Damn from Kanye West going after George W. Bush over Hurricane Katrina to this. I remember this went down back then over his fallout.
Biden
Trump
Biden, but Trump will legally steal it from him
Pelosi, because it will go into legal proceedings until after the inauguaration
Damn from Kanye West going after George W. Bush over Hurricane Katrina to this. I remember this went down back then over his fallout.
https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2020/07...litical-rally/
CHICAGO (CBS/AP) — Chicago native, rapper, and now presidential candidate Kanye West has enough signatures to make it onto the Illinois ballot.
On Monday night, the Illinois Board of Elections confirmed with CBS 2 that West filed 412 petition sheets around 5 p.m.
West needed 2,500 Illinois registered voters’ signatures. In a typical year, 25,000 signatures are needed, but because of the pandemic, independent and new-party candidates need fewer signatures this year.
So if all the signatures are valid, you will see Kanye West as an independent candidate on the ballot come November.
Meanwhile, there were new questions Monday about West’s readiness for a presidential run.
He tweeted a flurry of bizarre statements Monday night, including something about what could be a possible intervention staged by his family.
West even mentioned Bill Cosby in one of his tweets.
On Sunday, West, in his first event since declaring himself a presidential candidate, ranted against historical figure Harriet Tubman, saying the Underground Railroad conductor “never actually freed the slaves, she just had them work for other white people,” comments that drew shouts of opposition from some in the crowd.
West delivered a lengthy monologue, touching on topics from abortion and religion to international trade and licensing deals, before a crowd in North Charleston, South Carolina. Whether he is actually seeking the nation’s highest office remains a question.
Tubman is one of the most respected figures of 19th century America. An African American who escaped slavery, she helped enslaved Black men and women travel north to freedom and fought for the Union during the Civil War. She later became a supporter of women’s suffrage.
On abortion, West said that while he believes it should be legal, financial incentives to help struggling mothers could be a way to discourage the practice.
“Everybody that has a baby gets a million dollars,” he said as an example.
Wearing a protective vest and with “2020” shaved into his head, the entertainer appeared on a livestream of the event. Several hundred people gathered in a venue, where gospel music played before West’s appearance.
The event was reportedly for registered guests only, although a campaign website had no registration or RSVP information.
Speaking without a microphone, West became tearful at one point while talking about his mother, who died following plastic surgery complications in 2007.
West missed the deadline to qualify for the ballot in several states, and it was unclear if he was willing or able to collect enough signatures required to qualify in others. Last week, he qualified to appear on Oklahoma’s presidential ballot, the first state where he met the requirements before the filing deadline.
West needed to collect 10,000 signatures by noon Monday to appear on the South Carolina ballot, according to state law. The entertainer tweeted out a list of locations around the Charleston area where petitions could be signed. Email to an address purportedly associated with the campaign was not returned Sunday afternoon.
West, who is married to reality television star Kim Kardashian West, initially announced his candidacy on July 4.
https://www.npr.org/2020/07/21/89349...bribery-scheme
FBI agents arrested Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder on Tuesday morning at his rural farm. Householder was taken into custody in connection with a $60 million bribery scheme allegedly involving state officials and associates.
Four others were also arrested: former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges, Householder adviser Jeffrey Longstreth and lobbyists Neil Clark and Juan Cespedes.
The charges are linked to a controversial law passed last year that bailed out two nuclear power plants in the state while gutting subsidies for renewable energy and energy efficiency.
The federal complaint describes a years-long bribery campaign to build support for Householder's bid to become House speaker and then pass the nuclear bailout law with his help. Householder won the speakership in January 2019, and the bailout passed in July 2019. It went into effect in October.
Householder, a Republican, represents a district east of Columbus. He first began serving in the Ohio House in 1997 and was speaker from 2001 to 2004, when he stepped down because of term limits. He then worked as Perry County auditor before returning to the House in 2017.
Householder, Longstreth, Clark, Borges and Cespedes were each charged with "conspiracy to participate, directly or indirectly, in the conduct of an enterprise's affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity." The charge carries a maximum of 20 years in prison.
The criminal complaint also charges Generation Now, which it describes as "a 501(c)(4) entity secretly controlled by Householder."
Federal prosecutors say that between March 2017 and March 2020, entities related to an unnamed company ? but that would appear to be nuclear power company FirstEnergy Solutions ? paid approximately $60 million to Householder's Generation Now.
"Make no mistake, this is Larry Householder's 501 (c)(4)," U.S. Attorney David DeVillers told reporters on Tuesday. The money from the scheme was spent to the detriment of other political candidates and the people of Ohio, DeVillers said.
Members of Householder's enterprise used those payments for their own personal benefit and to gain support for Householder's bid to become speaker, prosecutors say.
"In the Spring and Fall of 2018, the Enterprise spent millions in Company A money to support House candidates involved in primary and general elections whom the Enterprise believed both would vote for Householder as Speaker and, ultimately, would follow his lead as Speaker and vote for bailout legislation for Company A," the complaint states.
In exchange for payments, prosecutors say, Householder and his associates helped pass House Bill 6, then worked to ensure it went into effect by defeating a ballot initiative.
The plan worked. The complaint says Householder-backed candidates that benefited from money from Generation Now helped to elect Householder as the Speaker. House Bill 6 was introduced three months into his term ? legislation worth $1.3 billion to Company A.
Regular payments to Householder's secret company from Company A began in March 2017, a couple months after he took a trip on Company A's private jet, according to the federal complaint. But the payments got much bigger after the legislation was introduced: In May 2019, while the bill was pending before lawmakers, Company A allegedly wired $8 million to Generation Now.
Householder and his associates used some of the money on mailers and advertising to support the legislation, and some of it for their own benefit, prosecutors say.
The bill was passed by a vote of 51-38. After the bill was signed into law by Gov. Mike DeWine, a campaign began to organize a ballot initiative to overturn the law. Company A-controlled accounts responded by wiring $38 million to Householder's company between July and October 2019.
