Mega-Thread: Trump Focused Discussion

[Edge-]

It appears to be part of their investigation into the electoral system breach in Colorado.

Ah, was wondering if it was related to that since I remember reading about it a while back.

Well then, no wonder they're running straight to propagandists to cry victim.

[Breccia]

So the FBI raided the office of Lauren Boebert's campaign manager this morning. Happy Wednesday!

I like using local sources from time to time.

Early Tuesday morning the Federal Bureau of Investigation executed search warrants at four locations in western Colorado.

According to Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubinstein, the state attorney general’s office and local authorities conducted the searches Tuesday in Mesa and Garfield Counties. The court-ordered search was part of an investigation of alleged election security breaches conducted by Mesa County officials.

According to 9News, Lindell said Garfield County resident Sherronna Bishop, Lauren Boebert’s former campaign manager, also had her home searched on Tuesday. We have reached out for comment but have not heard back at this time.

Peters and her associates are being investigated for an alleged security breach involving elections equipment in Mesa County earlier this year. Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s office is conducting an internal investigation of Peters, as well as the FBI, 21st Judicial District Attorney’s office, and the Colorado Attorney General’s office who are conducting a criminal investigation of Peters.

To add to that:

In August, Griswold ordered Mesa County to replace its voting equipment after system passwords showed up in a video posted to right-wing websites. Days later, exact digital copies of the county's election system hard drive were posted online after Griswold's staff discovered that 24-hour video surveillance of the election equipment had been turned off.

Yeah. She's being accused of handing election software directly to the alt-reicht.

Yeah, she's pissed. They no-knocked at 6AM and took her computers and phone. She ran crying to...Lindell TV. Yes, that Lindell. Maybe she needed a pillow?

We've heard that name before. Basically (glossing over details) she sided with QAnon, was told she couldn't run elections anymore because she was crazy, sued the state and lost.

She also tweeted...whatever this is...

Shame on you! As one that administers elections in my county, you apparently have no idea how it is possible to 1) tabulate more than once ballots favoring a candidate 2) change algorithm in a voting machine (see Eric Coomer from Dominion's Facebook rants)U R Dirty or ignorant

Which, in turn, was after she left 574 votes uncounted in a 2019 election, so, there's that.

"Do we have a statement from Colorado?"

Yes.

We executed four federally court-authorized operations today to gather evidence in connection with the investigation into the Mesa County Clerk and Recorder's Office. We did so with assistance from the DA's office from the 21st Judicial District, the Attorney General’s Office and the FBI

-- District Attorney Dan Rubinstein

"Do we have a statement from Peters?"

We have a statement from Peters' lawyer.

Today large teams of heavily armed federal agents, using a battering ram to break down doors, raided the homes of Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters and several of her friends and colleagues, mostly elderly women in their mid 60s. This is a level of weaponization of the Justice Department we haven’t seen since the McCarthy era. Thank God Tina wasn’t protesting critical race theory at a Virginia school board meeting or they might have brought two battering rams.

"Oh, is there a rule that says people over 60 can't be investigated for crimes?"

Fuck, no, that would be stupid.

"When her office lost those 574 ballots, did she blame old people?"

Yes.

"Is there a rule that says mentioning critical race theory makes a rich white woman suddenly innocent?"

No.

"Does she realize that, if she says this sort of thing can't happen, that her very own claims of election fraud should be summarily ignored? Because Biden is literally investigating election fraud."

I doubt it. QAnon people are notoriously lacking in self-awareness.

"Is this government intimidation?"

Well, she was allowed to go directly on TV...er, something kind of like TV...and proclaim her innocence, so, no. Usually, when you want to intimidate someone, you don't let them talk with their friends and family.

"She seems pretty sure there was election fraud. She was an election official at the time. Did she find any?"

No.

"...did she look?"

Yes she did, or at least, she says she did.

Behind my back and contrary to prior representations, these records were destroyed by the Secretary of State and the vendor. And, preventing any audit of the 2020 election. This appears to be a serious crime. But thanks to my arranging for a forensic image, that the EMS servers, just beforehand, those records are preserved.

"My God! She found the election fraud? She presented the evidence in court?"

Well, near as I can tell, no. It was just a routine log clearing. Also it was done May 25. If you were going to cover election fraud, you wouldn't wait six months. And I don't see any place where she brought this to court.

