Fox News, making the unsubstantiated claim to millions that the coronavirus was a bioweapon manufactured by China.
Overnight, Yan became a right-wing media sensation, with top advisers to President Donald Trump and conservative pundits hailing her as a hero. Nearly as quickly, her interview was labeled on social media as containing “false information,” while scientists rejected her research as a polemic dressed up in jargon.
Her evolution was the product of a collaboration between two separate but increasingly allied groups that peddle misinformation: a small but active corner of the Chinese diaspora and the highly influential far right in the United States.
Each saw an opportunity in the pandemic to push its agenda. For the diaspora, Yan and her unfounded claims provided a cudgel for those intent on bringing down China’s government. For American conservatives, they played to rising anti-Chinese sentiment and distracted from the Trump administration’s bungled handling of the outbreak.
Both sides took advantage of the dearth of information coming out of China, where the government has refused to share samples of the virus and has resisted a transparent, independent investigation. Its initial cover-up of the outbreak has further fueled suspicion about the origins of the virus.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, November 21, 2020
Dissociated from reality, the Current White House Occupant continues demonstrating how mentally deranged he truly is.
Just totally unhinged.
I’ve written previously that the phrase “the pathology of the American presidency” is something which I never imagined thinking, or saying, much less writing.
And yet, here we are.
The so-called “mainstream media” remains entirely too kind to the sitting President, by steadfastly refusing to call him a liar. Instead, what we get Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, November 18, 2020
Today, Wednesday, 18 November 2020, Georgia’s Appointed Senator, multimillionairess Kelly Loeffler flagrantly violated Federal Campaign Finance laws, and Senate ethics rules by requesting/seeking/soliciting campaign contributions/donations for herself while on Senate property.
Senate Rules PROHIBIT any kind of political or candidate fundraising on U.S. Government/Congress property.
“Well, look… we know that hundreds of millions of dark, liberal money is pouring into our state. That’s why it’s so important that everyone across the country get involved. They can visit Kelly for Senate dot com, to chip in five, or ten bucks, and get involved, volunteer…”
– Appointed Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler on Fox News program “America’s Newsroom,” Wednesday, 18 October 2020
Senate resources may only be used for official purposes.
No official resources may be used to conduct campaign activities.
In addition to this general prohibition, there are several criminal statutes that impose additional restrictions on campaign activities by Senate Members and staff:
No Campaign Activity in a Federal Building
Senate Members and staff may not receive or solicit campaign contributions in any federal building.
While it’s unclear exactly how much she paid for the jet, which seats 8 passengers and can travel 3000 nautical miles, essentially coast-to-coast on one fill-up, an online listing of other such jets for the same year, make, and model, in an online listing shows $9.7 million to be an average asking price.
Kelly Loeffler’s Bombardier jet N830EC
Trump’s tax cuts essentially made private jets flying tax shelters for the wealthy. Under his changes, the entire purchase price of a new or used aircraft bought by a company can be a 100% tax deductible write-off against its earnings.
What the multi-millionairess did, was to create an “ownership trust” which is a company that owns the plane, rather than herself personally. By so doing, it offers some degree of anonymity by giving it the appearance of isolation from the individuals whom actually control it. Essentially, it’s a type of “shell company” set up exclusively for the purpose of ownership, and nothing else. It’s greatest single benefit? It helps avoid taxes.
Shell companies, while not illegal, per se, and can have legitimate uses, often deliberately “fly under the radar” to avoid payment of taxes, or for money laundering purposes, and are registered in the names of the attorneys or accountants who manage them, thus avoiding any readily identifiable connection with the person who truly owns it or benefits from it. Most often, shell companies are incorporated in nations with tax laws favorable to them, aka “tax havens,” which by law do not have to report income such as in Cayman Islands, Seychelles, Panama, Switzerland, Hong Kong and Belize, or other island or “offshore” nations.
The so-called “Panama Papers,” also sometimes called the “Mossack Fonseca papers” for the name of the obscure Panamanian law firm from which they were obtained, is a collection of well over 11.5 million documents identifying 214,488 entities and shell corporations, their owners, lawyers, and the often-illegal network established to manage them, which were made public in 2016.
