Zorro
Zorro's JournalClub shooter's 2021 bomb case dropped, family uncooperative
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — The Colorado Springs gay nightclub shooter had charges dropped in a 2021 bomb threat case after family members who were terrorized in the incident refused to cooperate, according to the district attorney and unsealed court documents.
The charges were dropped despite authorities a finding a tub with more than 100 pounds (45 kilograms) of explosive materials and later receiving warnings from other relatives that suspect Anderson Lee Aldrich was sure to hurt or murder a set of grandparents if freed, according to the documents, which were unsealed Thursday.
In a letter last November to state District Court Judge Robin Chittum, the relatives painted a picture of an isolated, violent person who did not have a job and was given $30,000 that was spent largely on the purchase of 3D printers to make guns. Chittum is the same judge who ruled to unseal the case Thursday.
Aldrich tried to reclaim guns seized after the threat, but authorities did not return the weapons, El Paso County District Attorney Michael Allen said. The case included allegations that Aldrich threatened to kill the grandparents in a chilling confrontation during which the suspect described plans to become the “next mass killer” more than a year before the nightclub attack that killed five people.
https://news.yahoo.com/judge-unseals-documents-gay-bar-160013089.html
Elon Musk Worried He Won't Have Enough Twitter Employees Left To Fire On Christmas Eve
SAN FRANCISCO—Expressing concern that he might have totally ruined the holiday season, Elon Musk reportedly worried Thursday that he wouldn’t have enough Twitter employees left to fire on Christmas Eve.
“Gosh, I just don’t know if I’ll be able to parcel them out long enough to enjoy destroying a few of their lives on Dec. 24,” said Musk, appearing visibly forlorn as he scrolled through the company’s rapidly diminishing roster and realized he simply might not have the willpower to string his remaining programmers along until he could tell them to clear out their desks just as the holidays rolled around.
“It’s a shame, because some of these guys have work visas, and it would be really wonderful to watch the devastation dawn in their eyes as they realize they’ll have to leave the country on Christmas Eve. But I just love firing them. Man, this is a real disappointment.”
At press time, Musk had been spotted in his office assembling an advent calendar of every person he planned to fire in December in the hopes of making them last.
https://www.theonion.com/elon-musk-worried-he-won-t-have-enough-twitter-employee-1849870554
Tensions simmer as conservative moms, Florida educators differ on school books
“I know what’s good for kids,” said a Moms for Liberty leader serving on a state panel to devise new training for school librarians.TALLAHASSEE — With a Jan. 1 deadline looming, a state Department of Education workgroup is crafting a training that all school library workers must use in selecting books and other materials.
But tension has simmered because some members of the panel don’t believe its recommendations go far enough.
The group, which includes parents and school media specialists, was formed to carry out part of a new law (HB 1467) passed during the 2022 legislative session.
The measure, which sparked heated partisan debates, was designed to intensify scrutiny of school library books and instructional materials. It required school boards to adopt procedures that, in part, provide for the “regular removal or discontinuance” of books from media centers based on factors such as alignment with state academic standards.
https://www.tampabay.com/news/education/2022/12/08/tensions-simmer-conservative-moms-florida-educators-differ-school-books/
"Department of Education staff who are part of the workgroup have solicited input from its members on topics that are “outside the scope” of the library training, asking them to identify items they “would like to address with senior leadership” at the agency.
In response, Beavers proposed that school librarians should avoid facilitating students registering to vote."
Leave it to a "Moms for Liberty" leader to be against librarians facilitating students registering to vote...
Can't have librarians telling students about registering to vote, because what does that have to do with "liberty"?
Florida legislator, who sponsored 'Don't Say Gay' law, resigns amid federal fraud charges
Source: Sarasota Herald-Tribune
TALLAHASSEE — A Republican Florida lawmaker, who authored the controversial law dubbed "Don't Say Gay," resigned Thursday, the day after he was indicted for defrauding the federal coronavirus loan program for small businesses.
In a lengthy post on Facebook on Thursday, state Rep. Joe Harding, R-Williston, said he was immediately resigning from his House seat and talked about his work representing his constituents. He declined to talk about the federal indictment against him.
“It has been a great honor to serve the people of this state and more specifically the people of Levy and Marion Counties,” Harding said. “However, due to legal issues that require my complete focus, it is my opinion that now is the time to allow someone else to serve my district.”
