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Author Topic: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2  (Read 290309 times)

Offline Rick Plant

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #5752 on: August 19, 2022, 11:47:48 AM »
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Here's more lies from the GOP.

This is coming from the Official GOP Twitter account but it's the same phony talking points that the right wing media pushes on a daily basis to their gullible base.


GOP @GOP

Americans are seeing a historic border crisis that Joe Biden created.
#BidenBorderCrisis


https://twitter.com/GOP/status/1560267022339952641


GOP @GOP

Border Patrol agents have made about 1.82 million arrests at the southern border in the government’s fiscal year so far.

https://twitter.com/GOP/status/1559791133647052800


These are the garbage talking points right wingers push all day long.

First of all, Biden did not "create a border crisis". He was handed a border crisis by Criminal Donald who made a disaster out of our southern border. You can easily see the date from the article below.

Second, all those arrests prove Biden's border policy is working because illegals are not making it into the United States since they are being arrested. The GOP tries to pathetically gaslight people into thinking arrests are "bad".

That's what the GOP does....lies, gaslights, and pushes conspiracy theories.

So, you can see the article directly below is dated April 5, 2019. Biden was not in office in 2019. So, he did not "create a border crisis" in which the Official GOP Twitter account lied about above. Criminal Donald was in office in 2019 and he failed to fix the border crisis HE created and handed off to Biden along with the rest of his disasters.

See how the GOP lies? Donnie created the border crisis but right wingers lie using projection accusing Biden instead when he wasn't even in office in 2019. The GOP exists to lie and cover up for Criminal Donald. Absolutely pathetic.

For 4 years Criminal Donald failed to achieve a border security policy with Mexico. He claimed he would make Mexico pay for a  wall. Mexico laughed at him and mocked him refusing to pay for anything. Donnie failed miserably.

Just a few weeks ago, President Biden met with the Mexican President and easily got him to pay $1.5 Billion for border security.

President Biden did what Donnie could never do. So, when you see the GOP lie accusing President Biden of "not securing the border" you will know it's already been secured as Mexico is paying to secure the border thanks to President Biden.

                 
Yes, There’s a Crisis on the Border. And It’s Trump’s Fault.
April 05, 2019
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/04/05/border-crisis-donald-trump-226573/

Mexico agrees to provide $1.5 billion to help U.S. manage migrants on southern border
The agreement was discussed Tuesday when Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador met with President Joe Biden at the White House.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/mexico-agrees-provide-15-billion-help-us-manage-migrants-southern-bord-rcna37889

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #5752 on: August 19, 2022, 11:47:48 AM »


Offline Rick Plant

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #5753 on: August 19, 2022, 05:38:50 PM »
'Smart strategy': CNN's Elie Honig explains how DOJ has made it easier to nail Trump

CNN legal analyst Elie Honig on Friday laid out how the United States Department of Justice had made it easier to potentially prove that former President Donald Trump violated the Espionage Act by stashing away top secret government documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

In breaking down newly released documents related to the Mar-a-Lago search, Honig zeroed in the fact that the DOJ is saying it has evidence of willful retention of classified documents.

"As a prosecutor you don't shoot for the highest possible statute, you don't have to go right to the James Bond stuff if there is an easier way to get there," he said. "And this, the description of the crime that we now see in this document willful retention of national defense information, that's the easiest way to prove it. That's smart strategy."

Honig emphasized, however, that the DOJ did not name Trump specifically as the person who may have willfully retained documents, he said it's hard to imagine anyone else at Mar-a-Lago being guilty of this crime, as Trump is the one who "calls the shots."

"It would shock me if it was anybody but Donald Trump," he emphasized.

Watch the video below:


Offline Rick Plant

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #5754 on: August 19, 2022, 09:38:35 PM »
DOJ 'concerned something nefarious was going on' with Trump and top-secret documents: WaPo reporter



The Department of Justice believes former President Donald Trump may have been up to "something nefarious" by stashing top-secret government documents at his private resort in Florida.

