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Posts by stl1
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2022-02-16 at 3:01 PM UTC in Russia is not invading the Ukraine but the USA is going to try and start a war just because.
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2022-02-16 at 2:53 PM UTC in Could you get along with yourself?Too fugly, Jiggly?
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2022-02-16 at 2:44 PM UTC in Im sick. Really sick
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2022-02-16 at 2:33 PM UTC in THE MAGA PARTY!,,, the GOP is dead, republicans are going down with the dems,, get ready for THE MAGA PARTY lefty's
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2022-02-16 at 2:32 PM UTC in THE MAGA PARTY!,,, the GOP is dead, republicans are going down with the dems,, get ready for THE MAGA PARTY lefty'sWE GOT HIM NOW!
CBS News
Biden rejects Trump's efforts to shield White House visitor logs
Melissa Quinn
Washington — President Biden has rejected claims of executive privilege asserted by former President Donald Trump over White House visitor logs sought by the House panel investigating the January 6 assault on the Capitol and ordered the National Archives and Records Administration to turn the records over to investigators.
CBS News obtained a February 15 letter from White House counsel Dana Remus to David Ferriero, archivist of the United States, notifying him that Mr. Biden determined an assertion of executive privilege "is not in the best interests of the United States, and therefore is not justified, as to these records and portions of records."
The New York Times first reported the letter from Remus.
Remus said the records at issue are entries in visitor logs that show appointment information for people permitted to enter the White House complex, including on January 6, 2021. Trump made claims of executive privilege over a subset of the documents and portions of the records, shielding their release, but Remus told Ferriero that Mr. Biden does not uphold those assertions.
"As a matter of policy, and subject to limited exceptions, the Biden administration voluntarily discloses such visitor logs on a monthly basis. The Obama administration followed the same practice," she wrote. "The majority of the entries over which the former president has asserted executive privilege would be publicly released under current policy. As practice under that policy demonstrates, preserving the confidentiality of this type of record generally is not necessary to protect long-term institutional interests of the Executive Branch."
Citing the "urgency of the select committee's need for the information," Remus said the president instructs the Archives, which holds the records from the Trump White House, to turn over the documents to the panel 15 days after notifying Trump unless barred from doing so by a court.
It's unclear whether Trump would mount a legal battle to stop the release of the entries to the select committee. An earlier attempt by the former president to block the Archives from releasing more than 700 pages of his White House records after Mr. Biden decided not to uphold assertions of executive privilege was rejected by the Supreme Court. The committee received the documents last month.
The Archives also said earlier this month it will release records from Vice President Mike Pence to the select committee after Mr. Biden rejected Trump's efforts to block their release. The former president made a claim of privilege over "communications concerning the former Vice President's responsibilities as President of the Senate in certifying the vote of presidential electors on January 6, 2021," according to a February 1 letter from Remus.
The committee examining the events surrounding the January 6 attack on the Capitol has interviewed more than 475 witnesses and obtained over 60,000 documents, according to an aide to the panel.
Investigators have issued dozens of subpoenas as part of their probe, including ones to Trump's allies, former White House officials, campaign aides and individuals involved in the planning of the rally outside the White House before the Capitol building came under siege. Two top Trump allies, Steve Bannon and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, have been held in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with subpoenas, and the Justice Department has charged Bannon. Both cited Trump's claims of privilege for not complying.
Congressman Adam Kinzinger, a Republican from Illinois who sits on the panel, told "Face the Nation" on Sunday he expects the committee will begin public hearings in the spring or summer.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi created the House select committee last year earlier this year to investigate the January 6 attack, when thousands of Trump supporters descended on the Capitol as Congress counted state electoral votes, a largely ceremonial final step affirming Mr. Biden's victory. Lawmakers were sent fleeing amid the riot, which led to the deaths of five people and the arrests of hundreds more. Trump, who encouraged his supporters to "walk over" to the Capitol during the rally at the Ellipse before the electoral vote count, was impeached by the House one week later for inciting the riot but was later acquitted by the Senate. -
2022-02-16 at 2:27 PM UTC in Randy Andy Pays Up (Wariat Better Start Saving His Pennies)AFP
Anger in UK over Prince Andrew's '£12 mn' settlement
Disgraced British royal Prince Andrew was urged Wednesday to "live out his retirement in ignominy" after reportedly settling a sexual assault lawsuit for a whopping £12 million ($16.3 million, 14.3 million euros).
