President Donald J. Trump in 2020 asked Mark T. Esper, his defense secretary, about the possibility of launching missiles into Mexico to “destroy the drug labs” and wipe out the cartels, maintaining that the United States’ involvement in a strike against its southern neighbor could be kept secret, Mr. Esper recounts in his upcoming memoir.
Those remarkable discussions were among several moments that Mr. Esper described in the book, “A Sacred Oath,” as leaving him all but speechless when he served the 45th president.
Mr. Esper, the last Senate-confirmed defense secretary under Mr. Trump, also had concerns about speculation that the president might misuse the military around Election Day by, for instance, having soldiers seize ballot boxes. He warned subordinates to be on alert for unusual calls from the White House in the lead-up to the election.
Donald Trump asked his then-defense secretary, Mark Esper, about the possibility of launching missiles into Mexico to “destroy the drug labs” and wipe out the cartels, Esper said in his upcoming memoir. https://t.co/HsaD7M1GQX
And Trump’s not at all good at keeping secrets. Y’all know he would repeatedly hint at being responsible, especially if the operation was deemed a success via public opinion. Eventually, he would strut and take credit for it.
On the other hand, if it was a disaster and innocents were killed, the orange POS would still hint that these were still “very bad people.”
How we managed to survive this dim maniac is astounding. But thx for saving this for your book Esper. Dammed you too. https://t.co/MFuqnBoYsd
The fact that TFG even asked the question (among other equally insane suggestions) is proof of his utter incompetence. The fact that Esper kept this to himself until he could drop it for a pre-publish tease to sell a book is contemptible.
A Lebanon man accused of killing his wife in March and dumping her body in a creek is among the candidates to advance in a local election after Indiana’s primaries Tuesday.
Andrew Wilhoite, who’s suspected of fatally striking his wife with a gallon-sized concrete flower pot, secured a spot Tuesday as one of three Republican candidates in the race for a seat on the Clinton Township Board.
The 40-year-old has been incarcerated in the Boone County Jail since March after police said he told investigators he threw a concrete flower pot at his wife, Nikki Wilhoite, the night before and dropped her body over the side of a bridge.
Prosecutors charged Andrew Wilhoite with murder in his wife’s killing. His next court hearing is scheduled for May 27.
How can a candidate run for office while facing felony charges?
State election officials said it’s legal for people facing felony charges, such as Andrew Wilhoite, to run for local office. A person is only ineligible if they are convicted.
“Under our legal system, every person is innocent until proven guilty,” said Brad King, co-director of the Indiana Election Division. “If a candidate is ultimately convicted, then depending upon the timing of that conviction, the person can be replaced on the ballot by the political party that has a vacancy.”
Township boards consist of three members, state officials said. The local Republican primary race has only drawn the three candidates. No one filed on the Democratic primary ticket.
Boone County election results show Andrew Wilhoite earned 60 votes, just over 21%, to his competitors’ 110 and 106 votes. Clinton Township has a population of 906, according to data from STATS Indiana.
If a person facing felony charges is elected in a township race and they are convicted after being sworn in, King said the vacancy will be filled by someone affiliated with the political party of the last person to have the seat.
King further noted that there’s no law prohibiting a person who’s incarcerated before trial from “exercising the duties of their office,” should they get elected.
“How that practically gets executed will depend on the facts,” King said.
Wife’s death investigation
The Boone County Clerk’s office said election filings occurred at the beginning of January through the first week of February, before Andrew Wilhoite was taken into custody on his murder charge.
IndyStar has reached out to Andrew Wilhoite’s attorney for comment.
Nikki Wilhoite was reported missing March 25 after her friend noticed she didn’t show up for work that day.
Investigators in a probable cause affidavit said Andrew Wilhoite initially told police he last saw his wife sleeping on the couch after the couple had an argument. When police spoke further with him, he asked for an attorney.
Police said Andrew Wilhoite called again shortly after and said he’d take them to his wife’s body.
Andrew Wilhoite was charged in March after a detective said he threw a cement flower pot at his wife and dumped her body in a nearby creek in Boone County. https://t.co/UPKfhfYUGm
I keep telling people they are not going to stop until the LGBTQ+ are gone. They don’t want us to exist. They don’t see us as human people. But what they really want is to codify their god into the laws of our country to force everyone to live by their church doctrines. The thing is right now they are coming for the LGBTQ but the next targets will be those religions they say are wrong and offend their god also. As more and more people leave the religion in the US the Christian religions want to force people to live according to the dictates of their religion.
