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

"I'm going to be a dictator for just one day"
"The police really just need one good super violent day"
"I don't think I need to stick to what any judge tells me"

I genuinely worry about the future of the world - not just your country - should this guy win (again). That some 45% of the voters can actually support any of this is mindblowing.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
2/ A Georgia judge struck down the state’s abortion law that effectively banned abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy. Judge Robert McBurney wrote that a review of “of our higher courts’ interpretations of ‘liberty’ demonstrates that liberty in Georgia includes in its meaning, in its protections, and in its bundle of rights the power of a woman to control her own body, to decide what happens to it and in it, and to reject state interference with her healthcare choices.” Abortions are now legally allowed until about 22 weeks of pregnancy. Georgia’s law was passed and signed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in 2019, but it didn’t take effect until the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Meanwhile, at least 10 states will have ballot measures on abortion rights this November. Recent polls of the states with abortion rights on the ballot show Republicans support the measures between 28% and 54%. (Associated Press / NBC News / CNN / New York Times / Axios)
Some really good quotes from the judge in that case btw

 
3/ Biden expanded his “temporary” asylum restrictions at the U.S.-Mexico border, effectively making the strict immigration policy impossible to lift. Illegal crossings are now required to remain below a daily threshold of 1,500 for 28 days – up from seven days – before people who enter the country illegally may request asylum. Under the previous rules, the U.S. could restrict asylum access when the number of people trying to enter the country between the official border crossings hit 2,500 per day. The daily numbers had to average below 1,500 per day for a week in order for the restrictions to be lifted. (CBS News / Associated Press / New York Times / NBC News / Washington Post)
One last piece of racist bullshit from old genocide Joe before he shuffles his way out of the presidency.

So fucking glad I no longer need to vote for his stupid racist ass in November.
 
That plummeting line is not showing Trump's decline, it is showing how deep we've dug down (so far!) yet still haven't exposed even the topmost layer of Trump's level.

--Patrick
 

GasBandit

Staff member
1/ Iran fired nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel after Israel launched a ground invasion into Lebanon to pursue Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Lebanese militia. The strikes also follow Israel’s killing of Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah last week. Most of the missiles were intercepted — including with help from U.S. naval destroyers — and there are no reports of deaths inside Israel. The Biden administration described Iran’s attack as “defeated and ineffective,” but acknowledged that “this is a significant escalation” and “there will be severe consequences.” Iran, nevertheless, warned that Israel would face “a crushing defeat” if it responds with force. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded, saying “Iran made a big mistake this evening, and it will pay for it.” He added: “Whoever attacks us, we will attack them.” Israel is at war with two of Iran’s allied militias – Hamas and Hezbollah – and the airstrikes risks a wider war in the Middle East. The U.N. Security Council, meanwhile, will hold an emergency meeting to discuss Iran’s attacks on Israel and the threat of a widening war in the region. (New York Times / Washington Post / NPR / Politico / Associated Press / Axios / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / NBC News / ABC News / CNN)
  • Why Did Israel Send Troops Into Lebanon? “Israel says it aims to cripple Hezbollah’s forces in an area of southern Lebanon that the armed group controls.” (New York Times)
2/ Nearly 50,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association are on strike over wages and guarantees that automated technology won’t be used to replace human workers. The strike – the first by the union since 1977 – affects 36 ports from Maine to Texas, and is expected to cause an immediate disruption to global supply chains that connect the U.S. to the global economy. The ports account for more than half of the nation’s imports, and the economic loss from the shutdown is expected to be between $3.8 billion to $4.5 billion a day. Biden called on the United States Maritime Alliance, which represents port employers, “to come to the table and present a fair offer” and “to negotiate a fair contract with the longshoremen that reflects the substantial contribution they’ve been making to our economic comeback.” As of Monday, USMX had offered the union raises of “nearly 50%” over six years and the same limits on automation that was in the last contract. The union wants a complete ban on automation and a 61.5% raise over six years – down from the 77% the union had asked for earlier in negotiations. (New York Times / NPR / Washington Post / CNN / Associated Press / Bloomberg / Wall Street Journal / ABC News / CNBC)

3/ Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said “the economy is in solid shape,” adding that while more rate cuts are expected, the size and speed “will depend on the data.” Fed officials lowered interest rates by half a percentage points – 50 basis points – at their September meeting, and penciled in two more quarter-point rate cuts in November and December. It was the first reduction in more than four years. “We’re looking at it as a process that will play out over some time,” Powell said, referring to the Fed’s interest rate reductions, “not something that we need to go fast on. It’ll depend on the data, the speed at which we actually go.” Inflation fell to 2.2% in August, and the unemployment rate ticked down last month to 4.2% – nearly a full percentage point higher than the low of 3.4% it reached last year. Hiring, meanwhile, has slowed to an average of 116,000 jobs a month in the past three month – about half its pace a year ago. (Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / Axios)
 
If Vance said Trump won the 2020 election, then he would just confirm all the suspicions that he's a conspiracy nut. If he said Trump lost, then a mob of white trash would be gunning for him.
 
