ChiGoose

If the payments were made by Trump in order to benefit the campaign but were not reported as campaign expenses, then that constitutes a campaign violation even (and especially) if the funds did not come from the campaign. The argument being presented is that the arrangement to pay Stormy Daniels came on the heels of the Access Hollywood tape. Since the tape was very damaging to Trump, the possibility of Daniels’ going public with him cheating on his wife right after their son was born would likely be viewed as a problem for the campaign. So Trump arranged to pay for something that benefited his campaign in a manner that concealed it from campaign finance reporting requirements. It’s a bit complicated if you’re not familiar with the issues here, so I’ll give a hypo: Let’s say that in addition to Bill being on the Epstein flight logs, Hillary herself was on them a bunch. During the 2016 election with all of the Pizzagate stuff, Hillary realized that her name on the logs would be a problem if it were made public. But if she arranged to pay off Epstein / Maxwell with campaign funds, she’d have to report it to the FEC. So instead, she used Clinton Foundation money to pay Epstein / Maxwell to keep the logs secret during the campaign. That would be a campaign finance violation because the money was spent to benefit the campaign but wasn’t properly done under campaign finance laws.

I would judge a political party not on what its opponents say about it or what its extreme members or vocal randos say but more on what their leadership says and (more importantly) what they actually do while they are in power. I grew up hating the Democratic Party and resisted supporting them as long as I could. But they’re not nearly as bad as I had been told. Yeah, I’m still working on nailing that. For years, my wife was either pregnant or taking IVF meds to get pregnant so I always erred on the side of caution by overcooking them. Now I’m just trying some stuff and trying to get it right. My dad still overcooks his steaks so maybe it’s genetic too, lol.

Only way to become a billionaire is to become a millionaire. An easy way to become a millionaire is to sell your soul. I have an excellent meat thermometer (four probes with a Bluetooth reader) that I use for smoking meats. But steaks cook quick and I want to work on my timing on them better rather than eyeing a screen.

Never said that. A lot of Dems are captured by the billionaire class. But unlike the liberal movement, the conservative movement exists *solely* to deliver for the donor class.

The entire conservative movement exists at this point to funnel money and power to the billionaire class. To keep the rubes supporting this movement, they use emotional triggers to activate people against anyone who might stand in the way of their mission. So instead of “White House issues same proclamation it has in previous years” the pushed narrative is that the second-ever Catholic President of the United States hates Catholics. This will keep people supporting candidates that will break working class Americans to ensure profits for their corporate overlords. Also, I’m making steak tonight since it’s finally nice enough out for some grilling. Gonna try for rare but I’m a bit rusty on the timing. And vanilla ice cream is the best ice cream.

The Biden White House does this proclamation every year and Biden does not decide what day this falls on. Lots of triggered snowflakes getting big mad about it anyway.

Well obviously. He’ll probably actually pick someone he likes.

Given how the RNC is being run, my guess is Don Jr. Might as well keep it all in the family.

New Jersey ballot design scrapped by judge in win for Andy Kim I wasn't familiar with NJ's "county line" ballot system until I saw in the news that Kim was challenging it. Essentially, the party bosses in each county decide who gets the coveted first column on primary ballots, leading to somewhat bizarre looking ballots like this: According to an investigation, placement on the county line provides a boost to the candidates while also increasing voter confusion, leading to undervotes and overvotes. That alone should be worth getting rid of this, but when you add in that this allows the party to heavily influence who wins the primary, I'm glad to see it's likely on its way out.