The lawyer for US accuser Virginia Giuffre said on Tuesday that both parties had settled out of court, sparing Andrew the public humiliation of a trial. The details were not revealed.
Giuffre, 38, has said she had sex with Andrew when she was 17 and a minor under US law, after meeting him through US financier Jeffrey Epstein. He took his own life in prison while awaiting trial for sex crimes.
The prince, 61, has not been criminally charged and has denied the allegations.
Mark Stephens, a media specialist at law firm Howard Kennedy, told AFP that Andrew had "preserved some measure of dignity for the wider royal family" by agreeing to settle.
But, Stephens added, "he's not going to see the light of day in public service ever again".
The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that Andrew was to pay £10 million to Giuffre and £2 million to a charity for victims of sex trafficking.
His team told AFP they would not comment on the contents of the deal.
The deal raised questions of who is footing the bill for the perennially cash-strapped prince, who is said to be selling a Swiss ski chalet at a knockdown price to help meet his US legal bills.
The Telegraph said the settlement money would come from one of the private estates belonging to his mother Queen Elizabeth II. Commentators demanded transparency on the source, in case the British taxpayer ends up on the hook.
- 'Swept under the carpet' -
"I just think it's awful that it's all been swept under the carpet, as if it never even happened," Yasmine Ollive, a 34-year-old account manager, said in London.
After other controversies over Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle, she said that if the royals "keep on carrying on with the things that they're doing, then it could be the end of them".
Separately on Wednesday, police in London confirmed they were investigating allegations that an aide to Prince Charles, the queen's heir, had offered UK honours to a Saudi businessman in return for donations to the prince's charitable foundation.
The scandal hanging over Andrew has threatened to overshadow the queen's Platinum Jubilee this year, marking her 70 years on the throne. Any jury trial could have coincided with nationwide jubilee celebrations due to take place in the summer.
But Andrew will now no longer be questioned under oath by Giuffre's lawyers, who had been due to travel to London next month.
The court filing said Andrew "regrets his association with Epstein, and commends the bravery of Ms. Giuffre and other survivors in standing up for themselves and others".
"He pledges to demonstrate his regret for his association with Epstein by supporting the fight against the evils of sex trafficking, and by supporting its victims," it added.
- 'No way back' -
But British media called on Andrew to withdraw entirely from public life, after he was already stripped of his honorary military ranks and the title of "His Royal Highness".
"Andrew is finished -- undone by his insufferable arrogance, entitlement and staggering naivety," popular tabloid The Sun said in its editorial.
"He must retreat entirely from public life and live out his retirement in ignominy," it added.
Opposition Labour MP Rachael Maskell demanded that Andrew also lose his Duke of York title to show "respect" for the people of the northern English city, which she represents.
The staunchly royalist Daily Mail said in its front-page headline that there was "no way back" for Andrew, who withdrew from royal duties in 2019 after a widely ridiculed BBC interview.
Inside, the paper slammed Andrew for a "vile smear campaign" against Giuffre.
British commentators also mocked Andrew for claiming he had never met Giuffre, querying why he had agreed in that case to settle for such an apparently large amount, and pointing to a photograph of the pair together when she was 17.
His lawyers had questioned the authenticity of the photo, which also showed socialite and Epstein friend Ghislaine Maxwell.
In December, Maxwell was convicted of recruiting and grooming young girls to be sexually abused by Epstein. -
2022-02-16 at 2:14 PM UTC in STICK IT, Damn It!COVID Killed More Americans in Past 2 Weeks Than Flu in Past 3 Seasons
BY JACK DUTTON ON 1/31/22 Newsweek
COVID-19 has killed more Americans in the last two weeks than influenza has killed over the last three flu seasons.
