While the board down. Did anyone besides me follow the Alex Jones trial? I can't wait for the January 6th committee get Jones' text.
American Politics: A Brand New Day
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@Sano said in American Politics: A Brand New Day:
While the board down. Did anyone besides me follow the Alex Jones trial? I can't wait for the January 6th committee get Jones' text.
I honestly don't give a fuck about him given he's the Chris Chan of conspiracy theories so no shock he was gonna get rammed by the Sandy Hook victims. 50 million dollars is a lot to lose but for whatever reason, he is not paying them like at all. Not even when it was 5 million dollars. So some people think he's going to illegally leave the country soon
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Remember the was fined 50M after losing ONE out of THREE trials.
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For context.
[video]
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That judgement will most likely and sadly be reduced since Texas has really stringent restrictions about how much money can be rewarded by juries. This is in no small part thanks to changes advocated for by its Governor, who was paralyzed in an accident, sued, and received a massive settlement that his constituents would likely not be allowed to receive today.
In most circumstances, the total amount a jury can award in Texas is limited by whatever the compensatory damages amount is. There it's either twice the economic damages or $750K, whichever is more. So a $45 million verdict could easily go down to $5-$13 million.
Juries aren't allowed to be told about this either since they would likely award more money from the start if they were aware of it. It's pretty much a mechanism to protect businesses from lawsuits more than anything else. -
@Ubiq sadly true in most cases
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The Alex Jones thing is mostly hilarious because of just how badly his lawyer screwed him. "Yeah< I accidentally gave the other guy your entire phone history and when told about this didn't contest it at all."
Like, that's intentional levels of screwing your client there.
When Trump thinks he's legitimately going to face consequences, he will 100% try to flee. Probably not to Russia but somewhere.
If they're doing their job though there's at least 2 agents at all times watching him (even if he doesn't know that) that will keep him from leaving once he becomes a flight risk. He's not going to be allowed to fly out of country.
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Trump's been blatantly breaking the law for so long that I doubt he'll realize when it's actually real.
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The FBI took his passports while searching Mar-a-Lago the other day. Multiple passports. No word yet on if they're under different names or for different countries.
Most likely one passport was an official one and one a personal one but the official one should probably still have been left with NARA.
The main thing is that at least somebody apparently considered him a flight risk or they wouldn't have bothered.
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Dang... I didn't expect that to happened.
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Lindsey must testify in the Georgia election court case.
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Big whoop. He's just going to plead the fifth 400 times.
Which will obviously look bad and totally not at all suspicious, but won't actually contribute anything.
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Never in a million years thought Trump might actually see consequences. Happy to be wrong about that even if everything else feels like it's on fire.
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I'll believe it when I see it, and even then I still won't believe it.
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Where Trump shows, Randy will follow:
"Yesterday" is not a song I expected him to use.
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Well, we already knew she was Satan's ass.
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@pariston_hill well, it is Texas so I can't be surprised
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@JulieYBM Every day I grow more and more upset and terrified.
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WHAT THE HELL FOX? -
@Demon-Rin said in American Politics: A Brand New Day:
@JulieYBM Every day I grow more and more upset and terrified.
Yeah, it's pretty awful. I follow a lot of the big trans accounts to I tend to be up-to-date on what the conservatives are doing. It really sucks.
@pariston_hill said in American Politics: A Brand New Day:
WHAT THE HELL FOX?They're onto us!
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I don't know whether to be angry or laugh my ass off.
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@Satsuki said in American Politics: A Brand New Day:
I don't know whether to be angry or laugh my ass off.
I mean, from my perspective as someone who is Hashtag Into That, I think it's hilarious. Like, it's not going to make our existence any harder. Can't get harder than "they want us dead and will mock our culture to get us there."
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@pariston_hill I cannot facepalm hard enough at this.
This is like if they did a whole bit on an epidemic of sex workers stealing people's lemons.
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@Demon-Rin How can have ma gin & tonic if those pesky sex workers keep stealing me lemons. Hope the three surnames guy of Fox News does a bit on it.
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I've seen republicans complain about the lack of other non-essential things before, so statistically speaking the lemon thingie is still in the reach of probability,
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@Jabberwok said in American Politics: A Brand New Day:
Look what's in a brand new location, complete with specific rules! Please be sure to give them a read- we want this space to be open to respectful discussion.
One thing we touched on when reviving the forum was the possibility of creating a bot to periodically sample news recaps, much in the same way that @sgamer82 has done in the past. If that's something you all would appreciate, it's something we can eventually look into (after a much-deserved break for Cinder!)
