Immigration officials created network that can spy on majority of Americans, report says
A new report shows that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are spying on the majority of Americans, in many cases circumventing privacy laws including those in California.
No a bit thin skinned nor petty is tRump. When you show this to his cult followers they see nothing wrong with it but change out the name tRump for Biden and they go ape shit crazy over it. Again, it is tribalism on full display. Hugs
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper’s new book recounts the episode.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper speaks after being sworn in as President Donald Trump looks on in the Oval Office at the White House on July 23, 2019. (NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)
President Donald Trump demanded that the military recall two retired four-star officers who criticized him so they could be court-martialed, a new book says.
According to a copy of ex-Secretary of Defense Mark Esper’s memoir, A Sacred Oath, obtained by TPM, Trump demanded that former Gen. Stan McChrystal and former Navy Admiral William H. McRaven be recalled into active duty so that they could be court-martialed for criticizing the President.
“So disloyal,” the book recounts Trump complaining to Esper and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley.
The effort began in May 2020, the book says, after articles appeared in various right-wing news outlets claiming that McChrystal was advising the Democratic Party on ways to use artificial intelligence to damage Trump’s re-election effort. One Breitbart article from the time accused McChrystal of participating in an effort to “track down and counter Trump supporters on social media.”
“This spun the president up,” Esper wrote.
McChrystal was working as an adviser for Defeat Disinfo, a Democratic Party-aligned PAC that planned on using technology to counter false talking points about COVID-19.
“Everyone wishes the Pandora’s box was closed and none of this existed, but it does,” McChrystal told the Washington Post in May 2020, referring to the problem of disinformation.
McChrystal resigned from the military in 2010 following a Rolling Stone article in which he and his staff were quoted speaking disparagingly about senior White House officials, including then-Vice President Biden.
“Are you asking me about Vice President Biden? Who’s that?” the article quoted McChrystal as saying.
In the memoir, Esper recounts a May 2020 meeting between himself, Milley, and Trump, to address the then-President’s anger toward the two retired officers.
“The next thing I knew, Mark Milley and I were sitting in front of the president trying to talk him out of recalling McChrystal to active duty,” Esper wrote.
Trump also purportedly contemplated adding McRaven to the court-martial plan. McRaven was an outspoken critic of Trump during his administration, writing in an October 2019 op-ed in the New York Times that the U.S. was “under attack” by Trump.
“The president told Milley and me that he ‘want[ed] to call them [McChrystal and McRaven] back to active duty and court-martial them’ for what they said,” the book reads.
Esper wrote that he and Milley tried to dissuade Trump from going through with the plan, telling him that the plan would backfire.
But, per Esper, Trump only relented after Milley “promis[ed] that he would personally call the officers and ask them to dial it back.”
McChrystal, reached by email, told TPM that “there was no call I remember — and I would have remembered that.”
He also wrote that it was the first he had heard of the matter, and declined to comment further. McRaven could not be reached for comment.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene used donors’ campaign contributions to buy herself a luxury vehicle worth over $92,000, FEC records show. The expenditure will prove controversial as the May 24 primary approaches, not just because of the expensive, swanky nature of the vehicle, but because Greene’s second biggest source of donations is retired Americans—meaning she effectively raided donors’ Social Security checks to buy a tricked-out vehicle from a Buick/GMC dealership. OpenSecrets.org shows that Taylor Greene’s second biggest “industry” donating to her was “retired,” meaning senior citizens.
Read the full article. According to the above report, it appears the vehicle is a fully tricked-out 2022 GMC Yukon XL SUV. And the purchase is legal.
$92,000 of the money Marge Greene raised from senior citizens and small donors from across the country to drain the swamp went to a luxury SUV for her? That thing must have a Space Laser on it or something. https://t.co/52JSaUa4fR
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) May 10, 2022
Hey .@Marcus4Georgia I wonder if her elderly donors might want to know where their donations to her campaign went.
"Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene used donors’ campaign contributions to buy herself a luxury vehicle worth over $92,000, FEC records show." https://t.co/zRCP3iK530
— Laura *is tired of GOP BS* Talbott (@LauraTalbott) May 10, 2022
I bet a whole LOT of ppl in Rome, Ga area & thereabouts, wish they could afford to pay (with someone else's $$, natch) cash for a $92,000 vehicle. Must be nice eh, @RepMTG? Do you soak those Meemaws & Pawpaws for gas $ as well or nah? https://t.co/PvRoLa91ay
Not one of her voters will give a shit about this – as long as she continues to hate Democrats and trash everyone on the left (aka “own the libs”) – she can do anything she wants we that money
When retired people on Social Security send money to hucksters like, say, Franklin Graham or Tony Perkins, they’re helping feed one of the most malignant forces in America — rightwing fundamentalist religion.