It was "investigating" this "fraud" that led to her being fired. If I'm reading this right, she may have turned off the cameras and then brought an unauthorized person to look at election systems that she wasn't allowed to show anyone. Then publicized them.

A detailed list of her easily-debunked conspiracies can be found here.

"So how much trouble is she in?"

She's being accused of election fraud by directly handing election software over to conspiracy theorists who have been making, well, fake audits, false claims and fraudulent lawsuits for a year. If she's stupid enough to keep e-records of this, she'll be thrown in a federal prison for years. If she didn't, then it's a pretty substantial coincidence that the data she happened to show someone she wasn't supposed to just happened to show up in the hands of non-election-officials. The warrant was lawfully executed. There was a warrant and probable cause. I'm guessing she's not thrilled about being treated as a criminal, but I bet a lot of criminals think that.

[Kathandira]

Pretty much. It's one of the greatest failures of the American insurance system. "We don't want to cover your procedure for reasons...even if you have been a loyal customer for decades."

It should also be illegal. An insurance company deciding what care you receive or not, is in essence, them practicing medicine. Unless they have a doctorate, they should not be ones deciding what treatments you receive.

[swiftowner]

It should also be illegal. An insurance company deciding what care you receive or not, is in essence, them practicing medicine. Unless they have a doctorate, they should not be ones deciding what treatments you receive.

Insurance companies already do this. Need some medicine that your doctor prescribes to you? Hold on, it has to be approved by your insurance before they’ll pay for it. Even if your doctor said you need it, if the insurance company thinks that you need a different medication, they’ll refuse to pay for the one that the doctor prescribed until you’ve taken the one they think you need, and shown that it didn’t help you, and you need the one that the doctor prescribed.

[Corvus]

Pastor Says Church Event Tied to Deadly COVID Outbreak Was 'What God Wanted Us to Do'--This is in Canada, but roughly the same shit is happening in the US, which should make more rational people lean towards the anti-"religious exemption" side of things.

The good news is that this kind of thing is limited to the evangelical fringe. Most denominations don't agree with them, like Catholics. Even the Christian Scientists, who believe sickness is an illusion and prayer alone can fix it, have come out and said go and get vaccinated. Yeah, when the nutters who don't believe in medicine are telling you to get vaccinated, maybe, just maybe you are on the wrong side. The bad news is that the evangelicals have a lot of weight in the US and evangelicals worldwide seem to take their lead from the US ones for whatever reason.

[Breccia]

Within hours of each other, Florida's death cult votes to block mandates and Disney cruises says they're doing them anyway.

Florida is off the top ten cases/deaths in the US per capita, but only if you believe their numbers. As long as they keep shoving results into the back like expired milk in a gas station fridge, they should never be taken at face value. As a reminder, Florida's third peak -- well into vaccine availability -- had higher death counts than either of their first two, (a) one of which was over the holidays that are speeding towards us and (b) is not the norm when compared to the rest of the USA. "We're doing better now that everyone died" is not the rallying cry you think it is.

- - - Updated - - -

THEY FOUND ANOTHER ONE!

Ultimately to me, this seems like a cheap political stunt that kind of backfired and shows that our voting system actually works because you were ultimately caught.

-- the judge in that case

[Benggaul]

Wednesday's report:

104,702 new cases; nearly 10k more than last Wednesday.

Top 10:

Michigan: 8,952 new cases; 138 deaths
Ohio: 6,382 new cases; deaths not reported
New York: 6,381 new cases; 30 deaths
Pennsylvania: 6,024 new cases; 150 deaths
California: 5,768 new cases; 153 deaths
Illinois: 4,989 new cases; 29 deaths
Texas: 4,562 new cases; 123 deaths
Wisconsin: 4,289 new cases; 5 deaths
Colorado: 3,914 new cases; 49 deaths
Arizona: 3,459 new cases; 16 deaths

As mentioned yesterday Michigan is in trouble. Like most of the rest of the Great Lakes region their cases have been heading in the wrong direction for a while now and deaths are climbing as well. Elsewhere a lot of other states are currently bottomed out of their last curves and will likely be heading back up within the next couple weeks. This includes Florida which has reported around 1.5k cases daily for several weeks now. Given DeathSantis continues his crusade against mandatory safety precautions I can't imagine things will stay so sunny there for much longer. Fuck Florida. Elsewhere, Minnesota has climbed to the top of the cases per 100k list and jumped into the "Severe" risk category with nearly 80.