FBI agents searched Mar-A-Lago last week and seized 11 sets of documents the National Archives had been seeking for more than a year, and Washington Post reporter Amber Phillips told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that recent court filings showed investigators were interested in more than simply getting those papers back.

"Step back and try to think about this because there is a lot going on, and it's all heating up right now," Phillips said. "I think we're right to be talking about this Mar-A-Lago raid a lot, and that's because the FBI agents had to go out there and spell out examples of crimes they think Trump or his allies committed in Trump's residence, and a judge agreed that there is possible cause. I mean, it's right there. This is pretty serious."

"Now the question that I have and legal experts have that I talk to have said is, did the FBI just want the documents badly enough to go in there and get them and then they're done, or do they think there was some kind of misuse, and yesterday's hearing, I thought, in court, reading a little bit of the tea leaves underscored that the FBI and the Justice Department are concerned that something nefarious was going on," Phillips added. "There is still an ongoing case, we'll mess up our prosecution if we keep this going. That is the No. 1 case to follow, and after that there is another Justice Department investigation into Jan. 6 that has hundreds of defendants, and they're looking into President Trump's words and actions regarding the Electoral College votes, and we could talk more about that in a minute. But it is a big one."

Watch the video below:


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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #5754 on: August 19, 2022, 09:38:35 PM »


Offline Rick Plant

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #5755 on: August 20, 2022, 10:10:29 AM »
Federal judge denies Lindsey Graham's latest 'unpersuasive' attempt to evade grand jury subpoena



For the second time this week a federal judge has denied U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham‘s attempt to evade a grand jury subpoena requiring him to testify in the investigation of Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, calling his legal argument “unpersuasive.”

U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May Friday afternoon responded to Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis’ request to order the GOP Senator from South Carolina to appear before the Special Purpose Grand Jury (SPGJ).

“Senator Graham’s arguments are entirely unpersuasive,” Judge May writes, as Politico’s Kyle Cheney notes, “and they do not even demonstrate a ‘substantial case on the merits.’ As an initial matter, Senator Graham takes issue with the Court’s recognition that his sole request-to quash the subpoena in its entirety–was built largely (if not entirely) on the premise that Senator Graham will only be questioned about the phone calls, which Senator Graham characterizes as legitimate legislative factfinding exercises and thus completely protected by the Speech or Debate Clause.”

“Instead, Senator Graham maintains that he believes that the ‘other topics’ will simply be used as a ‘backdoor’ for questioning him about the phone calls,” the judge adds. “The problem for Senator Graham is that the record thoroughly contradicts his suggestion that the District Attorney and grand jury simply wish to use questions on other topics as a ‘backdoor’ to asking him about the legislative fact- finding on the phone calls.”

Judge May found Sen. Graham had “no basis” to claim he should not be ordered to testify, and ordered him to testify on August 23.

“The Court finds no basis for concluding that its holdings as to these issues are likely to be reversed on the merits,” Judge May wrote. “Holding otherwise would allow any sitting senator to shield all manner of potential criminal conduct occurring during a phone call merely by asserting the purpose of the call was legislative fact-finding-no matter whether the call subsequently took a different turn.”

Graham still has other avenues to use to try to evade the lawful subpoena.

As Politico’s Kyle Cheney, who broke this development notes, “the question of a stay rests with the appeals court, which received Graham’s case yesterday.”

Judge May appears to strongly agree with DA Willis’ assessment. The judge writes, “the public interest is well-served when a lawful investigation aimed at uncovering the facts and circumstances of alleged attempts to disrupt or influence Georgia’s elections is allowed to proceed without unnecessary encumbrances.”

In her motion Friday morning Willis wrote, “Senator Graham insists that he seeks to delay his appearance before the Special Purpose Grand Jury not just for his own sake, but also for the sake of the separation of powers, federalism, and ‘for the People.’”

