I have to start by co-signing on Kat's "It's really not the House's job to interfere with ongoing legal cases." She is exactly right. Every time Donald Trump gets indicted, US House Rep. Jim Jordan is launching an investigation. That's an abuse of power and it's meant to be threating and intimidating which makes it an abuse of office. He should not be getting away with this. Jennifer Bowers Bahney (MEDIAITE) reports:
Jordan sent a letter to Fulton Co. District Attorney Fani Willis questioning the “timing of this prosecution” on RICO charges of election tampering, stating it was “noteworthy” that Willis “launched a new campaign fundraising website that highlighted” her investigation into Trump just days before the indictments were issued by a Fulton Co. grand jury.
The letter questioned why it took Willis two-and-a-half years to file charges “at a time when the campaign for the Republican presidential nomination is in full swing,” and stated that the federal government “has a substantial interest in the welfare of former Presidents.”
Jordan was an assistant wrestling coach with Ohio State University's wrestling program from 1987 to 1995.[11]
Richard Strauss was wrestling team physician during Jordan's tenure. In April 2018 Ohio State University began an independent investigation[12] into allegations of sexual misconduct by Strauss.[13][14] Strauss died by suicide in 2005.[15] Several involved persons have stated that Jordan surely knew of Strauss's criminal misconduct but did not report it.[16][17] No wrestlers have accused Jordan himself of sexual misconduct, and he was never arrested or indicted for his alleged failure to report, but four former wrestlers named him as a defendant in a lawsuit against the university.[18][19][20] Jordan has denied any wrongdoing, has refused to cooperate with investigations into Strauss,[21] and has described his accusers as "pawns in a political plot."[22]
DeSantis arrived in Milwaukee needing a big night. He didn’t get it.
It wasn’t that the Florida governor made any obvious gaffes. But he didn’t have any great moments either and, more importantly, he didn’t impose himself on the debate at any point.
For long stretches, DeSantis faded into the background of the debate.
That is a big problem, since his whole campaign is predicated on being the sole alternative to Trump.
DeSantis’s campaign has been trending downward since its beginning and there was no real reason to believe that Wednesday night’s performance, which often sounded over-rehearsed, changed that.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) found himself at the butt of the joke as he became the subject of memes following the first primary debate.
A clip of the governor during the debate Wednesday night in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was recreated thousands of times in several meme graphics and GIF video clips. In the moment, DeSantis promised: "I will not let you down" and followed up the promise with what appeared to be a forced smile.
"Love smiling like a human," user Brennan Murphy captioned the video. The clip would go on to receive over 2 million views as others used it to recreate their own jokes.
"Me right before letting everyone down…" another user captioned the clip.
"The seldom seen 5 on the pain scale," one user captioned a screenshot of the moment, which he turned into a meme.
DeSantis used his position as Florida’s governor to retaliate and attack the Walt Disney Co. — a private organization — through targeted legislation because the company spoke out against Florida HB 1557, which opponents dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law. The precedent that conduct sets is both terrifying and demoralizing. Is this the future the founders envisioned when they created our democracy? A presidential candidate is praised for attacking the freedom of speech of a private entity, going as far as writing a book bragging about stripping legally binding rights for disagreeing with his political decisions? The Republican Party has always touted that they strive to protect constitutionally guaranteed freedoms. DeSantis seems to have missed that memo, or he simply doesn’t care.
Violating Disney’s constitutional right to express its opinion is not the only mess DeSantis wants to “move on” from, and some aren’t cheap or easy fixes. DeSantis fixed a problem that didn’t exist when he restructured and installed his own group of sycophants to run the special district where Disney World resides, changing precedent that had been set since 1967. This overt attempt to punish Disney led the company to cancel plans of moving more than 2,000 jobs to Florida, resulting in the loss of a $1 billion Disney office complex that would have brought revenue and growth to central Florida.
Does Disney get to recover lost revenue from the canceled plans, or is the company expected to “move on” and let bygones be bygones? What about the Florida residents who would have benefited from the additional state tourism, tax revenue and potential jobs? Do they all just “move on” as well? How about the huge legal bill that DeSantis is amassing from his decision to take on the largest single-site employer, taxpayer and income generator in the Sunshine State?
While DeSantis can try to shrug off his role in this political stunt, unfortunately the Florida taxpayer cannot, and Florida residents will continue to fund the litigation costs of DeSantis’s culture wars regardless of his current disposition.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
John Rees from the Don't Extradite Assange campaign said, “This
event in the Wistaverse is a valuable opportunity to unite people
across the world who believe in freedom of speech and freedom of the
press to show their support for Julian and set a signal that will be an
important precedent for human rights everywhere. No matter where you are
in the world, you can virtually join this event.”
The
event will include the participation of and speeches by Julian Assange
himself (pre-recorded), his wife Stella Assange, Kristinn Hrafnsson, the
co-founder and editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, and other high profile
guests, including British politician Jeremy Corbyn.
