there was a report from a Oklahoma Diner (a ward that went 90% trump back in november) Even with trumps (described as a New York Liberal) "encouragement" were not going to take COVID vaccine.
Every time I see those two I think ... a trump and a melaena
That Boebart post is a "clever" swipe at Biden for tripping on the AF1 stairs. Because of course Trump had a stellar record with stairs and ramps.
Oh my, this is majestic...reasonable people would not accept such statements as fact...
Somehow I don't think that Dominion are going to accept that plea with a straight face - Powell's "claims that await testing by the courts through the adversary process" were accepted as fact by millions and no doubt inspired some of the gullible idiots who rioted on the 6th Jan.
In other news one of the Elite Strike Force loony-lawyers on the end of a gazillion dollar voting machine manufacturer lawsuit reckons “No reasonable person would conclude that the statements were truly statements of fact,” (argued lawyers for Powell)
Not sure how the US legal system defines 'reasonable person', but I think it's fair to say if you're able to determine that if your claims are baseless to reasonable people you probably shouldn't be making them to anyone irrespective of their mental capacity.
At the end of the day it's only $$$ or jail that will focus the minds of these clowns.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/23/sidney-powell-trump-election-fraud-claims
The Washington Post version of the story:
Now she tells us.
Attorney Sidney Powell, you may recall, was the Madame Defarge of the recent attempt to overturn the election results. She knitted elaborate lawsuits from the yarns of unreliable witnesses, patterned with a vast conspiracy to rig voting machines, as the partisans she inflamed rolled their tumbrels toward the Capitol in search of such supposed traitors as then-Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).Sued for defamation by the voting-machine vendor in question, Powell is now scoffing in federal court at the idea that anyone could have taken her seriously. “Reasonable people would not accept such statements as fact,” Powell averred in her motion to dismiss the lawsuit. Instead, the allegations that helped to fuel the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol were mere “claims that await testing by the courts through the adversary process.”
When she said, as the nation was spinning into crisis, that she had evidence of “the greatest crime of the century if not the life of the world” — a world that in living memory has witnessed the Holocaust and other unspeakable crimes — Powell meant nothing of the sort, she now admits. That was just politics. Wrapping herself in an earlier court ruling, she quoted the “well recognized principle that political statements are inherently prone to exaggeration and hyperbole.”
In another remarkable contortion, Powell quotes her antagonists at the voting-machine vendor, Dominion Voting Systems, calling her charges “outlandish” and “impossible.” What more proof is needed, she concludes, that folks were onto her fictions and distortions all along?
She had promised a “Kraken,” a fraud so vast and many-tentacled that it would resemble the mythical sea monster, but delivered not so much as a goldfish — and now she’s in court saying, in essence, we should have known all along that Krakens aren’t real. In passing, she says she still believes her own story, but that’s in the context of a 90-page filing that insists no one else ever should have done so.Powell joins a roster of Stop the Stealers who have tried to wriggle out of their hype. In December, Fox News took the unusual step of airing a video that debunked election-fraud myths during programs hosted by Lou Dobbs, Jeanine Pirro and Maria Bartiromo. The right-wing outlet Newsmax likewise backed off.
Don’t be surprised if former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani soon joins the club. He, too, has been sued by Dominion for damages in excess of $1 billion — enough to make a guy sweat his hair dye. Yet another Dominion lawsuit calls out Mike Lindell on his extravagant claims of election fraud. The My Pillow man may want to pull the covers over his head, but sooner or later he is likely to emerge to offer his own strained “never mind.”
Powell’s confession that no reasonable person could take her seriously, even when she is leveling profoundly serious charges, is important in itself. The implications are perhaps even more important. For example, the former president of the United States, who touted Powell’s lawsuits and news conferences via his once-deafening Twitter megaphone, is not a reasonable person. Many of us have known that for years, but it’s useful to hear it from one of his most ardent supporters.It’s true that Team Trump, and its cowering minions in Congress, eventually parted ways with Powell as her professional demeanor gradually slipped to reveal her tinfoil hat. They took refuge in an abstruse argument over regulatory powers of election officials in assorted states. But the window-smashing, cop-battering, death-chanting mob at the Capitol wasn’t there for a discussion of delegated authority of various secretaries of state. They had swallowed the hash that Powell & Co. were slinging.
And Powell’s brief offers a fresh suggestion of the real reason why this hash was ever slung in the first place. Hype makes the cash register ring, Powell informs the court: “Public disclosure helps gain public and financial support.” In Powell’s case, the “financial support” poured into an affiliated website called Defending the Republic. Giuliani sought his “financial support” in increments of $20,000 per day from the Trump campaign. The former president continues to raise millions for his lightly regulated PAC from his cheerfully hoodwinked supporters.