“The Special Purpose Grand Jury, however, is the People,” Willis eloquently explained, “a collection of citizens called together to perform their civic duty on behalf of their neighbors and families. They have sacrificed their time, effort, energy, and attention for months in order to investigate matters that affect themselves, their community, and the nation as a whole. The District Attorney asks that this Court deny Senator Graham’s motion in order that he, for a single day, can assist them in that great task without further delay. The People have requested Senator Graham’s testimony and stand ready to receive it. All that is left is for the Senator to meet them.”

https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1560687983304609793

Offline Rick Plant

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #5756 on: August 20, 2022, 10:21:43 AM »
Appeals court orders release of key memo Bill Barr used to justify refusal to prosecute Trump in Mueller probe



The Department of Justice must release a full copy of a March 2019 memo supporting then-attorney general William Barr's conclusion that Donald Trump should not be prosecuted in the Russia investigation.

The District of Columbia Circuit court affirmed a 2021 decision by U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordering the release of the Justice Department memo, which concluded the former president should not be prosecuted for obstruction of justice by special counsel Robert Mueller.

"The court determined that the Department had failed to carry its burden to show the deliberative-process privilege applied," the appeals court found. "In particular, the court held that the Department had not identified a relevant agency decision as to which the memorandum formed part of the deliberations. The Department’s submissions, the court explained, indicated that the memorandum conveyed advice about whether to charge the President with a crime. But the court’s in camera review of the memorandum revealed that the Department in fact never considered bringing a charge."

"Instead, the memorandum concerned a separate decision that had gone entirely unmentioned by the government in its submissions to the court — what, if anything, to say to Congress and the public about the Mueller Report," the court added.

Jackson's ruling two years ago accused Barr of being “disingenuous” when describing Mueller’s findings and found the DOJ was not candid about the purpose and role of the memo, which was prepared by the department's Office of Legal Counsel.

“Not only was the Attorney General being disingenuous then, but DOJ has been disingenuous to this Court with respect to the existence of a decision-making process that should be shielded by the deliberative process privilege,” she wrote. “The agency’s redactions and incomplete explanations obfuscate the true purpose of the memorandum, and the excised portions belie the notion that it fell to the Attorney General to make a prosecution decision or that any such decision was on the table at any time.”

AFP



Trump legal adviser ordered to testify in 2020 election interference probe



A judge in Colorado on Tuesday ordered a legal adviser for former President Donald Trump’s campaign to travel to Georgia to testify before a special grand jury that’s looking into whether Trump and others illegally tried to influence the 2020 election in Georgia.

Judge Gregory Lammons in Fort Collins, Colorado, made the decision after holding a hearing on a request from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to compel testimony from attorney Jenna Ellis. Prosecutors are interested in Ellis’s role in helping to coordinate and plan legislative hearings in Georgia and others states where false allegations of election fraud were pushed, according to testimony in court.

Fulton County prosecutors have purchased plane tickets and made a hotel reservation in preparation for Ellis to testify on Aug. 25.

The investigation, prompted by a January 2021 phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, began early last year. During that call, Trump suggested Raffensperger could “find” the votes to overturn his narrow election loss in the state. It has become clear since the special grand jury was seated in May that the focus of the investigation extends well beyond that call.

Willis last month filed petitions with the judge overseeing the special grand jury seeking to compel testimony from seven Trump associates and advisers, including Ellis, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and former New York mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani. Because they don’t live in Georgia, she had to use a process that involves getting a judge in the state where they’re located to order them to appear before the special grand jury in Atlanta.

Giuliani, who’s been notified he’s a target of the investigation, is set to testify before the special grand jury on Wednesday. Graham’s subpoena orders him to testify on Aug. 23, but he has said he’ll appeal a judge’s Monday order declining to quash his subpoena.

In the petition seeking Ellis’s testimony, Willis identified her as “an attorney for the Trump Campaign’s legal efforts seeking to influence the results of the November 2020 election in Georgia and elsewhere.”

https://news.yahoo.com/trump-legal-adviser-ordered-testify-222057033.html

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #5756 on: August 20, 2022, 10:21:43 AM »


Offline Rick Plant

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #5757 on: August 20, 2022, 10:46:22 AM »
These are today's MAGA Trump endorsed Republicans...conspiracy theorists, racist, violent, and antisemitc.

