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Author Topic: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2  (Read 290458 times)

Offline Rick Plant

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #4400 on: November 24, 2021, 12:02:36 AM »
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Donnie's just doing what he does best....lying. But his lies are always easily refuted with facts. And he had to falsely brag again "how great he was" when he did nothing. The oil reserve was less when he disgracefully left office but was higher when he started.     

Trump issues stunningly false statement criticizing Biden for ‘attack’ on US oil reserves

Donald Trump, the disgraced, former president who is reportedly planning a third campaign, on Tuesday released an exceptionally false statement criticizing President Joe Biden for taking action to combat increasing gas and home heating oil prices.

President Biden Tuesday morning announced he has authorized 50 million barrels of oil to be sold from the U.S. Strategic Oil Reserves, a move that should help lower oil and gas prices that have risen because of OPEC+ policies. Biden is making the move in conjunction with similar moves by five other countries: China, India, Japan, South Korea and the U.K.

“We expect the industry to be passing through these savings to consumers as quickly as possible," a White House official said, as The Wall Street Journal reports.

“The president stands ready to take additional action, if needed, and is prepared to use his full authorities working in coordination with the rest of the world to maintain adequate supply as we exit the pandemic," the White House added.

Trump, in a statement released to the press, outright lied about Biden's move, and about his own performance and that of other U.S. Presidents.

“For decades our Country's very important Strategic Oil Reserves were low or virtually empty in that no President wanted to pay the price of filling them up. I filled them up three years ago, right to the top, when oil prices were very low. Those reserves are meant to be used for serious emergencies, like war, and nothing else," Trump falsely claimed.

As The New York Times' Peter Baker notes, the Strategic Oil Reserves (technically the Strategic Petroleum Reserve,) were far from empty when Trump took office, but they were far less full when he left:

Strategic Petroleum Reserve on the day Trump took office: 695 million barrels

Strategic Petroleum Reserve on the day Trump left office: 638 million barrels


https://eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=WCSSTUS1&f=W

That's not the only lie Trump told.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is authorized to hold up to 714 million barrels (in 2009 it was 727 million barrels), so they were nearly full when Trump took office. He also exposed his ignorance about how the federal government "buys" the oil. The oil is effectively traded to the government as payment (royalties) for drilling leases so presidents not wanting to "pay the price of filling them up" is false as well.

Here's a graph from the U.S. government showing how many barrels of oil are in the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserves, starting in 1980. At no time were they "low or virtually empty," not ever. The chart is highlighted to indicate the day Trump was sworn in to office:



The Reserves have been tapped about 20 times since they were first created in 1975, including to reduce the deficit in 1996 and 1997, in 2011 during the Arab Spring, and as loans to oil companies.

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #4400 on: November 24, 2021, 12:02:36 AM »


Offline Rick Plant

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #4401 on: November 24, 2021, 12:06:50 AM »
Veteran who infiltrated Three Percenters says leaders asked if he was ready to kill



Speaking to MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace, an Army veteran who infiltrated the Three Percenters militia described what he uncovered.

Kristofer Goldsmith, CEO of Sparverius, said that his goal has been to make militia groups "so paranoid that they can't function."

"So, after the election, I was doing things that some other veterans were doing and joining these extremist organizations," said Goldsmith. "Now I was joining them because I wanted to know what they were planning. And I joined the Three Percenters. During the screening, using basically my real profile as an Iraq veteran as background, they're asking me questions about my weapon system, my secondary, meaning my handgun, how I was prepared to use it. What I would do in different tactical scenarios. They specifically asked, and I made recordings because these people are idiots, they were explicitly asking would you kill someone from Antifa or Black Lives Matter. This wasn't an anomaly."

When Goldsmith joined the group, he sought out the Georgia chapter, which he explained was, at one time, the largest and most active militia in the United States.

He recalled another session that he recorded where they asked Goldsmith what his "threat intelligence reports look like in November and ahead of Jan. 6." He said that he's seen that people like Alex Jones have been called into Congress, but he hasn't seen people like Nick Fuentes and the America First PAC, "who were literally riding in an armored fake Humvee all around the country and practicing these insurrections at state capitals trying to intimidate members of those local legislators and governors to overturn the election."