If Vance said Trump won the 2020 election, then he would just confirm all the suspicions that he's a conspiracy nut. If he said Trump lost, then a mob of white trash would be gunning for him.
Not really our problem, yknow. Being toadie to an insane narcissist brings all kinds of problems. Maybe covering for Trump isn't worth the hassle.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
1/ Trump “resorted to crimes” after losing the 2020 election, special counsel Jack Smith allege in a court filing unsealed Wednesday. Prosecutors described Trump as directly responsible for “the tinderbox that he purposely ignited on January 6” after his “increasingly desperate” efforts to cling to power and overturn his 2020 election loss were unsuccessful. “When all else had failed,” Trump “directed an angry crowd of supporters to the United States Capitol to obstruct the congressional certification.” Throughout the document, Smith argues that Trump was “fundamentally” acting as a private candidate for office and not as president when he sought to overturn his 2020 election loss – a direct response to the Supreme Court ruling that Trump had immunity for some actions he took as president. “At its core, the defendant’s scheme was a private one; he extensively used private actors and his Campaign infrastructure to attempt to overturn the election results and operated in a private capacity as a candidate for office,” Smith wrote. Prosecutors also accused Trump of knowing “his fraud claims were false because he continued to make those claims even after his close advisors – acting not in an official capacity but in a private or campaign-related capacity—told him they were not true.” (Associated Press / New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / CNN / ABC News / Axios)

2/ Trump spent 33-minutes meandering through various unrelated subjects before barely touching on the focus of a campaign event meant to highlight his education policy. “We can be nice and we can be politically incorrect, but the only thing they’re going to do there is cheat on elections, and we just can’t let this happen,” Trump said, adding: “The city of Milwaukee is the home of first and oldest choice program.” Trump went on to erroneously refer to Iran as Iraq, confuse the dictator of North Korea, Kim Jong Un, with the president of Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian, and claim Kim “is trying to kill me,” seemingly confusing Kim with Iran. U.S. intelligence officials have briefed Trump about the “real and specific threats” by Iran to assassinate him as part of “an effort to destabilize and sow chaos.” At one point Trump was asked if he should have been tougher on Iran after they retaliated over the U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani and struck al-Asad Airbase in Iraq. While no U.S. soldiers were killed, over 100 were later diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries. Trump responded that “they could take a knife, they were like Rambos, just like putting a million Rambos – good old Sylvester Stallone was my friend. But it’s like putting a million Rambos.” When pressed to answer the actual question, Trump replied: “What does injured mean? You mean because they had a headache because the bombs never hit the fort?” The Harris campaign called Trump “unfit to be Commander-in-Chief” over the remarks. (Washington Post / New York Times / Axios / Politico / Salon)

3/ Trump claimed he would veto a federal abortion ban if he is elected despite nominating three of the six conservative Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade. Trump also refused to commit to vetoing such a ban during his debate with Harris last month, instead arguing he “wouldn’t have to” veto an abortion ban. In an all-caps message on his personal social media platform, Trump wrote: “Everyone knows I would not support a federal abortion ban, under any circumstances, and would, in fact, veto it, because it is up to the states to decide based on the will of their voters.” Meanwhile, nearly a quarter of women voters who think abortion should be legal plan to cast their votes for Trump, according to a new poll. For these women, the economy and immigration rank ahead of abortion. (Politico / CNN)

4/ Trump backed out of an interview on “60 Minutes” because he didn’t want to be interrupted for fact checks. Trump and Harris had both previously agreed to sit for individual interviews with CBS News as part of its prime-time election special next week. The Trump campaign, however, claimed “there were discussions but nothing was ever scheduled or locked in. They insisted on cutting out of the interview to do fact-checking.” Harris, meanwhile, will still appear on the show – the highest-rated news program on TV. (Washington Post / Axios / NPR / CNN)
 

GasBandit

Staff member
1/ Biden’s student loan forgiveness program can proceed after a federal judge let a temporary restraining order expire. The lawsuit was brought by seven Republican-led states that argued the Biden administration’s rule would be detrimental to income tax revenue. U.S. District Judge Randal Hall, however, found that Georgia lacked standing to sue because the state failed to show it would be harmed by the plan to forgive $73 billion in student loan debt held by millions of Americans. Instead, Hall directed the case to be transferred to Missouri. The Republican-led states asked a federal judge in Missouri to rule by Friday on whether to continue blocking the proposal. (NBC News / Reuters / CNBC)

