The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

Happy Birthday, Cat

COMMENTS

-

---

KinkyFuckery
15:10 Feb 13 2024

Aww thank you

---

POST COMMENT

The verdict was the second time over the past year that a jury has awarded E. Jean Carroll millions of dollars in damages from Trump for his defamatory statements disparaging her and denying her rape allegations.

But this verdict was on a whole different scale – awarding $65 million in punitive damages alone and a total dollar figure eight times higher than what Carroll initially sought in her lawsuit.


Friday’s verdict, while sure to be appealed, comes ahead of a judge’s expected decision later this month in Trump’s civil fraud trial that could threaten the former president’s business empire, along with the four criminal indictments that are awaiting trial and a US Supreme Court hearing on whether the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination can appear on the ballot.

Here are the key takeaways from the defamation trial and verdict:

Another jury rules against Trump
Over the past year, Trump has railed against the prosecutors who have investigated and charged him, the plaintiffs who have sued him and the judges who have overseen his trials.

But the nine-person jury didn’t blink. It awarded Carroll $18.3 million in compensatory damages. It was the punitive damages, however, that landed Carroll such an astronomical sum: $65 million.

During the trial, Carroll’s lawyers told the jury that Trump should be punished with a large number in damages so that it actually gets him to stop his defamatory behavior.

“The law says you can consider Donald Trump’s wealth as well as his malicious and spiteful continual conduct,” Carroll attorney Roberta Kaplan said. “Billions of dollars is just a drop in the bucket for Trump.”

The verdict is significant not just for the monetary damages, but also for the message it sends that a jury of regular citizens did not believe Trump – not Democratic-appointed prosecutors or judges or the administration of his likely 2024 political opponent, President Joe Biden.

Will Carroll ever see the money?
There’s still a long road ahead before Carroll would see the money the jury awarded.

Last year, the jury in the first defamation trial awarded Carroll a total of $5 million in damages – including nearly $3 million for defamation – after finding that Trump sexually abused Carroll and then defamed her in 2022 when he denied the allegations and disparaged her.

That verdict is still being appealed, and Trump within minutes of Friday’s verdict declared he will appeal this one as well.

“Absolutely ridiculous! I fully disagree with both verdicts and will be appealing,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

Trump set aside $5.5 million to a court-controlled account last year in a step toward satisfying the judgment from the defamation lawsuit, though, Carroll would not have access to the funds until after all appeals, including potentially to the US Supreme Court, are satisfied.

Endless appeals and delays are a familiar tactic for Trump, who is already also appealing a New York state judge’s ruling that he was liable for fraud – and is gearing up to appeal that judge’s ruling in the broader New York attorney general’s civil fraud case that’s coming as soon as next week.

Trump walks out of court
Carroll’s attorney was just minutes into her closing argument Friday when Trump made a decision: He was not going to sit and listen.

The former president got up and walked out of the courtroom in the middle of the closing argument, with adviser Boris Epshteyn following him out, the judge noting for the record that Trump had left the courtroom.

Trump remained outside of court until after the break and it was his attorney Alina Habba’s turn to make her case to the jury.

The walkout was one last act of defiance for a former president during the defamation trial, after he was admonished at several points both for speaking audibly from the defense table and for going beyond the tightly controlled, three-minute testimony he was permitted to give on Thursday.

The restrictions put in place by Judge Lewis Kaplan (no relation to the attorney) provided a far different backdrop compared to Trump’s performance during the civil fraud trial in New York state court. There, Trump was on the witness stand for hours, attacking the trial, the state attorney general and the judge himself while he testified. When he left the courtroom, Trump was able to speak his mind at a waiting camera.

In federal court at the defamation trial, there were no cameras permitted, so Trump was forced to rely on his social media to go after the trial against him.

Trump didn’t stick around for the verdict either – leaving for LaGuardia Airport before the verdict was reached and taking off not long after it had been read.

Carroll proved to jury she suffered harm from Trump’s defamatory statements
It didn’t take the jury long to return a verdict against Trump, with deliberations lasting less than three hours.

Carroll’s attorneys argued that they should hit Trump with an “unusually high” amount of punitive damages in order to get him to stop his attacks.

Trump’s statements about Carroll to this day are “dripping with malice, with hate,” Carroll attorney Shawn Crowley said.

Trump’s attorney argued that Carroll would have received hateful messages when she wrote her story no matter what Trump said.

“We have watched six days of a plaintiff trying to pin Twitter trolls comments on a former president of the United States without accepting any responsibility for the media and the press frenzy and the public profile that she wanted and she still enjoys,” Habba argued.

The negative messages should be “universally condemned,” Habba said. “But President Trump should not have to pay for their threats. He does not condone them. He did not direct them. All he did was tell his truth,” Trump’s attorney said.

The jury disagreed.

Judge repeatedly admonishes Trump’s attorney
Judge Kaplan had little patience for Habba or Trump during Friday’s closing arguments, admonishing the former president’s lawyer repeatedly and at one point warning she could spend time “in the lock up.”

The judge’s annoyance with Trump’s attorneys is a pattern that has played out across his two fall civil trials where his lawyers have tried to push the envelope – and is one that’s likely to continue should any of Trump’s criminal cases head to trial this year.

On Friday, when Habba tried to make a record to refute a ruling Kaplan made that the defense could not use a slide in their closing presentation, Kaplan cut her off.

“You are on the verge of spending some time in the lock up, now sit down,” he said to Trump’s attorney.

Once Habba began her closing argument, she quickly ran afoul of Kaplan again, trying to raise Trump’s denials of Carroll’s sexual assault allegations – even though that question is not part of this trial, because a previous jury already found that Carroll proved sexual assault.

Habba told the jury that Trump has “consistently stated his position, as is his American right.”

Kaplan cut her off to again instruct the jury that they must accept that it’s been previously established by a prior jury that Trump sexually assaulted Carroll.

Habba responded, “Yes, it’s been established by a jury.”

“It is established, and you will not quarrel with me,” Kaplan shot back.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/26/politics/takeaways-jury-verdict-trump-e-jean-carroll-defamation-trial/index.html


lol..... Well here you go another jury bitch slaps Mango and his TV attorney, Alina Habba Yabba Do. And don't forget any day now the State Judge in New York will Issue his ruling, and in all probablity it will, pretty much finish the Mango Organization in New York.

Now for you MAGA Trash because trash is what you are, your orange jesus is a grifter, a fraud, a rapist, a racist, and an insurrectionist piece of shit.

And the criminal trial in New York against Mango I believe is set to begin in March.

The US economy remained shockingly robust in the fourth quarter to close out a remarkably strong 2023 as consumers and businesses continued to spend, crushing expectations of a recession.

Gross domestic product, a measure of all the services and goods and produced, rose at a seasonally and inflation-adjusted annualized rate of 3.3% from October through December, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.

That was slower than the 4.9% rate from July through September, when American consumers splashed out on services and goods. Growth in 2023 overall, from January through December of last year, registered at a robust 2.5% rate.

But the fourth quarter’s rate trounced the 1.5% that economists were expecting, according to FactSet estimates. The economy’s strength in the final months of 2023 was broad based, driven by consumer spending, business investment, government outlays, exports and improvements in housing conditions.