Between January 16 and January 30, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, there were around 31,100 deaths from COVID-19 in the U.S.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there have been 22,290 deaths from flu over the past three flu seasons. The health agency only reports flu deaths within flu season, which spans from October through May, as influenza deaths are very rare outside the season.
There were 20,342 deaths from influenza in the 2019-2020 season. The first five months of that season took place before the COVID-19 outbreak was given pandemic status in March 2020. In those first months, many countries had not entered a strict lockdown to protect against airborne coronaviruses like SARS-CoV 2 and the influenza.
In the 2020 to 2021 season, only 748 Americans died from flu.
The following season, CDC estimates that 1,200 people died from flu.
The drop-off in these numbers are likely to be due to public health precautions people across the world were taking as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Like COVID, flu spreads through airborne droplets via respiratory systems. Mask-wearing and physical distancing thus help cut down flu activity.
"Though caused by a different virus from the one that causes COVID-19, the flu is also a respiratory viral disease, so everything we are doing to slow transmission of COVID-19 should also reduce transmission of flu," Eili Klein, an associate professor of emergency medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said in March 2021.
COVID-19 is thought to be far more infectious than flu, especially as many people are not immune to the disease.
Despite about 64 percent of the U.S. population being fully vaccinated, the new highly-transmissible omicron and "stealth" Omicron variant is running amok around the country.
The United States is coming out of a devastating wave of infections driven by those variants. In the latest CDC data available on January 28, the U.S. had a seven-day daily average of 543,016 cases a day. Just a week before, on January 21, this figure was at 716,809.
Although early research suggests that Omicron is less severe than previous variants of the virus, it has been shown to evade vaccines.
Booster vaccines have been shown to provide the best protection against the new variant, which emerged in November last year.
Forty-one-point five percent of the U.S. population has received a booster jab. -
2022-02-16 at 5:41 AM UTC in THE MAGA PARTY!,,, the GOP is dead, republicans are going down with the dems,, get ready for THE MAGA PARTY lefty'sThe Guardian
Capitol attack investigators target Trump circle over fake elector ploy
Hugo Lowell
The House select committee investigating the Capitol attack issued subpoenas on Tuesday to top Trump campaign and Republican officials involved in the scheme to send false electors for Donald Trump in states won by Joe Biden, as it examines the coordination behind the effort.
The panel sent subpoenas to six individuals who were involved in a brazen attempt to meet and submit fake electoral college certificates that formed the backbone of a Trump-connected scheme to have Congress return the former president to office.
Congressman Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the select committee, suggested in a statement that the subpoenas aimed to compel cooperation from the key actors about whether the Trump White House oversaw the effort to have so-called alternate electors participate in the scheme.
“We’re seeking records and testimony from former campaign officials and other individuals in various states who we believe have relevant information about the planning and implementation of those plans,” Thompson said.
The second set of subpoenas to people involved in the scheme comes weeks after the deputy attorney general, Lisa Monaco, confirmed that the justice department had opened its own investigation into the matter, raising the stakes for the fake electors and the Trump White House.
The select committee subpoenaed two senior Trump campaign officials: Michael Roman and Gary Michael Brown, who served, respectively, as the director and deputy director for election day operations for the Trump 2020 re-election campaign.
Both Trump campaign officials – Roman and Brown – participated in efforts to promote allegations of fraud in the November 2020 election and encourage state legislators to appoint false “alternate” slates of electors, Thompson said.
In separate subpoena letters, Thompson said the panel had communications showing the pair coordinated a pressure campaign urging Republican members of state legislatures to send Trump slates, and oversaw Trump campaign staffers involved in the effort.
The select committee also targeted four state Republican allies of Trump: the chair of the Arizona Republican party Kelli Ward, former Michigan Republican party chair Laura Cox, Pennsylvania state senator Douglas Mastriano, and Arizona house member Mark Finchem.
