t3rmit3

Fifty-eight percent of GOP voters said in the new survey convicted felons should be allowed to become president if they are elected. YouGov noted that just 17 percent of Republicans held that opinion in April.

In February, 34 percent of GOP voters said criminality was among their least desired traits. Now, 19 percent say the same.

Incredible.

If you want to see weaponization of the courts against a political opponent, THIS is the case to look at.

The ATF Form 4473 is the Firearm Transaction Record and has a list of checkbox questions which, in a normal country, would not be questions at all, but a bullet point list of disqualifying criteria, such as (shortening for clarity):

• Are you buying the gun for someone else?
• Are you a citizen or legal alien?
• Are you a convicted felon?

Rather than simply saying,

• You cannot purchase the gun for someone else.
• You must be a citizen or legal alien.
• You cannot be a convicted felon.

This is done in order to create a criminal charge of Making a False Claim if one of these is not fulfilled. Note that for many of these, you will in fact fail the background check (FBI NICS system) and be unable to even purchase the gun, such as if you are not a US Citizen or Green Card holder, but you could still have just become a criminal based on your 4473 answers.

Most of the questions are very 'reasonable' in their objective, but then you reach question 21f:

f. Are you an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance?

At first glance this is pretty straightforward: possession of an illegal drug is a crime, so of course you can't buy a gun if you admit you're committing a crime!

But note, it also calls out addiction. Being addicted to something is not illegal, and is not even the same as being intoxicated, but is grounds for rejection under this. Moreover, that addiction can be to legal controlled substances as well, and still run afoul of this question.

And who decides if you are addicted to something? That's not spelled out here, and can be determined by a doctor either before or after arrest for this.

This is extremely unusual for courts to retroactively pursue, especially years later. That Hunter Biden is being pursued on this is 1000% only happening because of Republican pressure, in order to smear Biden so they can try to equate his family to Trump's, in their corruption.

Then again, many laws (especially around drugs and guns) were put in place to target minorities and ~~Leftists~~ non-Conservatives so this is really just the law being used how it was intended.

...on Tuesday, the former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley was all over social media for a picture taken of her during a visit to Israel. In the picture, Haley – the one Republican who had been frequently lauded for her smarts on foreign policy – is seen squatting down in front of a row of Israeli artillery shells, likely provided by the United States, with pen in hand. “Finish them,” she wrote on one of the shells.

The evidence indicates that Nikki Haley can write, but one must wonder if she can read.

Amazing jabs by the author aside, the cruelty and the callousness and the bigotry displayed by those deadset on supporting Israel is both astonishing and horrifying.

What makes this genocidal unity of Democrat and Republican all the more horrific and rage-inducing is that, despite the war-mongering messages emanating from America’s politicians and media pundits, all the polls repeatedly show that the American people want a ceasefire in Gaza, not a genocide. One of the latest surveys, a Data for Progress poll published in early May, found that seven out of 10 likely voters “support the US calling for a permanent ceasefire and a de-escalation of violence in Gaza”. This position was endorsed by majorities of Democrats (83%), independents (65%) and Republicans (56%).

The [Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention] concluded their position this way: “Humanity has a choice: Either we decide that our children can all be killed whenever a superior force alleges that ‘terrorists’ are among us, or we decide that under no circumstances will we allow these superior forces to lay waste to our world any longer. We each must choose and act accordingly. The watershed moment is now.”

The Lemkin Institute exhibits the kind of moral clarity that we must demand from our leaders. If we don’t, the Nikki Haleys of this world will be signing more than bombs. By endorsing the genocide that the people don’t support, these politicians are also signing the death certificate of our own democracy.

In Atlanta, the George Floyd demonstrators are being prosecuted as gang members. The activists of today could be next.

A great writeup on Atlanta's Cop City protests, and the political establishment's wider response to protests in a post-BLM world (hint: it's not to listen to protestors' concerns).

Just like Hitler before him, Trump is benefiting from the fact that journalism is an incremental, daily business. Every day, reporters have to find something new to write or broadcast. Trump keeps saying dangerous and crazy things, but that’s not new. He’s said it all before. His impeachments and the January 6 insurrection happened years ago. True, he has been indicted four times and now faces up to four criminal trials, but that’s already been reported. What’s new today?

For political reporters covering the campaign, that means usually treating Trump’s authoritarian promises as “B-matter.” That’s an old newspaper phrase that refers to the background information that reporters gather about a story’s subject. B-matter is usually exiled to the bottom of an article — if not cut entirely to save space or time.

But the horrifying truth is that when Trump’s dictatorial ambitions are left on the cutting room floor as B-matter, America is in trouble.

A segment on The Hill that cites The Intercept and Democracy Now, and calls out the media downplaying credible accusations of IDF mistreatment of prisoners, including prior to Oct 7? Did I wake up in upside-down world today?