Jan. 6 didn't come out of nowhere, he explained, it was planned in the open. Some actions were plotted on Facebook before they were kicked off.

"My goal and organizations like we the veterans and Veterans for American Ideals of Human Rights are to knock these people off-center," Goldsmith continued. "They have gone unopposed if for years. They've been talking about the violence out in the open, and nobody's done anything. Well, now it's time to engage these people, and you know, I'm not going to go out in the street with a weapon dressing like I did in Iraq, because I'm not an idiot. I can do all this from my home and other veterans who are interested, I would encourage them to do the same. What we want to do is make these groups so paranoid that they can't function."

Wallace was surprised that law enforcement isn't among those working to bring down these militia groups. Goldsmith explained that law enforcement officials are living in a fantasy land, pretending that militias that want to bring down the government have a First Amendment right to do so.

"They have been basically made afraid," Goldsmith said of the law enforcement. "And especially with the Trump administration and Bill Barr's Department of the Justice. Law enforcement was afraid to watch these folks like I did. I'm not a law enforcement official. I can go and buddy up to these people online. Make a fake profile. A fake gab account. and just copy and paste repeat their rhetoric. So, they think I'm one of them then you know, a few days go by of silence and the next thing you know, there are conversations that I recorded."

See the conversation below:


Offline Rick Plant

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #4402 on: November 24, 2021, 06:09:57 AM »
Trump is determined to 'throw gas on the fire' no matter what threats his supporters make: Maggie Haberman



On CNN Tuesday, New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman weighed in on former President Donald Trump's deliberate efforts to worsen the political climate and pit lawmakers against one another.

"The Big Lie, January 6th, Maggie, which all gets back to the former president, Donald Trump," said anchor John Berman. "What extent does this environment help him control the Republican Party in Congress?"

"Well, look, Donald Trump governs by fear and always has governed by fear," said Haberman. "And to the extent that you have Republicans who are looking not just to him as somebody who is their leader but also looking at a common enemy, in their view, in Democrats. And Trump has certainly stoked that, that is in his — to his benefit and in his favor and it is something that he prefers. He wants Republicans to look at Democrats as their enemy."

"You do hear a lot of complaints from Republicans that the atmosphere is just toxic across the board now," added Haberman. "It is no longer just Republicans, but there are these threats that Democratic lawmakers in particular are facing, and that is part of why the climate is so bad. Donald Trump is very good and has been historically, John, at throwing gasoline on a fire. Not tamping it down. And I think that's what you're seeing here."

Watch below:


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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #4402 on: November 24, 2021, 06:09:57 AM »


Offline Rick Plant

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #4403 on: November 24, 2021, 06:16:22 AM »
Violent MAGA's are threatening the lives of GOP members in their own party! They are a dangerous cult! 

Trump supporters' death threats lead to Arizona GOP lawmaker not seeking re-election

An Arizona GOP lawmaker who has stood up to Donald Trump and his "big lie" says he won't seek re-election in part due to death threats from the former president's supporters.

Sen. Paul Boyer is one of the few Republican state senators who've criticized his chamber's partisan audit of 2020 election results in Maricopa County. And Boyer is "best known for his role as the lone Republican vote against holding the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in contempt of a Senate subpoena for election equipment," according to a report from the Arizona Agenda.

Boyer told the Agenda that "several factors" led to his decision not to seek re-election, "including anger at Senate Republican leadership (and Senate President Karen Fann specifically)" and "disillusionment with the direction of his party."

"The birth of his first son in 2019 and the death threats he received in the past year for standing up to the lie that former President Donald Trump won the 2020 election in Arizona also played a significant role, he said," according to the Agenda, which noted that Boyer's family had to get police protection and temporarily leave their home.

"I had to put security doors on my home because of some of the threats I was getting. Nobody should have to have that worry just because of a vote you've taken or didn't take," Boyer said.

