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Post by mhbruin on Feb 7, 2024 7:49:04 GMT -8
Church Bulletin Bloopers For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs. Yesterday was a Bad Day for the QOP- Previous Guy lost in the Court of Appeals
- The Speaker's Israel aid bill was defeated
- The attempt to impeach the DHS Secrtary lost
- The immigration bill with a QOP wish list is being killed, also killing aid to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, and Gaza.
- The Mom of a school shooter was convicted, showing unlimited guns has a price.
- The Chair of the Republican Party is resigning.
- Matt Gaetz that Previous Guy "did not engage in insurrection or rebellion" failed to pass.
The reason Republicans were so eager to hold the vote on Tuesday evening was because they knew that Democratic Rep. Al Green was in the hospital after undergoing emergency abdominal surgery on Friday. Republicans hoped to take advantage of Green’s absence to give them a buffer against any Republican defections from their unjustified and patently ridiculous impeachment.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 7, 2024 9:30:14 GMT -8
AT&T Wants to Leave the Business that Created It
A proposal by telecommunications giant AT&T to withdraw landline service from most of the Bay Area has sparked widespread fear among residents, many of whom live where cell service is spotty, power outages are frequent and losing connectivity is “very scary.” Oakland senior Carla Vinciguerra lives in a three-story home with a landline on each floor. If she suffered a medical emergency, and her cell phone were on a different floor, she could possibly crawl to a landline, she said, but without that option, she would have no way to summon help.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 7, 2024 9:33:04 GMT -8
Hoosiers on First
Donald Trump has spent much of the past week fixated, of all places, on Indiana, accusing elections officials here of conspiring against him to help his rival, Nikki Haley, in a Republican presidential primary that won’t take place until May.
The complaints are baseless, elections officials say.
Worse, they and Trump’s opponents warn, with the former president raising alarms even in a state like deep-red Indiana, they look like a test run by Trump and his allies to undermine confidence in the election in November.
“Trump is reinforcing a narrative where the only acceptable outcome is his victory, thus preemptively delegitimizing any electoral defeat,” said Joshua Claybourn, a Republican attorney from Evansville and former GOP delegate from the state. “It sets the stage for yet another crisis of legitimacy in the November general election.”
Biden calls Trump 'sick' for joking about political violence
But Trump’s Indiana intel seems to be coming from one of his most loyal congressional allies: Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana, who is running for Senate, and who initially shared Trump’s Truth Social post about Indiana last week on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The actual crux of the issue is pretty straightforward. For days, Trump has been suggesting that Haley failed to qualify for the Indiana primary ballot, saying she was “scrambling in Indiana with democrat county clerk offices to ‘verify’ signatures” after the fact, or even that she had “forgot to apply.” He has gone so far as to have his campaign’s attorney threaten litigation to challenge Haley’s ballot status.
But Trump’s allegation is based on a distortion of Indiana law. While signatures to get ballot access were due by Jan. 30, the filing deadline isn’t until this Friday, meaning that Haley is still on track to qualify for the state’s ballot.
Even the longtime Republican voter registration board member at the center of the dispute told POLITICO in an interview that Trump appeared to have false information and that the process is designed to prevent the kind of conspiracy the former president is alleging.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 7, 2024 9:36:15 GMT -8
Three reasons why so many migrants want to cross from Mexico to USMigrant arrivals at the border have risen to record highs during President Joe Biden's administration, a massive political headache for him ahead of the election. Polls suggest that more than two-thirds of Americans disapprove of Mr Biden's handling of the issue. His likely opponent in November's presidential election, Donald Trump, has this week condemned a cross-party bill trying to address the problem, saying it's not tough enough. But it's not just Republicans who are unhappy about the influx. Democratic mayors in cities struggling to cope with the numbers are also making their feelings known. More than 6.3 million migrants have been detained crossing into the US illegally under Biden, a higher number than under Trump, Obama or George W Bush. Biden and Trump trade blame as border bill falters The reasons for the spike are complex, with some factors pre-dating this government and beyond the control of the US. We asked experts what's going on. What's the QOP Doing About It? Killing the Immigration Bill They Wanted.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 7, 2024 9:38:06 GMT -8
Books Don't Kill High School Kids. Bombs Do.
Last March, police in Coralville, Iowa, investigated a bomb threat targeting a junior high school. Authorities brought in specially trained dogs to sniff for explosives and started looking into why someone might try to target the community’s teachers and students.
Law enforcement quickly determined that the threat was a hoax. Detective Hanna Dvorak from the Coralville Police Department arrived at a theory.
“It appears this all stems from a post made earlier this week by Chaya Raichik and her ‘Libs of TikTok’ account,” Dvorak wrote in a report to her superiors.