Kari Lake endorsed an antisemitic Oklahoma Republican who says ‘the Jews’ are evil



Less than a month ago, Kari Lake rejected an endorsement from a prominent antisemite, saying that she “absolutely denounces bigotry in all its forms, especially anti-semitism.”

This week, the Republican nominee for Arizona’s governor gave her full-throated endorsement to an Oklahoma legislative candidate who has said “the Jews” are evidence that “evil exists.” Lake said he is a “fighter” and a “patriot” who is attacked by “the Soros media” — an antisemitc reference to wealthy businessman and philanthropist George Soros, who is Jewish — because he is “over the target.”

Late Friday afternoon, a Phoenix Jewish group called on Lake to rescind her endorsement of Jackson, calling it “appalling.”

Jarrin Jackson, a far-right streamer who won a GOP primary for the Oklahoma State Senate in June, has repeatedly posted antisemitic things on his Telegram page.

In February, after watching a right-wing documentary about enemies of Christianity, he criticized the film for not explicitly naming what is evil in the world.

“Outline & detail the evil…” Jackson wrote. “The Jews, Illuminati, Covid shots kill. Rothschilds. Communists. Woke pastors. Social gospel. Christ will chuck a bunch of stuff in the fire.”

Media Matters for America, a liberal watchdog, found that Jackson frequently references the Rothschilds on his Telegram page. References to the wealthy Jewish family are a frequent antisemitic trope, and “has become a generic term for greedy and manipulative Jewish billionaires,” according to the American Jewish Committee.

In one instance, Jackson said he “would’ve rolled my eyes at people invoking ‘Rothschilds’ or ‘MK Ultra’ or other conspiracy theories” until Trump lost the 2020 election. In another, he spread a conspiracy theory that one of the Rothschilds “applied for & was granted the patent for COVID-19 testing. In 2015.” The first application for a COVID-19 testing patent wasn’t made until May 2020.

Project MKUltra was the code name of a quasi-legal human experimentation program designed and undertaken by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Most prominently, it researched mind-control through the use of psychedelic drugs and other measures.

Jackson has also endorsed a white nationalist and neo-Nazi conspiracy theory that is a variation on the so-called “great replacement” theory. The theory, also known as the Kalergi Plan, posits that global elites — especially Jewish people — are trying to rid the world of white people through immigration and interracial breeding.

The idea has led to deadly violence: In 2018, an antisemite who believed a Jewish humanitarian group that aided refugees and immigrants was trying to wipe out white people massacred 11 worshippers in a Pittsburgh synagogue.

Per Media Matters:

Roughly 18 minutes into the 26 and-a-half minute video, Jackson played a clip of a narrator claiming that “an unholy alliance of leftists, capitalists and Zionist supremacists has schemed to promote immigration and miscegenation with the deliberate aim of breeding us out of existence in our own homelands.” In the clip, repeated images of the Star of David and the phrase “diversity is white genocide” were displayed.

Jackson responded to the clip by stating that he thinks the Kalergi Plan is “real.”


Jackson went on to say that he believes the “great replacement” theory, and said people who support American immigration are trying to wipe out white Christians.

“It’s not nativism. It’s common sense. But the real issue at the core here is that — I can’t believe no one else sees this. They want to get rid of white people because of their Christianity,” he said.

In late July, less than a week before the Aug. 2 primary election, a Lake campaign spokesman told the Arizona Mirror that the former TV newscaster rejected the endorsement of Andrew Torba, the founder of the far-right social media platform Gab and an avowed antisemite.

“It goes without saying, the Kari Lake Campaign for Governor absolutely denounces bigotry in all its forms, especially anti-semitism. We have never sought this endorsement,” spokesman Ross Trumble said in an emailed statement at the time.

Trumble did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Friday about Lake’s decision to endorse Jackson.

Jackson posted a statement from Lake on Twitter on Aug. 17 when he announced her endorsement: “We need fighters in EVERY state (and) that’s why I’m proud to endorse Jarrin Jackson for Oklahoma state senate! Jarrin is an America First patriot and does so much to advance our America First movement. RINOs & the Soros media attack him relentlessly because he’s over the target. Jarrin is a winner and a fighter we need in the state senate!”