Not to mention those hucksters’ personal mansions and the like.
Conservative pundit Dave Rubin referred to new White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre as a “Black lesbo” and claimed that she only got the job because of her identity. Rubin is a member of the LGBTQ community himself as a gay man, making his comments even more disparaging and curious. Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian discuss on The Young Turks.
“Blaze TV host Dave Rubin called the new White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre a “Black lesbo” during a recent podcast episode. On Monday’s episode of The Rubin Report, Rubin began to discuss current White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki announcing her departure and introducing her successor. “She will now be replaced by Karine Jean-Pierre,” said Rubin. “We know nothing about her other than the most important things — she’s a Black lesbo. And for that, she’s got the gig.” “Very exciting,” he added. “She’s also married to a CNN anchor. You can’t make this stuff up. She’s married to Suzanne Malveaux who’s a CNN anchor. I did not know Suzanne is a lesbian. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.” He continued, “You would think in terms of optics, if you were bringing in a new White House Press Secretary, you could maybe, possibly, find someone who wasn’t married to a CNN anchor.” “Do you think that would be possible?” Rubin asked. “But, the impossible is possible with these people.” Rubin, who is also a member of the LGBTQ community, recently received backlash from his own audience after making the announcement that he is set to welcome two children in 2022 with husband David.”
I am the youngest public plaintiff in the “Don’t Say Gay” lawsuit. I am my Florida high school’s first openly-gay Class President. I am being silenced, and I need your help. 🧵
A few days ago, my principal called me into his office and informed me that if my graduation speech referenced my activism or role as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, school administration had a signal to cut off my microphone, end my speech, and halt the ceremony. (2/8)
I am the first openly-gay Class President in my school’s history–this censorship seems to show that they want me to be the last. This threat is not the first that I have received from administration about my queer rights. (3/8)
When administration discovered that I was organizing a Say Gay walkout, they had all our posters ripped from the walls and told me to shut down the protest. They said they would send school security if I did not listen. (4/8)
I held the walkout anyways, and it became our county’s largest protest. I won’t give into threats and I won’t be silenced. I have a plan to fight back again, and this time, I need your help. (5/8)
The SEE Initiative has secured 10,000 Say Gay stickers that we’re prepared to ship to high school seniors across Florida. We want you to wear them on your gowns as you cross the graduation stage, reminding underclassmen that we’re done with highschool, not the fight. (6/8)
For over a decade I signed off everything I wrote with hugs. When asked I explained that I never got touched as a child that was not to harm or hurt and so hugs without a required sexual act became a treat. But not all adults like to be hugged and some people who I left comments for seriously objected to that sign off.
The history of my hugs sign off was when I started my first blog in 2007 I found a blog by a young gay boy from Europe that always signed off every post or comment reply with hugs. When asked why he said / wrote that he wrote it was because he cared about everyone and wanted to hug them. I loved that idea.
But what caused me to stop the practice was when I was on right wing websites I would forget and sign my comments with hugs or when I wrote a business email I would forget to delete that part of the signature. Boy the extra abuse was over the top and it seemed to give the rabid right something to focus on rather than my comment. And for the business email it resulted in weird exchanges. So, I stopped.
But it constantly bothers me. Everything I write seems unfinished without a sign off. I tried a few times with “Best Wishes”. But the fact is sadly I do not wish everyone best wishes. However even an enemy I would offer a hug to.
I hate the feeling that everything I write is not finished until I add a sign off that is part of me. I am seriously thinking of going back to Hugs as my sign off. It just feels right. For the people I care for I say hugs instead of bye on the phone. I tried to break myself of that and it seems weird.
So unless there is a real valid complaint against it, I am going back to using hugs as my sign off. If I make a mistake and use it on a right wing web site, I will take the abuse. If any of you have a better idea, then please share it. If it feels as good to me as “Hugs” I will use it. Also what is wrong with the US society that consensual hugs between adults are something to be feared?
Hey everyone. An update on our car. So yesterday we got a call from Bob, a service manager, that the car was ready and to call him. Ron did not want to deal with it yesterday, so he called him this morning about 9 AM. At 9:46 I got a call from a desk person saying that Bob was busy with meetings but our car was ready and we could just come in and get it. I said but we wanted to have a meeting with Bob first. The person said she was just told us to tell us the car was ready and we could come get it. I said OK we would, but I wanted her to register with management that I was disgusted that after all this time they thought we should just come get the car like nothing had happened and no one was willing to talk to us about it or give me the detailed list of damage. At 9:50 Bob called back. He said it was not meant that way, he was busy in meetings and did not want us to think he was ignoring us and it was not meant that he wouldn’t meet with us … and so on.