Ward signed a fake election certificate, Cox was a witness to the Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani pressuring states to disregard Biden’s win in Michigan, Mastriano had knowledge of the fake electors scheme, and Finchem communicated with organizers of the Save America rally on 6 January, Thompson said.
Trump’s plan to return himself to office rested on two elements: the existence, or possible existence, of alternate slates, that then-vice president Mike Pence could use to declare that “dueling slates” meant he was unable to certify those states in favor of Biden.
The effort to subvert the results of the 2020 election at the joint session of Congress on 6 January fell apart after Pence refused to abuse his ceremonial role to certify the results, and it was clear the “alternate slates” were not legitimate certificates.
The panel is seeking to examine whether the effort was coordinated by the Trump White House and whether it amounted to a crime, according to a source close to the investigation. The subpoenas compel the production of documents and testimony through March. -
2022-02-16 at 12:02 AM UTC in Randy Andy Pays Up (Wariat Better Start Saving His Pennies)The Washington Post
Prince Andrew settles with U.S. woman who says she was trafficked to him by Jeffrey Epstein
Shayna Jacobs
NEW YORK — Britain’s Prince Andrew has settled the sexual abuse lawsuit brought by a woman who said she was trafficked to him by the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, a court filing Tuesday revealed. The amount of the settlement was not disclosed.
Andrew was sued in August by Virginia Giuffre, who said she was recruited by Epstein and his longtime paramour Ghislaine Maxwell when she was a teenager in Palm Beach, Fla., where Epstein maintained a villa residence. She alleged that the couple introduced to Andrew, who was a friend of theirs.
Giuffre, now a mother living in Australia, alleged that she had unwanted sexual encounters with Andrew in New York, London and on Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean in the early 2000s.
In a one-page statement filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Tuesday, the parties agreed that Andrew “never intended to malign Ms. Giuffre’s character, and he accepts that she has suffered both as an established victim of abuse and as a result of unfair public attacks..”
Prince Andrew’s lawyers, arguing for dismissal of sexual assault lawsuit, point to accuser’s secret settlement with Jeffrey Epstein
The statement continues that it is "known that Jeffrey Epstein trafficked countless young girls over many years. Prince Andrew regrets his association with Epstein, and commends the bravery of Ms. Giuffre and other survivors in standing up for themselves and others."
“He pledges to demonstrate his regret for his association with Epstein by supporting the fight against the evils of sex trafficking, and by supporting its victims,” the statement continues.
The settlement comes shortly after a federal judge in New York overseeing the lawsuit sought help from courts in the United Kingdom and Australia to secure the testimony of witnesses living in those countries.
A notice filed to the same judge on Tuesday said that, in light of the settlement, Giuffre would be withdrawing her civil claims against Andrew.
“The amount is confidential,” Giuffre’s attorney David Boies said in a statement, adding that the settlement “speaks for itself.” -
2022-02-15 at 11:51 PM UTC in THE MAGA PARTY!,,, the GOP is dead, republicans are going down with the dems,, get ready for THE MAGA PARTY lefty'sWE GOT HIM NOW!
Business Insider
A judge just handed Trump a major loss in the DC attorney general's lawsuit over inauguration funds as the case heads to trial
jshamsian@insider.com (Jacob Shamsian)
A judge reinstated the Trump Organization as a defendant in a lawsuit over the potential misuse of inauguration funds.
The DC Attorney General alleges the organization wrongly took nonprofit funds from Trump's 2017 inauguration.
A judge ruled the AG brought enough evidence to keep the company as a defendant.
A Washington, DC judge reinstated the Trump Organization as a defendant in a lawsuit brought by the district's attorney general over whether former President Donald Trump misused funds for his 2017 inauguration — reversing an earlier decision and handing a major loss to Trump as the case heads to trial.
