Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[cubby]

First federal jury conviction from the Jan 6 Insurrection.

A Washington jury on Tuesday found Guy Wesley Reffitt guilty on all five counts relating to his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, verdicts that could land him in prison for decades.

The jury reached its decision in less than four hours after being sent the case. The guilty verdicts are a major victory for the federal prosecutors who tried Reffitt, the first Jan. 6 defendant to go to trial, and are seen as likely to influence how other defendants may seek to handle their own cases going forward.

Reffitt had been charged with four counts relating to his activities on Jan. 6: obstructing an official proceeding; interfering with law enforcement during a civil disorder; transporting firearms to Washington, D.C., for a civil disorder; and being unlawfully present on Capitol grounds while armed with a firearm.

Very big step forward. Now the more than 700 people still facing charges know that jury convictions are relatively easy to get. And the prison time is MUCH higher.

[Breccia]

"The jury reached its decision in less than four hours after being sent the case."

Hmm. Hey cubby, what do we know about fast jury decisions? And also, how do you feel about leading the witness?

[cubby]

Hmm. Hey cubby, what do we know about fast jury decisions? And also, how do you feel about leading the witness?

So, second first, and all that. Hostile witnesses and leading questions are my favs. But I'm pretty sure we all knew that.

Fast jury decisions are indicative of either an emotional verdict (jury didn't care about the defendant except they already decided to punish them before deliberations began) OR because the prosecution made their case so clear and concise, and the defendant had virtually no viable defense. I'm guessing the latter here, however, it could be the former or a combination of both.

Reminder to all that these trials are predominantly in D.C., which is, predominantly both Democrat and Black - a very bad scenario for the white racist pieces of shit we see as predominantly defendants in these Jan 6 Insurrection cases.

[Edge-]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...supreme-court/

The pattern emerges whenever a Republican-led state imposes new restrictions on abortion: People seeking the procedure cross state lines to find treatment in places with less-restrictive laws.

Now, a prominent antiabortion lawmaker in Missouri, from where thousands of residents have traveled to next-door Illinois to receive abortions since Missouri passed one of the country’s strictest abortion laws in 2019, believes she has found a solution.

An unusual new provision, introduced by state Rep. Mary Elizabeth Coleman (R), would allow private citizens to sue anyone who helps a Missouri resident obtain an abortion out of state, using the novel legal strategy behind the restrictive law in Texas that since September has banned abortions in that state after six weeks of pregnancy.

Coleman has attached the measure as an amendment to several abortion-related bills that have made it through committee and are waiting to be heard on the floor of the House of Representatives.

In which Republicans continue to try to side-step Constitutional protections of your rights in an attempt to have the government regulate your bodies.

[cubby]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/polit...supreme-court/

The pattern emerges whenever a Republican-led state imposes new restrictions on abortion: People seeking the procedure cross state lines to find treatment in places with less-restrictive laws.

Now, a prominent antiabortion lawmaker in Missouri, from where thousands of residents have traveled to next-door Illinois to receive abortions since Missouri passed one of the country’s strictest abortion laws in 2019, believes she has found a solution.

An unusual new provision, introduced by state Rep. Mary Elizabeth Coleman (R), would allow private citizens to sue anyone who helps a Missouri resident obtain an abortion out of state, using the novel legal strategy behind the restrictive law in Texas that since September has banned abortions in that state after six weeks of pregnancy.

Coleman has attached the measure as an amendment to several abortion-related bills that have made it through committee and are waiting to be heard on the floor of the House of Representatives.

In which Republicans continue to try to side-step Constitutional protections of your rights in an attempt to have the government regulate your bodies.

SCOTUS deferred ruling on the merits of the TX state law referred to in the article until the Fall. However, if it passes constitutional muster, it will be open season on private bounties for whatever the GQP doesn't "like" that day.

The Democrats could respond in kind, of course (and have already in CA). However, it's essentially a giant step backward to the Wild Wild West. And horrifying for any modern democracy to even consider.

[Edge-]

https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/fox...it-1235199493/

A New York State Supreme Court judge ruled that a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit filed against Fox News Channel by the voting-technology company Smartmatic can proceed, despite Fox’s motion to have the matter dismissed. The suit is the second of its kind that has cleared a potential legal hurdle and has been allowed to continue making its way through the courts.