Florida House Speaker Paul Renner released the following statement upon receiving the resignation: "After further consultation with Representative Harding, I understand and respect his decision to submit his resignation."
Read more: https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/politics/2022/12/08/joe-harding-florida-resigns-house-fraud-indictment-sponsor-dont-say-gay-law/69713772007/
Yet he succeeded in his primary mission.
How The Right Developed Its Victim Complex
Once a party that touted rugged individualism, today's Republicans have an ever-expanding list of grievances and complaints about perceived wrongs.A proliferation of intense invective and polemical demands for freedom characterizes the present American right, driven by an intense sense of victimhood: The reactionaries, we are told, are truly the oppressed. Even before the presidency of Donald J. Trump, the right framed various anodyne reforms, like the Affordable Care Act, as existential threats to freedom. Things got so bad that then-president Barack Obama admitted in 2012 that he hoped the Republican fever would break following his reelection. But, as Trump’s candidacy, presidency, and, now, second candidacy demonstrate, the body politic’s illness has only gotten worse. And while the midterms reflected a degree of ambivalence among Americans about the fringiest political figures and narratives, the incoming Republican House leadership looks set to be controlled by these voices, as it is beholden to the furthest-right members in order to keep its slim majority unified.
Trump’s rhetoric (whether campaigning or governing, he did not shift much), was steeped in the narrative of victimhood. Immigrants threatened the U.S. with sexual violence, urban criminals menaced the forgotten Americans, and China was dominating and beating the U.S. Once president, legitimate democratic criticism of Trump became a sign of his and his supporters’ unjust persecution: whether the impeachment proceedings targeting his attempts to force Ukraine to help him out in the U.S. election or his role in encouraging the January 6, 2021 invasion of the Capitol, Trump framed accountability for unprecedented historical events as witch hunts, lynch mobs, and illegitimate persecutions.
The GOP candidates for Senate in this month’s election adopted Trump’s list of grievances and tailored it to their own circumstances, underscoring the purchase victimhood has on the right: Blake Masters, Republican candidate for Arizona’s Senate seat, had no “issues” section on his campaign website, choosing to let rage-filled voters fill in the blanks themselves, while political action committees like Truth PAC produced ads attempting to link Mandela Barnes, the Black Democratic candidate for Wisconsin Senate, to child abductions, darkened silhouettes of people brandishing knives, and surveillance camera footage of shootings. Outrage without a clear set of policy solutions — and hostility towards democracy itself — was the order of the day. Democrats’ surprisingly narrow losses prompted some hand-wringing among conservative pundits, but, as following the 2012 and 2018 elections, it’s not clear that broader capacities for introspection even exist on much of the right.
Its perhaps a little surprising to consider how widespread the cult of victimhood is on the right: weren’t they tough on crime, didn’t they thump their chests, invoking appeasement at Munich whenever a threat appeared on the global stage, and didn’t they talk ceaselessly about rugged individualism and pulling oneself up by one’s bootstraps?
Why did victimhood become so central on the right?
In fact, it has been central from the start. But only in the last 30 years have its idioms been destigmatized for mainstream conservatives, facilitated by a combination of national and international political disruptions which revealed the central role that the victimized ethos has played in GOP politics.
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/how-the-right-developed-its-victim-complex
Putin Is Preparing to Flee When Russia Implodes, Ex-Aide Says
“The leader’s entourage has not ruled out that he will lose the war, be stripped of power, and have to urgently evacuate somewhere.”Russia’s Vladimir Putin and his cronies already have a plan in place to flee the country once things go sideways, a former aide to the Russian president has claimed.
Abbas Gallyamov, a former speechwriter for Putin, made the astounding claim on Telegram early Wednesday, citing an unnamed source that he said had “insider” information on the whole affair.
The evacuation plan, according to Gallyamov, got underway back in the spring, when it was unofficially dubbed “Noah’s Ark.”
“As the name implies, it’s about a search for new land to go to in case it becomes completely uncomfortable in the homeland. The leader’s entourage has not ruled out that he will lose the war, be stripped of power, and have to urgently evacuate somewhere,” Gallyamov wrote.