1,416 deaths is a little over 200 fewer than last Wednesday and brings the total to 787,984. California topped the list this time around with Pennsylvania and Michigan rounding out the top three. Georgia and Texas both also reported over 100 deaths on the day. The 7-day currently remains under 1k but given that it seems like the next wave is beginning I expect it won't stay there for long.

Related news:

'Sadly, this virus will never leave our society': Weekly new infections again surpass 600,000--I think most of us have known for a while now that, thanks largely in part to those who refuse to get vaccinated or adhere to safety precautions, COVID is here to stay. I have some thoughts on that that would just get me banned, so I'll refrain from writing them out for now, but instead I'll remind everyone that, while we're absolutely not yet at the point where COVID is "just the flu", we can reach that point pretty soon with advances in treatments and vaccinating more of the population. I mean, the fact is that for the vast majority of the vaccinated it really isn't much different than the flu if they catch a breakthrough connection--though more study needs to be done on long COVID.

Mask-wearing cuts Covid incidence by 53%, says global study--Today in "No shit!"

Stay safe, folks.

[Breccia]

This includes Florida which has reported around 1.5k cases daily for several weeks now. Given DeathSantis continues his crusade against mandatory safety precautions I can't imagine things will stay so sunny there for much longer. Fuck Florida.

I was going to mention something like this yesterday, but figured you'd do a better job. You did.

In addition to "Florida's numbers are bullshit" there's 2020's holiday season and the USA's horrifying failure, mirrored by Florida, followed by a literal learning curve. It looked like this:



As you can see, up to the worst point in the country, Florida was doing about the same as the US. About. About 10-20% worse, but general ballpark. Now, it doesn't look like it, because each graph is proportioned to show itself. Florida's summer was much worse than the rest of the USA. Like, half again as worse in cases and...well, then there's the deaths.

What happened between the two? DeSantis tried murdering his fellow human being. And he was successful, thousands upon thousands of times. The changes he made are not only still in effect, he's trying to make more changes even as we speak (preventing mask mandates in schools and churches, something the US won't realistically be able to stop before Christmass).

If there is another peak over the holidays...sorry, I wrote that wrong. There is another peak over the holidays. Florida's lack of action will make the gap between the USA/Florida closer to summer than 2020's holidays. Now, Florida does have a 60-70% vaccination rate, and that's good. Could be better, NY has them beat handliy, but even NYState could stand to improve. So hopefully DeSantis' attempt to murder thousands upon thousands of his fellow human beings will be somewhat depressed.

[Edge-]

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/18/polit...den/index.html

"Painfully, Joe Biden won the election and it's very painful to watch. He's the President. We know that," McDaniel said at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor in Washington, DC.

Is GOP Chairwoman Ronna Romney-McDaniel about to be #canceled?

- - - Updated - - -

https://twitter.com/CPAC/status/1461079962727899143

https://twitter.com/CPAC/status/1461154311006834690



The absolute state of the "conservative movement" in the USA. They're banning puppets from their annual conference.

I believe this is what conservatives call "virtue signaling".

Though real, if we end up with a street brawl between Sesame Street and the Republican party my money is on Sesame Street. Have you SEEN how big Big Bird is? He could take on like, at least two-dozen Ted Cruz's.

[Kaleredar]

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/18/polit...den/index.html



Is GOP Chairwoman Ronna Romney-McDaniel about to be #canceled?

- - - Updated - - -

https://twitter.com/CPAC/status/1461079962727899143

https://twitter.com/CPAC/status/1461154311006834690



The absolute state of the "conservative movement" in the USA. They're banning puppets from their annual conference.

I believe this is what conservatives call "virtue signaling".

Though real, if we end up with a street brawl between Sesame Street and the Republican party my money is on Sesame Street. Have you SEEN how big Big Bird is? He could take on like, at least two-dozen Ted Cruz's.

Didn't Romney want to cancel Sesame Street as well?

But then again teaching children good manners, educational lessons, and about the diverse peoples in the world and how everyone can coexist really isn't conservative's cup of tea, now is it?