A group of Republican senators want a new TV rating created so parents can block their children from watching shows with LGBTQ characters. The five senators from North Dakota, Kansas, Utah, Indiana and Montana sent a letter Wednesday to the TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board asking for the new rating.
The two-page letter signed by Sens. Roger Marshall, Mike Lee, Mike Braun, Kevin Cramer and Steve Daines “strongly urged” the TV group’s chairman, Charles Rivkin, to update its guidelines to ensure parents are aware of the “disturbing” content.
The letter also cited Disney’s ongoing opposition to a recently enacted state law – dubbed by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” measure.
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 enabled greater parental choice in television programming. In establishing this law, Congress found that “studies indicate that children are affected by the pervasiveness and casual treatment of sexual material on television, eroding the ability of parents to develop responsible attitudes and behavior in their children.”
The law requires TV manufacturers to establish a technology that would allow blocking of programs based on category ratings in its set receivers.
In order for the technology, known as the V-Chip,to fulfill its purpose, Congress also incentivized the creation of TV parental guidelines as well as the creation of the Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board.
The law was fully implemented allowing parents to easily block violent, sexual, or other programming that they believe may irrevocably interfere with their child’s emotional and psychological development.
I posted earlier on another topic where lately I’ve seen more and more biblical verses being shown during commercial breaks lately. I guess we’re slowly becoming the “Christian Iran” .
Anti-LGBTQ extremist Ethan Schmidt (left) and Michael Meritt Graham (right) use bullhorns to shout at abortion rights protesters at a rally at the state Capitol on May 3, 2022. Graham was arrested after punching abortion rights protesters; Schmidt was detained by state troopers but was later released without being charged Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy | Arizona Mirror
A group of far-right extremists with ties to white nationalists tried to counter-protest an abortion rights rally held at the Arizona Capitol Tuesday night, where they were vastly outnumbered and one was arrested for violently attacking a demonstrator.
Michael Merritt Graham, 34, was arrested by the Arizona Department of Public Safety and booked for suspicion of assault and disorderly conduct after state troopers witnessed him punch another person at the rally.
Graham, who was wearing a shirt with the slogan “Baby Lives Matter” from the disinformation website InfoWars, was carrying a .45 caliber Glock 36 pistol when he was arrested, according to a police report obtained by the Arizona Mirror. Graham was not the only counter-protester who was armed: The Mirror observed other counter-protesters openly carrying firearms. Graham had his handgun tucked into his waistband out of view, according to the police report.
Graham was among roughly 20 counter-protesters who showed up to the event where over one thousand protesters marched in support of abortion rights in the wake of a leaked U.S. Supreme Court opinion that would overturn the landmark court decision of Roe v. Wade and strip the right of women to seek an abortion that was established nearly 50 years ago.
Graham was joined by Ethan Schmidt, an anti-LGBTQ extremist and provocateur, known mostly for stunts challenging mask mandates and for “hunting” what he deems “LGBT pedophiles.” Hours before Graham was arrested, Schmidt walked straight into the crowd of protesters as he was recording video in an apparent attempt to spark a confrontation.
Near the end of the evening, Schmidt and Graham confronted protesters with bullhorns.
According to the police report, Graham got into a physical altercation with a protester. The incident began when Graham ripped the protester’s sign out of his hands and threw it to the ground. The victim then stepped in front of his girlfriend and grabbed Graham’s bullhorn before leaning down to pick up the sign.
Graham responded by hitting the man in his face, bloodying him.
Graham then started to leave the crowd and encountered Jace Robert Denis, 20, another protester. Troopers wrote that they saw Graham hit Denis, who described it as a “sucker punch.”
Denis began running after Graham “in an aggressive manner” and DPS arrested him, booking him for suspicion of disorderly conduct.
Denis told troopers that Graham had punched “another male” twice and “started walking towards a black female.” Denis ran towards Graham to get in between him and the woman yelling “don’t” before Graham threw the punch, Denis told troopers.
But DPS didn’t just put Graham and Denis in cuffs that night.
Schmidt was also detained by state troopers; he was later released without being charged.