Putin’s inner circle first considered a plan to evacuate to China, Gallyamov said, but later thought better of it, fearing the chances of “cooperation” from the Chinese were slim, especially since they despise “losers.” Now, he said, the focus has shifted to either Argentina or Venezuela, with Putin ally Igor Sechin currently overseeing an evacuation plan for the latter country.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/vladimir-putin-is-preparing-to-flee-to-venezuela-when-russia-implodes-ex-aide-abbas-gallyamov-says
Kari Lake Claims Victory in Georgia Runoff
ATLANTA (The Borowitz Report)—Calling it “the upset of the century,” the former anchorwoman Kari Lake claimed victory in Tuesday’s Georgia runoff.
“No one thought I would win this, but together we made it happen!” Lake declared. After briefly savoring her win, Lake lashed out at mainstream news organizations for refusing to acknowledge her triumph.
“If you were watching CNN, MSNBC, or Fox, you wouldn’t even know that Kari Lake was running for Senate in Georgia,” she said. “More lies from the fake news media!”
Recognizing that she may need to convince some Georgians that she is, in fact, their United States senator, she issued a solemn promise: “No one will work harder to win your trust, but, if I don’t, I will be your worst nightmare.”
https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/kari-lake-claims-victory-in-georgia-runoff
Dying to compete
When risking lives is part of the showAlena Kosinova was hunched over a fan waiting for her spray tan to dry when she realized she couldn’t move. It was hours before the 2021 Europa Pro contest and the Czech bodybuilder was cramping again — just like she had at a contest in Portugal weeks earlier.
Kosinova was known by friends and competitors for embracing the extremes of bodybuilding — the training, the dieting, the drugs. But on that steamy August morning, her voice quivered as she whispered to another Czech athlete, Ivana Dvorakova, “I won’t be able to do it. I feel really ill.”
Dvorakova helped lay her down on the concrete floor as others gathered and gave Kosinova water, packets of salt and sugar. Kosinova answered questions about the diuretics she had taken before convulsing and losing consciousness.
It took nearly an hour for the ambulance to arrive at the venue in Alicante, Spain, according to four people who witnessed or were briefed on what happened. Kosinova, a 46-year-old mother who dreamed of winning the prestigious Olympia, died before the competition was over.
https://wapo.st/3h4z9o0
Ivanka Trump Freed From Court Oversight of Family Company
Ivanka was the only child who tried to get out of a court monitor overseeing her finances. And her bid was successful.Ivanka Trump, who keeps distancing herself from her father’s shameful legacy, has successfully sidestepped the watchful gaze of a retired federal judge who was tasked with babysitting the Trump Organization to ensure it stops lying to banks and insurers.
Late last week, the New York attorney general and a state judge agreed to exclude Ivanka from a recent order that placed embarrassing restrictions on her father’s real estate empire—and made the clan outcasts in the business world.
“The term ‘defendants’... including the monitorship order… excludes Ivanka Trump,” reads an agreement signed by the AG’s office, her lawyer, and the state judge.
The order was publicly filed in state court Monday morning.
The agreement means that Ivanka Trump can keep her own business interests away from the prying eyes of a court monitor—and separate from the swelling legal calamity facing the Trump Organization. Two of its affiliates, the Trump Corporation and Trump Payroll Corporation, were convicted of tax fraud on Tuesday in a separate case brought by the Manhattan District Attorney. But the overarching family firm faces civil accusations of bank fraud from state investigators.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/ivanka-trump-freed-from-court-oversight-of-family-company-trump-organization
Herschel Walker's son revels in father's Georgia Senate runoff defeat
Christian Walker sent a series of celebratory tweets that recalled the candidate’s alleged history of mistreatment of his familyAmong the many detractors celebrating Herschel Walker’s defeat in the Georgia Senate runoff was one closer to home: son Christian, who expressed his delight on Twitter that the state had rejected his controversial father.
“Don’t beat women, hold guns to peoples [sic] heads, fund abortions then pretend your [sic] pro-life, stalk cheerleaders, leave your multiple minor children alone to chase more fame, lie, lie, lie, say stupid crap, and make a fool of your family,” the younger Walker said in the first of a flurry of tweets posted on Tuesday night as the Democrat Raphael Warnock was projected to be the winner.
“And then maybe you can win a Senate seat.”
It can never be known how much damage the younger Walker’s social media posts during the campaign, castigating his father for abandoning his wife and children, running off with other women and paying for girlfriends’ abortions, did to his father’s hopes of reaching Washington DC.
But an early happy family reunion would seem unlikely in the wake of Christian’s latest barrage of messages and insults.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/07/herschel-walker-son-christian-celebrates-defeat-georgia
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