The event
will take place in the Wistaverse, the world’s first platform for
virtual protest in the metaverse. The Wistaverse is a not-for-profit
protocol located in the Sandbox on the Polygon blockchain. Users who
organize protests do so on their own initiative, independent of the
Wistaverse’s creators. The protocol enables a platform for protest for
causes with universal importance and gives access for everyone to
participate, regardless of geographical location or possible physical
disabilities.
Jules, one of the founders of Wistaverse, said: “We
are excited that the Don't Extradite Assange campaign has decided to
use the platform to host such a key rally shortly after the launch of
the Wistaverse this May. At that time, the inaugural protest was an
event organized by Amnesty International in support of abortion rights
worldwide. Now, we trust that the event this Saturday will set a signal
and focus all eyes on freedom of speech to support that cause. The new
Web3 technologies are enabling unprecedented participation and the
opportunity for everyone to shape worldwide governance.”
The
rally will take place in a virtual auditorium designed to look like the
Royal Courts of Justice in London where Assange is set to face his
final appeal in the UK court system. It aims to build for a real life
protest at the same venue when the court date is announced.
The
speakers at the rally will appear either as characters inside the event
or with filmed contributions shown on screens inside the arena created
by the event designers.
The Wistaverse uses metaverse technology to
allow each individual attendee to be represented by an avatar that can
hear the speeches and watch other material inside the virtual rally and
interact with other attendees. It protects users’ identity and enables
universal participation. The rally is open to anyone with a computer.
The rally will be on Saturday 26 August at 5pm BST/ British Summer Time, when information about how to participate will go live on the event’s dedicated website on the Sandbox.
For more information contact:
For Don’t Extradite Assange Campaign: media(at)dontextraditeassange.com or
Silvi: email: ps13(at)tuamail.com Tel.: +44-798-480-9125
For the Wistaverse: jules.wistaverse(at)gmail.com & Wistaverse(at)transformgroup.com
For details, visit: www.wistaverse.com & Dontextraditeassange.com
About Don’t Extradite Assange Campaign
The
Don’t Extradite Assange Campaign has been established in the UK by
WikiLeaks in order to focus campaigning efforts on preventing the
extradition of journalist and publisher Julian Assange to the United
States where he faces 175 years in jail. Through his publications he has
exposed war crimes against humanity, government corruption and mass
surveillance.
Visit: Dontextraditeassange.com
John Rees from the Don't Extradite Assange campaign said the benefit of holding a metaverse mass protest is that, "no matter where you are in the world, you can virtually join this event.”
He told Yahoo Finance UK's The Crypto Mile that this "first of its kind" event would not replace physical protests on the streets of major cities, but would complement the ongoing campaign.
"We have had the metaverse environment designed as a replica of the real Royal Courts of Justice, so that people attending this event will get the idea it would be a good thing to turn up outside the real court on the day that Julian appears," he said.
Rees said he is hopeful they will get thousands of people to virtually attend from across the globe.
"This is a pioneering form of political action, and if it works I'm sure we will not be the only ones to repeat it," he added.
Sceptics have wondered aloud whether a protest in an obscure corner of the internet – it uses a gaming platform called Sandbox – can have the same impact as real-world disruptive action.
“The answer to that is protest is also mainly a social event where people with a common vision get together,” one of the Wistaverse’s co-founders, Jules Alcazar, told The National.
“Having everyone together in one place is also a great opportunity to go fund-raising. It’s about keeping momentum, it’s finding what activism can do.”
He believes the metaverse also has an edge over social media activism, which is “very limited”, “not immersive” and a “very poor way of experiencing it” because its algorithms relentlessly feed back bias.
There are forecasts that the metaverse, championed by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg as a virtual-reality world encompassing education and health care, could one day be worth $5 trillion to $13 trillion.
‘He put out information people didn’t want being put out but it was all truthful and I don’t know how you fault a guy for putting out the truth,’ mused Kelly Slater in an Instagram soliloquy one March eve.
Just as seamless as Slater’s transitions are from the tube to the open face, so too are his analyses of complex geopolitical, health and social issues.
Typically one should have domain-specific expertise, some skin in the game, to credibly navigate these deep waters — but 11 surfing World Titles and a few compelling exchanges with high-profile pod bros works fine too in 2023.
Way less student debt too, this method. And more barrels.
Slater’s sentiments did not go unnoticed by Kym Staton — director of the forthcoming opus delving into the character assassination of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who faces a 175 year prison sentence if extradited to the US for the crime of leaking classified information.
Originally titled Free The Truth: Free Assange has gracefully segued into the more enigmatic appellation, The Trust Fall. While the nomenclature may evolve, the narrative spine remains robust.