Consumer spending, which accounts for about two-thirds of the US economy, grew at a healthy 2.8% rate in the fourth quarter, a slightly softer pace than the 3.1% rate in the prior three-month period. Meanwhile, business spending accelerated to a 1.9% rate, up from 1.4%.

“Prospects are good that the economy will continue to perform well this year,” Scott Hoyt, senior director at Moody’s Analytics, said in a release. “Consumers are doing their part and spending just enough to support broader economic growth.”

Thursday’s GDP report shows that the US economy has cooled some in recent months, but it’s not clear if that was enough of a slowdown to keep the Federal Reserve on track to cut interest rates any time soon.

Fed Governor Christopher Waller, an influential official at the central bank, said in a speech earlier this month that if “economic activity that seems to have moderated in the fourth quarter of 2023 does not play out” then that could delay rate cuts. Market expectations of that first rate cut coming in March have been crumbling in recent weeks.

A robust economic landscape for now
As the United States gears up for a presidential election, the latest GDP reading provides further evidence that the economy is nowhere near recession territory. Americans are still opening their wallets and US consumer sentiment is soaring, mostly thanks to slowing inflation. That’s on top of a rallying US stock market beefing up Americans’ retirement accounts.

That all paints a vivid picture of a robust economic landscape, which should improve President Joe Biden’s lackluster ratings on the economy in the polls, according to economists. In separate speeches Thursday, Biden and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen are expected to tout the strong economy while noting that there is still inequality to be addressed.

“President Biden and I believe that GDP growth is not meaningful if it is not shared; if it doesn’t impact the lives of these Americans,” Yellen said in prepared remarks.

Economists and Fed officials widely expect the US economy to run at a slower pace this year compared to 2023, but contract outright. That means the Fed still has a decent shot at defeating inflation without mass job losses, known as a soft landing.

“We continue to see a soft landing as the most likely outcome this year even if a collection of headwinds and risks means that recession odds are around 35%,” Lydia Boussour, senior economist at EY-Parthenon, wrote in a note Thursday.

“While there is no doubt the economy still has some winds in its sails, we believe cooler days are on the horizon,” she added.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/25/economy/fourth-quarter-gdp/index.html

So refer to my entry of yesterday regarding Mango voters thinking there was more prosperity under him than Biden. Wrong Again.

Look I will say it again Mango voters are Insurrectionists, live in an alternate reality, overdose on FIXED NEWS (remember the 757 million dollar payout for defamation), or Newsmax, fearful of people of a different color, paranoid about losing their jobs to non-citizens or non legal residents (remember the I-9 Form, the Homeland Security Form, where one has to present legal I.D. to work in this Country ), in general paranoid, don't believe in democracy or the right to vote, don't believe in a woman's right to choose, don't believe that women should be working or voting and the list goes on.

As she stood outside her hometown’s opera house, where Trump held one of his final Granite State campaign rallies earlier this week, the 33-year-old said she was “relieved” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dropped out and that she didn’t know former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley existed until that evening. Though Trump wasn’t necessarily “presidential material,” she said he was braver than anyone else running and felt he was robbed of a second term in 2020.

“I voted for Trump the last time and I’ll keep voting for him, unless there’s somebody that is right there and has the same morals and values of Trump, trying to make America great again,” she said.

With the help of voters like Cote, Trump won the New Hampshire primary Tuesday, reinforcing what months of polls, political endorsements, focus groups and the results of the Iowa caucuses have shown: Many GOP voters aren’t interested in an alternative to the former president.

His win, and the thoughts and feelings that motivated the voters that gave it to him, offer sobering lessons to his last remaining major GOP rival.

In more than a dozen interviews, Trump’s backers here described his first term in office as a time of economic prosperity and global peace, dismissed the four criminal indictments against him as attacks from Democrats and, at times, expressed the unfounded view that the 2020 presidential election was stolen due to widespread voter fraud. Many acknowledged his behavior wasn’t what they would like, but he was a known and proven entity, unlike his rivals, they said.

Despite months of campaigning and millions spent on ads, mailers and door knocking in the Granite State, some Trump supporters said they were unfamiliar with Haley. Some were turned off by the little they had heard. And many never even considered voting for anyone else.

Adrienne Kirwin, a 74-year-old from Derry, said most of her exposure to Haley came from items stuffed into her mailbox. First, she backed South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, but then he dropped out and backed Trump. Then she liked DeSantis, until he did the same.

“I was thinking of Nikki Haley but then when everybody, like I said, started endorsing Trump,” she said outside her polling place, where she voted for the former president. “Everybody came out for Trump, Trump, Trump… so, why not go for Trump?”

Kirwin said she thought Trump was “a little crazy” and his found his personality “awful,” but she also recalled watching him in the first 2016 general election debate against Hillary Clinton.

“Everything he said, it was like he was saying it to me,” she recalled during an interview in the parking lot of her polling place Tuesday afternoon. “And I said, ‘This man loves the country.’”

Her husband, 85-year-old Raymond Kirwin, was less conflicted.

“I didn’t consider anyone else,” he said. “He did more than any president in my life, and I was gonna come back and hope he’d do the same thing again.”

Christy Piper, a 38-year-old from Dover, said that while she was open to other candidates, the former president was always her top choice. “It’s always been Trump,” she said outside the Trump rally in Rochester Sunday. “Trump’s messaging resonates the most, and I feel like he can just make the most difference out of any viable candidate running.”

Piper predicted Trump would win and said she believed he had a large pool of quiet support.

“It’s not really politically correct or safe to say that you’re a Trump supporter. So most people just keep their mouth shut,” she said. “His messaging resonates with so many people who are sick and tired of what’s going on in this country.”

Both Trump and Haley ratcheted up their attacks on each other heading out of New Hampshire. Flanked by former rivals, including Scott and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, Trump railed against Haley for remaining in the race despite his two first place finishes.

“I don’t get too angry, I get even,” he told supporters in Nashua.

Haley highlighted his legal troubles and a recent a moment in which he confused her for former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“With Donald Trump, you have one round of chaos after another,” she said Tuesday night during a post-primary speech in Concord. “This court case, that controversy, this tweet, that senior moment. You can’t fix Joe Biden’s chaos with Republican chaos.”

She has also tried to make the argument for electability. She has pointed to national and swing state general election polls that show her beating Biden by wider margins than Trump. On the trail and in fundraising emails, she told supporters there would be “no recounts, no lawsuits, and no doubts” about the election results if she took on Biden, and Republican ranks would swell in the House and Senate.

“We’ll rebuild our economy and secure our border,” her campaign said in a fundraising pitch the day before the election. “And make no mistake, we will restore our national pride.”

It’s an argument that has worked on some former Trump voters. Mike Condor, a 59-year-old from Derry, said he voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020. In the last election, he saw Trump as the lesser of two evils. This time, he said he would hope for a viable third party candidate if there is another Trump vs. Biden rematch, and backed Haley in the primary.

“I don’t want any chaos,” he said as he left his polling place with his wife Laura, 49, and daughter Mira, 18, both of whom also voted for Haley.