DC Attorney General Karl A. Racine filed the civil lawsuit in January 2020. He accused the Trump Organization, the Trump International Hotel in DC, and Trump's 2017 presidential inaugural committee, which is a tax-exempt nonprofit, of using tax-free funds to improperly pay the Trump Organization and members of the Trump family.
In November, DC Superior Court Judge José M. López cleaved the Trump Organization off the case, ruling that Racine's office didn't bring enough evidence to establish the company may have broken the law.
Racine filed a motion for reconsideration later that month. On December 31, the case was transferred to a different judge, Yvonne Williams, who ruled Wednesday night that the Trump Organization should remain in the case after all.
She pointed out in her ruling that Gentry Beach, a man who the attorney general's office says was acting on behalf of the Trump Organization, appeared to conflate the company and the inaugural committee when booking a block of hotel rooms.
"The contract involved a large block of rooms booked for people affiliated with the Trump Organization at the Loews Madison Hotel during the week of the 2017 Inauguration," Williams wrote. "Mr. Beach signed the contract on behalf of the Trump Organization and listed Lindsay Santoro, Mr. Donald Trump Jr.'s personal assistant, as the point of contact for the rooms."
Lawyers for the Trump Organization argued that the attorney general's office failed to collect any testimony from Beach. But Williams wrote that López erroneously ruled in their favor without first considering whether Racine should be able to issue a subpoena to depose Beach.
Racine celebrated the new ruling Wednesday night.
"Big news: The judge added the Trump Org in NY back into our lawsuit against the Presidential Inaugural Committee," he wrote on Twitter. "Our lawsuit is moving forward fully intact & full steam ahead. We sued the inaugural committee for misusing funds to enrich the Trump family. Now we're going to trial."
The case is now headed to trial. Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, former First Lady Melania Trump's former close friend, said Monday night that she would be "the lead witness" in the case.
Wolkoff joined the inauguration committee to help plan it before joining Melania Trump's office in the White House. She left in 2018 following reports that she misused inauguration funds herself, and later published a tell-all book in 2020 that burned bridges with the former first lady.
Williams wrote in her new ruling that she would hold a conference on Thursday to address discovery motions, at which point she may set a trial date. -
2022-02-15 at 7:13 PM UTC in THE MAGA PARTY!,,, the GOP is dead, republicans are going down with the dems,, get ready for THE MAGA PARTY lefty'sWe'll see, wont we?
New grand jury seated as Trump criminal probe continues
New York prosecutors conducting a criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump’s business dealings have convened a new grand jury to hear evidence as the previous panel’s term was set to run out
By MICHAEL R. SISAK Associated Press
November 4, 2021, 5:44 PM
NEW YORK -- New York prosecutors investigating former President Donald Trump’s business dealings have convened a new grand jury to hear evidence in the probe as the previous panel’s term was set to run out, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press Thursday.
The development comes as the Manhattan district attorney’s office is weighing whether to seek more indictments in a case that has already resulted in tax fraud charges against Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, and its longtime CFO Allen Weisselberg.
Trump himself remains under investigation after District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. led a multiyear fight to get access to the Republican’s tax records.
The person was not authorized to speak publicly and did so on condition of anonymity. The news of the new grand jury was first reported by The Washington Post.
The Manhattan DA’s office declined comment. A message seeking comment was left with a Trump Organization lawyer.
Investigators working for Vance and New York Attorney General Letitia James have spent more than two years looking at whether the Trump Organization misled banks or tax officials about the value of the company's assets, inflating them to gain favorable loan terms or minimizing them to reap tax savings.
As part of a continuing civil investigation, James’ office issued subpoenas to local governments in November 2019 for records pertaining to Trump’s estate north of Manhattan, Seven Springs, and a tax benefit Trump received for placing land into a conservation trust. Vance issued subpoenas about a year ago seeking many of the same records.
James’ office has also been looking at similar issues relating to a Trump office building in New York City, a hotel in Chicago and a golf course near Los Angeles. Her office also won a series of court rulings forcing Trump’s company and a law firm it hired to turn over troves of records.
