Monitoring Biden and other Contemporary Events

@Frank Apisa,

Be fair, those two go back a long way, Giuliani appeared in drag in one of Trump's weird self promoting films.

@oralloy,

oralloy wrote:

Rebelofnj wrote:
And during the Bush Administration, the FBI have considered certain acts of vandalism and arson as terrorism. Actually targeting noncombatant civilians is not required to count acts of violence as terrorism.

It's hard to envision how vandalism or non-fatal arson could be considered terrorism.

That has been the case for decades, according to the FBI Top 10 Most Wanted for Domestic Terrorism. Only 4 suspects of the Top 10 had actually killed civilians. Everyone else committed crime ranging from air piracy to conspiracy to commit violent acts.
https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/dt

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@Frank Apisa,

As Izzy said, Giuliani and Trump do have a history. And I'm not sure Rudy would have been much more dignified even if Trump had grown up in another town.

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@Rebelofnj,

Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act

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Important reporting here on a guy working with and for DeSantis. It's a must read

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@snood,

snood wrote:

I think people sign on with him because they see an avenue to more $ or prestige or power, and they hang on to him and shut their eyes to the foulness of the man until they have no choice but to acknowledge that he is what everyone else has known he is.

I figure that might be a huge part of it, Snood. But the guy is a Typhoid Mary...and one would expect some of the people destroyed to have been smart enough to avoid him.

But...I guess in today's society...$'s trump (!) everything.

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@izzythepush,

izzythepush wrote:

Be fair, those two go back a long way, Giuliani appeared in drag in one of Trump's weird self promoting films.

Yeah, they do. And because of that Giuliani went from being America's Mayor...to being Trump's bitch.

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@blatham,

blatham wrote:

As Izzy said, Giuliani and Trump do have a history. And I'm not sure Rudy would have been much more dignified even if Trump had grown up in another town.

They both disgrace what I consider a great town! You know how much I love to visit the City. Those two are like rats in the subways.

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Some people are trying to draw a hard contrast between Britney Griner and Paul Whelan – trying to make the case that somehow Whelan was much more worthy as a person of the efforts to get American citizen released from prison.

They seem to be trying to paint a picture of Griner as a dope-addicted criminal who should have known better than to bring the ten year sentence to hard labor on herself. They are touting Whelan as basically a tough and brave marine who is being betrayed by Biden and the United States.

In the interest of fairness, let’s look at the real people, and not some made-up caricatures. Whelan isn’t some model marine who just stumbled into trouble. Whelan was dishonorably discharged from the marines after being court-martialed. The charges against him included larceny, three counts of dereliction of duty, making a false official statement, forging another’s social security number, and ten instances of passing worthless checks.

When he was arrested in Russia it was for being a spy. I don’t have information about his guilt or innocence regarding the Russian allegations, but I leave it to everyone to judge for themselves whether spying is more, or less serious than having a smidgen of cannabis oil in a vape pen.

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@snood,

Thanks for the background information, snood. I had just read an article in ALJ that made absolutely no mention of his history. I don't consider that good or responsible reporting. People should have ALL the information pertinent to the story, not just bits and pieces chosen by the journalist or editor.

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@snood,

Quote:

Some people are trying to draw a hard contrast between Britney Griner and Paul Whelan – trying to make the case that somehow Whelan was much more worthy as a person of the efforts to get American citizen released from prison.

From where have you seen this criticism coming?

1 Reply

@blatham,

blatham wrote:

Quote:
Some people are trying to draw a hard contrast between Britney Griner and Paul Whelan – trying to make the case that somehow Whelan was much more worthy as a person of the efforts to get American citizen released from prison.

From where have you seen this criticism coming?

I’m a little unsure of how to take that question.

Do you want a list of names, or the physical locations or online sites where I was when I heard or read the criticisms? Are you still formulating your opinion on the issues surrounding Griner’s release, and the sources of the criticisms I’ve heard will somehow help you in firming up your opinion? Or do you ask simply because you are dubious of my veracity when I say these are things I’ve heard?

Whatever. I frequent several social media sites. TikTok, Twitter, Post.news, Facebook, and a little Instagram. The “we abandoned a Marine because Griner is a black lesbian” theme is pretty common right now. That’s mostly where I’ve heard the troublesome stuff.

And two flesh and blood beings expressed to me “disappointment” in Joe Biden for not bringing home the marine before the “famous athlete”. They’re a married couple who agree with each other on everything I know of, so maybe that only counts as one opinion.

Hope this helps you.

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@snood,

Just asking because sincerely curious. I know that the Whelan family, though disappointed, have voiced support for Griner's release. So far as I've been able to discern, the criticisms are coming from right wing voices. That's entirely predictable as acknowledging any Biden-related positives is what they cannot bring themselves to do. And social media voices are very often particularly stupid.

Edit: Just checked a Canadian news site's Facebook page on this story and lots of idiotic comments almost all from right wing types. For news items, sites like FB are really the worst places to spend one's time.

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@blatham,

Yeah, the criticism I heard was from right wing people. My answer provided nothing you didn’t already know.

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Judge Clarence Thomas just committed a crime but there is no way to obtain justice!

What Clarence Thomas Did Was Illegal Says Laurence Tribe
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=buqud2Tf8JY

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Kyrsten Sinema Says She Will Leave the Democratic Party

Just when you thought things might improve.

Actually I was thinking that Manchin would break with the party first. She says she won't caucus with the Republicans so maybe the Democrats will still chair the sub-committees but I'm not sure.

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@izzythepush,

Summarized: UK has an arms trading problem.

An extremely summarized argument:

"Yes, they do."
"No, they don't."
"Yes, they do."
"No, they don't."

oralloy is the master of summarized argument.

1 Reply

@hightor,

hightor wrote:

Kyrsten Sinema Says She Will Leave the Democratic Party

Just when you thought things might improve.

Actually I was thinking that Manchin would break with the party first. She says she won't caucus with the Republicans so maybe the Democrats will still chair the sub-committees but I'm not sure.

I really do believe that the celebrity aspect of being a US Senator is the raison d’etre of this damned heifer. I think Manchin has vestiges of public servant instincts, but Sinema seems to always just take the action that will put her at the fulcrum, and keep the columnists buzzing. Forget about silly stuff like trying to solve problems for her constituents, or govern for the good of Americans.

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@snood,

As Media Matters notes...

Quote:

Tucker Carlson claims Joe Biden wants Paul Whelan to remain imprisoned in Russia because he's white
12/08/22 9:03 PM EST

Fox News host says hostage exchange for Brittney Griner “should never have been made, ever”
12/08/22 8:01 PM EST

Washington Post columnist criticizes hostage exchange that freed Brittney Griner, claims it will “create more hostage-taking”
12/08/22 7:37 PM EST
Elon Musk reinstates Twitter

The WP columnist is, of course, Marc Thiessen

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