News and Current Events - 2017 - 2022

[michaelflanagansf]

I'm so very glad to hear this, Michael!! Thanks for posting this. I've been trying to keep up but I have been busy elsewhere trying to slay the dragon of healthcare, with not much luck unfortunately.

It made my night, Linda! I was surprised - I actually started tearing up when I turned on the news and that was the first thing I heard. I didn't realize it had affected me that emotionally, but I guess the drip drip drip of watching rights get worn away got to me.

And Fritz is right - they scheduled this so as to keep people from voting on it. The best news that I heard was that a whole bunch of people registered as "unaffiliated", which meant they weren't voting for party primary candidates, just on the proposition. And the turnout was as high as some Presidential primaries!

[michaelflanagansf]

I must say that Kansas vote surprised me. Now, who's going to claim it was corrupt?

It'll be tough to do that with all of the unaffiliated registrations - but I don't doubt that they will try!!!

[fritzkep]

Good old unintended consequences.

[killersmom]

I must say that Kansas vote surprised me. Now, who's going to claim it was corrupt?

Oh they will anyway, Jeff. When ANYTHING doesn't go their way, they will scream foul!

[killersmom]

It'll be tough to do that with all of the unaffiliated registrations - but I don't doubt that they will try!!!

Yes, Michael, they'll just say that the Democrats 'stuffed the ballot box' with 'supposed' unaffiliated votes!!

It's really gotten bad when so many of us can pinpoint exactly what arguments the idiots are going to come up with.

[michaelflanagansf]

Yes, Michael, they'll just say that the Democrats 'stuffed the ballot box' with 'supposed' unaffiliated votes!!

It's really gotten bad when so many of us can pinpoint exactly what arguments the idiots are going to come up with.

Welcome to idiot-palooza.

[Lyle (Mooska)]

I heard about a group in TX that has banded together and formed a PAC and I believe there are commercials as well trying to diminish support for the Governor and his policies. The group is called Mothers Against Greg Abbott and you may notice what that acronym is: M.A.G.A.

I looked them up and they have a website:
https://mothersagainstgregabbott.com

On the front page:

Mothers Against Greg Abbott State PAC is a group of Texas Mothers, Fathers, Uncles, Aunts, and Grandparents who want change for Texas Families.  We are a diverse group of Texans who are a mix of Democrats, Moderate Republicans and Independents who are ready to work together for change for Texas.  We know that change isn’t going to come from the left or right but from those of us in the middle.  While we don’t agree on every topic, we all agree that we need change in Texas in 2022 if we want Texas families and communities to thrive again.

Bravo!

[Lyle (Mooska)]

[CellarDweller115]

There's a part of me that hopes they waste money trying to find fraud, and turning up empty. 

[fritzkep]

Except they don't really have to find any fraud, they just have to say they do without proof, and a substantial minority of voters will believe them.

[CellarDweller115]

Alex Jones concedes Sandy Hook massacre was "100% real" as he testifies at defamation trial

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones testified Wednesday that he now understands it was irresponsible of him to declare the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre a hoax and that he now believes it was "100% real."

Speaking a day after the parents of a 6-year-old boy who was killed in the 2012 attack testified about the suffering, death threats and harassment they've endured because of what Jones has trumpeted on his media platforms, the Infowars host told a Texas courtroom that he definitely thinks the attack happened.

"Especially since I've met the parents. It's 100% real," Jones said at his trial to determine how much he and his media company, Free Speech Systems, owe for defaming Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis. Their son Jesse Lewis was among the 20 students and six educators who were killed in the attack in Newtown, Connecticut, which was the deadliest school shooting in American history.

But Heslin and Lewis said Tuesday that an apology wouldn't suffice and that Jones needed to be held accountable for repeatedly spreading falsehoods about the attack. They are seeking at least $150 million.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alex-jones-trial-testimony-sandy-hook-massacre-100-percent-real/

[gattaca]

^^^
AMEN! I hope that jury and this and subsequent rulings bleeds that *@#(@*@  arrogant SOB Jones dry / broke - for everything he, any businesses he's associated with, offshore accounts and everything legally owned by him or shit he's hidden.  He (and others) need to be made REAL examples of ....  Leave him with a pile of sh1t nothing to chew on. 

OTOH, sadly he will still probably "get away with more than he should" .....  When people knowingly do crap this like this... there needs to be serious civil and other penalties like years of mandatory jail time for such unacceptable behaviors.     And on top that, I sure hope karma reaps the rest...     V.

[CellarDweller115]

Apparently there is more to the Alex Jones story.


Alex Jones Lawyer Accidentally Sent Cell Phone Records to Sandy Hook Lawyer

By Zoe Strozewski - 8/3/22

A lawyer representing a Sandy Hook family in the defamation damages trial of Alex Jones revealed in court Wednesday that attorneys for the far-right Infowars host shared years worth of his text messages.

Attorney Mark Bankston asked Jones if he was aware that 12 days prior, his lawyers "messed up and sent me an entire digital copy of your entire cell phone with every text message you've sent for the past two years, and when informed, did not take any steps to identify it as privileged or protected in any way?"

Bankston said that these messages "fell free and clear into my possession" as of two days ago and that they proved Jones lied to him when he said that he didn't have any text messages about Sandy Hook. He again asked Jones if he knew that this had happened, and Jones responded that he told Bankston the truth.

"This is your Perry Mason moment," Jones told the lawyer, referring to the television series about the fictional criminal defense lawyer. "I gave [the lawyers] my phone."

https://www.newsweek.com/alex-jones-lawyer-accidentally-sends-cell-phone-records-sandy-hook-lawyer-1730653

[fritzkep]

That's what you call schadenfreudelicious.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Yes, Michael, they'll just say that the Democrats 'stuffed the ballot box' with 'supposed' unaffiliated votes!!

This is the sort of thing that terrifies me about the Republican candidate for governor of Pennsylvania. An ad attacking him has video of him very smugly announcing that as governor he can decertify any or all voting machines in the state. That means the Democratic strongholds of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. That means my vote as a Philadelphia resident.