In total, Company A allegedly paid the Householder enterprise $60 million over a three-year period, in exchange for the billion-dollar-bailout.
Prosecutors say the payments were "akin to bags of cash ? unlike campaign or PAC contributions, they were not regulated, not reported, not subject to public scrutiny?and the Enterprise freely spent the bribe payments to further the Enterprise's political interests and to enrich themselves."
Prosecutors say that while there are no charges yet against Company A, the investigation is ongoing.
FirstEnergy Solutions, the nuclear power plant company, was renamed Energy Harbor after it emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. The Akron-based company employs about 2,600 people, according to financial disclosures from February.
"We are reviewing the complaint and will cooperate fully with the government's investigation," Energy Harbor said in a statement to NPR.
At a Tuesday court hearing, the defendants were ordered to surrender any firearms and to remain within the Southern District of Ohio. They are barred from communicating with anyone who may become a witness in the trial, including the other men charged Tuesday. Those with passports were ordered to surrender them. Preliminary hearings are set for early August.
Householder has faced scrutiny before. In 2004, there were reports of his engaging in alleged corrupt activity, though he was never charged.
Gov. Mike DeWine called for Householder's resignation after the charges were announced on Tuesday afternoon.
"I am deeply concerned about the allegations of wrongdoing issued today by the U.S. Attorney's Office," DeWine tweeted. "Because of the nature of these charges, it will be impossible for Speaker Householder to effectively lead the Ohio House of Representatives; therefore, I am calling on Speaker Householder to resign immediately. This is a sad day for Ohio."
Last year's nuclear bailout law tacked on a charge to residents' power bills, sending $150 million a year to the nuclear power plants. They are owned by the company Energy Harbor, which was previously known as FirstEnergy Solutions.
The law also included a subsidy for two coal plants.
NPR member station WOSU reported that FirstEnergy contributed more than $150,000 to Ohio House Republicans in the run-up to the 2018 election ? including over $25,000 in donations to Householder's campaign.
"According to the state lobbyist database, Energy Harbor is the only client listed for Cespedes," WOSU reported. "Borges also worked as a lobbyist for FirstEnergy Solutions, while Longstreth is connected to Generation Now, which campaigned against the bailout referendum."
The American Wind Energy Association called for an inquiry into the circumstances of House Bill 6's passage.
"It now appears that the passage of this bill was not just against the will of the people, but also may have involved serious and possibly criminal impropriety," said Andrew Gohn, the association's Eastern State Affairs Director, in a statement. "We call for a full examination of the circumstances surrounding this attack on clean energy and for Gov. DeWine and the legislature to pause implementation of HB 6 and ultimately repeal this harmful and regressive legislation."
Yes now in 2 weeks we had some major FBI Raids go down in Florida and Ohio due to Politicians accused of federal corruption.
Someone stopped taking his meds. His abortion speech was so cringy. I never thought i would say this but i feel bad for Kim.
Anytime he talks I want to die of secondhand embarrassment.
"The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man" -Charles Darwin
Originally Posted by bowieluva
Its crazy how 15 years have gone by for Kanye West from his Hurricane Katrina rant to now this. Its crazy how Kanye West went from accusing George W. Bush for his failures over handling Hurricane Katrina to now this shit about Harriet Tubman which has been described as not only racist but also Sexist by certain members of Black Lives Matter and I agree I never thought I'd feel bad for the Kardashians and how they have to babysit Kanye West.
Do not post the same video or story in multiple threads. We get the jist of it if you post it once. The excessive serial posting is pushing people away.
Last edited by raisedbywolves; 11-12-2022 at 08:42 AM.
Don't wear a mask if you're not going to use it properly!
https://nypost.com/2020/07/21/lincol...troubles-docs/
OOfs
WASHINGTON — The founders of the Lincoln Project, a headline-grabbing anti-Trump political action committee formed by GOP operatives who describe the president as a “crook” and “huckster,” have their own checkered dealings with Russia and the tax man, documents obtained by The Post reveal.
Since its inception last November — announced with a blistering New York Times op-ed — the brainchild of George Conway, Steve Schmidt, Rick Wilson and John Weaver has raked in more than $19.4 million, according to FEC filings, and has needled President Trump repeatedly with provocative TV ads.
But the group — which the National Review on Monday dubbed “The Grifter Project” and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) last week dismissed as a “cabal of political consultants all in it for the money” — don’t exactly practice what they preach.
Co-founder Weaver, a political consultant known for his work on John McCain’s and John Kasich’s presidential campaigns, registered as a Russian foreign agent for uranium conglomerate TENEX in a six-figure deal last year, filings with the Department of Justice show.
TENEX’s parent company is Rosatom, a Russian state-owned corporation that also owns Uranium One — the company that paid Bill Clinton $500,000 in speaking fees and millions to the Clinton Foundation after then-President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed off on the controversial merger in 2010.
Weaver backed out of the lobbying gig in May 2019 and called it “a mistake” in a tweet in which he denied having taken any money from TENEX.
Still, that hasn’t stopped him from ironically railing against Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and his “rogue ties to Putin backed thugs in Ukraine & elsewhere.”
According to IRS filings exclusively obtained by The Post, the Republican operative — who has also repeatedly called Trump a “tax fraud” and a “tax crook” on Twitter — also has an outstanding $313,655 federal tax lien against his Austin, Texas, home.
This March, an Austin shopping mall also filed a lawsuit against the children’s clothing store that Weaver and his wife own, according to court documents obtained by The Post, just months after Weaver mocked the president’s own string of failed businesses.
Weaver’s fellow Lincoln Project founder Wilson also has an interesting financial past. According to IRS documents, the GOP strategist has an outstanding $389,420 federal tax lien against his Tallahassee, Florida, home, and his bank moved to foreclose on the property in 2016.