...

The judge, David Cohen, threw out claims against Pirro and Powell, as well as some claims against Giuliani. But the claims against Bartiromo and Dobbs were allowed to stand. Dobbs was taken off the air at Fox Business Network, early last year. A lawsuit filed against Fox by Dominion Voting Systems seeks $1.6 billion and was also allowed to proceed despite a Fox News motion to dismiss.

Get fucked, Fox. I hope these lawsuits bankrupt Murdoch's shitty fake-news empire.

- - - Updated - - -

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/08/u...-carolina.html

Did y'all know that former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows lives in a mobile home in North Carolina?!

Well...he doesn't, but that's where he registered to vote from, despite zero evidence he has ever resided in the mobile home. He used this address on his 2020 voter registration forms and apparently said he intended to move in the following day on Sept. 20, but thus far there is no indication that he has. Why is this relevant?

North Carolina law requires a voter to live at their address for 30 days before the election in which they are voting. It is a felony to file a fraudulent voter registration application, though prosecutions are rare and typically do not lead to jail sentences.

Man, the voter fraud was coming from inside the White House!

[Ripster42]

https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/fox...it-1235199493/

Get fucked, Fox. I hope these lawsuits bankrupt Murdoch's shitty fake-news empire.

It'd put a dent in it, but he's worth 22b. I wouldn't be surprised if he has insurance that covers some of it.

[Dontrike]

I swear, the more clips I see of this movie the less sure I am I’ve ever made it through the entire thing.

It's mostly boring outside of that one clip where it gets a little freaky and then gets boring again.

First federal jury conviction from the Jan 6 Insurrection.

Very big step forward. Now the more than 700 people still facing charges know that jury convictions are relatively easy to get. And the prison time is MUCH higher.

Both his and his wife's comments on the matter show that it's not just him that's a nutto.

[Gorsameth]

Hmm. Hey cubby, what do we know about fast jury decisions? And also, how do you feel about leading the witness?

just looking at the charges its not that difficult to see why it was a quick decision, its all black and white.

If the prosecution has footage of him inside the building with a weapon, what is there to argue? The only potential hurdle is if he brought the weapon to DC with the intend to cause civil disorder but they could easily have had text messages to that effect.

[Breccia]

Trump's social media platform is now 116th on the Apple Store, between DoorDash and Akinator.

"...what's Akinator?"

Exactly.

Reporters at multiple sources have said they're still several hundred thousand back in line. New users are told they might get in in the next two weeks. I don't see any evidence Trump has posted yet. I have seen evidence actual lawmakers have, but most of them are copy-pasted from their non-banned Twitter, which everyone can already follow. Parler's membership is actually rising in the last two weeks.

The fact that Trump's social media platform is a ghost town is not new or surprising. But users are complaining about lag. An American host to a small number of American posters should not experience lag.

Trump's social media platform has about 400,000 total download/installs. Of those, half follow Trump. Nunes said the app should be fully working this month, but nine days in, that's just flat-out not happening.

I've seen some people suggest Trump actually didn't make a social media platform, he made a signup list for people who self-identify as insane cultists. You need an email to sign up, so, now he has a fundraising target list. Thing is...I thought he already had that. I can't imagine who's on Trump's social media platform, except for journalists writing stories about how they can't log in, who wouldn't have, say, signed up for Trump's blog. Or the RNC.

The lag part's a little concerning. Again, there's no good reason US servers hosting so few Americans should lag. The most likely reason is Trump cheaped out on hosting hardware, not renting enough space. It would fit the symptoms and 100% fits his failed business career. Part of me wonders if the lag is being inflicted by those AI moderators removing content, oh right Trump's social media platform has lots of rules about what you can't say. It wouldn't surprise me to learn the time between hitting Send and seeing it posted was because it was being quarantined and examined for evil commie leftist statements like "Trump lost the election" or "vaccines work". Or, the service could be hosted in China. RightForge claims to be American, but that's all they've got.

