Gas Bandit's Political Thread V: The Vampire Likes Bats

PatrThom

PatrThom

www.thedailybeast.com

Clarence Thomas Accepted Yacht Trip to Russia, Chopper Flight to Putin’s Hometown: Democrats

The allegedly secret gifts were disclosed in a letter from two Democratic senators that accused Thomas of potentially committing tax fraud.
www.thedailybeast.com www.thedailybeast.com
Buried on page 14 of a letter that two Democratic senators sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday [...] was an astonishing list of dozens of “likely undisclosed gifts and income” from [Harlan] Crow, Crow’s affiliated companies, and “other donors.”
Click to expand...
Well! That's...interesting. Especially since the Russia trips (plural) were two of the oldest in that list.

--Patrick
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Trump will meet with Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister and autocrat, at Mar-a-Lago. Last week, Orbán met with Putin in Moscow. While Trump and Putin had professed a fondness for one another during his first term, Orbán has since sought close ties to Trump, expressing a belief that a new Trump presidency was the “only serious chance” for an end to the war in Ukraine. Trump, meanwhile, has continued to repeatedly claim he’ll end the war between Russia and Ukraine “in 24 hours” if he’s elected president again – a claim that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russia’s United Nations ambassador have disputed. (Time / ABC News / New York Times / Politico / Bloomberg / The Guardian)


The Senate Judiciary Committee will conduct a review of the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling, arguing that “Congress cannot turn a blind eye to it.” The meeting, however, won’t happen until September. Nevertheless, Dick Durbin said the hearing will consider “the immediate legal and policy ramifications” of the Supreme Court’s decision to grant Trump immunity for “official acts” he took as president. (NBC News / HuffPost / The New Republic)
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
The shooting at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania is being investigated as an attempted assassination. Trump said he was shot and hit by a bullet in the “upper part of my right ear.” His campaign said he’s “fine.” He added: “I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin.” As he was ushered away, Trump raised a fist to the crowd, mouthing: “Fight. Fight. Fight.” The Secret Service said the shooter, described as a 20-year-old Pennsylvania man, fired “multiple shots” from an “elevated position” outside of the rally. The gunman and at least one audience member are dead, and two other attendees are critically injured. Biden condemned the attack, saying “There’s no place in America for this kind of violence. It’s sick […] We cannot allow for this to be happening. We cannot be like this.” The FBI, which is leading the investigation into the shooting, said it’s working to identify the gunman and determine the motive. Authorities said they recovered an AR-15-type semiautomatic rifle at the scene. House Republicans also said they will “conduct a full investigation” into the shooting. Trump’s campaign said he still plans to attend the Republican National Convention, which is scheduled to begin in Milwaukee on Monday. There have been 327 mass shootings in the U.S. in 2024 so far. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN / The Guardian / Bloomberg / Reuters / CNBC / Politico / BBC / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / Axios / CBS News / NPR / The Guardian / CBS News / ABC News / NBC News / CNN / Politico / Washington Post / New York Times)