Each aircraft has a registration number, often called a “tail number,” which is like an automobile license plate, or VIN, because it identifies an aircraft uniquely from among all other aircraft, under a system managed by the Federal Aviation Administration, and used in other nations. But unlike cars’ license plates which require regular periodic renewal (license plates essentially prove a tax has been paid), the tail number stays with the aircraft permanently, and is never reassigned to any other aircraft. So when a plane is sold, retired, or crashes, the number always accompanies the craft to identify it, regardless of its disposition.
N830EC, Kelly Loeffler’s Bombardier model BD-100-1A10 jet
There are some limitations on registration of aircraft in the United States to foreign individuals and/or corporations, however, which is to say, that unlike ocean-going vessels such as cruise ships, or cargo ships, under United States law, aircraft which are either majority or fully owned by foreign individuals or interests cannot be registered in the United States to be assigned a “N number,” aka “tail number.” An overview of the requirements and limitations can be found on the Federal Aviation Administration’s website here: https://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/aircraft_certification/aircraft_registry/register_aircraft/.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, November 15, 2020
If you thought it couldn’t get any more weird, think again.
There are actually TWO “issues” here:
1.) What the church did to her, and;
2.) How the news reporting media is handling it.
Let’s take the 2nd one first.
Nowadays, news reporting agencies do not name the victim in cases of news reports of sexual assaults. Not identifying the victim is a good, right, proper, and just response to the problems that often occurred as a consequential by-product of naming the victims in news stories. Naming the victim served no genuine need and had no purpose as it related to reporting the story, and so in response, for the greatest part, most news reporting agencies have declined to publish the victim’s name. The obvious exception is for the stories in which a victim names a well-known/high-profile individual as the assailant/perpetrator.
That I’ve been able to find so far, there are very few news stories about the matter, and none of them name the victim.
The Scott M. Matheson Courthouse, 450 S State St, Salt Lake City, UT 84111, is the location for the Utah Supreme Court.
While normally, that isn’t a problem, per se, in this case, however, the female victim has filed suit against the church and four elders, and her case has come before the Utah State Supreme Court.
Fundamentally, what that means, is that she is named in the case as the plaintiff.
So the news reporting agencies which wrote about the story fundamentally erred by not reporting the most basic and important fact as it exists, which indeed, forms the very basis of the story – that an important, and problematic question has come before the Utah State Supreme Court and revolves around a religious practice.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, November 12, 2020
So he lost.
It’ll be “official” soon enough.
Yes, the Associated Press “called it” for Biden.
Unlike the Current White House Occupant, the Associated Press is trustworthy.
They tell the truth.
They’re reliable.
ButtHurt An inappropriately strong negative emotional response from a perceived personal insult. Characterized by strong feelings of shame. Frequently associated with a cessation of communication and overt hostility towards the perceived “aggressor.”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, November 12, 2020
👈This is a screenshot of a now-deleted Tweet from an actual White Republican Mississippi State Representative – Price Wallace – who was elected to represent MS State House District 77, Mendenhall.
Sadly, the mofo doesn’t even know the difference in SECEDE and SUCCEED. Maybe it’s a good thing he didn’t confuzalate it with suck seed.😳😂
And apparently, he’s either forgotten history, or skipped school during Civil War history week.
“Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery
– the greatest material interest of the world.”
Spoiler warning: They tried that once; it was phenomenally unsuccessful.
But let’s play along, and briefly think about the “bigger picture” of his bad idea.
When compared to the other 49 states, Mississippi’s economy is:
Ranked between Guam and Puerto Rico in Per Capita GDP.
48th overall in the U.S. in Quality of Life.
49th in High School Graduation Rates.
50th in Healthcare Access & Quality.
48th in Public Health.
48th in Economy.
46th in Education.
45th in Infrastructure.
44th in Fiscal Stability.
Now, close your eyes and imagine if it “succeeded” from the Union… and lost all the Federal money it now gets.
In actuality, what we have here, is a duly-elected Public Official advocating treason against the United States. Isn’t there a law against that kind of crap?
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, November 9, 2020
America has a NEW President!
Despite efforts by malign internal actors, heads of government agencies, individuals who are domestic enemies of our Constitution and of The People, who abused governmental resources to thwart freedom…
The People have SPOKEN LOUDLY.