Laura, who voted for Republicans like John McCain and Mitt Romney before backing Democrats over Trump, said she hoped Haley would stay in even if she lost Tuesday’s election. Even if she trailed Trump with delegates, she thought the party needed a viable alternative to Trump.

“When we’re talking about people of this age and cognitive awareness, health things could happen,” she said. “So, I think that she makes a stronger case by having as many delegates as she can get.”

While Haley’s supporters are itching for a contest, the former president’s backers are hoping for a coronation.

Robert Stacy, a 26-year-old from Rochester said he hoped the nomination process would wrap up soon in Trump’s favor – and noted that he didn’t want the race to drag out, as it had in 2016.

“I think it would be a mistake for Nikki Haley to pull a Ted Cruz,” Stacy said.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/24/politics/new-hampshire-trump-voter-voices/index.html

Moral? He has been married 3 times. He cheated on his wives. He banged a porn star (though I could only wish), He cute taxes for the richest not for the working class. He lied about Covid at the beginning. He thought he could use a nuke on a hurricaine. He cozies up to Putin, who is our enemy. There have been more jobs created under Biden than under Mango. The stock market set a new all time high earlier in the week. Mango is alo an insurrectionist. A traitpr. A Coward, just like his father. Mango is a would be dictator.

Donald Trump returned to New Hampshire on Monday evening, once again hellbent on flexing his ability to identify shapes and sounds.

After bragging last week that he “aced” his cognitive test after correctly naming a giraffe, tiger, and whale, the former president spoke to a crowd of supporters in Laconia, New Hampshire — his last rally before the state’s Republican primary.

Amid a disjointed rant referencing the scrapped Reagan administration’s Strategic Defense Initiative that was popularly known as ”Star Wars,” Trump began to describe his own supposed plans for a U.S. missile defense system.

“I will build an Iron Dome over our country, a state-of-the-art missile defense shield made in the USA,” Trump said, appearing to reference Israel’s air defense system. “We do it for other countries. We help other countries, we build, we don’t do it for ourselves.”

“You know these are not muscle guys here,” the ex-president added, accurately pointing to his arm. “They’re muscle guys up here,” he said, pointing to his brain, now two-for-two.

Then, in his attempt to explain the subtle complexities of his so-called defense plan, Trump declared: “And they calmly walk to us, and ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding… They’ve only got 17 seconds to figure this whole thing out. Boom. Okay. Missile launch. Woosh. Boom.”

Trump has previously floated the idea of manufacturing a version of the Iron Dome in the U.S., a proposal that was mocked even by Fox News.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-attempts-describe-missile-defense-055659606.html

You have 70 million idiots, racists, Putin lovers and insurrectionists who will vote for this idiot.

If the Republican representative from Arizona’s 9th Congressional District were the subject of a nursery rhyme, the character we might call “Humpty Gosar” would have fallen off the wall a long time ago.

But in this doggerel, all the kings horses and all the kings men wouldn’t even try putting him back together.

Because they like him unglued.

Given that, the latest story about Gosar and what his office says was an unauthorized fundraising email, true or not, wouldn’t have bothered Gosar’s voters … at … all.

Gosar's latest is hardly out of character
This time, Gosar’s campaign said a fundraising email in which the congressman bemoans a drop off in white Army recruits, was not authorized.

Fine. But something like that doesn’t sound particularly out of character, either.

This is Gosar, after all, who in the past has cozied up to white supremacist and antisemite Nick Fuentes, who suggested not too long ago that non-Christians be “absolutely annihilated.”

This is Gosar, who, with fellow Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs and others refused to sign a pledge denouncing “white nationalism and white supremacy,” as well as the xenophobic “Great Replacement Theory.”

He wanted Joint Chiefs chairman 'hung'
This is Gosar, who went on a maniacal rant against Gen. Mark Milley, accusing the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of being a “traitor” and promising some type of congressional retribution by the Republican-controlled House.

Gosar actually said, “In a better society, quislings like the strange sodomy-promoting General Milley would be hung.”

Rep. Biggs unwittingly helps: Abortion rights case

Things like this from Gosar, and worse, have been well publicized and are well known to everyone in Gosar’s district. Yet he still has overwhelming support from Republicans there.

After agents seized classified documents from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, for example, Gosar tweeted, “The FBI raid on Trump’s home tells us one thing. Failure is not an option. We must destroy the FBI.”

His constituents shrugged.

He called Jan. 6 rioters 'peaceful protesters'
Gosar was among the Republicans who voted not to expel former Rep. George Santos, who created a fictional biography for himself and has been indicted on charges ranging from wire fraud to money laundering to theft of public funds.

A-OK with Gosar voters.

Gosar was among a small coterie of Republican lawmakers who were closely allied with the effort to keep Donald Trump in office after he lost the 2020 election, and he has gone far enough off the rails to actually describe the riotous mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol as “peaceful protesters.”

No biggie for GOP stalwarts in the 9th Congressional District.

Did Humpty Gosar land on his supporters?
It doesn’t even bother them that six of Gosar’s siblings once did a campaign ad for his opponent.

Or that Gosar’s brother, Dave, an attorney in Wyoming, actually said of Gosar, “I consider him a traitor to this country. I consider him a traitor to his family. He doesn’t see it. He’s disgraced and dishonored himself.”

The voters in the congressman’s heavily Republican district apparently don’t see it, either.

Perhaps when Humpty Gosar had his great fall … he landed on them.

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.


https://www.yahoo.com/news/arizona-republican-rep-paul-gosar-133058659.html

Oh, he will probably keep getting elected.

By Red Painter — January 20, 2024
Donald Trump continued his descent into madness in a pretty bonkers speech in New Hampshire on Friday night. Now I know people on the right are dragging Biden for being too old, but man oh man, their guy is losing his marbles in real time. He has been mixing up Biden and Obama for months now, but last night he went on a rant blaming Nikki Haley for failures on January 6th. He meant Nancy Pelosi, but he never caught himself.

The orange faced maniac screamed the following while speaking to a crowd in Concord, N.H.:

“Nikki Haley, you know they, do you know they destroyed all of the information, all of the evidence, everything, deleted and destroyed all of it. All of it because of lots of things like Nikki Haley is in charge of security. We offered her 10,000 people, soldiers, National Guard, whatever they want. They turned it down. They don’t want to talk about that. These are very dishonest people."

The Trump campaign, usually quick to put out statements counteracting whatever insane shit their candidate did or said, uncharacteristically had no comment.

Read it all here https://crooksandliars.com/2024/01/dementia-don-strikes-again-blames-nikki

Mango is almost 80. Fat, doesn't read, fucking lazy and his mind is going... Oh, I see it now Mango in the Oval Ofice "I wonder what this red button does"

Conservation writer and historian Betsy Gaines Quammen lives in the heart of Bozeman, Montana — a city and a state that have been inundated with wealthy transplants in recent years, thanks in part to pandemic-era migration out of urban areas and the hit TV Western series “Yellowstone.”

Long-standing myths about the American West — including the perception of the region as a limitless open frontier where freedom is paramount — are also reshaping Montana and other Western states, as Gaines Quammen details in her recent book, “True West: Myth and Mending on the Far Side of America.” As the West has become a more and more enticing destination for people to settle, it has also become an increasingly welcoming space for far-right extremism to take root.