With a network of decentralised cells in most states in the United States and European Union member countries, the Active Clubs movement has blended far-right extremism with mixed martial arts (MMA). By presenting a more palatable image to the public and combining its extremist ideology with exercise, fitness and MMA training, Active Clubs have widened their appeal to reach a much broader audience than traditional white supremacist groups whose members are often derided for being “keyboard warriors”.

By promoting healthy pastimes like weightlifting, kickboxing, and even hiking, the group centres itself around positive, shared activities. Active Clubs enthusiastically encourage their members to live healthier lifestyles, by avoiding tobacco and drug use, training daily, and even going for hikes. For many new members, Active Clubs initially serve as a vehicle for self-improvement where they can train and exercise amongst like-minded individuals.

Alongside this personal growth, the group gradually introduces its members to the movement’s ideology as their involvement deepens.

Active Clubs also maintain close affiliations with more traditional white nationalist and accelerationist groups like Patriot Front that have used violence in the past. In Canada, Active Clubs members are known to have simultaneously been members of designated terrorist groups, including the Atomwaffen Division.

As the US hurtles towards turbulent elections later this year, there is a significant risk that Active Clubs could serve as a combat-ready militia or “brownshirts” organisation prepared to intimidate voters at polling stations, debates, and peaceful demonstrations. With individual Active Clubs branches spanning most US states, the network has a broad geographic footprint that could lead to voter intimidation and election disruptions across the country.

Wikipedia: Active Club Network

GPAHE: Neo-Nazi Active Clubs Spreading Globally, Allying with Similar Extremists, and Taking to the Streets

Cindy McCain, the American director of the U.N. World Food Program, became the most prominent international official so far to declare that trapped civilians in the most cut-off part of Gaza had gone over the brink into famine.

“It’s horror,” McCain told NBC’s “Meet the Press” in an interview to air Sunday. “There is famine — full-blown famine — in the north, and it’s moving its way south.”

The panel that serves as the internationally recognized monitor for food crises said in March that northern Gaza was on the brink of famine and likely to experience it in May. Since March, northern Gaza had not received anything like the aid needed to stave off famine, a U.S. Agency for International Development humanitarian official for Gaza told The Associated Press

But this, in fact, is what actual war looks like these days: Sometimes it’s a volley of 300 missiles and drones, and sometimes it is lean, targeted, and carried out covertly. Gone are the days of vast conquering armies and conventional military confrontations between two parties. So long as experts, the government, and the media worry only about a kind of war that is obsolete, it cannot see the war right in front of our faces.

Great article on the evolving face of warfare and how, as long-range and unmanned systems replace on-the-ground and manned conflict, people are assuaged into treating missiles and bombs being lobbed between countries as something "other" than war.

An excellent interview from the journalist whose investigative reporting exposed the extensive use of machine learning systems by Israel to target Hamas members while at home with their families.

Democrats are meddling in Ohio’s Senate GOP primary at the 11th hour to boost Bernie Moreno, the candidate former President Donald Trump endorsed to face vulnerable Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.

Duty and Country PAC, a group affiliated with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, is spending over $2.5 million to air with a TV ad that heavily touts Moreno’s support from Trump and calls him “too conservative for Ohio.” It will begin airing on Thursday and is set to run through Tuesday’s primary.

The group is funded by Senate Majority PAC, the top Democratic outside group focused on Senate races. The apparent goal of the ad is to boost Moreno with GOP voters, and their interference in the race is a sign that they believe he would be the weakest candidate in the general election.

In a statement, Moreno campaign spokesperson Reagan McCarthy invoked Democrats’ general feeling in 2016 that Trump would be the easiest candidate for Hillary Clinton to beat. “The same thing is going to happen to Sherrod Brown this year,” McCarthy said.

This is such a playing-with-fire tactic...

If y'all wonder why we're constantly seeing races between the DNC candidates and extremist Trumpers, know that it's at least in part because the DNC is boosting them. "Don't vote for white supremacists" works better as a talking point if you make sure your opponents are white supremacists, but badly if your gambit doesn't pay off.

And guess what... they got what they wanted.

Trump’s endorsee, auto-dealer magnate Bernie Moreno, beat State Senator (and Cleveland Guardians co-owner) Matt Dolan and Secretary of State Frank LaRose decisively on March 19. With over 96 percent percent of the expected vote in, Moreno is winning just over half the total votes and leading by Dolan by 18 percent. It’s a broad-based victory, since Moreno is ahead in all of Ohio’s 88 counties.

Of course Ohio has 88 counties...

"Now it's on you, Ohio Democrat voters, to vote super hard to make sure a white supremacist isn't elected in the General!" - Sincerely, the SuperPAC that helped put a white supremacist in the General

Israel largely shut off entry of food, water, medicine and other supplies after launching its assault on Gaza following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel — allowing only a trickle of aid trucks through two crossings in the south.

After months of warnings over the risk of famine in Gaza under Israel’s bombardment, offensives and siege, children are starting to die.

The ultimate, intended outcome of Israel's humanitarian blockade of Gaza is beginning.