Jackson has also been endorsed by Arizona Republicans Mark Finchem, who is the GOP nominee for secretary of state, and state Sen. Wendy Rogers. Both Finchem and Rogers touted the endorsement of Torba, who has said that Jewish people shouldn’t be welcomed by conservatives.

The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Phoenix issued a statement to the Mirror late Friday afternoon calling on Lake and Finchem to pull their endorsements and denounce Jackson.

“Kari Lake’s and Mark Finchem’s endorsements of the antisemitic Oklahoma State Senate Candidate Jarrin Jackson is appalling. We are judged by our relations, and the company we keep,” the organization said. “There is no room for support for antisemitic bigots from those who want to lead Arizona.”

But the group didn’t make the same demand of Rogers, who has openly embraced white nationalists and made antisemitic comments on social media multiple times.

“We are not going to bother asking Rogers to rescind her endorsement or issue a denunciation because her antisemitism is well-documented–we know who she is, and what she stands for,” the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Phoenix said.

Lake won the Aug. 2 primary election, defeating wealthy developer Karrin Taylor Robson to earn the Republican nomination for governor. She faces Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, the Democratic nominee, in November.

A poll released this week that was commissioned by Fox News found Hobbs leading Lake by three percentage points.

https://www.azmirror.com/2022/08/19/kari-lake-endorsed-an-antisemitic-oklahoma-republican-who-says-the-jews-are-evil/


Trump-endorsed gubernatorial candidate appears with Nazi sympathizer and QAnon-linked activists at campaign events



(CNN) - Kari Lake, the Arizona gubernatorial candidate recently endorsed by former President Donald Trump, has embraced fringe far-right figures in her campaign events, including publicly thanking a Nazi sympathizer for his support and appearing with figures linked to the QAnon conspiracy, a CNN KFile review of her appearances has found.

At a campaign event in late August, Lake posed for a photo and video with far-right personalities Ethan Schmidt-Crockett, the founder of the AntiMaskersClub, who harassed a store specializing in wigs for cancer patients this summer because it required customers to wear masks, and Greyson Arnold, a Nazi sympathizer who has a history of making White nationalist, racist, antisemitic and pro-Nazi statements, including once calling Adolf Hitler "a complicated historical figure which many people misunderstand."

"Anti-maskers club here with Kari Lake," said Schmidt-Crockett alongside Lake and Arnold in the video. "America First," they each said.

After Arnold posted a photo of the trio on Twitter, Lake replied, "It was a pleasure to meet you, too."

Lake became an early favorite in the GOP primary by embracing the once-fringe extremism now mainstream within the Republican Party, including promoting election lies, doubling down against mask and vaccine mandates, and calling for the imprisonment of Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, who is also running for governor. GOP Gov. Doug Ducey cannot run again next year because of term limits.

The former longtime TV anchor at a Phoenix Fox affiliate station has also earned the endorsement of other far-right conspiracy theorists, including Rep. Paul Gosar, former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.

In the wake of Trump's loss to Joe Biden in Arizona last year, the state GOP has censured Republicans who have spoken out against Trump's efforts to overturn the election, while support for the partisan audit of Maricopa County's election has become a litmus test for candidates in GOP primaries for governor and Senate.

On Wednesday, Lake's campaign held what it called an "election integrity" rally to commemorate the anniversary of the 2020 election, which she falsely promotes as the "Big Steal" in event flyers.

Lake posed for a photo last month with Ron Watkins, a MAGA conspiracy theorist who helped spread and amplify the violent far-right QAnon conspiracy across social media.

Watkins, who is running for Congress in Arizona's 1st Congressional District, wrote in the post, "Just had dinner with Kari Lake, the next Governor of Arizona. She inspires me with her tenacity and willingness to lead the fight to take back Arizona from do-nothing RINOs."

After publication, an attorney for the Lake campaign reached out to CNN and pointed to a statement from Lake denying she had dinner with Watkins, as he had described on Telegram, and saying he was among many she had met at a campaign event.