2/ Trump promised to revoke Temporary Protected Status and deport the Haitian migrants who are legally living in Springfield, Ohio, if he is reelected in November. Following a 2010, 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti that killed around 220,000 people, Obama added Haitians to the TPS program, which allows migrants to stay in the U.S. when their countries are unsafe to return to. Despite spending weeks spreading debunked conspiracy theories that Haitian migrants were eating pets in Springfield, Trump continued to disparage them, saying that placing thousands of migrants in the town “doesn’t work.” He added: “You have to remove the people. You cannot destroy — we cannot destroy our country. You had a beautiful, safe community. Everyone’s in love with everybody, everything was nice, it was like a picture community.” Trump also falsely claimed that over 30,000 migrants have moved into Springfield in recent years, but the number is between 12,000 and 15,000 in the entire county – not just the city. Trump has previously said he wants to deport between 15 and 20 million immigrants if reelected. (Axios / Politico / New York Times / CNN)

3/ A former Colorado county clerk was sentenced to nine years in prison for tampering with voting machines under her control during the 2020 election. Tina Peters was convicted of four felony and three misdemeanor charges for allowing MyPillow chief executive Mike Lindell – a pro-Trump activist and a prominent promoter of the false claims that voting machines were manipulated to steal the election from Trump – to use another person’s security card to access to the Mesa County election system in May 2021. The county’s machines later had to be replaced when data, including passwords for the machines, was posted online. “Your lies are well-documented and these convictions are serious,” Judge Matthew Barrett told Peters before he handed down his sentence, calling her a “charlatan” who used her time in office “to peddle snake oil.” Barrett told Peters that “the damage is immeasurable,” and “I’m convinced you would do it all over again if you could […] You’re as defiant a defendant as I’ve ever seen.” (Associated Press / New York Times / NBC News / CNBC)
  • As election threats rise, Justice Dept. says its options are limited. “Free speech protections keep federal authorities from taking stronger actions against alleged harassment and intimidation.” (Washington Post)
  • Cybersecurity head says there’s no chance a foreign adversary can change US election results. “Malicious actors, even if they tried, could not have an impact at scale such that there would be a material effect on the outcome of the election,” said Jen Easterly, director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. (Associated Press)

Pertaining to the unsealed Smith Jan 6 filing:
  1. Takeaways from the big new filing on Trump’s 2020 election plot. “So what,” “Make them riot,” “It doesn’t matter if you won or lost the election,” and what it all means legally and politically. (Washington Post / Politico / ABC News)
  2. Jack Smith’s Big New Jan. 6 Brief Is a Major Indictment of the Supreme Court. “Right now it appears to be a toss-up whether Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris will win office in the November election. If Trump wins, he will have his attorney general fire Smith and shut down this prosecution. If he keeps his promises, he even may seek to investigate and prosecute Smith, Harris, Biden, and others. There is a risk of authoritarianism down the line.” (Slate)
  3. Trump claims new Jack Smith filing is election interference. “Trump accused the special counsel of election interference over a filing released Wednesday. But a federal judge, not Smith, made the decision to make it public and when.” (NBC News)
  4. Trump casts ‘election interference’ label on everything while facing federal charges. “Trump is already laying the groundwork to dispute the results of another election, leveling baseless charges of interference as his own federal election interference case progresses.” (NBC News)
  5. Trump Fumes Over Release of New Evidence in Election Interference Case. “The Justice Department has provided new details regarding Trump’s actions on Jan. 6 through an evidentiary brief unsealed on Wednesday.” (Rolling Stone / Daily Beast)
  6. Trump’s Response When He Learned Pence’s Life Was In Danger On Jan. 6: ’So What?” “The anecdote was among hundreds of pieces of evidence gathered by federal prosecutors into a 165-page court filing, unsealed Wednesday, in their four-count felony prosecution against Trump for his actions leading up to and during his coup attempt.” (HuffPost / Washington Post / CNBC)
  7. No amount of evidence will convince Republicans of Trump’s 2020 guilt. “Republican support for Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election has always been despite the evidence, not because of it.” (Washington Post)
  8. Read Jack Smith’s arguments for why Trump is not immune in Jan. 6 case. “In a court filing unsealed Wednesday, prosecutors laid out new evidence that Trump’s efforts to subvert the results of the 2020 election were taken as a private candidate.” (Washington Post)
 

GasBandit

Staff member
1/ Biden’s student loan forgiveness program can proceed after a federal judge let a temporary restraining order expire. The lawsuit was brought by seven Republican-led states that argued the Biden administration’s rule would be detrimental to income tax revenue. U.S. District Judge Randal Hall, however, found that Georgia lacked standing to sue because the state failed to show it would be harmed by the plan to forgive $73 billion in student loan debt held by millions of Americans. Instead, Hall directed the case to be transferred to Missouri. The Republican-led states asked a federal judge in Missouri to rule by Friday on whether to continue blocking the proposal. (NBC News / Reuters / CNBC)
Ha never mind
 
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