Wilson, a best-selling author with 1 million Twitter followers, has never disclosed the money woes publicly, allowing him to sneer online about Trump’s decision never to release his own taxes — at one point calling him “Brokeahontas,” despite the fact that American Express had taken Wilson to court for his own unpaid $25,729 credit card bill the year before, documents show.
Trump rips Lincoln Project 'loser types' over coronavirus attack ad
“It’s very clear that this isn’t about Trump and Republicans,” one GOP source told The Post. “It’s about making money to help pay off their massive personal debts.”
Voter records on the Utah Lieutenant Governor’s website also show veteran Republican strategist Schmidt, another Lincoln Project boss, hasn’t recently voted himself — with his home state listing him as an “inactive voter.”
An inactive voter is someone who has not voted in two general elections and has failed to respond to letters from the county clerk, according to Utah’s voter registration website.
Schmidt, a communications strategist who has worked with George W. Bush, McCain and Arnold Schwarzenegger, disputed this account, telling The Post he voted by mail in 2016 and 2018 and registered as an Independent in 2018.
The devastating National Review piece dismissed the outfit as “little more than the most brazen election-season grift in recent memory” and a “ragtag band of three otherwise unemployed strategists plus one lawyer.”
The group has also drawn the ire of Republican lawmakers such as Cornyn after it began spending money targeting vulnerable GOP members, including Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, who faces a tough re-election bid.
A spokesman for the Lincoln Project declined to comment. Conway, Wilson and Weaver did not immediately return calls for comment.
The Lincoln Project, named after Abraham Lincoln, has made a huge splash in the short time it has been in existence — a lot of that due to the fact that one of its creators, anti-Trump Republican George Conway, is married to White House adviser Kellyanne Conway.
Trump went off on the group in May, after it ran an attack ad faulting his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, referring to its members as “loser types.”
“Lincoln Project is a disgrace to Honest Abe,” Trump tweeted.
“I don’t know what Kellyanne did to her deranged loser of a husband, Moonface, but it must have been really bad,” the president continued.
https://www.vanityfair.com/style/202...chelle-tidball
Every controversial presidential hopeful needs an equally problematic V.P., and Kanye West’s vice presidential pick just might have even worse ideas than he does.
In the same Forbes interview in which he announced he’s running as the Birthday Party’s presidential nominee, West also revealed that he’s already chosen Cody, Wyoming-based “biblical life coach” Michelle Tidball to be his vice president.
In a June 2017 audio clip obtained by TMZ, which has since been removed from her yarash.org website, Tidball—who claims to have “various degrees in mental health and criminal justice”—says that the way to treat mental illness is by doing chores. “If you would get up every day and make your bed and do your dishes, you would be better,” she says, noting that in her 10 years of working with the mentally ill, none of them made their beds or did their dishes.
In a bio that has also been removed from her site, she writes, “I pursue God! As long as I can remember including a time when I was six months old and my mother awoke to find that I was slipping away into a crib death. In a hospital tent God first visited me and spoke life which I can still recall today.... At seventeen I made the decision to follow Him all the days of my life!”
West has been spending much of his time in recent years at his home near Cody, Wyoming, where he likely met Tidball. In June 2018, the rapper revealed that at age 39 he was diagnosed with a “mental condition,” explaining that “it’s not a disability, it’s a superpower.” In December of that year, he also tweeted that he “cannot be on meds and make watch the throne level or dark fantasy level music.”
In addition to getting his campaign rolling, the rapper is also gearing up to release a new album, God’s Country.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime...ge/ar-BB178B6n
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Prosecutors going after Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and his aides are using one of the mightiest federal laws to do so, one the government previously used to take down the Mafia.
By using the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act of 1970, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in southern Ohio signaled that it believes it can show that Householder, aide Jeff Longstreth and lobbyists Neil Clark, Matt Borges and Juan Cespedes committed crime after crime over time with money from FirstEnergy Corp.
That, generally, is all the government needs to prove, though carrying out such a prosecution is more complicated. Still, people in the legal community have acknowledged that the case appears strong based on what the government has released so far. Beneath all the colorful quotes and salacious details of political bullying contained in an FBI agent’s affidavit lay the references to what could be the actual crimes.
“The affidavit sets out a compelling case for proving that Householder sold his political power to FirstEnergy,” Ann Rowland, a former federal prosecutor in Cleveland, said in a statement. The FBI on Tuesday arrested the quintet on a racketeering conspiracy charge. The same day, a court unsealed a criminal complaint that said the group, along with dark money group Generation Now, had worked together since 2018 to funnel more than $60 million from FirstEnergy to what the feds are calling “Householder’s Enterprise.”
Generation Now is set up as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, overseen by the IRS as a social welfare organization. Federal law expressly prohibits the organization from coordinating with political campaigns, but at the same time, it doesn’t have to disclose its donors.
The group controlled Generation Now, though, and used the money to bankroll a Householder-backed piece of legislation to bail out two FirstEnergy-owned nuclear power plants in northern Ohio, as well as to ensure voters didn’t have a chance to overturn it, according to agents. The money also went toward supporting Householder’s bid to regain the speaker position and some money made it into the pockets of the members, officials said.
Many of the actions laid out are tied to very public activities, such as a campaign to pressure lawmakers to pass the bailout to messing with people gathering signatures for a ballot measure to overturn it. But even with so much in plain sight, the engine behind it all remained hidden until the feds started poking around.
RICO
Householder and his aides now join the ranks of drug traffickers and mobsters as people the feds pursued as racketeers.
Lawmakers passed what is commonly known as the RICO Act so prosecutors could use to take down organized crime. The Justice Department used it to weaken and mostly wipe out the Mafia in New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Ohio, among other states.
Over the decades, prosecutors started using it in white-collar and political cases. Rowland, who in her nearly four-decade career prosecuted members of La Cosa Nostra in Cleveland and worked on the most high-profile corruption cases in the area, said in an interview she recalled bringing racketeering charges in a white-collar case for the first time in the early 2000s.