In “True West,” Gaines Quammen takes pains to dismantle what she refers to as the Western “myth museum,” and offers solutions for how to fight back against a rising tide of misinformation and extremism.

“It’s ever more important for people, in looking at truths, to be able to navigate interconnectedness,” Gaines Quammen told HuffPost. “We cannot fall prey to these reductive ways of thinking. And there are so many politicians who want us to do that.”

Gaines Quammen calls “True West” a companion piece to her first book, “American Zion,” which chronicled Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and his family’s feud with the federal government over grazing cattle on public lands. The Bundys, who are Mormon, believe they have a divine right to lands that were long occupied by Indigenous peoples and are now owned by all Americans. The Bundys helped energize a far-right, anti-government militia movement, some of whose members went on to fight against COVID-19 restrictions and participate in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

HuffPost recently spoke with Gaines Quammen about “True West,” personal misconceptions she had to confront during her research, the threat of so-called “conspirituality,” what she views as “our country’s most hopeless myth,” and movies and TV shows that have shaped our perception of the American West.
I want to start with a question about how you see the West that you call home. As you so clearly lay out in the book, myths and misperceptions are rampant, often layered on top of one another and accompanied by misinformation. Cut through the noise for a minute: What is the West?

If you’ll kind of indulge me, it’s named “True West,” which is supposed to be a little tongue-in-cheek, because what is the true West? The idea was, there really isn’t a true West. We all kind of have our version of it. In looking at versions of the West, that took me right to mythology, because the West is such a mythologized place. I feel like these myths are absolutely foundational to what Americans think of themselves.

I’m sure you can’t make that sweeping generalization. There are Americans that don’t buy into, you know, this idea of endless resources, this idea of Manifest Destiny, the adoration of the cowboy, these things that we think about when we think about the West.

The true West, it’s really in the eye of the beholder. I talk about the West as a proving ground, a homeland, as having the seeds to some of what happened on Jan. 6.

“True West” opens with you touring the Glendive Dinosaur and Fossil Museum with its director, Robert Canen. The museum, located in Glendive, Montana, presents as fact that the Earth is 6,000 years old and dinosaurs and humans roamed at the same time. You argue that while such beliefs aren’t necessarily dangerous on their own, the logic behind them is. Talk about that. Where are you seeing similar dogma in national politics?

It’s this idea of thinking in lockstep. With Robert — who, I will say, is a delightful man. I mean, he absolutely was enormously generous with me. He was very kind. But there is the idea, in terms of being a biblical literalist, that you have to buy the Bible 100%, that there’s no room for any sort of questioning. So when he reads Genesis and he reads it not as a religious text, but as a scientific text, he takes from it that the world is 6,000 years old.

Once you start to question it, you’re starting to make waves. [Robert] would make the argument that once you make those waves, then your questioning becomes an existential crisis. You’re never going to feel content, you’re going to be an unhappy Christian. So it’s better just to believe the Bible cover to cover.

If you’re a Christian nationalist or a fundamentalist evangelical and you begin to say, “I see the Bible as a beautiful sacred text with some wonderful lessons, but I don’t buy it 100%,” you’re not walking in lockstep. These are cultures that need to have people buy everything and not question, whether that’s the layers of patriarchy or the layers of dominion — go forth and subdue the Earth — or [the idea that] Donald Trump is the patriarch. If these are things that they’re adopting and they’re saying, “You have to believe all of this” — this idea that if you question anything, that brings up issues of loyalty. It’s basically all-or-nothing thinking. And once you have all-or-nothing thinking, you have a group of people who are not going to be swayed by evidence or persuasive arguments or critical thinking. It’s dangerous.

Of all the myths you throw cold water on in the book, which do you find most problematic or dangerous for Western communities, especially as they face the mounting impacts of climate change?

One of the things that I feel is really important is the fact that we need to be in dialogue with one another. As Westerners, we’re on the forefront of climate change. We have fires, we have drought, we have floods, and we’re running out of water. If people are not in dialogue, that’s really problematic, because even people who don’t believe that climate change is human-caused, they’re still experiencing the impacts. These are still decisions that we need to make as communities.

So I think this idea of endless resources is extremely problematic. This idea of rain following the plow, which predates any idea of climate change, was a myth that somehow if you brought agriculture to a land, that was going to make it rain more. That’s very dangerous.

Also, these ideas of the West as a homeland. That, to me, is really fraught too. As I talked about in “American Zion,” when the Latter-day Saints came out West, they had a notion of homeland, and that was placed on top of Indigenous homelands. So there were these layered homelands.

Now you have the American Redoubt [a conservative, Christian movement whose followers are relocating from blue states to Idaho, Montana and other inland northwest states], coming in, trying to create homelands here. So you have this Christian nationalism, that really does feel like they’re waiting for a civil war or the second coming. That’s really, really impacting communities. I happen to have just incredibly fierce friends, who are conservative Republicans, who are fighting tooth and nail against extremism in the Idaho Panhandle. The myth of homeland is really dangerous.

Read the entire article here https://www.huffpost.com/entry/true-west-book-interview-betsy-gaines-quammen_n_65a7e37be4b041f1ce644683

Right Wing Extremism is a problem in this country. Mango caters to those people.

Ok... Alina Habba is Mango's attorney or at least attempting to play one. Yesterday, in the 2nd defmation trial of Mango for comments he made regarding E. Jean Carroll Judge Kaplan bitch slapped her at least 14 times in open court.

Here is the link ..go and look at the incidents https://www.yahoo.com/news/e-jean-carroll-judge-bench-032242542.html

And for those of you who don't understand Federal Court where the Judges sit for life is not like State and county where the Judges are elected by a very small number of voters.

It should also be noted that Habba and Mango have been ordered to pay close to 1 million dollars in legal costs by Federal Judge Middlebrooks in Florida as a result of another case. Here is that cite https://www.newsweek.com/alina-habba-trump-clinton-lawsuits-1775270.

And what strikes me about Habba and her interaction with Judge Kaplan is that I'm surprised she hasn't threatened him with arrest when Mango is returned to office.

A strong majority of GOP voters would be satisfied with former President Trump as their party’s nominee, according to a new ABC News/Ipsos poll released Sunday, underlining Trump’s backing as he hopes for a strong showing in Monday’s Iowa caucus.

About 72 percent of poll respondents said they’d be satisfied with Trump, and about two-thirds of the GOP electorate feel that the former president has the best chance of winning back the White House in November. Another two-thirds of respondents also said Trump is the strongest leader of the group.

The high satisfaction among Republicans for Trump comes as just 57 percent of Democrats feel the same about President Biden, the poll found.

Six in ten respondents also said they’d be satisfied with former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley as the party’s nominee, with just under half saying the same about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy.

Trump holds a significant lead over primary opponents in Iowa polling, with about 53 percent of Iowa Republicans backing Trump, according to The Hill/Decision Desk HQ average of polls.

A CBS News poll also released Sunday found Trump with the strongest support of the entire campaign now. That poll said Trump has 69 percent support among GOP voters overall despite his criminal cases and other legal challenges.