Notables.
  1. A Nation on Edge Fears an Election Careening Toward an Ugly finish. “A nation barely removed from the violent end to the 2020 election, which included several deaths tied to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, has since been whipsawed by a cascade of jolts to the system. A House speaker ousted. A former president, Trump, indicted on criminal charges four times, only to win his party’s nod to reclaim the White House. A presidential debate only two weeks ago that found the commander in chief, Joe Biden, significantly compromised in his ability to express thoughts and recall words. Now, America is faced with the realization that political violence has struck at a moment when the nation is on the cusp of deciding its next president.” (Wall Street Journal)
  2. Trump rally shooting comes amid rise in support for political violence. “Research shows more Americans support violence to stop a second Trump presidency than back violence in his favor.” (The Guardian)
  3. American Stares Into the Abyss After Trump Assassination Bid. “To all intents and purposes America’s two tribes were already at war. But a shot had not been fired. Until now.” (Daily Beast)
  4. In the Wake of the Trump Shooting, We Need Clarity—and Caution. “The best way to fend off conspiracy theories and instability is by emphasizing the need for solid facts.” (The Nation)
  5. America is not ready for what comes next. “The attempt on Donald Trump’s life has put the republic in peril.” (Vox)
  6. A Terrible New Era of Political Violence in America. “In this fragile moment, the nation desperately needs prudent and wise leadership.” (The Atlantic)
  7. Trump Rally Shooting Marks Dark Day in American Politics: ‘It Was Mayhem’ (Wall Street Journal)
  8. Trump’s Bloodied, Defiant Image After Shooting Pumps Up His Base. “His supporters, many of whom viewed him as a movement figure and martyr long before the violence on Saturday, seized on the photos as a metaphor for the former president’s resiliency.” (Bloomberg)
  9. Trump allies immediately blame Biden, Democrats for their rhetoric. “Supporters argued that Democratic portrayals of Trump as a threat to democracy led to the violence, though the shooter’s motive was not apparent at the time of their remarks.” (Washington Post)
  10. Trump’s most loyal Congressional allies immediately blamed Joe Biden for Saturday’s assassination bid against the former president–with one claiming: “Biden sent the orders.” “In a series of posts on social media, loyalists including Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Rep. Mike Collins of Georgia and Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert sought to link the sniper’s attack to language used by Biden.” (Daily Beast)
  11. Trump’s Raised Fist Will Make History — And Cement His Legacy. “In wake of shooting, GOP officials are quick to blame Democrats for demonizing the former president.” (Politico)
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Biden called on the nation to “lower the temperature in our politics,” saying the attempted assassination of Trump requires Americans “to take a step back” to determine “how we go forward from here.” Using the Oval Office to make his third remarks to the nation in less than 24 hours, Biden said “We cannot, we must not, go down this road in America. There is no place in America for this kind of violence, for any violence, ever. Period. No exceptions. We can’t allow this violence to be normalized.” Biden also cited a number of violent political acts in recent years, including the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, the failed attempt to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, the attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband, and the intimidation of election officials. “In America, we resolve our difference at the ballot box, not with bullets,” he said. “The power to change America should always rest in the hands of the people, not in the hands of would-be assassins.” In earlier remarks Sunday, Biden said: “An assassination attempt is contrary to everything we stand for as a nation — everything. It’s not who we are as a nation. It’s not America, and we cannot allow this to happen.” (New York Times / CBS News / Washington Post / NBC News)
 
AshburnerX

AshburnerX

Actual leftists have been the victims of state sponsored violence since time immemorial. The government just won't admit that because then people would realize they too could be victims of it, if they ever stepped out of line.
 
Frank

Frank

The system all the conservatives want to put into place here.

www.propublica.org

School Vouchers Were Supposed to Save Taxpayer Money. Instead They Blew a Massive Hole in Arizona’s Budget.

Arizona, the model for voucher programs across the country, has spent so much money paying private schoolers’ tuition that it’s now facing hundreds of millions in budget cuts to critical state programs and projects.
www.propublica.org www.propublica.org

Oh adding middlemen whose sole purpose is to siphon cash out of the school system somehow didn't save money? Fuck.
 
Frank

Frank

They're literally killing Arizona. They're cutting a third of a billion dollars for water infrastructure. The most critical of critical state programs for a desert.
 
HCGLNS

HCGLNS

The RNC has crashed Grindr, the gay dating app. This is not new, it crashes every time there is an RNC. I'm just shocked that such a predictable event is not handled by Grindr in more competent manner.
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
HCGLNS said:
The RNC has crashed Grindr, the gay dating app. This is not new, it crashes every time there is an RNC. I'm just shocked that such a predictable event is not handled by Grindr in more competent manner.
Click to expand...
Why would they go to extra effort for their worst customers?
 
Frank

Frank

5 Just Stop Oil folk just got 5 years in prison each for attending a Zoom call to plan a protest.

juststopoil.org

Whole Truth Five sentenced to 4-5 years at Southwark Crown Court in longest ever sentences for nonviolent climate action – Just Stop Oil

In an obscene perversion of justice, five Just Stop Oil supporters were handed multi-year prison sentences today for nothing more than attending a Zoom call. [1] At Southwark Crown Court, Judge Christopher Hehir jailed Roger Hallam (57, from Wales) for five years, whilst Daniel Shaw (38, from...
juststopoil.org juststopoil.org
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
"At their convention next month, the Democrats should nominate Mitt Romney."
- Aaron Sorkin

That would make for a dramatic TV moment, but in the real world there never was a President Bartlett, Mr. Sorkin.

It's really sad when a writer needs to be reminded that the fiction they write is fictional.
 
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