It proved to be a powerful tool to weed out corruption. Locally, the Justice Department most notably used it to take down former Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora, who used his clout to steer contracts and fix votes while at the same time personally enriching himself. Rowland was on a team that led the prosecution of Dimora and dozens of other politicians, government workers and contractors in a massive probe.
Dimora, 65, is serving a 28-year prison sentence. He recently asked an appeals court to overturn his convictions, claiming the jury instructions at his 2012 trial were faulty.
Later, the U.S. Attorney’s Office used the RICO Act to prosecute former MetroHealth System CEO Dr. Edward Hills and two dentists for a years-long kickbacks scheme. The trio, and a third dentist who faced non-racketeering charges, were sentenced to prison.
Chris Hoffman, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s office in Cincinnati, said at a news conference Tuesday that the Householder case is the first time federal prosecutors in southern Ohio brought a racketeering charge against a public official.
Rowland said the law is particularly useful because it allows prosecutors to include crimes they could not otherwise charge because the statute of limitations expired.
The law has its detractors, though, especially in the criminal defense community, when it is used for white-collar offenses.
“RICO was developed for organized crime,” said Richard H. Blake, a Cleveland criminal defense attorney, and former federal prosecutor. “People can say ‘this is organized crime.’ No, it’s not. They’re doing their best to cleverly squeeze the factual basis into this statute as opposed to the other way around.”
What to prove
Attorneys and politicos in Ohio and across the country have spent the week reading the 81-page affidavit, parsing out minor details and clues as to the specific crimes detailed in the criminal complaint. Even skeptics acknowledged the case, as presented, was impressive in its comprehensiveness and breadth.
Rowland said prosecutors pursing a racketeering case usually bring additional charges through a grand jury indictment to ensure they don’t get stuck at trial with a problem proving a certain portion of the racketeering statute.
Prosecutors have to present evidence of “underlying offenses,” or the specific crimes committed that made up the pattern of racketeering, she noted. The complaint in the Householder case lays out allegations of bribery, money laundering and wire fraud.
Ellen Podgor, a law professor at Stetson University in Florida, said the government must also prove that the defendants are tied together with a common bond.
Knowledge of wrongdoing is important to show too. For example, Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University in Detroit, said a key thing prosecutors will have to show is that Householder had knowledge that he received and accepted bribes.
Rowland, however, noted that prosecutors do not need to prove that every defendant knew everything going on in a scheme.
Blake, who worked on the Organized Crime Strike Force when he was a prosecutor, noted that money is part of politics, though, and the government will have to show that this was not just how things get done.
He acknowledged, though, that if some of the money went into their bank accounts for their interests, then they’ve “got some serious problems.”
U.S. Attorney David DeVillers noted at the Tuesday news conference that Householder alone received $500,000 for his expenses, including money he used to settle litigation and some that he used for his house in Naples, Florida.
Still, “the government is going to have to show that the people who received that money knew that what they were doing was corrupt and not the normal business of legislation that’s done every single day,” Blake said.
https://www.civilbeat.org/2020/07/bi...d-for-assault/
A Mayoral candidate for the Big Island is accused of assault
A Big Island mayoral candidate with a checkered legal past was arrested on Friday following an assault earlier in the month in the parking lot of Home Depot in Hilo.
Michael Glendon, 38, is charged with third-degree assault, deadly weapons prohibited, second-degree unlawful imprisonment, and refusal to provide ingress or egress stemming from a bizarre disturbance outside the store on July 7.
His bail is set at $7,000.
Glendon, who reportedly admitted to the incident in a Facebook video, is scheduled to make his initial appearance Monday in Hilo District Court.
Glendon, one of 15 candidates running for mayor, was arrested with two others for the offenses, the Hawaii Police Department said in a statement on Saturday. Also arrested with the Volcano man were 24-year-old Kalena Hoopii, of Volcano, and, 31-year-old Kamea-Aloha Wong, of Mountain View.
Police said the incident began around 1:10 p.m. that day when South Hilo Patrol officers responded to a call of a disturbance at the store. Upon arrival, they were contacted by Hoopii, who reported that she had exited the store and noticed a zip-tie attached to her vehicle.
In recent weeks, rumors and stories have been reported on social media regarding zip-ties on vehicles being connected to possible abductions and human trafficking, which police said they could not verify as credible.
But, according to the department, Hoopii reported that she had left the area that afternoon and then returned a short time later and blocked one of the store’s parking lot entrances with her vehicle.
At that time, a 55-year-old Pahoa man was attempting to exit the parking lot and reportedly entered Hoopii’s vehicle in an attempt to move it, she said.
Hoopii told officers she confronted the man who then reportedly assaulted her. The man was subsequently arrested for second-degree unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle, and third-degree assault.
However, police continued investigating. The department said after reviewing hours of video surveillance from Home Depot and interviewing witnesses, it determined that Hoopii pulled into the parking lot, exited her vehicle, went into the store and never returned to her vehicle.
Instead, when she entered the store, she met up with Wong and then reported to a store associate that there was a zip-tie placed on her vehicle while she was within the store.
Glendon was observed on surveillance video entering the parking lot approximately one minute after Hoopii, according to police. He then blocked two of the parking lot entrances with vehicles. Glendon is then seen on surveillance video moving Hoopii’s vehicle and parking it to block the Railroad Avenue parking lot entrance.
From the time Hoopii exited her vehicle, until Glendon moved it, no one else touched her vehicle, police said. Once all three parking lot entrances were blocked, Glendon was observed walking around the parking lot with a “lei o mano,” which is a Hawaiian shark tooth war club.
Glendon, Wong and Hoopii, were then reportedly observed in the video assaulting the 55-year-old Pahoa man, who was attempting to exit the parking lot.
According to police, the victim was initially punched in the face by Hoopii, and then tackled to the ground by Wong. Glendon then approached with the lei o mano and repeatedly punched the man about the head, face and upper body.
Glendon is a Hawaiian Homes beneficiary who protested the building of the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea. He hasn’t filed a campaign disclosure report this election season and did not take part in a mayoral candidate forum last week, although he participated in one held June 25.