The New York Times reported last month that Westchester District Attorney Mimi Rocah had opened an investigation into whether the Trump Organization misled officials to cut taxes for a golf course.
In the criminal case, Weisselberg has pleaded not guilty to charges he collected more than $1.7 million in off-the-books compensation, including apartment rent, car payments and school tuition. Trump’s company was also charged in the case, which prosecutors have described as a “sweeping and audacious” tax fraud scheme.
Prosecutors have also been weighing whether to seek charges against the company’s chief operating officer Matthew Calamari Sr.
According to the indictment, from 2005 through this year, the Trump Organization and Weisselberg, 74, cheated tax authorities by conspiring to pay senior executives off the books by way of lucrative fringe benefits and other means. Weisselberg alone was accused of defrauding the federal, state and city governments out of more than $900,000 in unpaid taxes and undeserved tax refunds.
Trump himself was not charged with any wrongdoing, but prosecutors noted he signed some of the checks at the center of the case.
In recent months, a pair of Trump Organization executives testified before the grand jury hearing evidence in the Manhattan case. Under New York law, grand jury witnesses are granted immunity and cannot be charged for conduct they testify about.
One of the Trump executives granted immunity to testify before the grand jury is the company’s director of security, Matthew Calamari Jr., the son of Matthew Calamari Sr. The other, senior vice president and controller, Jeffrey McConney, was first subpoenaed to testify in the spring and appeared before the panel again in September.
At a September hearing, Weisselberg lawyer Bryan Scarlatos told a judge he had “strong reason to believe” more indictments were coming in the case.
The grand jury that returned the Weisselberg and Trump Organization indictments was empaneled in the spring for a six-month term. The new grand jury will also meet for six months, overlapping the start of Alvin Bragg’s tenure as district attorney.
Bragg, a Democrat, won Tuesday’s election and will take over in January for Vance, who is retiring.
As a top deputy to New York’s attorney general in 2018, Bragg helped oversee a lawsuit that led to the closure of Trump’s charitable foundation over allegations that he used the nonprofit to further his political and business interests.
In an interview prior to his election, Bragg told The Associated Press his prior experience handling mortgage fraud, money laundering and other white-collar investigations made him feel “very equipped to follow the facts wherever they go” in the Trump criminal probe.
“I remember the moment sitting around the table with the attorney general deciding to file the case and the ultimate question was, ‘is this a matter that we would file if it were someone else,’” Bragg said.
“And we arrived with the answer that yes, this was the kind of conduct that was worthy of an attorney general action. It’s that same philosophy and approach that I’ll take to the D.A.’s office," he said. -
2022-02-15 at 7 PM UTC in You guys ever look at fossils?
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2022-02-15 at 6:59 PM UTC in THE MAGA PARTY!,,, the GOP is dead, republicans are going down with the dems,, get ready for THE MAGA PARTY lefty'sHow about supplying two conflicting figures?
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2022-02-15 at 6:56 PM UTC in Russia is not invading the Ukraine but the USA is going to try and start a war just because.Spoken like a true insurrectionist.
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2022-02-15 at 6:32 PM UTC in THE MAGA PARTY!,,, the GOP is dead, republicans are going down with the dems,, get ready for THE MAGA PARTY lefty'sActually, it is both.
The accountants use the figures supplied by Trump. -
2022-02-15 at 6:28 PM UTC in Who Should Be Next?
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2022-02-15 at 6:21 PM UTC in Who Should Be Next?
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2022-02-15 at 6:16 PM UTC in Some people can't handle the truth^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Wouldn't know the truth if it bit his nose off. -
2022-02-15 at 6:12 PM UTC in Found this photo of Luciansamo/Cly^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The most intelligent post of yours that I've seen to date! -
2022-02-15 at 6:10 PM UTC in Russia is not invading the Ukraine but the USA is going to try and start a war just because.Absolutely anyone who is not Trump is 100% better than that last ass clown in the Oval Office.
You'd have to look really hard to find a worse President than Trump.
There was that one guy who died only a month or so into his term...