Vice President Joe Biden, Official Portrait 2013
Democratic principles, honesty and the rule of law have worked AGAIN.
Our democratic republic is STRONG!!
Liberty is POWERFUL!
Evil is defeated!
Our United States of America has a NEW PRESIDENT-elect!
In response, a longtime friend and colleague wrote “Not for long , the dead people and illegals that spoke will be discredited.”
My friend, the false and malicious things you wrote are not only lies, but they’re old lies – VERY OLD. One would think that you’re stuck in a time warp of some kind.
What concerns me about your outdatedness, is that the truth of what I wrote, that in this election, something happened which has NEVER BEFORE happened, which is individuals who are OFFICIAL AGENTS of the United States Government, as malign actors, abused their high office, and ACTIVELY played roles to DELIBERATELY thwart freedom, and The People’s Right To Vote.
That was done by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy through the United States Postal Service Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, November 8, 2020
Editor’s Note: The succinct summary of the entry is as follows:
PETA puts forth an idea which they call “speciesism” – that the superiority of humanity is something to be abhorred and eliminated – and to that end, they misappropriate the remarks of the late civil rights icon the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. regarding equality of humans and apply his remarks to lower animals, brute beasts.
“We are taught the Golden Rule as young children, and all major religions teach principles of nonviolence and kindness. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Ethical treatment—the Golden Rule—must be extended to all living beings: reptiles, mammals, fish, insects, birds, amphibians, and crustaceans.”
“PETA opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview … We also work on a variety of other issues, including the cruel killing of rodents, birds, and other animals who are often considered “pests” as well as cruelty to domesticated animals.”
By so doing, by holding that perspective, that humanity is no better than a bug, a mosquito, housefly, or some disease-infested vermin, a rat, venomous viper, or spineless jellyfish, they not only denigrate humanity, but the end result of such thinking – that humanity is no better than brute beasts – is that Blacks are the intellectual and moral equivalent of monkeys.
As evidence of that fact, that they make the moral and intellectual equivalency of Blacks with apes and only obliquely draw that parallel, on their website’s several pages are images of Black men and the great apes, along with other wild primates, and their discussion “seamlessly” segues into a conflation of lower primates and humans, and combine those images in conjunction with their asinine claims of “monkey slavery.”
Slavery is an exclusively human institution found nowhere else in nature.
NOWHERE.
– Ed.
PETA – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals – is widely known to have gone off the rails a long time ago. Their crazy train took a dirt road.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, November 1, 2020
How many voting-related laws are there in our allegedly “united” United States?
You’d likely be shocked to find out.
Maybe, maybe not.
And frankly, I don’t know how many voting related laws there are in our nation, and I’ve neither read, nor heard of any compendium on the subject, nor have I ever heard anyone directly or indirectly address the topic.
But, laws are finite – there are only a fixed amount at any given time – so it’s entirely possible to make a reasoned determination of that number. So let’s work it this way:
There are 3141 counties and county equivalents in the 50 United States.
If each county or county equivalent had only 1 law pertaining to voting related matters, that’d be 3141 laws.
If each state had only one law pertaining to any voting-related matter, there would be at least 50 laws.
So, if the 90,095 total general-purpose governments and special districts, 3141 counties/county equivalents and 50 states each had only 1 voting-related law, that’d be a GRAND TOTAL of 93,286 laws.
But I assure you, there are MANY, MANY, MANY, MANY MORE than just one voting-related law in each of those areas.
So, purely for illustration purposes, let’s just hypothetically say there are at LEAST 100 voting-related laws in each of the 50 United States. Doing the math, that’s 50 x 100 = 5000. Again, that’s at a minimum.
But, what if there are 200 voting-related laws in each of the 50 United States?
That’d be 10,000 voting-related laws. And that’s only at the state level.
Perhaps already you’re beginning to “get the picture,” to understand the size, scope, nature, and extent of the problem.
And to be utterly certain, and without question, the problem is the variety and number of voting-related laws, many of which are contradictory among them.