Glendon reportedly posted a Facebook video on July 8, the day after the encounter, in which he admitted that he and his girlfriend, Hoopii, used their vehicles to block vehicles from entering and exiting the Home Depot parking lot. They then went through the lot to search for an alleged abductor.
A call Saturday to the number listed on Glendon’s candidate filing report went straight to voicemail and would not accept new messages. He did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Twice in the last 10 years Glendon has been acquitted of criminal charges by reason of mental incapacity, including for a nonfatal stabbing in 2011.
On Thursday, Hoopii was arrested and charged with third-degree assault, and unsworn falsification to authorities. Her bail was set at $2,000. Wong was arrested and charged with third-degree assault, and second-degree unlawful imprisonment. His bail was set at $2,000.
Prior to the trio’s arrests, on July 13, the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney dropped all charges against the 55-year-old Pahoa man.
Police could not confirm any validity to claims of zip ties associated with trafficking or any other lawbreaking in this case, or any other, but said that reporting such fallacies may not only be illegal, but also can spread unnecessary fear within a community.
https://fox5sandiego.com/news/califo...h-trump-order/
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — If President Donald Trump succeeds in getting immigrants in the country illegally excluded from being counted in the redrawing of U.S. House districts, California, Florida and Texas would end up with one less congressional seat each than if every resident were counted, according to an analysis by a think tank.
Without that population, California would lose two seats instead of one, Florida would gain one seat instead of two and Texas would gain two seats instead of three, according to the analysis by Pew Research Center.
Additionally, the Pew analysis shows Alabama, Minnesota and Ohio would each keep a congressional seat they most likely would have lost during the process of divvying up congressional seats by state known as apportionment, which takes place after the U.S. Census Bureau completes its once-a-decade head count of every U.S. resident. The bureau currently is in the middle of the 2020 census.
Federal law requires the Census Bureau to hand over the final head-count numbers used for
Federal law requires the Census Bureau to hand over the final head-count numbers used for apportionment to the president at the end of the year, but the bureau is asking Congress for an extension until next April 30 because of disruptions caused by the pandemic.
Every resident of a state is traditionally counted during apportionment, but Trump last Tuesday issued a directive seeking to bar people in the U.S. illegally from being included in the headcount as congressional districts are redrawn. Trump said including them in the count “would create perverse incentives and undermine our system of government.”
At least four lawsuits or notices of a legal challenge have been filed seeking to halt the directive. Some opponents say it’s an effort to suppress the growing political power of Latinos in the U.S.
The president’s directive breaks with almost 250 years of tradition and is unconstitutional, according to a lawsuit filed by Common Cause, the city of Atlanta and others in federal court in the District of Columbia. Other challenges have been filed or are in the process of being brought by the ACLU on behalf of immigrant rights groups, a coalition of states led New York Attorney General Letitia James and civil rights groups already suing the Trump administration over an effort to gather citizenship data through administrative records.
Trump issued the order to gather citizenship data on U.S. residents through administrative records last year after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked his administration’s effort to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census form. Opponents said a citizenship question would have discouraged participation in the nation’s head count, not only by people living in the country illegally but also by citizens who fear that participating would expose noncitizen family members to repercussions.
The Democratic-led House Committee on Oversight and Reform is asking Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Census Bureau director Steven Dillingham and other officials to testify about the Republican president’s directive at a hearing next Wednesday.
During a conference call on Saturday, the chair of the House committee, Democratic U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York, called the order “blatantly unconstitutional and illegal.”
“Congress is empowered to determine how the census is conducted, not the president,” Maloney said.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53528400
TikTok has blocked a number of hashtags related to the QAnon conspiracy theory from appearing in search results, amid concern about misinformation, the BBC has learned.
It comes days after Twitter banned thousands of QAnon-related accounts.
QAnon is a wide-ranging, unfounded conspiracy theory whose followers support US President Donald Trump.
They believe the president is battling a clandestine "deep state" network of political, business and media elites.
TikTok said it moved to restrict "QAnonTruth" searches after a question from the BBC's anti-disinformation unit, which noticed a spike in conspiracy videos using the tag. The company expressed concern that such misinformation could harm users and the general public.
"QAnon" and related hashtags, such as "Out of Shadows", ''Fall Cabal" and "QAnonTruth", will no longer return search results on TikTok - although videos using the same tags will remain on the platform.
Videos using the "QAnon" hashtag, in particular, have millions of cumulative views and can still be found if a user's algorithm directs them to the associated content.
Many videos promote unfounded conspiracy theories. Recently, some of them endorsed baseless claims linking furniture firm Wayfair to child trafficking.
TikTok's intervention comes after Twitter announced measures earlier this week also aimed at cracking down on the QAnon conspiracy theorists, including banning thousands of accounts.
It said the suspensions will be applied to accounts that are "engaged in violations of our multi-account policy, co-ordinating abuse around individual victims, or are attempting to evade a previous suspension".
Twitter also said it would stop recommending content linked to QAnon and block URLs associated with it from being shared on the platform, in an attempt to prevent "offline harm".
Celebrities, including model Chrissy Teigen, have been victims of co-ordinated abuse from QAnon conspiracy theorists in recent weeks.
Sources close to Facebook say the social media site is looking to take similar action over supporters of the conspiracy theory. QAnon groups on the site have hundreds of thousands of members accumulatively.
What is QAnon?
QAnon began in October 2017 on the anonymous message board 4chan. A user claimed to have top security clearance within the US government and signed off their posts as "Q" - hence the name QAnon. Q communicates in cryptic posts and claims to be directly involved in a secret investigation into a global network of child abusers.
The total list of QAnon claims is enormous - and often contradictory.
Most recently, QAnon conspiracy theorists have spread a number of unfounded conspiracy theories about coronavirus, ranging from claims about the pandemic being a "hoax" to outlandish suggestions about face masks and vaccines.