As for the Fox News conspiracists, their business model remains unchanged. Election fraud is so yesterday; today, it’s anti-vaccine and cancel culture. Theirs is a steam-powered money machine, requiring only that the pot be kept boiling.The Post’s Annie Gowen reported recently on her visit with Jenna Ryan, the Texas real estate agent who touted her business on social media while assaulting the Capitol in January. Now facing federal charges, Ryan said: “I bought into a lie, and the lie is the lie, and it’s embarrassing.” Now she tells us.
Apologies for bumping this thread but has Sidney just pulled the biggest Edinburgh Defense in history?
It is particularly absurd even by Trumpers standrds
I assume so scared of the legal consequences and not having a real defense thats the best they could come up with.
Its like a scene from a school playground, I fully expect Sidney's last line of defence to be"A big boy did it and ran away" just before her pants burst in to flames.
It's amazing what the prospect of litigation can do. All of these grifters bought into a lie to placate Trump - Powell herself saw an opportunity to seize voting machines and impose martial law, no doubt she had herself in mind for a lucrative role in this.
Her "no reasonable person" defence will ring hollow with the supporters who were on the brink of violent insurrection, I hope that they feel suitably cheated.
Reasonable people would not accept such statements as fact,”
Technically though this is correct.
Granted I really don't have much of a grasp of US law, but is her defence against being sued essentially I was being in contempt of court, i.e. I took a case to court that I knew was untrue.
TBH it feels like she's had the options explained to her by someone with an actual brain, and they are pretty much
1) You have already ended your legal career but maybe you can write another book or become a popular right wing blogger or keep making dodgy PACs, or recant and build a career as a Qanon victim and survivor.
2) You have already ended your legal career and also you lose the case and end up owing a kabillion dollars, and bear in mind your lunatic mates do not like a loser
Granted I really don’t have much of a grasp of US law
That's OK, neither does Sidney.
Thing is, she does. Or she did- she was a proper rising star in her early career, apparently highly capable for the middle bit which is mostly just slogging and hard work... Not especially political, a strong supporter of victim's charities etc. Nobody really seems to know at exactly what point she got radicalised...
But I reckon it starts when she got her first bit of fame defending Enron execs, when the only defence that was at all workable was "this is all overreach" "government interference"... she spent a long time basically defending the guilty by attacking the legal systems and prosecutors. Then that leads to the books, which started to get her on right wing tv channels etc, then Flynn and Mueller. Hannity loved her, Trump spotted her as a result... Basically lurching further right must have always looked like a good career move. You wonder how much of it's real and how much is convenience or cynicism, or how much of the real stuff basically grew out of tactical decisions- let that stuff live in your head for a decade and bad stuff can grow.
Sort of like, at what point do you stop writing Daily Mail columns about single mothers and immigrants to pay the bills, and start believing it? When is lurching towards extremism convenient to write your weekly piece, vs something you do because you want to? Especially if you started out doing your dream job and doing what you believe is right- surely you haven't changed so much? Surely you didn't really sell out to the bad guys? Maybe you actually believed it all along?
If she escapes on that defense then goodness knows what happens next. Truth is barely alive any more as it is but this will just say that anyone can make up any old shit now 🙁
I just assumed that's a standard, cookie-cutter defence in the land of The First Amendment.
A defence in Scottish law is that libel is OK if you're too stupid to recognise you're libelling someone. On that basis I don't think we have room to talk
Presumably she can hide behind the attorney-client privilege (or whatever the correct term is) I.e. she's introducing an argument that she may know is in bad faith, because it represents her client's best interests?
But yes, it's a crazy world we live in.
I just assumed that’s a standard, cookie-cutter defence in the land of The First Amendment.
A very similar defence was used by Tucker Carlson and fox news. Fox news lawyers successfully argued that any reasonable viewer would be skeptical about his claims.
Basically lurching further right must have always looked like a good career move
All the hype was very very rewarding, Giuliani was asking for $20,000 a day and Powell had a website called "Defending the Republic" and the money poured in...It's a good business model, although voter fraud is yesterdays grift, today it's anti-vaccine, and cancel culture.
Her “no reasonable person” defence will ring hollow with the supporters who were on the brink of violent insurrection, I hope that they feel suitably cheated.
They should feel cheated - but theres no limit to their susceptibility for being duped - so what they'll do instead is project that on to 'the libs' - they'll allow themselves..... now..... to be told that they were all in on the joke all along and it was the democrats that fell for it.
Presumably she can hide behind the attorney-client privilege (or whatever the correct term is) I.e. she’s introducing an argument that she may know is in bad faith, because it represents her client’s best interests?
Lawyers are officers of the court and should not introduce bad-faith arguments into court. If they introduce something as evidence that they know is false, they can be disbarred. Trump's team said crazy stuff on TV to keep Trump happy, but they toned things down massively when they actually went to court because they had no evidence to back up their claims.