Schmidt, who is currently awaiting sentencing on an extreme DUI in Chandler, was far from the only far-right extremist present among the counter-protesters.
In attendance were also members of the group American Populist Union, which is closely aligned with groypers, a group of white nationalists who strive for their ideas to become a part of the Republican mainstream and are largely followers of 23-year-old white nationalist Nick Fuentes.
And Kyle Clifton, a Fuentes acolyte with ties to APU, was also among the counter-protesters.
Clifton was behind an account on Instagram called “afu.arizona” which posted white nationalist messaging, touted the “great replacement” theory and antisemitic images.
Antisemitism was present among the counter protesters with some spewing rants about “freemasonry” when debating with abortion rights activists. Many of the Freemason conspiracy theories are rooted in antisemitism and can be traced back to an antisemitic hoax from more than a century ago.
“The Lake campaign did not organize the counter-protest,” Sam Stone, the policy director for Lake’s campaign, told the Mirror. “Everyone was kind of showing up at the same time.”
Stone said that no one associated with the campaign was aware of who Clifton was. He added that the counter-protest falls within the realm of “field activity,” and that many conservatives consider Lake to be the “candidate for them” when asked about the signs at the event.
DPS may also be getting a call from the Lake campaign, Stone said: One of the Lake staffers allegedly was spit on by an abortion rights activist.
“I tend to believe that you settle these things at the ballot box, but I tend to believe that fits the description of assault,” Stone said, adding that they may send the video they have to DPS.
Oh cry me a river, a politician who is a well known Christian nationalist, has staff that are involved with a group that assaults and threatens pro-choice demonstrators and wants the police instead to arrest someone who spit on one of the staff members. The white Christian nationalist racists who assaulted, threatened, punched, and bloodied the protestors is not a problem, she but wants the feelings of her staff defended. Give me a break.
One extremist bloodied a protester, before running away and "sucker-punching" another man.
Neo-Nazi/anti-LGBTQ+ extremist Ethan Schmidt-Crockett posted a video calling for Ukrainian president Zelenskyy to be assassinated. He praises Putin's oppression of LGBTQ+ people and says the U.S. should follow Putin's example. He finishes with a Nazi salute and says "Heil Putin!" https://t.co/5sm1jARbkopic.twitter.com/oQEdvQl1uL
— Vishal P. Singh 🏳️⚧️ (they/he) (@VPS_Reports) April 28, 2022
Several states have passed laws banning transgender youth from accessing gender-affirming healthcare, but Missouri Republicans are now trying to ban many transgender adults from getting access to life-saving care, even while the state still allows children to get married.
H.B. 2649 would ban doctors from providing gender-affirming care to transgender youth until they reach the age of 18. Like many such laws, they do not ban gender-affirming care for cisgender youth and carve out an exemption for doctors and parents who want to force surgery on intersex youth.
During a hearing for H.B. 2649 last week, a psychologist testified that people under the age of 25 don’t have brains that are developed enough to make big decisions, citing some research about how the prefrontal cortex continues to develop into a person’s 20s. which led to some Republicans suggesting that the bill should ban gender-affirming care for anyone under the age of 25.
“The brains of especially males are still developing into their twenties and I don’t understand why that’s not part of the discussion here,” state Rep. Nick Schroer (R) said.
Missouri, though, allows young adults to make a number of life-changing decisions and prosecutes people as young as age 12 as adults in criminal cases.
Moreover, the state allows minors ages 16 and up to get married with parental consent, a practice that opponents call a form of abuse. Children as young as 14 can get married in Missouri with a court order, and that’s the result of a state law passed in 2018 creating a minimum marriage age in the state for the first time, a law that 50 Missouri House members voted against it and almost all of them were Republicans.
“There’s no typical profile,” said Donna Pollard, the founder of Survivors’ Corner. “It could very well be correlated to poverty, it could also be correlated to parents that are trafficking their children to get money for drugs. And then in some cases, parents really have good intentions and they don’t realize that they are also being groomed by pedophiles that have horrible intentions for their child.”
While opponents of transgender equality say that trans youth should wait until they’re much older to transition, many treatment options are effectively taken off the table the older a person gets. Puberty blockers, for example, are prescribed at the beginning of puberty to prevent the permanent effects of puberty, making them useless for a 25-year-old.