There’s LITERALLY NO justifiable, commonsensical, rational reason to have so many DIFFERENT – even blatantly contradictory – laws on just one subject over which the Federal government has ultimate authority.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, October 28, 2020
Seems ol’ Teddy Boy got hot under the collar at Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey during a Senatorial hearing today, Wednesday, 28 October 2020, which was conducted remotely because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Frustrated at the responses, Ted Cruz screamed out at Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey,
“Who the hell elected you? Why do you persist in behaving as a Democratic super PAC, silencing views to the contrary of your political beliefs?”
Ol’ Ted should remember that “Freedom of Speech and of the Press” (First Amendment Rights) do NOT apply to businesses.
Only to the government.
The Press – and for all practical purposes, Twitter is considered part of the Press – is free to publish, or not, what they want. They are free to censor as much as they like, or not.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, October 28, 2020
“He’s left a ballooning debt, and deficit.
He’s left a hollowed-out government
with
positions unfilled,
a diplomatic corps that’s
lost morale,
an intelligence agency that
has been torn apart
with
how it can advise the President.
He’s left a wake of destruction behind him.
That is his legacy.”
–– V. Kim Hoggard, high-level official, Reagan & GHW Bush administrations, on POTUS Donald John Trump
If the GOP suffers – and they will – blame Trump.
This is your President, America. Revel in the moment when you elected an incompetent idiot.
If the GOP suffers – and they will – blame the GOP.
There’s plenty of blame to go around.
The GOP could have decertified him, and thereby could have prevented him from advancing… but, they did not.
The GOP really doesn’t care for you, or for America.
They only care for their BIG BUSINESS interests and BIG MONEY donors.
And to be certain, there are some Democrats like that – Hillary among them. But those old dinosaurs are dying off politically – thank goodness – and Read the rest of this entry »
By Benjamin Weiser, Alan Feuer, Amy Julia Harris
22 October 2020
Ms. Maxwell, who fought to keep the deposition secret, repeatedly denied that she helped Jeffrey Epstein recruit and sexually abuse teenage girls.
Ghislaine Maxwell is embraced by Jeffrey Epstein
For years, Ghislaine Maxwell has been a central but silent figure in the scandal involving Jeffrey Epstein’s history of abusing teenage girls.
On Thursday, however, Ms. Maxwell offered her fullest response yet to the swirl of claims surrounding Mr. Epstein as a four-year-old deposition was released. In it, she put up a wall of evasions and denials.
Over and over again in the 418-page deposition, Ms. Maxwell, 58, rejected accusations of wrongdoing. She denied that she had recruited minors to give Mr. Epstein sexual massages. She denied that she knew he was abusing girls and young women. She denied having engaged in sexual acts herself with underage people.
“I can’t think of anything I have done that is illegal,” she said.
At one point, Ms. Maxwell was asked more than a dozen times if she believed that Mr. Epstein had abused any minors — and each time she failed to answer. At another point, she parried inquiries about a laundry basket of sex toys, telling the lawyer asking questions, “I need you to define a sex toy.”
Eventually, Ms. Maxwell became so frustrated that she suddenly erupted into a “physical outburst” and knocked the court reporter’s computer off the conference room table, according to a separate document released with her deposition. She later apologized for her behavior, the deposition said.
As Mr. Epstein’s former romantic partner, Ms. Maxwell became the focus of a federal investigation into his sex-trafficking network after his suicide in jail last year at age 66. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have charged her with conspiring with Mr. Epstein, a financier, in his abuse of minors. As his closest associate, she is believed to have extensive information about him and others who might have been involved.
But her deposition left unanswered the question of who that might be: Nearly all of the names contained within it — except her own and Mr. Epstein’s — were redacted.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, October 17, 2020
Scottie Alton Johnson, a 45-year old Alabama resident, and ward of the state’s prison system, died from complications from COVID-19 on August 1, 2020, according to autopsy results.
Records show that on July 31, authorities took him to a hospital nearest the Bullock Correctional Facility which is located in Union Springs, in Bullock County. Though authorities did not specify, Bullock County Hospital at 104 Bullock Drive, Union Springs, Alabama is less than 3 miles straight down the road, West from the prison.
He died August 1.
At the time of his admission to hospital, he was not thought to be infected with the novel coronavirus, and a COVID-19 test conducted upon his admission resulted negative.
But the point being, it is the schizoid feature of delusion upon which I wish to focus, because it is perhaps the most renown, and most common.