I had a really bad night; I am on day three of the cold which is gone from my head but seems to have settled in my spine. I have been in a lot of pain from my stupid lifting of the bags of soda, but this morning I was really hurting.
So we told Bob that if he had time we would come in this morning. I also told him that the sales department had never contacted us, not even to say they couldn’t work anything out with us. I explained that I was really pissed at that and wouldn’t buy another vehicle from the dealership. He really was upset over that and when we met with him he showed us his texts to the person at the dealership and the assurances they would contact us. He said he was going to contact the person again and raise hell as his word was on the line and it lost the company customers.
We drove down there and turned in the Lincoln they gave us. Then we explained we were there to speak to Bob. He came out and got us. He talked to us and took us out to the car. It was a bit of a walk, and he first took us to the wrong car. It was the wrong color and model, and I was laughing. He asked what was funny and I said nice car but not ours. He laughed also. He found ours nearby. It was not a big deal. We looked over the car and talked about a lot of stuff including the value of the car and he told us something we did not know. Our car is the most sought after model in used cars and that was why he was shocked the salespeople had not contacted us. I told him how KBB had valued the car at $24,500 and he said we could get a lot more than that for it. Especially as it has low milage and is pristine inside and out.
After a while my back was getting to the point where I couldn’t stand upright and was in danger of falling. I asked if we could go back inside and sit down to keep talking as there was nothing more to be found out by looking at the car. He agreed and said his back was also bad and it was hurting him also to stand out there.
Weird thing he served in both the Army and Air Force, and I had served in the Navy and the Army. It is rare to meet someone who has done more than one branch of the military.
Back in his office he went through it all, showed us and gave to us not only the parts breakdown but the costs of the repairs. He was open and honest. Ron and I told him the history of events before he got involved and after up to the present meeting. He was very apologetic, and he offered to put it up on a lift so we could look at the underside. I told him I wouldn’t know what I was looking at and Ron who would know said it was not needed. He answered every question and spent a lot of time with us. He gave each of us his card so if we have any questions we could call him. He even talked to us about which cars were worth looking into and what Ford cars to avoid. As we were checking out, he came up and gave us a bunch of Ford stuff like hats, key rings, and other things. He also asked again if I minded if he contacted the sales department because he felt that they wronged us and him, and he did not like that. Ron was like why bother but I said yes if they call me I might feel more inclined to buy a car from the dealership but if they did not, I wouldn’t ever buy a car from them again and listed nearby Ford dealerships I would look into.
By this time my back had gone from hurting to super painful. I couldn’t stand sitting in the chair in his office but when I went to stand up Ron had to help me. Then on the trip home while the firm seat back felt good against my back every bump, slow down, acceleration, lane switch caused me such pain I was near tears as we were near the store we had planned to get subs from. Instead Ron brought me home. Once home I took an extra morphine and two tramadol. I am still in pain but the medication has dulled the super sharp pain now at an hour plus 30 minutes after taking them. I can think better again. The pain was so bad I was almost crying, it was hard to think, and even breathing made it worse. Ron has decided that I have to schedule the spine shots even though it will cost $300 dollars. We had a lot of bills hit in February and March so I thought we couldn’t afford the shots. But while it is not something I am willing to do every two months we can afford it every 4 to 6 months. And the doctor says I need them, and my body says I need them.
Ron went out and opened the hood and did some minor vacuuming of the vent trays. Everything he looked at looked very good to him. I had asked Bob why the car was in the paint shop, and he explained that the fenders and other parts are neutral color to be painted the color of the car they are going on. Everything looks great. The only concern I have is on the way home a person cut us off by moving from the far left lane into the side of our car in the middle lane continuing to the far right lane. Ron hit the brakes and blew the horn which the person in the car did not care about, but the sensors never registered the near collision. We also noticed that the Lane Assist system had trouble picking up the lane markings which it always did before. Ron will call Bob in a bit. I had hoped the car adventure was over, but it seems to be there are a few more chapters to be written.
Some of the Most Viral “Pro-Choice” Instagram Content is Coming From Mormon Bloggers
Mormon influencers are some of the most followed, analyzed, and discussed creators in the social media space. Some have been speaking out all week about the Supreme Court news, and many are standing up for a pregnant person’s right to choose.
Scottie's Playtime 