"There were more than 75 Arizona voters there who showed up to hear me speak about our candidacy. I took photos with many of the people who asked for them. I take dozens of photos with Arizonans each day at campaign events across the state," Lake said.

Timothy La Sota, an attorney for the campaign, added that Lake "does not do a background check on everyone she takes a photo with or everyone whose name she ever mentions."

At a Back the Blue campaign event in early October, Lake's campaign invited right-wing activist Mary Ann Mendoza, who lost her police officer son in a crash involving an undocumented immigrant, to speak.

Last year, Mendoza promoted a QAnon-laced conspiracy theory tweet thread that baselessly alleged Jews were plotting to take over the world, causing the Republican National Convention to abruptly drop her from its speaking lineup.

Lake also appeared at events with at least two Republicans who have run or are running for Congress and have engaged with the QAnon conspiracy theory, Josh Barnett and Daniel Wood.

Barnett, who is running in Arizona's 6th Congressional District, previously shared numerous QAnon hashtags on his social media platforms (including the innocuous-looking #savethechildren). Although he has since distanced himself from the conspiracy theory, he has become active in pushing for Arizona's sham election audit.

Lake has praised Barnett on social media as "an American hero" and "patriot" who "deserves so much credit for making sure the debacle election of 2020 was investigated. The forensic audit would not have happened without you."
There was no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election and the sham audit confirmed that Biden had defeated Trump in Maricopa County.

While speaking at a Q&A in October, Lake praised Barnett, who sat in the audience, for assisting with that audit.

"We have some people like Josh, in here, who's been helping get them rolling in Georgia, Pennsylvania. And this is a real patriot right here. Can Josh stand up? I'm sorry. I have to call you out," she said. "Josh Barnett is one of the most amazing -- I always say that our grandkids will be toasting him in, in a bar in 50 years as one of the people who helped save the republic."

In May, before she officially launched her gubernatorial bid, Lake also spoke at the same Arizona MAGA conference as Barnett and Wood, a Republican who ran in Arizona's 3rd Congressional District last year. Wood previously said he has followed QAnon "at times" and that while he's cautious about the movement, "it has millions of followers who really want our country to succeed."

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/04/politics/kfile-kari-lake-nazi-symapthizer-qanon-figure/index.html

Offline Rick Plant

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #5758 on: August 20, 2022, 11:24:46 AM »
Pittsburgh-area faith leaders decry Mastriano's ties to Gab, joint appearance with Florida Gov. DeSantis here Friday



PITTSBURGH — A Pittsburgh-area group of faith and community leaders say they are speaking out against hate by criticizing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appearing in Pittsburgh on Friday with state Sen. Doug Mastriano, the Republican candidate for governor of Pennsylvania.

Jewish community leader Meryl Ainsman said they are "concerned community leaders and religious leaders from various segments of the Pittsburgh community. And we're just grouped together in a grassroots effort to try and combat hate and vitriol that might come out of this upcoming election. As we said, we are non-partisan. We are mainly based on the concept of this is no place for hate."

They spotlighted Mastriano's payment of thousands of campaign dollars to the website called Gab for advertising and consulting services to reach Gab users. That site is widely cited as a haven for antisemitism and extremism. After repeated criticism, Mastriano appears to have suspended his campaign's Gab account. His association is in the spotlight again because Mastriano will be joined by DeSantis for a political event in Pittsburgh on Friday.

Gab was the site on which Robert Bowers, who is charged in the Tree of Life Synagogue mass shooting in Pittsburgh, was active. He sent a message on Gab saying he was "going in," moments before the synagogue attack.

"This is personal to me. I have been speaking out about Doug Mastriano's affiliation with Gab, the website so fraught with antisemitic and racist sentiments because in addition to being concerned about the future of Pennsylvania, I am a 62-year-old member of the Tree of Life," said Jeffrey Letwin, another Jewish community leader. "Mastriano's ties to Gab are alarming. They're disgusting, they're terrifying, but they're not surprising. This is yet another example of Mastriano's obsession with dangerous hatred in our communities."