Raichik, 29, is not accused of making any bomb threats in Iowa or anywhere else. But about a day and a half before authorities responded to the threat at Coralville’s Northwest Junior High, Raichik posted that the school offers a “pornographic” book in its library that “teaches kids about gay sex.”
“These are the books they’re giving your kids to read in school,” she wrote on the social media platform X. People have frequently targeted the book in question, “This Book Is Gay,” a coming-out guide for LGBTQ teens, with book bans going back years.
The Coralville detective wrote in her report that one of Raichik’s supporters could have had a role in the bomb threat.
Coralville was not alone. Officers and government officials in four other jurisdictions — Burbank, California; Minnetonka, Minnesota; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; and Tualatin, Oregon — told NBC News they believe Raichik sparked threats in their localities with her posts on social media that digitally heckle people such as drag performers, LGBTQ teachers and doctors who treat transgender patients.
While the direct inspirations for the threats are not known, the timing suggests that Libs of TikTok posts have been used to pick targets.
NBC News identified 33 instances, starting in November 2020, when people or institutions singled out by Libs of TikTok later reported bomb threats or other violent intimidation. The threats, which on average came several days after tweets from Libs of TikTok, targeted schools, libraries, hospitals, small businesses and elected officials in 16 states, Washington, D.C., and the Canadian province of Ontario. Twenty-one of the 33 threats were bomb threats, which most commonly targeted schools and were made via email.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 7, 2024 9:43:28 GMT -8
He Won't Be Imaortalized with the Guy Who Ate 18 Bicycles and a CessnaYou could say Richard Plaud's dreams of making the world's tallest matchstick sculpture may have gone up in smoke. The Frenchman spent the last eight years painstakingly piecing together 706,900 matchsticks to make a 23.6-foot model of the Eiffel Tower, easily beating the existing record by 2 feet. But, he says, last week the Guinness Book of World Records had bad news for him: He used the wrong type of matchsticks to qualify for a record — because they weren't commercially available. "The Guinness Book judges have delivered their verdict, without actually seeing my tower in real life," he wrote on Facebook. Plaud, who works for a local authority, said Guinness told him the matches must be available commercially and can't be cut, disassembled or distorted beyond recognition. “As the matchsticks were not commercially available, and were not recognized as matchsticks the attempt has been disqualified,” was Guinness’ ruling on the matter, Plaud said. “BIG DISILLUSION, DISAPPOINTMENT AND INCOMPREHENSION😟🥺. [They] tell me that the 706,900 rods stuck one by one are not matches!!?? And they are too cut to the point of being unrecognizable!!??” he wrote. “Clearly, the English are really different......😤,” he said, of the London-based Guinness. He ended his message: “No offense to the English.” Having grown tired of buying matches from the supermarket and manually removing the sulfur heads of each one, Plaud struck a deal with a manufacturer to sell 33-pound boxes of headless matches. 60 Of The Weirdest Guinness World Records You Might’ve Not Heard Of
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 7, 2024 9:47:50 GMT -8
One-Third of Americans Want a Senile Dictator
About two-thirds of U.S. adults do not think former President Donald Trump should have immunity from criminal prosecution for actions he took while president, according to a PBS NewsHour/NPR/Marist poll to be released Wednesday. The majority of Americans are aligned with a new federal appeals court ruling that found Trump can stand trial on charges tied to a plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 7, 2024 9:54:27 GMT -8
The QOP Prefers Nobody to Nikki
The “none of these candidates” option has won in Nevada’s symbolic Republican presidential primary contest, an embarrassing result for Nikki Haley, who was the only major candidate on the ballot.
The former U.N. ambassador opted to compete in the state-run primary election Tuesday instead of the party’s presidential caucuses, the only contest in the state that awards delegates toward the nomination. Former President Donald Trump is the only major candidate competing in the caucuses on Thursday and will likely sweep the state’s Republican delegates as a result.
Utilizing a quirk of Nevada election law, more voters on Tuesday marked their primary ballots for “none of these candidates” than cast their votes for Haley.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 7, 2024 9:55:44 GMT -8
A Great ROIThe IRS is poised to take in hundreds of billions of dollars more in overdue and unpaid taxes than previously anticipated, according to new analysis released Tuesday by the Treasury Department and the IRS. Tax revenues are expected to rise by as much as $561 billion from 2024 to 2034, thanks to stepped-up enforcement made possible with money from the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act, which became law in August 2022. The Congressional Budget Office in 2022 estimated that the tens of billions of new IRS funding provided by the IRA would increase revenues by $180.4 billion from 2022 to 2031. The IRS now says that if IRA funding is restored, renewed and diversified, estimated revenues could reach as much as $851 billion from 2024 to 2034. Administration officials are using the report to promote President Joe Biden’s economic agenda as he campaigns for reelection — and as the IRS continually faces threats to its funding. “This analysis demonstrates that President Biden’s investment in rebuilding the IRS will reduce the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars by making the wealthy and big corporations pay the taxes they owe,” National Economic Adviser Lael Brainard said in a statement. More Audits Of Millionaires And Billionaires Could Help IRS Collect Billions In Unpaid Taxes
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 7, 2024 9:57:14 GMT -8
MTG Can Dish It Out, But She Can't Take It
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) stormed out of a committee meeting on Tuesday as a Democratic lawmaker gave her a reminder about her own recent past during a hearing on crime in Washington, D.C.