The poll also found that a strong majority of Republicans agree with Trump on policy, including about 81 percent who agree with his comments that migrants are “poisoning the blood” of the country, language which has drawn comparisons to Nazi rhetoric.

However, Trump’s stated beliefs are not universal among all GOP voters. Republicans who describe themselves as not “MAGA” generally do not support Trump’s promises to leave NATO and claims about seeking revenge against political opponents, the poll found.

Most GOP voters also said that the upcoming Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary are not likely to sway their support for any candidate. Only 10 percent of respondents said the early contests would be a major factor for their vote.

That factor underlines strong support for Trump. About two-thirds of Trump voters classified their support as “very strong,” according to the CBS poll, compared to just 18 percent of non-Trump voters.

The ABC News/Ipsos poll surveyed 2,200 people in early January with a margin of error of 2.5 percent. The CBS News poll surveyed about 2,800 likely GOP voters last week with a margin of error of 2.5 percent.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/poll-shows-72-percent-republicans-175139362.html

As I have said.. they want a dictator... they want their ring -wing Christian Nationalist bullshit to prevail...... they want to see neo-nazi pussies marching at night in the streets holding torches...... they want those of the jewish faith to live in fear.... they want the LGBTQ community to disappear..... they want to roll things back to the 1950s.... yeah and they don't like blacks or Asians, or anyone who isn't white and whose ancestors came from Western Europe.

better think about this

Republicans in West Virginia have upped the hostility among those on the right toward transgender people. There, the LGBTQ+ community is currently grappling with significant legislative challenges that have the potential to impact the rights and lives of transgender individuals drastically.

Multiple draconian bills were introduced in the state’s legislature this week, with advocates drawing attention to their severe implications. One forces mental health professionals to “cure” transgender people from their gender identity, and another categorizes transgender people as “obscene material,” essentially making transgender individuals’ existence in many public spaces illegal, independent journalist Erin Reed, who specializes in transgender-related legal coverage, reports. Yet another criminalizes their presence near schools.

“Trans people know they are — there is nothing to ‘cure.’ The truth is, trans people of all ages are living happy, complete, and joyful lives — this contradicts the false narrative created around our community by extremist politicians," West Virginia activist Ash Orr told Reed. "This piece of legislation attacks our most basic values of privacy and control over our own bodies, and is based on misleading or even outright false ideas.”

Orr added: “This is a blatant attempt to criminalize and erase the trans community of West Virginia.”

Senate Bill 194 is particularly alarming. This proposed legislation seeks to impose a total ban on gender-affirming care for transgender individuals up to the age of 21. It also mandates that therapists and social workers in the state attempt to “cure” transgender identity. This bill extends the reach of a previous ban on gender-affirming care for those under 18, passed in 2023, and categorizes being transgender as a “sexual deviation.” Additionally, it broadens the definition of minors to include individuals up to age 21.

Conversion therapy, the discredited practice of attempting to change somebody’s sexual orientation or gender identity, has been rejected by scientists and declared harmful and dangerous. Also, it should be noted that science does not support the notion that being LGBTQ+ can be reversed. Just as gay, bisexual, and lesbian people can’t be “cured” of homosexuality, transgender people cannot be “cured” of being trans — and do not need to be.

The bill not only targets medical professionals involved in providing gender-affirming care but also extends to mental health care professionals and counselors. Under the provisions of this bill, any form of medical or therapeutic intervention aimed at facilitating gender transition for individuals under 21 years of age would be deemed unlawful.

The bill mandates severe penalties for practitioners violating these regulations, including the revocation of licensure and substantial civil penalties. Furthermore, Senate Bill 194 aims to prevent any state funds from being utilized, directly or indirectly, for gender transition treatment. The bill also includes whistleblower protection clauses, ensuring that individuals who report violations are safeguarded against discrimination.

Senate Bill 195 presents another troubling development. As reported by Reed, this bill classifies transgender individuals as “obscene” and proposes to bar “transgender exposure, performances, or display” to minors. This could effectively criminalize the public presence of transgender individuals, as avoiding being perceived as transgender by a minor would be nearly impossible.

The bill’s broad scope extends to adjusting the definitions and penalties within the existing legal framework, with particular emphasis on expanding the definition of indecent exposure to include transgender representations. Notably, the bill contains language considered a slur against transgender people.

Senate Bill 197 further exacerbates the hostile legislative environment for transgender individuals in West Virginia. This bill, which aims to prohibit “obscene matter” from being within 2,500 feet of a school, effectively criminalizes the presence of transgender people near schools or in front of minors, classifying it as indecent exposure. Coupled with Senate Bills 194 and 195, the proposed legislation forms a triad of measures that collectively threaten to significantly curtail the rights and freedoms of the transgender community in the state. Moreover, these bills not only broaden the scope of what is considered unlawful but also intensify the penalties involved, including increased fines and extended jail time for violations.

The implications of these bills are extensive and deeply concerning. They not only threaten the mental and physical health of transgender individuals but also signify a dangerous erosion of LGBTQ+ rights in West Virginia.

Their implications also extend beyond West Virginia, potentially leading to similar legislation in other states as Republicans continue their attack on one of the most marginalized communities in America.

“The rise in legislative attacks aimed at our community is concerning, but it shows the desperation of lawmakers and extremists who are against transgender rights,” Orr said.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/west-virginia-republicans-want-ban-141109770.html

Well a suggestion of camps is not to far off.

A federal appeals court has reinstated a First Amendment lawsuit filed by former Tampa-area reform prosecutor Andrew Warren against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and now the DeSantis administration will have to argue that Warren's job performance, not his ideology, was the controlling factor behind Warren's removal from office.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled today that a lower district court erred when it dismissed Warren's lawsuit last January despite finding that DeSantis violated Warren's First Amendment rights by suspending him from office for protected speech.

"The First Amendment prevents DeSantis from identifying a reform prosecutor and then suspending him to garner political benefit," U.S. Circuit Judge Jill Pryor wrote. "On remand, DeSantis must prove that unprotected activity, such as Warren's actual performance or his policies, motivated him to suspend Warren."

Last January, U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Florida Robert Hinkle sharply criticized the DeSantis administration's partisan motivations for suspending Warren, formerly the Hillsborough County State Attorney and one of the most prominent progressive prosecutors in the state.

"In short, the controlling motivations for the suspension were the interest in bringing down a reform prosecutor—a prosecutor whose performance did not match the Governor's law-and-order agenda—and the political benefit that would result," Hinkle wrote in his order. "The actual facts—whether Mr. Warren actually had any blanket nonprosecution policies—did not matter. All that was needed was a pretext to justify the suspension under the Florida Constitution."

But although Hinkle found that the DeSantis administration's reasons for removing Warren were specious and included protected First Amendment speech—such as being affiliated with the Democratic Party progressive megadonor George Soros—he dismissed the lawsuit on the grounds that DeSantis would have removed Warren anyway for other unprotected conduct.

DeSantis suspended Warren in August of 2022 for alleged neglect of duty after Warren signed letters saying he would not enforce state laws restricting abortion or transition-related medical care to transgender minors. The DeSantis administration cited those letters, as well as Warren's non-prosecution policies for certain low-level crimes, such as "resisting without violence" charges—an offense that had become derisively known as "biking while black" because it was overwhelmingly applied against black bicyclists. The move came after the Justice Department released a 2016 report that found that 75 percent of bicyclists stopped by Tampa police were black.