“The main aim of this film is to gather more support for Julian’s freedom. At its core, this is a political case and a mass public outcry is needed in order to pressure US, UK, and Australian politicians to do the right thing and release him,” writes Staton — whose endgame is to whip up a chorus of cheers for Assange’s parole. He’s slapping a big ol’ megaphone on this whole political mess, hoping to rile up enough people from the US, UK, and Australia to gang up on their politicians and demand, ‘Hey, do the right thing, guys! Let the man loose!’
Senator Tim Scott said the solution to the crisis in education was to “break the backs” of the teachers unions, by which he meant crushing the teachers themselves, who have engaged in massive strikes, not the stooge unions run by millionaire bureaucrats and CIA agents.
Former Governor Chris Christie said that the teachers unions were the biggest enemy of America, and boasted that he had slashed public employee pensions during his eight years in office in New Jersey.
Former Vice President Mike Pence declared that he was the only candidate willing to state openly that there had to be major cuts in Social Security and Medicare. None of the others on the stage indicated opposition to this proposal, which would devastate tens of millions of retired and disabled workers.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis called for shooting migrants “stone cold dead” to stop them crossing the US-Mexico border, and said that he would dispatch US Special Forces into Mexico on his first day as president—in effect, the invasion of Mexico by the US military.
IT multimillionaire Vivek Ramaswamy condemned all measures taken to protect working people during the COVID-19 pandemic—effectively arguing that the current policy of letting the virus run rampant should have been adopted from Day One. And he called climate change a “hoax,” in response to a question that cited record heat waves, wildfires and unprecedented rainfall events.
+ Vivek Ramaswamy, 9/11 Truther: “I think it is legitimate to say how many police, how many federal agents, were on the planes that hit the Twin Towers. Maybe the answer is zero. It probably is zero for all I know, right?”
+ Ramaswamy has been accused of hiring someone to scrub his Wikipedia page of unflattering (to the MAGA base he is so urgently courting) biographical episodes, including his receipt of a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans in 2011, as well as his role on Ohio’s COVID-19 Response Team. But his association with the son of the Dr. Mabuse of the Left hasn’t escaped the attention of the intrepid investigators at FoxNews.
+ American history according to Vivek Ramaswamy: “the US Constitution was what won us the American Revolution.” The Constitution was written in 1787, 6 years after the defeat of Cornwallis at Yorktown, 11 years after the Declaration of Independence and 12 years after the Revolution started, in 1775.
+ At the debate, DeSantis repeatedly tried to associate himself with the Navy SEAL teams in Iraq, by saying “I was with the SEALS in places like Fallujah and Ramadi.” But DeSantis wasn’t a SEAL, he was a JAG. The role of JAGS in Iraq was advise the SEALS on who they could “legally” capture, torture and kill. Or, in his own tart phrase, whose “throats they could slit.”
After California ally Laura "Lauri" Carleton was killed for displaying an LGBTQ+ Pride flag at her San Bernadino County store, Mag.Pi, the Los Angeles LGBT Center and Flags for Good announced a new banner honoring the Lake Arrowhead community member and shop owner.
“Carleton, an unwavering ally, is one of too many people who have lost their lives due to violence that targets LGBTQ+ people,” said a statement announcing the commemorative flag.
To honor Carleton’s memory and encourage allies to work for a safer community, the Center collaborated with Flags for Good to create a rainbow banner bearing the magpie symbol — after her store's name. The proceeds from sales will benefit the Lake Arrowhead LGBTQ+ Fund.
“I assure you that the Center won’t be stopping here. Right-wing extremists have brought this fight to our doorstep, and let me promise you this: we are answering their knock at our door—and we will be greeting them with the strength that our community is known for,” said CEO of the Los Angeles LGBT Center Joe Hollendoner in a press release. “I hope we can rely on you to join us in the fight.”
In light of national retail chains like Target and Starbucks reportedly halting their Pride displays, Carleton, 66, chose to hang the Pride Flag, a symbol of resistance for the community since 1970.
Alan Carter approached Mag.Pi in Studio City at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 23, carrying a bouquet of white hydrangeas wrapped in brown paper and polka-dotted cellophane. At 62 years old, Carter had never purchased flowers for someone he’s never met, but he was stunned this week to learn that the owner of the lifestyle boutique, Laura Ann Carleton, or Lauri to friends, was shot to death on Friday during a dispute with a man over a Pride flag outside her second Mag.Pi location near Lake Arrowhead.
“It gutted me, and I heard on the news that Mrs. Carleton also owned a store in Studio City,” said Carter. “I don’t know anyone in her family and I’ve never been in the store, though I’ve driven past it probably a hundred times. I can’t get to Lake Arrowhead, so I came here. I’m on a fixed income and really, I have no money for flowers or an Uber but I said, ‘F**k it. I’ll go without Starbucks for a month.’ I wanted to be here to say, in a very small way, thank you. Thank you for the sacrifice you made for people like me.”
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