The central theory about a malicious "deep-state" network of elites, followed on from the "pizzagate" saga in 2016 - a fake theory about Democratic Party politicians running a paedophile ring out of a Washington pizza restaurant.
Many QAnon influencers have big audiences on social media. They urge followers to "do their own research" - in other words, watch YouTube videos and talk to other supporters - to solve Q's puzzles.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53557447
President Donald Trump's national security adviser, Robert O'Brien, has tested positive for coronavirus, the White House has confirmed.
Mr O'Brien, 54, has been self-isolating and working from home.
The aide has mild symptoms and there was no risk of exposure to Mr Trump or Vice-President Mike Pence, a statement said.
Mr O'Brien is the highest-ranking official in Mr Trump's administration known to have tested positive.
It is not clear when he and the president last met, but one administration official said it had not been for "several days". The pair appeared together two weeks ago on a trip to Miami.
Coronavirus: The week when everything changed for Trump
The millions of Americans 'hanging by a thread'
The White House statement read: "He has mild symptoms and has been self-isolating and working from a secure location off site. There is no risk of exposure to the president or the vice-president. The work of the National Security Council continues uninterrupted."
Some staff members told CNN they had only learned of the infection on Monday from the media.
One source told Bloomberg that Mr O'Brien had been out of his office for a week and that the adviser had contracted the virus after a family event.
Anyone near the president is tested regularly for Covid-19.
A number of people in and around the administration have tested positive, including a military member who works as a White House valet, Mr Pence's press secretary Katie Miller, and a helicopter squadron Marine.
Who is Robert O'Brien?
Trained as a lawyer, he has had a long diplomatic career working for both Republicans and Democrats. He is believed to be the highest-ranking Mormon member of the Trump administration.
He was picked to replace John Bolton as national security adviser last September, after Mr Bolton left amid a rancorous fallout with President Trump.
Mr O'Brien shares similar views to Mr Trump on a number of issues, including criticism of the UN and opposition to the Iran nuclear deal.
Mr O'Brien travelled to Paris this month to discuss foreign policy issues with European counterparts, and gave a speech in Arizona in June comparing Chinese President Xi Jinping with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-53567681
Donald Trump Jr. has been suspended from Twitter over Hydroxychloroquine claims.
Twitter has banned the US president's eldest son from tweeting for 12 hours.
The action followed a post by Donald Trump Jr containing a video clip discussing the benefits of hydroxychloroquine.
Some, including President Trump, have suggested the anti-malaria drug works as a preventative measure against coronavirus, despite medical studies that indicate the contrary.
Twitter said the post had violated its Covid-19 misinformation rules.
Donald Trump Jr will still be able to browse Twitter and send direct messages in the interim.
Twitter told the BBC: "We are taking action in line with our policy."
The main US social media sites have all taken measures to crack down on misinformation about the coronavirus.
Andy Surabian, a spokesman for Donald Trump Jr told the BBC the decision had been "beyond the pale".
"Twitter suspending Don Jr for sharing a viral video of medical professionals discussing their views on hydroxychloroquine is further proof that big tech is intent on killing free expression online, and is another instance of them committing election interference to stifle Republican voices," he said.
"While there is indeed much disagreement in the medical community about the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine in treating coronavirus, there have been studies reported by mainstream outlets like CNN, suggesting that it may in fact by an effective treatment.
"Those pretending otherwise are lying for political reasons."
Analysis
By Marianna Spring, Specialist disinformation and social media reporter
This is the latest move by Twitter to crack down on coronavirus misinformation - and the latest escalation in its clash with President Trump and his allies.
This latest step to restrict the account of the President's son will no doubt add fuel to the fire, with more cries of censorship from the President's supporters.
Misleading, harmful claims about hydroxychloroquine have been promoted by public figures and politicians throughout the pandemic.
Discussions about the drug have become just as polarised as the ongoing debate about masks that is happening online.
The video shared by Donald Trump Jr yesterday was emblematic of this, featuring people claiming to be doctors who support Trump. They suggested that studies indicating the drug was not effective were "fake science".
With pressure mounting on social media sites to act more quickly and decisively about coronavirus misinformation, this move perhaps should not come as a surprise.
But Twitter has not flagged claims the US President has made about hydroxychlorquine himself.
Where it opts to draw the line will be a difficult - and politicised - decision.
In signs that the conflict between Trump and Twitter is not abating, the President has asked the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to file a petition to look at how social media companies moderate content.
The petition asks the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider rules that shield social media providers from liability for content posted by their users, but still let them remove posts they deem to be objectionable.
There is a report that Kanye might be on the ballot in Wisconsin.
https://www.wcax.com/2020/08/04/kany...rmonts-ballot/
Update Kanye West is reportedly going to be on the Vermont Ballot
MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) - Kanye West has filed paperwork to appear on Vermont’s November presidential ballot.
The secretary of state’s office told WCAX News it did receive paperwork from West. After an initial review, they say it appears he has met the filing requirements.
West lists Michelle Tidball as his vice-presidential candidate.
West filed as an independent.
The deadline to file as an independent was Monday at 5 p.m. The deadline for minor party candidates is Thursday by 5 p.m.
Copyright 2020 WCAX. All rights reserved.
https://www.foxla.com/news/facebook-...r-follows-suit
WASHINGTON - Facebook removed a video posted by President Donald Trump for promoting false and misleading information about the coronavirus pandemic, the company said Wednesday.
Facebook’s action was followed shortly by Twitter, which said that the Trump campaign account, which originally tweeted the video that was apparently retweeted by the president, would be required to delete the video from its platform before being allowed to tweet again.
“The @TeamTrump Tweet... is in violation of the Twitter Rules on COVID-19 misinformation. The account owner will be required to remove the Tweet before they can Tweet again,” a Twitter spokesperson said in a statement.
In the video clip posted to Facebook and retweeted on Twitter by the president, Trump claims in an interview on “Fox & Friends” that the novel coronavirus will “go away like things go away,” and that children are “almost, and I would almost say definitely” immune to the disease.