Maybe the internet was a bad idea... Online Conspiracies About the Baltimore Bridge Collapse Are Out of Control Conspiracy theorists are calling the Baltimore bridge collapse a “black swan event” and are blaming everything from Israel to DEI to Covid vaccines. A non-exhaustive list of things that are getting blamed for the bridge collapse on Telegram and X include President Biden, Hamas, ISIS, P. Diddy, Nickelodeon, India, former president Barack Obama, Islam, aliens, Sri Lanka, the World Economic Forum, the United Nations, Wokeness, Ukraine, foreign aid, the CIA, Jewish people, Israel, Russia, China, Iran, Covid vaccines, DEI, immigrants, Black people, and lockdowns. The Francis Scott Key truss bridge collapsed when the MV Dali cargo ship collided with one of the bridge supports. Six construction workers, who were filling potholes on the bridge’s roadway at the time, are presumed dead. The ship is owned by Singapore-based Grace Ocean Private Ltd., and the 22-person crew were all Indian. The ship was en route to Colombo, Sri Lanka, at the time of the accident. This did not stop people from “asking questions” about the incident, a frequent conspiracist response to major events. And though conspiracy theorists are having a hard time pinpointing exactly what conspiracy caused the collapse, the one thing they do agree on is that this incident is a “black swan event.” The term black swan event has been around for decades and is used to describe a major global event (typically in the financial markets) that can cause significant damage to a country’s economy. But in recent years, the term has been co-opted by the conspiracy-minded to explain an event triggered by the so-called deep state that would signal an imminent revolution, a third world war, or some other apocalyptic catastrophe. One of the first people to call the bridge collapse a black swan event was disgraced former US national security adviser Michael Flynn. “This is a BLACK SWAN event,” he wrote on X. “Black swans normally come out of the world of finance (not military) … There are harbor masters for every single one of these transit points in America that are in charge of assuring the safety of navigation … start there.” Flynn’s post has been viewed 7.2 million times. Misogynist influencer Andrew Tate, who has been charged in Romania with rape and human trafficking, also posted on X early on Tuesday morning, writing: “Nothing is safe. Black Swan Event imminent.” The post has been viewed almost 19 million times. The term black swan quickly began trending on X, and soon conspiracists, extremists, and right-wing lawmakers began coming up with explanations for what or who triggered this “black swan event.” One post claiming a link between the bridge collapse and the film Leave the World Behind has been viewed more than 1.2 million times. The post claimed that because the ship was headed to Sri Lanka, which has a lion on its flag, then the situation was linked to the ship that runs aground at the beginning of the film which was called White Lion. The post also points out that the film was produced by Obama. A post from Anthony Sabatini, a former Florida state congressman, declared, without evidence, that “DEI did this”—and its been viewed over 2.2 million times. Some politicians have boosted the conspiracy as well. “Is this an intentional attack or an accident?” Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, an influential and conspiracy-minded member of the GOP, posted on X above a video shared by a prominent QAnon conspiracist. Under previous iterations of X, formerly Twitter, such speculation would typically have gained little traction, as the algorithm would have prioritized trusted news sources and primary evidence. But under Elon Musk’s reign, anyone willing to pay for a blue check can have their posts artificially boosted by the algorithm. This means that conspiracies like this are ending up in the news feeds of millions of people. On Telegram, one prominent election denier claimed the incident was linked to the fact that the bridge was named after Francis Scott Key, who wrote the words for the Star Spangled Banner, and was thus an attempt to undermine America. “Don't let them erase our history,” the conspiracist wrote. Investigators are looking into the cause of the tragic incident, but William DelBagno, the FBI special agent in charge, said on Tuesday that there are no indications of terrorism.

‘Morally dubious’: 4 House Republicans protest Biden's IVF expansion for veterans "WASHINGTON — A group of four House Republicans sent a letter to the Biden administration Wednesday protesting a policy to expand access to in vitro fertilization, or IVF, for veterans. The letter, addressed to Denis McDonough, the secretary of veterans affairs, was signed by Reps. Matt Rosendale of Montana, Mary Miller of Illinois, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma and Bob Good of Virginia, who said they had "a plethora of ethical concerns and questions" about the policy. "IVF is morally dubious and should not be subsidized by the American taxpayer. It is well known that IVF treatments result in a surplus of embryos after the best ones are tested and selected. These embryos are then frozen — at significant cost to the parents — abandoned, or cruelly discarded," the lawmakers wrote." Fun facts about Illinois' own Mary Miller: She employed someone who had previously been convicted of attempting to solicit sex from a minor She quoted Hitler positively in a speech two days into her first term She voted against giving medals to the police officers who defended the Capitol on Jan 6 Her husband is an Illinois state rep who was at January 6th and has a 3%er decal on his car.