Warren filed a federal lawsuit shortly after claiming the ouster violated his First and 14th Amendment rights.

The 11th Circuit found that Warren's signing of letters was protected First Amendment activity. It also found that the record established during the bench trial in Warren's lawsuit showed that the state investigation into Warren's office was sloppy and minimal at best; DeSantis' overriding motivation was the political benefit of ousting an outspoken prosecutor with a contrary ideology.

"The district court's findings show that DeSantis never suspended Warren because DeSantis disagreed with his actual office policies or case decisions," Pryor wrote.

In an emailed statement to Reason, DeSantis' press secretary Jeremy Redfern said the 11th Circuit opinion "sets a dangerous precedent, and it will empower the chaos we see across the United States as politically motivated prosecutors will continue to ignore criminal laws they don't like and put our communities at risk."

"A state prosecutor's declared commitment to not enforce the laws of this state is not protected by the U.S. Constitution," Redfern said. "The federal appeals court is flat wrong to have concluded otherwise."

Redfern said the governor's office is still reviewing the decision, "but we will ensure that Florida's sovereignty and constitution are respected."

On the website X, formerly known as Twitter, Warren responded to the 11th Circuit ruling:

"This is what we've been fighting for from the beginning—the protection of democracy," Warren wrote. "We look forward to returning to the district court for the relief that has been denied to me and all the voters of Hillsborough County for 17 months: reinstating the person elected by the voters."

The post Federal Appeals Court Rules in Favor of Reform Prosecutor Removed from Office by Ron DeSantis appeared first on Reason.com.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/federal-appeals-court-rules-favor-223926658.html

Let none of us forget that Boots is almost as big a threat as Mango......

Vast swaths of the US have been hit with powerful storms, including blizzards that have blanketed parts of the Midwest and Northeast in snow. But something’s amiss: many states accustomed to white winters are now getting more rain than snow.

A new study published on Wednesday shows that the human-caused climate crisis has reduced snowpack in most parts of the Northern Hemisphere in the last 40 years, threatening crucial water resources for millions of people.

It might seem logical that a warmer world would be less hospitable to snow, but the relationship between snow and climate change is complex, and scientists have for many years struggled to make a clear connection between the two.

Part of the problem has been that snowfall is notoriously difficult to measure accurately, and scientific data from ground observations, satellites, and climate models have given contradictory signals on the role of climate change in declining snowpacks. Some areas have even experienced more snow in our warmer world.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/10/climate/snow-loss-northern-hemisphere-study-climate/index.html

Oh, and the climate warming deniers, like Mango Mussolini, will fiddle whie Rome burns.

The Republican operative and close Donald Trump ally Roger Stone reportedly told an associate one of two prominent Democratic congressmen “ha[d] to die before the election” in 2020.

“It’s time to do it,” Stone said, according to Mediaite, which cited a recording the outlet reported was made at a Florida restaurant.

Related: ‘Start smashing pumpkins’: January 6 panel shows Roger Stone discussing violence

“Let’s go find Swalwell. It’s time to do it. Then we’ll see how brave the rest of them are. It’s time to do it. It’s either Nadler or Swalwell has to die before the election. They need to get the message. Let’s go find Swalwell and get this over with. I’m just not putting up with this shit any more.”

Eric Swalwell, from California, and Jerry Nadler, from New York, are both members of the House judiciary committee.

Swalwell is a prominent anti-Trump voice and a magnet for Republican attacks. As judiciary chair, Nadler oversaw Trump’s first impeachment, for seeking political dirt in Ukraine.

In 2020, Nadler said the committee would investigate Trump’s commutation of Stone’s sentence on seven counts related to attempts to obstruct the investigation of Russian election interference in 2016. Stone was sentenced to 40 months but never went to prison.

Mediaite said Stone’s remarks were made to an associate, Sal Greco, who was then a serving New York police officer but was eventually fired. He has claimed his dismissal resulted from his links to Stone.

Stone, now 71, is a veteran political operative and self-confessed dirty trickster who has Richard Nixon’s face tattooed on his back. In 2020, he was closely involved in Trump’s attempt to overturn his defeat by Joe Biden.

Mediaite cited an anonymous source “familiar with the discussion” as saying they believed Stone was serious.

“It was definitely concerning that he was constantly planning violence with an NYPD officer and other militia groups,” the source said.

Stone’s associations with far-right groups such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, culminating in the attack on Congress on 6 January 2021, have been investigated widely.

The anonymous source told Mediaite: “Stone had been at war with Nadler and Swalwell for years. He just hates them. He just wanted to get Trump back into office so these things would stop.”

Mediaite previously reported taped remarks in which, it said, Stone told Greco that Aaron Zelinsky, a prosecutor on the Russia investigation, needed to be “punished”.

“He needs to be punished,” Stone was quoted as saying. “You have to abduct him and punish him. That has to be done. It will be easy to abduct him because he is a weakling.”

Stone claimed those comments were fakes, generated by artificial intelligence. Asked about the comments about Nadler and Swalwell, Mediaite said, Stone called them “total nonsense” and “more AI manipulation”.

He added: “I’ve never said anything of the kind … you asked me to respond to audios that you don’t let me hear and you don’t identify a source for. Absurd.”

On social media, Stone said: “Trump-hating Mediaite says the have a four-year-old taped conversation in which they allege I threaten to kill two politicians – why don’t they post or produce the tape? Never happened.”

Greco, Mediaite said, said in a text message: “I don’t think your reader is interested in ancient political fodder.”

Aides to Nadler and Swalwell did not immediately respond to Guardian requests for comment.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/roger-stone-reportedly-said-leading-145840227.html

And this is their thinking.... And remember what I posted yesterday about Mango's Attorney during the D.C. Circuit Appellate hearing..... he said Mango would have immunity from prosecution of ordering a hit on a political opponent and immunity from selling pardons......

YOU BETTER WAKE THE FUCK UP.....

Former White House lawyer Ty Cobb warned that people need to take former President Trump seriously as a threat to democracy.

CNN anchor Erin Burnett asked Cobb about an argument from Trump’s legal team Tuesday that suggested a president directing SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political opponent is covered by presidential immunity. She pointed out Trump’s past comments praising Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un and asked Cobb whether people should take Trump literally.

I think you have to take Trump seriously because he poses the greatest threat to democracy that we’ve ever seen,” Cobb said on “Erin Burnett Outfront.”

Trump’s lawyers argued in front of a three-judge panel that former presidents can only face prosecution if they are first impeached and then convicted by the Senate. His legal team is claiming that Trump has presidential immunity from charges stemming from efforts to overturn the 2020 election — an argument that the three judges appeared skeptical of on Tuesday.

Trump, who attended the hearing in person, is facing four charges from special counsel Jack Smith related to efforts to remain in power after losing the 2020 election. His legal team Tuesday answered hypothetical questions as to how far a former president could be shielded from prosecution under their argument.

Trump attorney John Sauer answered with a “qualified yes” when asked if a former president would be barred from prosecution even if he ordered SEAL Team Six to take out a political rival.