The Rev. Richard Freeman, of Resurrection Baptist Church of Braddock, said, "We are stronger than hate. It has no place in these United States. It should not have a place in the gubernatorial race."

Brother Mizanoor Biswas, chairman of the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh, said, "I'm not here to say I support the Republican candidate or Democratic candidate. But what I'm talking about is hate-mongering."

Pittsburgh's Action News 4 reached out to the Mastriano campaign and to spokespeople for DeSantis and we're awaiting responses. Allegheny County Republican Committee Chair Sam DeMarco declined comment. We also have requests in to the Pennsylvania Republican Party and the national Republican party.

https://www.wtae.com/article/doug-mastriano-ron-desantis-pittsburgh-area-faith-leaders/40923955



Miri Rabinowitz: Mastriano and Gab: Words of hate can bring about acts of hate

I am the widow of one of the 11 worshippers massacred during the attack at the Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018. Just hours before the carnage at my synagogue began, the Tree of Life attacker posted “screw your optics, I'm going in” on Gab, a social media platform that is a haven for white supremacists, extremists and antisemites.

The shooter was a prominent and verified user of Gab, consistently posting neo-Nazi propaganda and repeatedly calling for violence against Jewish people. He referred to the Jewish people as the “children of Satan.”

These words of hate quickly turned into the deadliest attack on Jewish people in U.S. history — and Gab played a key role.

When it was revealed that the GOP gubernatorial candidate, Doug Mastriano, paid thousands of dollars in “consulting fees” to Gab, I was shocked and disgusted. However, when it was revealed that this money was actually being used to recruit extremists and antisemites to his campaign, I knew I had to speak out.

When Mastriano wrote that check to Gab, did he write “screw the optics” on the memo line, and what has he received in exchange for his payment?

Since Mastriano paid Gab in April, his follower base has grown from under 3,000 to over 37,000, and he’s warmly accepted the endorsement of Gab CEO, Andrew Torba, who has a long history of spreading extreme and anitsemtic rhetoric, saying, “thank god for what you’ve done.”

Even after Republicans, Democrats, Jewish leaders, leaders of all faiths and organizations across the country, including the Anti-Defamation League, called on Mastriano to denounce Gab and Torba, Mastriano refused.

Following recent criticism of Gab, tens of thousands of users, many of whom support Mastriano, are inciting violence and making dangerous threats against Jewish people. Media Matters discovered hundreds of violent posts, saying things such as “WHERE IS ADOLPH WHEN HE IS NEEDED,” and others have called for the literal extermination of all Jews.

Mastriano’s initial willingness to pay and post on Gab and now his failure to condemn Gab — or his own supporters — who are literally calling for violence against Jewish people is not only appalling, but dangerous. If you are Jewish, Muslim, Black, an immigrant or anyone other than a white supremacist, the message is clear, and you should be alarmed.

On that horrific October day in 2018, my husband, Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz, and 10 fellow other worshippers were murdered, others were injured, our entire community was traumatized, and our lives were forever changed. Healing is difficult and slow.

Each mass shooting that targets immigrants, communities of color or religious minorities has the same root cause — white supremacy — and each of these tragedies triggers painful memories of that awful day and its aftermath.

This violence does not emerge out of nowhere. In part, it is fueled by elected officials who enact racist policies and by those who turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to this moral evil.

Let’s be clear: Words of hate can bring about acts of hate.

We must hold our leaders accountable. We must demand that our elected officials speak out and act against white supremacy. And we must vote for leaders who will condemn violence, dangerous rhetoric and white supremacy — rather than encourage it.