Greene, a conspiracy theorist who spoke at a white nationalist event in 2022, went on a lengthy rant on everything from crime in the nation’s capital to gun rights to Donald Trump to Black Lives Matter and beyond.
“That was a lot,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) said when she was done, then pointed out what he found “ironic” about Greene talking about crime in Washington, D.C.
“She literally supported an insurrection and attack on the Capitol,” Garcia said.
He said Greene “coddled” the insurrectionists when she visited them last year in jail, where she offered them handshakes and pats on the back and said they were “political prisoners.”
“They actually tried to overthrow our government,” Garcia reminded her.
That caused Greene ― who last month called Hunter Biden a “coward” for leaving a hearing when she was speaking about him ― to walk out of the hearing. She appeared to shout something as she left, but it’s not clear what she tried to say.
“She’s insane,” Garcia later wrote on X:
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 7, 2024 9:58:48 GMT -8
Does Anyone Even Know Who Their Local Post Office is Named After?
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 7, 2024 10:03:03 GMT -8
The QOP Decides to Go Down With Another Sinking Ship
Lawyers trying to keep an abortion-rights measure off the Florida ballot told the state Supreme Court on Wednesday that the proposed amendment is deceptive, and that voters won't realize just how far it will expand access to the procedure.
But the justices seemed to think the proposed ballot question isn't so much a wolf in sheep's clothing, but rather a clear effort to keep the state from restricting most abortions.
“This is a wolf coming as a wolf,” said Chief Justice Carlos Muniz, one of five appointees of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on the seven-member court. “The people of Florida aren't stupid. They can figure it out.”
The proposed amendment says “no law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.” It provides for one exception, which is already in the state constitution — that parents must be notified before their minor children can get an abortion.
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Post by mhbruin on Feb 7, 2024 10:10:12 GMT -8
If Perjury is Committed and No One Tells the Judge, Did It Really Happen?When Judge Engoron in New York completed the testimony and closing arguments in Trump's civil fraud trial, he indicated he hoped to have a decision by the end of January. That was always aspirational, and never binding, but January passed with no decision. We may now have indications explaining the delay. On February 1st the New York Times published an article stating that a key witness, former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg, was in discussion to plea to perjury in Judge Engoron's case. The testimony involves the Trump Towers square foot inflation that falsely represented its square footage as 30,000 square feet when it was about 11,000 SF. Weisselberg testified he never "focused" on that. Forbes magazine quickly published evidence that he was, in fact, very involved in that issue, and Weisselberg suddenly stopped testifying. Last Thursday the Times article suggested a perjury plea deal was close, with Weisselberg being required to admit he lied as part of it. Today (Tuesday) Judge Engoron sent the pictured note to both counsels in the case. Engoron gives the attorneys until tomorrow at 5:00pm to respond and advise him what they can say about the matter without breaching professional obligations. Engoron also suggests it may be appropriate to invoke "falsus in uno" if Weisselberg is "now changing his tune." The judge is using a shorthand for the longer "falsum in uno, falsus in omnibus," meaning "false in one thing, false in everything." The judge is suggesting that committing perjury on the one thing, the Trump Tower Penthouse square footage testimony, creates an inference that undermines the credibility of Weisselberg's other testimony. The expression should not be interpreted as literally deeming everything Weisselberg said false. Rather, it decreases the weight given to his testimony. If his other testimony contradicts that of other witnesses, or documents, or is otherwise questionable, the judge may choose to give it less weight as Weisselberg has shown a willingness to lie under oath. That it was proven he lied on the square footage matter suggests he may have lied about other things, it was just the square footage thing that was proven. So what can the responding attorneys tell the judge without breaching ethics? The truth is that short a signed plea agreement they likely can't say much as anything before that is speculative and could be prejudicial if no agreement is reached. However, this may be an excuse for the prosecutor to say "sign or get off the pot." Or more precisely, something to the effect of, "you have until Noon tomorrow to sign the offered settlement or it is withdrawn." Beyond that would be the question of how Weisselberg came to perjure himself and whether he was put up to it. Seems hard to believe he would just Lone Ranger something like that. This civil case just got a criminal element to it, further tainting Trump, his general defense, and opportunity for appeal. If it turns out that Weisselberg admits his perjury was suborned by others, well, who knows where this could go. Trump's fraud-trial judge, left out of loop, demands to know if a key witness really may cop to perjury like the NYT says
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