Trump attacked Boyer in a statement on July 22, calling the staunchly conservative senator a "RINO if there ever was one" and "nothing but trouble." Trump also signaled support for Boyer's GOP primary challenger, former state Rep. Anthony Kern, who attended the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Responding to Trump's statement on Twitter, Boyer mocked the former president:

"Had Trump built the wall like he promised, perhaps he could've prevented the 40k #BambooBallots from being imported into Arizona," Boyer wrote. "And if he hadn't started an insurrection in D.C. and gotten kicked off here, I could've responded directly to him. So there's that."

According to the Agenda, Boyer said "he wasn't pushed out by Trump's opposition." But he "acknowledged his re-election would be a lot harder with the former president's personal grudge against him and the farther-right wing of the Republican Party's bloodlust for anyone who doesn't toe the Trump line on election fraud."

Offline Rick Plant

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #4404 on: November 24, 2021, 02:18:20 PM »
Thanks to the GOP, any nut can walk around with semi automatic weapons and threaten store employees over a pizza.

Tennessee man holds up Little Caesars with AK-47 after being told of 10-minute wait for pizza



On Tuesday, WVLT reported that a Knoxville, Tennessee man held up a Little Caesars in Cedar Bluff with an AK-47 rifle after being told his pepperoni pizza order would take ten minutes.

"Officers responded to the restaurant just after 9 p.m. Friday where they were told that the suspect, identified as Charles Doty Jr., 53, became upset when he was told that his pepperoni pizza would take ten minutes to make. According to the report, 'he got upset and demanded a free bread stick order and went outside the business to wait for the pizza,'" reported Camruinn Morgan-Ramsey. "When Doty Jr. returned, he had the rifle in hand and was pointing it at employees, demanding his pizza immediately, the report reads. Doty Jr. reportedly stopped an employee who was trying to leave the Little Caesars, asking 'where in the hell he thought he was going,' and a woman waiting in line ended up giving him her pizza in an attempt to get him to leave."

According to the report, police later tracked him down and arrested him. He is charged with aggravated assault and especially aggravated kidnapping.

"He comes walking back in and hasn't pointed at anybody yet. I was taking care of a female customer and she was just getting ready to leave, then he gets the gun. He pointed at me saying where is my damn pizza I want my pizza," said former Little Caesars employee Kimberleigh Smith. "I was shocked it was over a six dollar pizza."

Tennessee's Republican-controlled legislature recently enacted what is known as a "permitless carry" law, allowing people to carry handguns without any training or licensing from the state — although that law does not apply to long guns like the AK-47. Federal background check laws still apply, although these can be circumvented by buying guns through private sales without the involvement of licensed dealers; websites like Armslist.com exist to facilitate these unchecked gun sales.

https://www.rawstory.com/gun-crime-tennessee/

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #4404 on: November 24, 2021, 02:18:20 PM »


Offline Rick Plant

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #4405 on: November 24, 2021, 02:20:47 PM »
January 6 organizer demanded aides buy burner phones with cash to talk with Trump officials



Organizers of the Jan. 6 "Stop the Steal" rally reportedly used "burner phones" purchased with cash to communicate with former president Donald Trump's team — including his son Eric Trump, daughter-in-law Lara Trump, chief of staff Mark Meadows, and campaign consultant Katrina Pierson.

"Kylie Kremer, a top official in the 'March for Trump' group that helped plan the Ellipse rally, directed an aide to pick up three burner phones days before Jan. 6, according to three sources who were involved in the event," Rolling Stone reported Tuesday night. "One of the sources, a member of the 'March for Trump' team, says Kremer insisted the phones be purchased using cash and described this as being 'of the utmost importance.'"

While Kremer used one of the phones to communicate with Trump's team, another was given to her mother, Amy Kremer, who was also a key organizer of the "Stop the Steal" rally that preceded the Capitol insurrection, according to the magazine. It is unclear who received the third phone. The three sources told Rolling Stone that "some of the most crucial planning conversations between top rally organizers and Trump's inner circle took place on those burner phones."