Judge rules Georgia Republican Party’s vice chairman voted illegally It’s almost as if it’s just projection the whole way down

Biden: Make America Make Things Again

That tweet is unfair. Trump isn’t a fascist. Fascism requires believing in an ideology, something that Trump is completely incapable of doing due to his crippling NPD.

MAGA: Making Attorneys Get Attorneys Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

I wasn't able to follow it too closely, but from what I can tell, the argument for standing is extremely weak. Do you think they even reach the merits in the final decision or will it be dismissed for lack of proper standing?

My takeaway is that the IVF/abortion issue is a very good issue for the Dems and it is likely to still be a very live issue in November, but they cannot just rely on that winning it for them. They still need to do the work. There were only 5,951 votes in this election compared to 14,696 in 2022 and 20,948 in 2018. I don't think it's wise to extrapolate *too* much from such an unusually low turnout election.

The district lines changed a bit in 2022, but for context here are the most recent elections: 2024: D+25 2022: R+7 2018: R+13 2014: R won uncontested 2010: R won uncontested I don't know enough about Alabama to know how much of the (seemingly minor) district change would impact the demographics but it still seems like a huge swing to the Dems.

If anyone is looking for a comprehensive overview of the case from a legal perspective, Just Security has put together a very detailed guide. They are more bullish on this case than I am, but something I've noticed is that the more familiar people are with NYS law and the regular practice of the Manhattan DA's office, the stronger they believe this case is. In regards to proving the elements of the case, they note: "Despite early and ongoing skepticism of DANY’s case, we view it as strong because prosecutors will likely establish with relative ease three of the four corners of the alleged crimes: the “catch and kill” scheme, the payment to Daniels to bury the story of the affair, and the paper trail of reimbursements and records that mischaracterized and concealed the nature of the hush payment. As one commentator wrote, “the spine of the case is the paper trail of the money, [and] Bragg will be bringing the receipts to trial.” The fourth corner of the scheme is Trump’s intent to commit or conceal another crime, as the law requires to be elevated to the felony first-degree falsification of business records. DANY will have to prove that Trump intended to commit or conceal campaign finance violations (state or federal) or tax violations. Proving this intent will be more difficult than proving the objective facts (as it almost always is), but as discussed in more detail below, DANY appears to have the upper hand." (emphasis mine) As for how these types of charges have been used in the past, they provide some examples: "When Bragg first charged Trump in April 2023, he stated that in his 14 months in office he had already prosecuted 117 felony counts of falsifying business records against 29 individuals and companies. During the ten years from March 2013 to March 2023, the office prosecuted 437 such cases. Moreover, DAs across the state of New York frequently charge defendants with felony falsification of business records. Reports in April 2023 stated, “Data shows 9,794 cases involving state penal law 175.10, or falsifying business records in the first degree, have been arraigned in both local and superior New York state courts since 2015.”" (emphasis mine) They also note that these charges have been used in the context of campaign finance violations in the past: Former NYS Assemblyman Clarence Norman was convicted in 2005 of falsifying business records in connection with campaign finance violations Richard Brega pleaded guilty to one count of felony falsifying business records for misrepresenting the source of funds he funneled into a county executive campaign Richard Luthmann was arraigned for multiple felony charges including falsifying business records and election law violations and subsequently pleaded guilty.

Well, if Jones didn’t want such a big judgment against him, maybe he should have actually participated in discovery.

Last time I checked, the suit was a civil case and not a criminal one.

If your child was murdered at school and then you had to endure harassment and threats because a moron who was popular with other morons was making bank by saying that you made the whole thing up and your kid either never existed or wasn’t actually killed, what kind of damages do you think would be reasonable to get the idiot to stop ruining your life?

Thanks for sharing. Didn’t realize this was a thing. I’ll have to watch it as soon as I have time. Alex Jones is a garbage human and anyone who believes him is also garbage.

I listen to far too many podcasts. Used to listen to SYSK but fell off a while ago. Nothing against the show, there is just too much stuff out there.