If it helps, the places I use to get those recaps are https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/ and its aggregate site, where I think it collects the stuff it assembles together, https://currentstatus.io/
On that note, as part of coming back to the forums, which I only just learned were back after trying the bookmark, here's today's WTF Just Happened Today:
1/ Dr. Anthony Fauci will leave the federal government in December to "pursue the next chapter" of his career. The nation's top infectious disease expert has advised seven presidents in more than five decades of public service. (Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post)
https://apnews.com/article/anthony-fauci-announces-retirement-7efdacac6a9ff7aa6e2f870b551fe508
2/ Texas, Tennessee, and Idaho will enact abortion trigger laws this week. Starting Aug. 25, nearly all abortions in Tennessee will be outlawed, except in cases related to preventing the death or serious injury of a pregnant woman. The law makes no exceptions for rape or incest. Similar to Tennessee, Idaho will impose a near-total abortion ban, but with the exception of rape, incest or medical emergency. And in Texas, doctors can now be sued by almost anyone for performing an abortion, facing life in prison and fines of more than $100,000. (NPR)
https://www.npr.org/2022/08/22/1118635642/abortion-trigger-ban-tennessee-idaho-texas
3/ Louisiana state officials denied funding a New Orleans flood control project because of the city's opposition to the state's near-total abortion ban. It's the second time that the Louisiana State Bond Commission voted to delay approval of the $39 million infrastructure project that would power the drainage pumps that protect the city's 384,000 residents from flooding. The New Orleans City Council passed a resolution this summer asking police, sheriff's deputies, and prosecutors not to enforce the ban, which doesn't include exemptions for rape or incest. (Politico / CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/20/us/louisiana-delay-flood-funding-city-abortion-stance/index.html
4/ A federal appeals court temporarily paused an order requiring Lindsey Graham to testify before a Georgia grand jury investigating efforts to reverse the 2020 election. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit asked a lower court to consider whether it would be appropriate for a sitting U.S. senator to testify before the grand jury. Graham formally appealed a judge's order last week that he testify, saying doing so would cause "irreparable harm" that would be "in contravention of his constitutional immunity." (Washington Post / NPR)
5/ The federal magistrate judge who authorized the warrant to search Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate suggested that the redacted version of the affidavit could make for "a meaningless disclosure." U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart said that the FBI's affidavit justifying the warrant was "reliable," citing the "intense public and historical interest in an unprecedented search of a former President's residence" justifies making an effort to unseal portions of it. Reinhart, however, said he agrees with the Justice Department that the "redactions will be so extensive that they will result in a meaningless disclosure." Reinhart ordered Justice Department officials to submit proposed redactions by Thursday at noon Eastern time. Trump, meanwhile, filed a lawsuit asking a federal judge to appoint a third-party attorney, known as a special master, to review the documents seized from Mar-a-Lago. (Politico/ Washington Post / NBC News / New York Times / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal)
Trump's haphazard handling of government documents — a chronic problem — contributed to the chaos he created after he refused to accept his loss in November 2020. "His unwillingness to let go of power, including refusing to return government documents collected while he was in office, has led to a potentially damaging, and entirely avoidable, legal battle that threatens to engulf the former president and some of his aides." (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/20/us/politics/trump-fbi-search.html
6/ The congressional intelligence oversight committees asked the Biden administration for the documents seized from the search of Mar-a-Lago. The inquiry from the so-called Gang of Eight follows a similar request from Senate Intelligence Committee for an assessment of possible national security risks related to Trump's handling of the sensitive documents. The Gang of Eight includes the top two congressional leaders in each chamber, as well as the top Democrat and Republican on the House and Senate intelligence committees. White House officials, meanwhile, have privately expressed concern over the classified material that Trump took to Florida. (Politico / CNN)
7/ A federal appeals court ordered the release of then-Attorney General William Barr's secret 2019 Justice Department memo discussing whether Trump obstructed Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Justice Department failed to show that the memo from the department's Office of Legal Counsel was part of a deliberative process advising Barr about the issue, finding that Barr never seriously considered charging Trump with obstructing the Mueller investigation. Barr told Congress in March 2019 that after "consulting" with top DOJ officials he concluded that there wasn't enough evidence to charge Trump with obstruction. After Mueller's full report was released, however, his office said there was "substantial evidence" of obstruction. Mueller also wrote a letter to Barr saying the attorney general had mischaracterized his team's work. (Politico / CNN / Washington Post / NPR)
https://www.npr.org/2022/08/20/1118625157/doj-barr-trump-russia-investigation-memo
poll/ 57% of voters said the various investigations into alleged wrongdoing by Trump should continue, while 40% say they should stop. 58%, meanwhile, said America's best years are behind it and 61% said they're willing to carry a protest sign for a day because they're so upset. (NBC News)
poll/ 59% of Americans said they are concerned that student loan forgiveness will make inflation worse. Among Republicans, 81% say student loan forgiveness will make inflation worse, while 41% Democrats say the same. About 44 million borrowers owe a collective $1.7 trillion in federal student loan debt. (CNBC)
poll/ 5.6% of Americans described their current life situation as "suffering" in July – the highest level on record and translates to an estimated 14 million American adults. (Gallup)
https://news.gallup.com/poll/397286/poor-life-ratings-reach-record-high.aspx
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@sgamer82 said in American Politics: A Brand New Day:
3/ Louisiana state officials denied funding a New Orleans flood control project because of the city's opposition to the state's near-total abortion ban. It's the second time that the Louisiana State Bond Commission voted to delay approval of the $39 million infrastructure project that would power the drainage pumps that protect the city's 384,000 residents from flooding. The New Orleans City Council passed a resolution this summer asking police, sheriff's deputies, and prosecutors not to enforce the ban, which doesn't include exemptions for rape or incest. (Politico / CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/20/us/louisiana-delay-flood-funding-city-abortion-stance/index.htmlOh great, let the next hurricane cause billions of dollars in damage, kill hundreds to thousands of people and risk tanking the cities economy, just because they don't jive with the conservative agenda.