Considering the ugly results they've gotten so far, there's every reason to doubt their security. The platform is clearly rushed and barely functional. There is no reason to believe their defenses are up to speed. If all you're there to do is have a legitimate discourse about conservative ideas, having that plus your email address leaked is probably not so bad (unless you're stupid enough to use the same password on the app as your email). But we've seen people fired for attending Klan rallies or rioting. One of the most ironic things about Trump creating a host where people can speak their white racist mind, is the safety that nobody will see it...until they do.

Trump announced this a year ago. And it looks and runs like something slapped together in a weekend. With no signs of improvement since launch, the biggest question that remains is if this shadow backer will decide a short-ass email list is worth the money. A billion dollars divided over 400,000 users is $2,500 per email address. Hell, if Trump wants my email address so bad, I'll sell it for $2,500 easy. I have six. Technically he even has one of them.

[Edge-]

Trump's social media platform has about 400,000 total download/installs. Of those, half follow Trump. Nunes said the app should be fully working this month, but nine days in, that's just flat-out not happening.

Half a million installs off your initial launch is not great. Wasn't this shit supposed to launch a month ago, or last year? Either way this looks pretty sad, very low energy.

[Breccia]

Wasn't this shit supposed to launch a month ago, or last year?

If you're suggesting it was pushed back further than Path of the Titans, it was. I already cited an article from March 2021 saying it would be 2 or 3 months. Just to be clear, here's that same announcement on FOX News.

"I do think that we’re going to see President Trump returning to social media in probably about two or three months here, with his own platform," Trump senior adviser Jason Miller told Fox News' "#MediaBuzz" on Sunday. "And this is something that I think will be the hottest ticket in social media, it’s going to completely redefine the game, and everybody is going to be waiting and watching to see what exactly Trump does."

Miller said he was unable to provide much more in terms of details at this point, but he did reveal that Trump has been having "high-powered meetings" at Mar-a-Lago with various teams regarding the venture, and that "numerous companies" have approached Trump.

"This new platform is going to be big," Miller said, predicting that Trump will draw "tens of millions of people."

That bolded didn't age well. And everything else was just false.

The big announcement was October 2021, not 2 to 3 months later, and in that announcement, they had a planned beta in Nov and Q1 rollout. "End of March" is technically Q1, in much the same way I'm technically one of the best tanks in the game -- I'm easily top half, maybe even top 45%. I mean, yeah, I don't have a Mythic kill, or Heroic kill, or Normal kill, or LFR kill, but my guild almost got AotC in 9.1 and that counts for something!


-- Trump's only post, Feb 14th, as quoted from a Feb 15th article. I assume the likes have gone up...slightly.

While they did launch Feb 21st as planned, Cyberpunk 2077 did launch on the date they gave and it was bug-filled garbage for months. Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer things to work when I get them. But say what you want about Cyberpunk 2077...no really, I haven't played yet and heard it's okay now, but I wouldn't mind a review or two from a noncommercial source. It wasn't trying to be the next WoW killer. Trump was trying to take on Twitter and can't even take on Parler.

I understand Facebook banned Trump for two years, so next Jan they'll have to decide if they want to let him back on or not. If Trump is actively running a competitor, it would make their decision really easy. But he's clearly not. He's running a 1990's BBS. Forget Cyberpunk 2077, Trump might as well be playing NetHack, which at least works and you can train your pet.

[Edge-]

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/m...tion-data-leak

Tina Peters, the Republican clerk of Mesa County, Colorado who was long suspected of aiding a leak of sensitive election machinery data from her own office, has been indicted on multiple counts by a Colorado grand jury, as has her deputy Belinda Knisley.

The charges against Peters include three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, one count of conspiracy to commit attempt to influence a public servant, criminal impersonation, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, identity theft, first-degree official misconduct, violation of duty, and failing to comply with the secretary of state, according to a press release from the Mesa County district attorney’s office.

Knisley was charged with three counts of attempting to influence a public servant, one count of conspiracy to commit attempting to influence a public servant, violation of duty, and failing to comply with the secretary of state, according to the release.

Womp womp. The election fraud attempts are coming from inside the house.

- - - Updated - - -

https://lawandcrime.com/2020-electio...ation-lawsuit/

Oh man, that defamation lawsuit ruling. Judge out there citing arguments made by Tucker Carlson and literal quote from Janine Pierro in his ruling that the case against Fox can move foward.