“He would have to be impeached and convicted,” Sauer said.

Cobb pushed back on this argument, saying that the legal team is just hoping to delay the case. Trump’s trial regarding 2020 election interference is currently scheduled for March 4 — the first of his four criminal cases.

On the other hand, I think his legal arguments are interposed solely for delay,” Cobb said, suggesting that “it would be very scary if there’s no accountability” when someone attempts to stop the peaceful transfer of power.

“I think the you know, lack of accountability that he desires, which Putin has, the Ayatollah has, Xi has, as you as you alluded to, you know, I think that he may want an America that is like that,” Cobb said.

Cobb also noted that the founders of the U.S. wanted to ensure “this was not going to be a country where we had a king, this was going to be a country where we had an accountable executive.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4399222-ty-cobb-former-president-trump-poses-gravest-threat-to-democracy/

A federal appeals panel expressed deep skepticism Tuesday toward Donald Trump’s argument that he can’t be prosecuted for trying to overturn the 2020 election, raising the potentially extreme implications of absolute presidential immunity.

Trump’s lawyers argued that his federal election subversion indictment should be dismissed because he is immune from prosecution. But the three judges on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit panel questioned whether this immunity theory championed by Trump’s lawyers would allow presidents to sell pardons or even assassinate political opponents.

Special counsel Jack Smith’s team argued that a president is not above the law, warning that allowing presidential immunity from prosecution would open a “floodgate” and saying that it would be “awfully scary” if there were no criminal mechanism to stop future president’s from usurping the vote and remaining in power.


The Circuit Court judges asked pointed questions of Trump attorney John Sauer over his claims that Trump has immunity because his actions after losing the 2020 election were part of his presidential duties. The judges also challenged him on his claim that Trump could only face criminal prosecution if he was first impeached and convicted by Congress for the same conduct.

DC Circuit Court Judge Karen Henderson, an appointee of President George H.W. Bush, appeared dubious that Trump was acting within his official duties.

“I think it is paradoxical to say that his constitutional duty to take care of the laws be faithfully executed allows him to violate criminal law,” Henderson said.

Some of the judges pushed back on Trump’s immunity claims by highlighting the potentially dangerous path that it could lead to, with future presidents being able to brazenly break the law without consequences.

This signaled their overall skepticism of Trump’s view, suggesting they are closer to where District Judge Tanya Chutkan landed – which was a strong rejection of Trump’s absolute immunity theory.

Judge Florence Pan, a President Joe Biden nominee, posed some striking hypothetical questions to Sauer, to flesh out the bounds of his immunity argument. His legal theory claims former presidents are shielded from prosecution for official actions if there isn’t an impeachment and conviction by Congress first.

“Could a president order SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival? That is an official act, an order to SEAL Team Six?” Pan asked.

“He would have to be, and would speedily be impeached and convicted before the criminal prosecution,” Sauer said.

“I asked you a yes or no question,” Pan said.

“If he were impeached and convicted first,” Sauer replied, later insisting that the “political process” of impeachment “would have to occur” before any prosecution could be initiated.

Pan also peppered Sauer with hypotheticals about whether his immunity theory would also apply to a president selling pardons to criminals or selling military secrets to an enemy state.

Assistant special counsel James Pearce later picked up on the judges’ line of thinking.

“It would be awfully scary if there weren’t some sort of mechanism” to indict future ex-presidents if they similarly tried to stay in power despite losing an election, Pearce said.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/09/politics/takeaways-from-the-appeals-court-hearing-on-donald-trumps-immunity-claims/index.html

There you go ..... Mango's crowd is telling you what the game plan is.

f you somehow missed the news, some guy in Alabama went to a Bass Pro Shop, stripped down and did a little not-so-skinny dipping in the aquarium inside the store. Like that wasn't enough, a certain part of the man's anatomy compelled most of the Internet into a ton of body-shaming the guy.

https://crooksandliars.com/2024/01/bass-pro-shop-guys-wife-speaks-out

Ok.. this is certainly a departure from my usual entries.... HOWEVER, this poor woman went on twitter and posted a video on twitter . Among other things she says is that people should be ashamed about posting about her husband's small cock; that anyone looking at his cock is a pervert; that his earhly cock maybe small but his SPIRITUAL cock will be massive when he gets to heaven; The God is a man ,eats meat and I believe has a cock we should worship (I couldn't watch it a 3rd time); and that her husband's part is small but his heart is big; AND calling for Bass Pro Shop to give her the photos taken with the JAN 6 Santa for free......

Apparently this fucking reject from the school system is celebrating Jan 6, not to mention all the aforementioned drivel. And she and her husband took their children with them to celebrate the Insurrectionist trash that comitted treason on Jan 6. 2020.

Now for my shortcomings.... yuck, yuck, yuck.... I am not on twitter... I couldn't figure out how to post the video on here.

And that is my only shortcoming :) well not really but you get what I mean , right. :)

Republican lawmakers are following through on their promise to try to stop the implementation of Ohio’s newly enshrined abortion rights amendment.

House Bill 371 would strip Ohio’s courts of jurisdiction over any case related to the constitutional provision establishing the right to abortion, passed by voters as Issue 1 this past November. Introduced by Republican Reps. Bill Dean (Xenia) and Jennifer Gross (West Chester), the “Issue 1 Implementation Act” would immediately dismiss lawsuits seeking to enforce the abortion rights amendment, vacate previous decisions related to it and allow for the impeachment of judges who accept such cases.

House Speaker Jason Stephens previously dismissed the idea when Dean, Gross and two other Republicans vowed to introduce such legislation in November. But if passed, HB371 would throw implementation of Issue 1 into disarray – and would put the state’s six-week abortion ban back on the table.

The bill, introduced Wednesday, dictates that the General Assembly shall have sole authority over the rollout of Issue 1 – now Article I, Section 22 of the Ohio Constitution. Passed by nearly 57% of voters in November, the amendment prohibits bans on abortion before fetal viability, as determined by an individual’s physician, and requires any restrictions after viability to promote the life and health of the pregnant person in the least restrictive way. It also establishes the right to make decisions about miscarriage care, fertility treatments, contraception and pregnancy.

Issue 1’s passage has all but cemented the fate of Ohio’s “Heartbeat Law,” which bans abortions at about six weeks gestation – far before fetuses become viable at about 22-24 weeks. In mid-December, shortly after Issue 1 went into effect, the Ohio Supreme Court dismissed the state’s appeal of a block on the ban, citing the “change of law.”

“Issue 1 doesn’t repeal a single Ohio law, in fact, it doesn’t even mention one,” Dean said in November, when some Republican lawmakers announced their intent to introduce a bill like HB371. “The amendment’s language is dangerously vague and unconstrained, and can be weaponized to attack parental rights or defend rapists, pedophiles, and human traffickers.

A Hamilton County judge will decide whether to strike down the six-week ban as violating the state constitution, but HB371 would render that moot. It would also put Article I, Section 22 of the Ohio Constitution in a category of its own, making it the only constitutional provision that the courts of common pleas, appellate courts and the state’s high court would be barred from hearing cases about.