"That was when the planning for the event on the Ellipse was happening, she needed burner phones in order to communicate with high level people is how she put it," the March For Trump team member said of Kylie Kremer. "They were planning all kinds of stuff, marches and rallies. Any conversation she had with the White House or Trump family took place on those phones."

Kylie Kremer reportedly directed an aide to purchase the phones in Palm Springs, California, one week before the Jan. 6 rally. In addition to the nationwide "March for Trump" bus tour that culminated in the "Stop the Steal" rally, the Kremers led "Women for America First," which obtained the permit for the Jan. 6 event.

"Burner phones — cheap, prepaid cells designed for temporary usage — do not require users to have an account. This makes them hard to trace and ideal for those who are seeking anonymity — particularly if they are purchased with cash," Rolling Stone reported. "The use of burner phones could make it more difficult for congressional investigators to find evidence of coordination between Trump's team and rally planners."

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-capitol-riot-2655785834/

Offline Rick Plant

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #4406 on: November 24, 2021, 02:28:09 PM »
Manhattan DA is investigating the Trump Organization-owned 40 Wall Street for changing its valuation from $527 million to just $16.7 million a few months later

Investigators are reportedly probing swings in valuations of properties owned by the Trump Organization

In 2012 it valued 40 Wall Street at $527 million, according to the Washington Post, but months later said it was worth only $16.7 million

The scrutiny follows the indictment this summer of the company and its chief financial officer on charges of running a scheme to evade taxes


The Manhattan district attorney is investigating how the Trump Organization gave widely differing valuations for a number of its properties, it emerged on Monday.

Prosecutors appear to be examining whether the company broke the law by giving low values in tax assessments, while using high ones to generate tax breaks or bolster loan applications, according to the Washington Post.

In particular they are looking at 40 Wall Street, which in June 2012 was described by the Trump Organization as worth $527 million in a list of assets - making it among the most valuable in New York.

But months later the company told tax officials it was worth only $16.7 million, according to city records.

The scrutiny follows the indictment this summer of the company and its chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg, who have been charged with a scheme to evade taxes.

Weisselberg and the company deny wrongdoing and are contesting the charges.

The company says the investigation is a witch hunt and a waste of resources while New York is coping with surging crime. 

In recent weeks, it was reported that Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance has convened a new special grand jury to hear evidence against the company.

Along with New York Attorney General Letitia James, it has been investigating whether Trump valued his holdings one way when seeking loans and a different way when preparing taxes - allegations raised by Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen in congressional testimony.

'It was my experience that Mr. Trump inflated his total assets when it served his purposes, such as trying to be listed amongst the wealthiest people in Forbes, and deflated his assets to reduce his real estate taxes,' Cohen said in 2019. 

The New York Times also reported last month that Westchester District Attorney Mimi Rocah had launched a probe into whether the Trump Organization misled officials to secure tax cuts for a golf course.

Among other properties reportedly under investigation are the former president's California golf club - allegedly valued at $900,000 or $25 million depending on the audience - and an estate in suburban New York, valued at $56 million through to $291 million, according to the Washington Post.

'This is way, way beyond anything that's believable,' Norm Miller, professor of real estate finance at the University of San Diego, told the newspaper. 'I've never seen anything with a gap that extreme.'

The 72-story skyscraper at 40 Wall Street was among Trump's proudest acquisitions, but Reuters last month reported that problem that pre-dated the pandemic were getting worse.

After the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, tenants began exploring whether they could abandon their leases.

And occupancy was 84% in March 2021, well below the average of about 89% for that downtown New York office market, according to Mike Brotschol, managing director of KBRA Analytics LLC.

The rents Trump has been able to charge are lower, too – between $38 and $42 per square foot in a market where the average runs closer to $50, he said.

The property's financials have tumbled into risky territory, the reports say.

Trump took out a $160 million loan in 2015 to refinance 40 Wall Street – personally guaranteeing $26 million. Last year, the building was placed on an industry watchlist for commercial mortgage-backed securities at risk of defaulting, according to reports by KBRA and Trepp, which also monitors real-estate loans.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10230275/Manhattan-DA-investigating-Trump-Organization-widely-varying-valuations-properties.html

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #4406 on: November 24, 2021, 02:28:09 PM »


Offline Rick Plant

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Re: Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2
« Reply #4407 on: November 25, 2021, 12:45:47 AM »
We may be at an inflection point for political violence in the U.S.