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@KageKageKing said in American Politics: A Brand New Day:
Trump is about to represent himself with zero lawyers on the Mar-a-Lago case. That or his attorneys are still fucking up somehow.
There's a degree of fucking up involved. Note the tweets
that first one, the second of which reads:
There are attorneys on a motion, though.
So what is going on here?
Is this a publicity stunt by Trump? Or some kind of administrative snafu? Or did the attorneys file the motion without first appearing / being admitted for the case?
This is highly unusual, to say the least.
Some updates since I saw this last:
More on this:
— Reading the filing, it does not feel like a lawyer drafted it. The ranting sounds very much like Trump. Did he just get 3 lawyers to put their names on it?
— Best case for him: the lawyers are indeed on the case but botched the filing so he appears pro se. Oops.
UPDATE: Trump's lawyers' motions to appear DENIED by Court. Lawyers from outside a jurisdiction must file motions to be admitted "pro hac vice" (for this case).
This explains why he was listed as pro se (unrepresented) -- these lawyers have yet to be admitted for this case.
The Court told the lawyers to try again. So they can fix the problem. Maybe.
So our updated understanding is that Trump might have lawyers -- but they are having trouble filing things.
One of the three lawyers is admitted in Florida and thereby has now officially appeared in the case. This is Lindsay Halligan, an insurance litigator who for some reason is now involved with this case.
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So jackass DeSantis decides to try to make himself look cool by posting an ad putting himself in Top Gun:
https://www.comicsands.com/desantis-top-gun-campaign-ad-2657911995.html?fbclid=IwAR0QdF2E7wmni5pKuKgudU5yNe02nSeWr-L8Ni6WjjX0gEzft7lGWIb8aAQ -
Lol at that reporter at the end..."What about people who struggled to pay their loans and now others don't have to?" Wow, that must be one of the stupidest questions I've ever heard. That's basically literally saying "Well people in the past had it worse, so why should people in the present or future have it better??" Wow....
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@Riddler It's basically this. The great argument anti-student debt abolition has is this:
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Yeah, I mean you can apply that line of thinking to all kinds of absurd situations. "Is it fair to all the kids already killed in school shootings to now strengthen gun control and protect other children?" "Is it fair to all the black people who suffered as slaves to now abolish slavery?"
The more I think about it, the more enraged I get. Forget Covid, Monkeypox and everything else, the real virus plaguing humanity is idiocy...
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It''s not idiocy is entitlement, "If I'm not/wasn't entitle to that [insert any social welfare program here] why would they [insert minorities or poor] or this generation be entitle to that?".
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They want to push the Overton Window to the right and they'll use whatever framing they have to do to trick poor people into tightening the noose around their own necks that they have to.
If they want only terrible things to befall us all I hope only terrible things befall them.
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@JulieYBM I don't even think it's a Overton window case anymore, the current political scenario in the US is more ripe for a fascist regime than...hell 1932 Weimar Republic. The only thing the right lacks is have the military in their pockets and a charismatic populist figurehead.
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@pariston_hill said in American Politics: A Brand New Day:
@JulieYBM I don't even think it's a Overton window case anymore, the current political scenario in the US is more ripe for a fascist regime than...hell 1932 Weimar Republic. The only thing the right lacks is have the military in their pockets and a charismatic populist figurehead.
I mean, with the way they're demonizing trans and cis queer people just like they did during the 1930s...oof.
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@Ubiq I read this and thought it was a troll post. Had to try again two more times to process the cruel sincerity.
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@Jabberwok said in American Politics: A Brand New Day:
@Ubiq I read this and thought it was a troll post. Had to try again two more times to process the cruel sincerity.
100% real tweet and he probably really does feel that way. Banks is relentlessly awful even by GOP standards.
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Do you guys think a civil war 2 will happen if Trump ends up in prison? There is a lot of news about civil war 2 in the works as some believe it could happen in our lifetime. Maybe it's just me as I don't like war or fighting people as I am not much of a fighter myself. Just barebones.
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God, I hate that witch.
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Republicans are freaking awful, but at least they are increasingly making that awfulness more and more transparent to those who will watch and listen.
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A great quote if anyone needs it:
@andre said in American Politics: A Brand New Day:
Republicans are freaking awful, but at least they are increasingly making that awfulness more and more transparent to those who will watch and listen.
She's almost as bad as Trump. Only difference is she's a wee bit less dumb, and probably doesn't have dementia.