Delightful.

[Breccia]

"indicted"

Good.

Judge out there citing arguments made by Tucker Carlson and literal quote from Janine Pierro in his ruling

Ironically, the statements of Tucker Carlson, perhaps the most popular Fox News host, militate most strongly in favor of a possible finding that there is a substantial basis that Fox News acted with actual malice. As noted above, on November 19, 2020, Dobbs posted a video of he and Powell on Twitter with a caption stating, inter alia, that Powell “has no doubt that Dominion voting machines run [SUSA]’s software which allows [it] to manipulate the votes.” The same day, Carlson wrote an article stating that, for over a week, Powell had been claiming that the election had been stolen and that, if Powell were correct, it would be the greatest crime in American history, and he thus asked her to substantiate her comments. However, Powell never provided the evidence requested by Carlson, and Trump’s campaign advised Carlson that it knew of no such evidence. Therefore, there are sufficient allegations that Fox News knew, or should have known, that Powell’s claim was false, and purposefully ignored the efforts of its most prominent anchor to obtain substantiation of claims of wrongdoing by SUSA.

I think we all get that mistakes are made to rush to a story. I think we also get, even if some of us won't admit it, that after a week of not just no evidence, but counter-evidence, you need to back the fuck off.

This story also says the judge dismissed the case against Powell, not because Powell was telling the truth, but because it's a NY lawsuit and Powell doesn't do anything in NY. Pirro escaped because she was vague enough about who stole the votes. Carlson and FOX News as a whole were not.

So, from a legal standpoint, it seems to pay to keep your claims uselessly vague. This is, of course, the opposite of investigative journalism, where you're supposed to name people, places, and things. "The election was stolen" isn't slander or libel, it's just generically false. "The election was stolen by SUSA" is an invitation to put up or shut up. And it's FOX News, so ideally, both.

[Zaydin]

That Tina Peters nutball in Colorado has been indicted for several counts, all related to her deluded belief in the Big Lie.

[Edge-]

https://www.citizen-times.com/story/...rt/9439056002/

Oh look, one of Trump's favorite people, Madison Cawthorn, charged with driving with a revoked license...again.

[Elegiac]

https://www.citizen-times.com/story/...rt/9439056002/

Oh look, one of Trump's favorite people, Madison Cawthorn, charged with driving with a revoked license...again.

Has someone told Off-Brand Ken that he's ostensibly in the party of law and order?

[cubby]

That Tina Peters nutball in Colorado has been indicted for several counts, all related to her deluded belief in the Big Lie.

Good. That is very important that she is being prosecuted.

[Breccia]

Good. That is very important that she is being prosecuted.

And a colleague, apparently. Belinda Knisley, from @Edge- 's post. Hmm, don't know much about her. I'm on it.

Knisley faces charges of second-degree burglary and cybercrime related to alleged activity at the Mesa County Clerk and Recorder’s Office.

Holy shit, burglary? That's, like, totally olde schoole crime.

In the affidavit supporting her arrest warrant, it is alleged that Knisley used Mesa Co. Clerk and Recorder Tina Peters’ (R) work station to access the county’s secure computer network on Aug. 25, 2021. Two days earlier, Knisley’s employment with the county had been suspended and her own access to county network systems had been disabled. Her suspension stemmed from alleged workplace misconduct. Her suspension and the investigation are currently ongoing.

Among other charges, it is also alleged that Knisley sent emails from Peters’ email address to the county’s IT department asking for a “print-pin” password to be sent over email. Per policy, the county is not allowed to send passwords over email.

That's from her not guilty plea hearing Jan 11th, but as per usual I have to ask, why anyone would claim to be innocent when they themselves posted evidence? Seriously why are all these GOPeople committing crimes on emails and text messages? What happened to public parks, parking garages, and men's bathr...oh, right. Almost forgot about that last one.

[Edge-]

https://thehill.com/regulation/court...-phone-records

Stephen Miller suing because...he's on a family plan and there are lawyers on that plan and consequently all call records should apparently be protected by attorney/client privilege. Because Special Masters don't exist.

Fuck bald-ass white supremacists.