Political violence is on people's minds now that Kyle Rittenhouse has been acquitted. According to USA Today, far-right groups celebrated last week's unsurprising verdict. "Kyle Rittenhouse is the hero we've been waiting for" was posted on the Gab profile for VDare, a self-consciously fascist organization headquartered in the foothills of Washington, Conn. The takeaway appears to be that it's now OK to shoot anti-racists as long as the shooting can be credibly characterized as "self-defense."

Protests broke out in Kenosha, Wis., where Rittenhouse traveled two summers ago to "protect" property while demonstrators, including some violent looters, protested the police murder of George Floyd. These newest protests were accompanied by a father-daughter duo carrying the same long gun Rittenhouse did. Instead of being white, though, they were Black. Instead of protecting property, they were protecting "anti-Rittenhouse protesters," said the New York Post.

Political violence is on people's minds. The right to petition the government for redress of grievances enshrined in the First Amendment seems to be running against the grain of the right to bear arms enshrined in the Second Amendment. After Rittenhouse's acquittal, anti-racists may feel it's too dangerous to petition. (The fascists are taking it to mean they can shoot first and often.) But some won't let the Second Amendment nullify the First. They'll arm up.

When racists with guns meet anti-racists with guns, it's likely the results will be bad, bad, very bad. USA Today, citing a study by Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, said "armed protests are six times more likely to turn violent compared to protests where no guns are present." That study examined more than 30,000 public demonstrations over 18 months between January 2020 to June 2021.

Lead researcher Roudabeh Kishi told USA Today: "Oftentimes guns can kind of play a role with just increasing tensions. They're used as intimidation and kind of makes a tense environment even more tense. And so sometimes we'll see other types of violence breakout, not necessarily always a shooting," she said. "So it's like an indirect way arms can actually contribute to violence and destruction."

Political violence is on people's minds. Lee Drutman, a political scientist and New America fellow, said today that "violence is the alternative to politics. By normalizing violence, we undermine politics."

But what if political violence is normal? What if it should always be on people's mind. And what if our democratic politics is always already being undermined in some way by political violence. I suggest Rittenhouse's acquittal will not be the cause of future political violence. It is the effect of past political violence always already at work. We don't see it, though. Political violence is so normal it's practically invisible.

Political violence is the predictable consequence of democratic politics seeking to advance the cause of liberty, equality and justice for all coming into conflict with conservative politics seeking to maintain a social order in which white men rule American society with impunity.

Because democracy won't stop, and conservative politics won't stop, that means political violence is always already there. It's better to see Rittenhouse's acquittal not as a cause of future violence but, I think, as an inflection point after which private political violence goes public.

Private political violence? What we are seeing now, in the potential for armed racists to silence free speech through intimidation or murder, didn't come from no where. It started at home, in the family, especially between husband and wife. When women challenge "authority," when children challenge "authority," conservative politics does not turn to democracy as a means of resolving conflict. It turns to violence.

It also covers it up. When a husband hits his wife, when a father hits his kids, our discourse almost never calls it political violence though the maintenance of the man's authority over his wife and children is almost always the reason he hits his wife and children. We call it "domestic violence." We call it "child abuse." These terms are accurate but incomplete. Suffering is a political problem in democratic politics. Suffering is a political goal in conservative politics. Without suffering — without punishment for those people who deserve to feel their pain — anything can happen. Even liberty, equality and justice for all.

Political violence has been growing acutely since we elected a Black president. The violence was enabled by Republicans loosening gun laws after Barack Obama's reelection. The Supreme Court is considering whether to make carrying a firearm openly a constitutional right. The NRA never gloried in mass murders. It did after Rittenhouse's acquittal. The private political violence that inspired the nation's worst shooting massacres is inspiring the institutionalization of public political violence. Where that leaves democratic politics, God only knows.

https://www.rawstory.com/america-political-violence/