While the six-week ban nears its probable demise, there are more than 30 other laws restricting access to abortion in the state. Democratic lawmakers have introduced a bill to repeal some of those restrictions, including a 24-hour waiting period and stringent facility requirements for providers, but in a General Assembly controlled by a Republican supermajority, such a proposal is unlikely to garner significant support.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/republican-lawmakers-move-strip-ohio-163000603.html

there you go...

A member of the far-right Proud Boys group who was convicted on charges that included assaulting police during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and later cut off his ankle monitor in an attempt to flee from law enforcement was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Thursday.

Christopher Worrell, of Florida, was convicted of seven counts at a bench trial last year after prosecutors alleged he sprayed law enforcement officers during the attack as they defended the north side of the Capitol against a large group of rioters.

In remarks to the judge before sentencing, Worrell emotionally characterized his conduct on Jan. 6 as "inexcusable and unjustified" and said he was "truly sorry" to law enforcement and members of Congress.

"Nearly three years ago today, I made some choices I sincerely regret," he told D.C. District Judge Royce Lamberth.

In August, Worrell failed to appear at his sentencing hearing in Washington, D.C., and Lamberth issued a bench warrant for his arrest. The FBI issued an alert asking for assistance in finding Worrell, and he was ultimately taken into custody weeks later as he tried to return to his home.

Court documents filed after Worrell's arrest revealed his disappearance triggered an FBI manhunt. After law enforcement located him at his home, he allegedly "pretended" he had suffered a drug overdose in order to delay his capture, a characterization Worrell and his defense rejected during Thursday's hearing.

Prosecutors said in court documents that the FBI entered Worrell's home on Sept. 28 after staking out his residence.

"Inside, they found Worrell, seemingly unresponsive, with an opened bottle of opioid prescription medication in his hand," prosecutors said in court documents. They performed what they thought were lifesaving procedures and transported Worrell to the hospital. The government later learned this was all a ruse on Worrell's part. Prosecutors say he had pretended to have a medical emergency as a delay tactic to stall the government's investigation.

Before his disappearance, the Justice Department had asked the judge to send Worrell to prison for 14 years. Newer court records urged the judge to increase prison time to account for his fleeing.

"Worrell triggered a manhunt and enormous waste of government resources. The FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office spent six weeks tracking Worrell, obtaining multiple warrants, many subpoenas, and other legal processes, all while sending leads throughout the country — from New York to South Carolina to Texas to California to Oregon — to track down tips about his location," they wrote.

Prosecutors said Thursday that Worrell had a history of being dishonest with officials since his arrest and "actively deceived" law enforcement."

In court, Worrell told Lamberth about his medical history, which includes a rare form of lymphoma that he said requires continued treatment. He said he fled last year upon learning he could spend many years in prison and attempted several times to take his own life.

Worrell said he "freaked out" when he returned to his home and heard police demanding he exit the residence, contending he took the bottle of pills in a moment of panic.

The case first attracted attention in 2021 after Lamberth held the warden of the Washington, D.C., jail in civil contempt after Worrell complained that he was not getting proper care for an injury while he was in custody. His attorneys also argued that he was not receiving adequate treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

D.C. jail officials were held in contempt after they failed to provide the judge with the medical documentation that he had requested. Lamberth released Worrell to home confinement as his case was further litigated.

In court Thursday, the judge said he thought "some good things" came out of the process, like holding D.C. jail officials accountable. Worrell himself credited the judge with "saving" his life by intervening, and Lamberth acknowledged Worrell's serious medical history and said it was part of the reason why he did not sentence him to more time in prison.

Worrell's defense attorney had argued for a lighter sentence of 30 months in home detention, citing his health condition. William Shipley, his attorney, asked the judge for leniency, arguing the seconds it took to pull the trigger of the spray at police should not result in a severe sentence.

"Had he not depressed the trigger on that pepper spray," Shipley said, "would he even be charged?"

Lamberth, however, took issue with some of Worrell's testimony at trial and characterization of the charges against him as those of a "political prisoner," rejecting the defense's contention that Worrell came armed with the spray for self-defense reasons, and not to attack police.

Shipley also told the judge that Worrell's disappearance wasn't intended to show disrespect for the court, but instead stemmed from his fears. Worrell revealed Thursday he had told friends on a monitored line that he faked a drug overdose because he was embarrassed.

"Please forgive me and have mercy on me," Worrell pleaded with the judge.

Lamberth said he would urge officials to assign Worrell to a federal medical facility instead of prison so he will be able to receive appropriate treatment for his conditions.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/jan-6-proud-boys-defendant-194501539.html

Not long enough. You know, you don't like prison then don't take part in an Insurrection against the United States.

An expert hired by Donald Trump to substantiate the former president’s voter fraud claims regarding the 2020 presidential election called him out for continuing to peddle falsehoods. Trump in November of 2020, shortly after losing the election, entered into a contract with Ken Block of Simpatico Software Systems, according to The Washington Post. However, Block on Tuesday penned an op-ed for USA Today asserting that his research never yielded anything to support Trump’s claims — and instead wholly debunked them.

“I am the expert who was hired by the Trump campaign,” Block wrote. “The findings of my company’s in-depth analysis are detailed in the depositions taken by the Selection Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. The transcripts show that the campaign found no evidence of voter fraud sufficient to change the outcome of any election. That message was communicated directly to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.” He then underscored the “steady diet of lies and innuendo” that the ex-president has used in an effort to “overcome the truth,” before noting that the "cries that the election was lost or stolen due to voter fraud continue with no sign of stopping.”

"The constant drumbeat hardens people’s hearts and minds to the truth about the 2020 election. Emails and documents show that the voter data available to the campaign contained no evidence of large-scale voter fraud based on data mining and fraud analytics," he wrote. "More important, claims of voter fraud made by others were verified as false, including proof of why those claims were disproven." Block also noted that his investigation’s findings have been shared with special counsel Jack Smith and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, both of whom have criminally charged Trump over his efforts to subvert the 2020 election. “What these claims don’t take into account is that voter fraud is detectable, quantifiable and verifiable. I have yet to see anyone offer up 'evidence' of voter fraud from the 2020 election that provides these three things,” Block continued. "My company’s contract with the campaign obligated us to deliver evidence of voter fraud that could be defended in a court of law. The small amount of voter fraud I found was bipartisan, with about as many Republicans casting duplicate votes as Democrats.”

“As a former gubernatorial candidate,” Block added, “I can admire the discipline it takes to stay on message on a single issue. There is no doubt that voter fraud can animate people. But it is one thing to provide a rallying point for supporters and quite another to drag our election infrastructure and legal system into a foundationless set of false claims.” He concluded: “A better use of time, money and energy would be to address systemic weaknesses in our election systems – such as the distressing lack of national election infrastructure to enforce election integrity, destructive practices to our elections such as gerrymandering, and leveling the playing field so that our elections become fairer and more competitive. If voter fraud had impacted the 2020 election, it would already have been proven. Maintaining the lies undermines faith in the foundation of our democracy.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/expert-hired-trump-prove-election-155202066.html

lol.. Mango's own election expert says no fraud.... lol of Course the MAGA Trash will not believe it.... wait... they don't read anyway