“My view is the schools should open,” Trump said in the phone interview. “This thing is going away. It will go away like things go away, and my view is that schools should be open.”
“If you look at children, children are almost — and I would almost say definitely — but almost immune from this disease,” Trump continued. “So few, they’ve got stronger — hard to believe, I don’t know how you feel about it — but they have much stronger immune systems than we do somehow for this, and they do it, they don’t have a problem. They just don’t have a problem.”
Trump went on to claim that N.J. Gov. Phil Murphy told him that “only one person under the age of 18” died of COVID-19 out of “thousands and thousands” of cases in the state. “And I think that person also had diabetes, a young person,” Trump said.
“And especially when you get younger than that, it doesn’t have an impact on them, and I’ve watched some doctors say they’re totally immune. I don’t know, I hate to use the word ‘totally,’ because the news will say ‘oh, he made the word totally and he shouldn’t have used that word,’ but the fact is that they are virtually immune from this problem, and we have to open our schools,” Trump said.
The video was apparently retweeted by Trump earlier Wednesday on Twitter, but Facebook took the initial action against it — a first for the company relating to the deletion of a post by the president.
A Facebook spokesperson said, "This video includes false claims that a group of people is immune from COVID-19 which is a violation of our policies around harmful COVID misinformation."
The spokesperson confirmed that it was the first time the company has taken down a post by the president specific to COVID-19 misinformation.
A link to the post on Facebook takes users to a page that says “this content isn’t available right now.”
RELATED: Twitter to ban QAnon accounts, block links related to conspiracy theory
While Twitter has previously flagged content from the president, those same warnings from the site on the misinformation of the video did not immediately appear on Trump’s tweet. But a short time after Facebook deleted the video, Twitter said it was taking action on a tweet from the Trump campaign’s account, @TeamTrump.
Trump’s claims came despite recent instances in which outbreaks have directly impacted children and the people caring for them.
Teacher shares concerns over schools reopening amid coronavirus surges
A Colorado elementary school teacher gave a tour of her classroom while expressing her doubts over schools reopening amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
An overnight YMCA camp in Georgia that consisted of nearly 600 people reported that over 250 tested positive for the coronavirus last week.
Campers ranged in age from 6 to 19, and many of the staffers were teenagers.
The camp followed disinfecting rules and required staff to wear masks, but campers didn’t have to wear face coverings. Health officials said “relatively large” groups of kids slept in the same cabin where they regularly sang and cheered, likely leading to spread of the virus.
Test results were available for 344 people and 260 of them — about three-quarters — were positive.
Earlier in July, a separate incident involving another overnight summer camp in rural southwestern Missouri saw scores of campers, counselors and staff infected with the novel coronavirus.
The Kanakuk camp in Lampe, Missouri, ended up sending its teenage campers home. On July 3, the local health department announced 49 positive cases of the COVID-19 virus at the camp. By July 6, the number had jumped to 82.
RELATED: Twitter says it will add an edit button to tweets when ‘everyone wears a mask’
Trump has repeatedly pushed for children to return to schools, environments that many health experts have warned could help spread the coronavirus exponentially. A recent study published in JAMA Pediatrics on July 30 found that children “can potentially be important drivers of SARS-CoV-2 spread in the general population,” noting that ”children with high viral loads are more likely to transmit.”
Researchers found that while infected kids older than 5 had similar levels of the virus in their system as adults, children younger than 5 had “significantly greater amounts.”
The Trump administration says the science “is very clear,” but many doctors who specialize in pediatrics and infectious diseases say much of the evidence is inconclusive.
“There are still a lot of unanswered questions. That is the biggest challenge,” said Dr. Sonja Rasmussen, a pediatrics professor at the University of Florida and former scientist at the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, warned Monday: “There may be some areas where the level of virus is so high that it would not be prudent to bring the children back to school.”
“So you can’t make one statement about bringing children back to school in this country. It depends on where you are,” he said.
Not knowing if children are infected makes it difficult for schools to reopen safely, many experts say. Scarce data on whether infected children — including those without symptoms — easily spread the disease to others complicates the issue, said Jeffrey Shaman, a Columbia University infectious disease specialist.
Blood clots and organ damage have been found in children with COVID-19, including those who develop a related inflammatory illness. The condition, called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, is rare but can occur in children with current or recent COVID-19 infections.
Symptoms include fever and problems in at least two organs, often including the heart. Digestive problems are common, and some cases have been mistaken with Kawasaki disease and toxic shock syndrome. Perhaps the biggest unknown is whether permanent damage to lungs and other organs can result. The virus is too new to know for sure.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has been tested positive for COVID-19
https://fox40.com/news/ohio-gov-mike...-for-covid-19/
COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has tested positive for COVID-19.
According to a release from the governor’s office, DeWine tested positive after he took a test for COVID-19 as part of the standard protocol to greet President Donald Trump on the tarmac at Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland.
DeWine currently has no symptoms, the release states.
DeWine is returning to Columbus, where he and first lady Fran DeWine, who also has no symptoms, will both be tested.
DeWine’s office says he plans to follow protocol for COVID-19 and quarantine at his home in Cedarville for the next 14 days.
Lt. Gov. Jon Husted also took the COVID-19 test Thursday as part of the protocol to greet the president and tested negative.
https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/pre...ons-in-45-days
FOX 2 - President Donald Trump broadly prohibited unspecified ?transactions? with the Chinese owners of TikTok and WeChat via executive order Thursday.
The order prohibits ?any transaction by a US person or within the US that evades or avoids, has the purpose of evading or avoiding, causes a violation of, or attempts to violate the prohibition set forth in this order.?
?The following actions shall be prohibited beginning 45 days after the date of this order,? according to Trump.
Trump had threatened a deadline of Sept. 15 to "close down" TikTok unless Microsoft or "somebody else" bought it. TikTok, Microsoft and WeChat owner Tencent had no immediate replies to queries.