Miri Rabinowitz is a researcher in the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Pittsburgh. She is a 25-year member of Congregation Dor Hadash, one of the three congregations sharing worship space at the Tree of Life building on the day of the attack.

https://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2022/08/18/tree-of-life-antisemitism-gab-doug-mastriano-miri-rabinowitz-gop-gubernatorial-social-media-jewish-torba/stories/202208180017

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #5758 on: August 20, 2022, 11:24:46 AM »


Offline Rick Plant

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #5759 on: August 20, 2022, 05:56:33 PM »
'Deeply dangerous nonsense': Treasury Dept. debunks GOP lies about 87,000 armed IRS agents

An official from the U.S. Treasury Department confirmed Friday that, contrary to the unrelenting barrage of lies repeated by GOP operatives for over a week, the Internal Revenue Service is not going to hire 87,000 new agents to harass working people at their homes.

Not a single Republican in the House or Senate voted for the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that was passed through the filibuster-proof budget reconciliation process last week and signed into law by President Joe Biden on Tuesday, choosing instead to condemn the package's relatively modest but popular tax reforms.

Despite analysts' predictions that the 98.2% of U.S. households with annual incomes of $400,000 or less will receive the same tax bill or a slight cut as a result of the IRA, far-right lawmakers have sown disinformation about how the law's provision of roughly $80 billion in new IRS funding over 10 years—money intended to help the agency crack down on rich tax cheats—poses a threat to every American.

Last week, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) went so far as to claim that Democrats are "using the power of the federal government for armed robbery!" Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has made similar allegations.

It's not just fringe members of the GOP who are spreading such falsehoods. One day before Boebert's tirade, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), the highest-ranking Republican in the lower chamber, tweeted, "Democrats in Washington plan to hire an army of 87,000 IRS agents so they can audit more Americans like you."

On Wednesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis—currently a top contender, along with former President Donald Trump, to be the Republican Party's 2024 nominee for the White House—called hiring 87,000 IRS agents "a middle finger to the American public," making clear that he would prefer more "might at the border."

Where does this oft-repeated number of IRS agents come from?

"The 87,000 figure does exist, buried within a May 2021 Treasury Department report when the Biden administration was pushing a bigger spending bill with the same $80 billion IRS funding," Reuters noted Friday. "The report estimated the money could fund 86,852 full-time hires through 2031."

But the actual net increase in staff would be much lower, as the IRS expects more than 50,000 aging Baby Boomer employees to retire over the next half-decade.

In addition to an unspecified number of new revenue agents—there were 8,321 in fiscal year 2021—the agency is looking to hire tens of thousands of new information technology specialists and customer service personnel who can create a user experience more akin to online banking, Natasha Sarin, Treasury counselor for tax policy and administration, told Reuters.

There are 2,100 special agents in the IRS Criminal Investigation branch who are authorized to carry firearms, but right-wing assertions that all 87,000 new hires would be auditors, criminal enforcement agents, or armed are "deeply dangerous nonsense—and false," said Sarin.

"The speed and voracity with which [Republicans] are coming at this is really a testament to how important these resources are going to be—because there are many wealthy tax evaders that stand to lose a lot," Sarin continued.

The GOP's intentionally misleading attacks come after a decade of budget cuts approved by congressional Republicans left the IRS with 16,000 fewer employees in 2021 than it had in 2010.

As ProPublica has documented, the IRS now audits low-income taxpayers at the same rate as the top 1%, but that is a direct result of years of austerity, which have undermined the agency's ability to audit the rich.

The IRA's boost in IRS funding aims to rectify this injustice and to begin closing an estimated $600 billion annual "tax gap"—the difference between taxes paid and owed—by strengthening enforcement against the complex avoidance strategies used by the wealthy, especially those with murky sources of income.

New information technology hires will develop "tools to identify more high-end audit targets," Reuters reported. "To target wealthy taxpayers and handle sophisticated audits, Sarin said the IRS needs mid-career individuals with accounting and often tax law experience."

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the increase in IRS funding will raise $204 billion in additional revenue over 10 years, while the Treasury projects that the real revenue impact will likely be $400 billion over a decade—a substantial portion of the IRA's climate and healthcare spending.

Earlier this week, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen instructed IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig—a scandal-plagued Trump appointee who spent decades battling the agency—to submit an $80 billion spending and hiring plan within six months. Yellen previously directed the agency not to use any new resources to increase audits of people making less than $400,000 per year.

https://www.rawstory.com/irs-agent/