In the far east the social media has been circulating the negotiation between Biden's administration and China's representatives. Guess what, Biden's administration got a pasting in front of the media. administration. Biden's administration looks like kids being scolded by the adults.
A shorter version here ... when China tried to response the Biden's admin sent out the reporters only for the Chinese to insist on them staying.
Longer version
Birds of a feather, eh. Where does Trump find these people?
https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1375112794031468545
Well Matt Gaetz, really is a lovely character
The only congressman yo vot against a sex trafficking bill 3 years ago
Is now under investigation for sex trafficking a minor
And yes, of course he used a Trump Hotel
https://twitter.com/funder/status/1377828099824484357?s=19
Qanon fans must be very confused that the secret paedophile ring was one of their own all along
the look on Tucker Carlson's face when Gaetz implicates him, priceless!
"Creepy" seems to sum him up pretty well.
Prior to joining Congress, Gaetz was a member of the Florida House of Representatives when his father was also a member of the Florida Senate. Sources told ABC News the two were often referred to as "Daddy Gaetz and Baby Gaetz." Sources said some women referred to him as "Creepy Gaetz" because they allegedly found themselves made uncomfortable by the junior lawmaker.
Sources said Gaetz was part of a group of young male lawmakers who created a "game" to score their female sexual conquests, which granted "points" for various targets such as interns, staffers or other female colleagues in the state House. One of the targets of the scoring system was a group the lawmakers had heard were "virgins," according to a source. The scoring system by male Florida lawmakers was previously reported by the Miami Herald.
One source said Gaetz was often spotted trying to pick up young women at 101 Restaurant, a once-popular watering hole in Tallahassee for some lawmakers and students from nearby Florida State University.
Gaetz's office did not respond to a request for comment.
Remember when he didn't turn up to a Trump impeachment meeting he was supposed to be at, then stormed in with a bunch of his mates shouting WHY ARE THERE NO REPUBLICANS I DEMAND TO BE ALLOWED INTO THIS SECRET MEETING and they were all like "Oh hi creepy Matt, you're late". Now, that looks like a particularly good day for him.
Gaetz also getting some for getting his equally sleazy republicans chum to make fake drivers licenses so he could travel incognito
I think he may be doing some serious time
Meanwhile trumps poisonous legacy continues...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/02/us-capitol-lockdown
Baby Gaetz ...
Brilliant 😂
Bloody hell. $64 million!
I occasionally look at a US forum and around the time of the election people who had subscribed to the lists just to see what trump was up to kept mentioning how many requests/demands for money they were getting (some of the requests really were pretty much demands).
Then it seems they had all these dark patterns on top where if someone did donate there were several additional, helpfully preticked, checkboxes with confusing text designed to make people overlooked that although they unticked the "make this a monthly donation" they hadnt unticked several other additional payments including potentially weekly donations for a month.
Its not clear though if it was Trump and co to blame as opposed to the dodgy republican company which ran the scheme since they still charged fees for those payments which were refunded hence costing the overall campaign.
Its not clear though if it was Trump and co to blame as opposed to the dodgy republican company which ran the scheme
I'm pretty sure you'll find that that "company" is just a front for a Trump slush fund. They market this as being for a Trump election campaign, but the small print will include disclaimers that the money can be used for legal fees and other costs. Some of it will be used to pay Trump's lawyers, some of it for "consultants" (i.e. Trump's family and friends), and a whole lot of it will be used to rent Trump hotels and resorts to host "campaign events". You can pretty much guarantee that anything Trump is involved in is designed to funnel money to his pockets.
In amongst all this shit, it turns out that WinRed the political campaign to re-elect Trump is a for-profit. I know this is America, where everything is for sale, but who in the world thought that would be a good idea?
This is good news, for now. NDA's are used to abuse basic freedoms, they should only be allowed to protect specific technical information, not as a blanket silencing of a work force, eg KFC's recipe and not that the colonel is an old white supremacist.
Well, Trump loves the poorly-educated, and now we know why. Suckers.
Poor bloke's got hundreds of millions in loans coming due.
It should be noted that the eyewatering figure is just those who noticed the money coming out and actively pursued a refund. I'm sure there are plenty more who either haven't yet noticed, or simply stopped the payments at some point and wrote the money off.
One year ago.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-56921179
Rudy Giuliani, the personal lawyer to former President Donald Trump, has had his Manhattan home searched by federal investigators.
The raid was ordered as part of a probe into Mr Giuliani's dealings with Ukraine, officials say.
Federal prosecutors have been investigating Mr Giuliani's role in attempting to sway Ukrainian officials to dig up political dirt on Joe Biden.
The effort to pressure Ukraine led to Mr Trump's first impeachment in 2019.