The twin executive orders, one for each app, take effect in 45 days. They call on the Secretary of Commerce to define the banned transactions by that time. The orders' wording is vague, but leaves open the possibility that hosting the apps in the Apple and Google app stores could be covered by the ban.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that he was expanding the U.S. crackdown on Chinese technology to personal apps, citing alleged security threats and calling out TikTok and WeChat by name. Analysts on Wednesday questioned the legal basis for a ban on apps.
Trump's order Thursday night cited legal authority from the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the National Emergencies Act.
TikTok is a video-sharing app that's widely popular among young people in the U.S. and elsewhere. It is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, which operates a separate version for the Chinese market. TikTok insists it does not store U.S. user information in China and would not share it with the Chinese government.
WeChat and its sister app Weixin in China are hugely popular messaging apps; many Chinese expatriates use WeChat to stay in touch with friends and family back home. The apps are owned by Tencent, a major Chinese digital conglomerate.
WeChat also says it doesn't share data with the Chinese government and never has, and does not store international user data in China. U.S. user data is stored in Canada.
-The Associated Press contributed to this report
Read the full order below:
"As I explained in an Executive Order of August 6, 2020 (Addressing the Threat Posed by Tiktok, and Taking Additional Steps to Address the National Emergency With Respect to the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain), the spread in the United States of mobile applications developed and owned by companies in the People's Republic of China (China) continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States," the order reads.
TikTok was specifically targeted in the executive action. The order alleges that the app ?automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users.?
Trump?s order goes on to say that TikTok ?threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americas? personal and proprietary information.?
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, find that additional steps must be taken to deal with the national emergency with respect to the information and communications technology and services supply chain declared in Executive Order 13873 of May 15, 2019 (Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain). Specifically, the spread in the United States of mobile applications developed and owned by companies in the People's Republic of China (China) continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States. At this time, action must be taken to address the threat posed by one mobile application in particular, TikTok.
TikTok, a video-sharing mobile application owned by the Chinese company ByteDance Ltd., has reportedly been downloaded over 175 million times in the United States and over one billion times globally. TikTok automatically captures vast swaths of information from its users, including Internet and other network activity information such as location data and browsing and search histories. This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans' personal and proprietary information -- potentially allowing China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage.
TikTok also reportedly censors content that the Chinese Communist Party deems politically sensitive, such as content concerning protests in Hong Kong and China's treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. This mobile application may also be used for disinformation campaigns that benefit the Chinese Communist Party, such as when TikTok videos spread debunked conspiracy theories about the origins of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus.
These risks are real. The Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration, and the United States Armed Forces have already banned the use of TikTok on Federal Government phones. The Government of India recently banned the use of TikTok and other Chinese mobile applications throughout the country; in a statement, India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology asserted that they were "stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users' data in an unauthorized manner to servers which have locations outside India." American companies and organizations have begun banning TikTok on their devices. The United States must take aggressive action against the owners of TikTok to protect our national security.
Accordingly, I hereby order: Section 1. (a) The following actions shall be prohibited beginning 45 days after the date of this order, to the extent permitted under applicable law: any transaction by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with ByteDance Ltd. (a.k.a. Z?ji? Ti?od?ng), Beijing, China, or its subsidiaries, in which any such company has any interest, as identified by the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) under section 1(c) of this order.
(b) The prohibition in subsection (a) of this section applies except to the extent provided by statutes, or in regulations, orders, directives, or licenses that may be issued pursuant to this order, and notwithstanding any contract entered into or any license or permit granted before the date of this order. (c) 45 days after the date of this order, the Secretary shall identify the transactions subject to subsection (a) of this section.
Sec. 2. (a) Any transaction by a United States person or within the United States that evades or avoids, has the purpose of evading or avoiding, causes a violation of, or attempts to violate the prohibition set forth in this order is prohibited. (b) Any conspiracy formed to violate any of the prohibitions set forth in this order is prohibited. Sec. 3. For the purposes of this order: (a) the term "person" means an individual or entity;
(b) the term "entity" means a government or instrumentality of such government, partnership, association, trust, joint venture, corporation, group, subgroup, or other organization, including an international organization; and (c) the term "United States person" means any United States citizen, permanent resident alien, entity organized under the laws of the United States or any jurisdiction within the United States (including foreign branches), or any person in the United States.
Sec. 4. The Secretary is hereby authorized to take such actions, including adopting rules and regulations, and to employ all powers granted to me by IEEPA as may be necessary to implement this order. The Secretary may, consistent with applicable law, redelegate any of these functions within the Department of Commerce. All departments and agencies of the United States shall take all appropriate measures within their authority to implement this order.
Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect: (i) the authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the head thereof; or (ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
DONALD J. TRUMP
THE WHITE HOUSE, August 6, 2020.
https://apnews.com/f9d419824889a0b5bb5b883a231f9397
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Rapper Kanye West’s attempt to get on Wisconsin’s presidential ballot as a third-party candidate is being challenged.
One challenge filed Friday with the Wisconsin Election Commission alleges that West’s nomination papers were delivered too late and don’t properly list his residency. Another challenge raises issues including illegible signatures.
The first challenge was filed by Joseph R. Santeler. Filing papers didn’t include further identifying information. The other came from several people identifying themselves as Wisconsin voters.
Lane Ruhland, a former general counsel for the Wisconsin Republican Party who dropped off West’s nomination papers this week, didn’t immediately return a voicemail message on Friday.
Democrats allege that Republicans are pushing West’s candidacy in several states to siphon votes away from Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. Wisconsin is expected to be a key swing state in the race after President Donald Trump narrowly won the state in 2016.
I saw another story where the GOP is the one trying to get him on the ballot. Not suspicious at all.
I saw another story where the GOP is the one trying to get him on the ballot. Not suspicious at all.
Well for the past few years the Tabloids had allegations of Kanye West having a bromance with Trump.like Drinking buddies.
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