[Breccia]

I believe this is what conservatives call "virtue signaling".

It's hard to find a more famous American family program than Sesame Street. In addition to the normal vileness that led them to Cancel Culture Censorship First Amendment Muh Rights a children's show, they took on the biggest. And over life-saving medicine and being Asian-American.

This might have to go into my usual 24-hour challenges. I think, from now on, all Trump supporters will be forced to weigh in on Sesame Street. I didn't think this would come to pass, but I didn't pick that battle, they did.

[Edge-]

https://justthenews.com/sites/defaul...il11-15-21.pdf

GOP Chairwoman Ronna Romney-McDaniels outlines plans to reach out to the LGBTQ+ community as part of the GOP's efforts to expand their base to RNC members.

Has to issue an appology to them assuring them that they actually only want the votes of the LGBTQ+ community.

The goal of this new outreach is simply to get more voters to vote Republican in 2022. That’s it.

She clarifies that they are not actually going to like, change their platform in any way, shape, or form to represent their LGBTQ+ members or even acknowledge that they're human beings deserving equal rights and dignity -

And it certainly doesn’t mean we are trying to make any changes to the core values of our party.

And it's all good, Trump did it first -

We are simply replicating and continuing the outreach structure set up by the Trump campaign.

[Shadowferal]

Have you SEEN how big Big Bird is? He could take on like, at least two-dozen Ted Cruz's.

Pfft...my long dead grandma can take that challenge.

[Breccia]

She clarifies that they are not actually going to like, change their platform in any way

"What do you have to lose?" Sounds familiar.

To be fair, the Republican Party is largely staffed by men with questionable views on marital fidelty.

[DarkTZeratul]

Pfft...my long dead grandma can take that challenge.

I mean, I'd put my money on the undead too...

[Breccia]

So the QAnon Shaman's lawyer was asked about the trial and the sentence and such and what he'd say to Trump which is:

You know what? You’ve got a few fucking things to do. Including clearing this fucking mess up and taking care of a lot of the jackasses that you fucked up because of January 6.

"...what?"

I'm not fluent in crazy-ass conspiracy nutjob, but if I had to guess, I'd guess "fucked up" was supposed to be "fucked over". I think, and yeah it's 50/50, I think he is blaming Trump for riling up a crowd as a weapon, as if he was going to help and...then doing nothing. None of them got pardons, for example. And this lawyer has gone on the record calling some of the murderous insurrectionists...um...just read it.

A lot of these defendants — and I’m going to use this colloquial term, perhaps disrespectfully — but they’re all fucking short-bus people. These are people with brain damage, they’re fucking retarded, they’re on the goddamn spectrum.

Yes, that's the same lawyer defending people just like his client.

I'm basing my guess on Trump promising to help people who came to his aid before, and of course breaking that promise. Oh, and the insanity plea attempt.

I continue to wonder, to this day, why people Trump fucks over don't turn on him. I mean, Cohen did, you'd think others would. Like, John Kelly. Why didn't he--

Ex-chief of staff John Kelly said if Trump was a 'real man' he would've gone to the Capitol on January 6 to stop the rioters: book

Huh. What are the odds.

The conversation comes in Karl's forthcoming book, "Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show," which will be published Tuesday. Insider obtained an early copy of the book.

Kelly added that he believed the riot — led by Trump supporters while Congress met to certify President Joe Biden's 2020 election win — was enough to invoke the 25th Amendment, a process to remove a president unable to fulfill their duties.

"If I was still there, I would call the cabinet and start talking about the Twenty-Fifth Amendment," Kelly told Karl, referring to the ability of the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet members to remove a president from office. Despite bipartisan calls to remove Trump at the time, then-Vice President Mike Pence opposed the effort.

[Deus Mortis]

Iranian nationals charged in campaign to undermine 2020 US election
https://www.yahoo.com/gma/iranian-na...184000933.html

Two Iranian nationals have been charged in a disinformation campaign meant to influence the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, including by threatening physical violence if registered Democrats failed to switch their affiliation and vote for then-President Donald Trump.

Seyyed Kazemi and Sajjad Kashian obtained confidential information about American voters from at least one state election website, sent those people threatening emails and gained access to a news network's computer system that would have allowed them to disseminate false claims about the election, according to the indictment.

"As alleged, Kazemi and Kashian were part of a coordinated conspiracy in which Iranian hackers sought to undermine faith and confidence in the U.S. Presidential elections," said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams.

The indictment did not name the state infiltrated, but Florida law enforcement and the FBI previously had said they were investigating the threatening emails sent to registered voters.

The Iranians, both of whom are believed to be in Iran and out of reach of U.S. law enforcement, claimed to be a group of Proud Boys volunteers, according to the indictment. They allegedly sent Facebook messages and emails to Republican officials that claimed Democrats were going to exploit vulnerabilities in voter registration websites. They also allegedly sent registered Democrats messages that threatened physical injury if they did not change their affiliation and vote for President Trump, the indictment said.

"We are in possession of all your information (email, address, telephone ... everything). You are currently registered as a Democrat and we know this because we have gained access into the entire voting infrastructure. You will vote for Trump on Election Day or we will come after you. Change your party affiliation to Republican to let us know you received our message and will comply. We will know which candidate you voted for," the indictment quoted the emails as saying.

Shit like this is why we need way more security, but Republicans consistently block the internet security bills, it is extremely frustrating.

[postman1782]

Iranian nationals charged in campaign to undermine 2020 US election
https://www.yahoo.com/gma/iranian-na...184000933.html



Shit like this is why we need way more security, but Republicans consistently block the internet security bills, it is extremely frustrating.

If they block other countries, then countries like Russia won't be able to help them very easily.

[Breccia]

"claimed to be a group of Proud Boys volunteers"

"Hey Mr. Fellow Iranian Man, we want to sow discord and chaos in American voters. Who should our first target be?"
"Well the most gullible, most stupid, and possibly closeted homosexual which we in Iran deny exists."
"I know just the people."

[Benggaul]

Thursday's report:

99,146 new cases; roughly 9k more than 2 weeks ago.

Top 10:

New York: 6,796 new cases; 37 deaths
Pennsylvania: 6,637 new cases; 96 deaths
Ohio: 6,615 new cases; deaths not reported
Illinois: 5,644 new cases; 32 deaths
California: 5,186 new cases; 158 deaths
Minnesota: 4,722 new cases; 32 deaths
Colorado: 4,602 new cases; 59 deaths
Wisconsin: 4,408 new cases; 5 deaths
Arizona: 4,184 new cases; 56 deaths
Indiana: 3,926 new cases; 29 deaths

It's pretty undeniable at this point that cases are going back up nationally. With the exception of California (which has been bouncing between 5k-6k for over a month now) all of the top 10 states have increasing cases and, though I haven't checked, I'm sure that's the case with several other states as well. Texas fell out of the top 10 for now as they bask in the temporary immunity that comes with letting a deadly virus ravage your population to appeal to Trump voters, but I fully expect them to come roaring back as the Winter comes on. Florida's also in that same dip, though their cases today were higher than they were 2 weeks ago. Not yet indicative of anything but they're coming to the end of their honeymoon period as well.

1,147 deaths is over 200 fewer than 2 weeks ago and brings the total to 789,155. California, Texas and Pennsylvania made the top three and for now at least it seems like California will be pulling away with most deaths overall as Texas' cases decline. I suspect Texas is sweeping a few bodies under the rug here, but absent any hard evidence it remains pure speculation.

Related news:

Florida Curtails Coronavirus Mandates, Reflecting Wishes of Vaccine Skeptics--Fuck Florida.

US authorizes Covid boosters for all over 18s--I'm still not fully convinced boosters are necessary for everyone (elderly and otherwise immunocompromised excepted) and experts seem split as well, but at least they're there for those who want/need them. Or at least they should be there; I've heard scheduling an appointment for one amidst the vaccination efforts of 5-11 year olds is a bit of a shitshow.

Up to 1.6 Million Americans May Have Long-Term Loss of Smell Due to COVID: Study--That stinks...I'm sorry, had to be done.

Experts predict an alarming surge of US COVID-19 cases this winter--I'm also inclined to believe we'll see a bad wave, but the death totals should be much lower than last year. There will be a lot of breakthrough infections like there are currently, but most of those appear to be much milder with only a handful requiring hospitalization among vaccinated.

Stay safe, folks.