Posts made by hubrys

@blablarg18 said in More fake right-wing outrage.:

This next moment: Kids are not in frame, but by all accounts, kids were present / it was inflicted on them.
Nightmarish.

You realize that's just a tear in his stockings, right?

As much as I hate and despise that man and his politics, watching that video make me profoundly sad and sick to my stomach. America should be better than this.

How the conspiracy-fueled Epoch Times went mainstream and made millions

...Today, The Epoch Times is one of the country’s most successful and influential conservative news organizations. It’s powered by Falun Gong, a religious group persecuted in China, which launched The Epoch Times as a free propaganda newsletter more than two decades ago to oppose the Chinese Communist Party.
...
Epoch Times representatives also deny an affiliation with Falun Gong, despite the two groups’ clear financial and organizational ties: The Epoch Times board members and most staff are Falun Gong practitioners. The nonprofits behind The Epoch Times and Friends of Falun Gong, the movement’s advocacy organization, share executives and provide grants and services to each other, according to tax filings. And the newspaper, along with a digital production company and the heavily advertised dance troupe Shen Yun, make up a nonprofit network that the leader of the religious movement calls “our media.”
...
Falun Gong — or Falun Dafa, as some followers call it — is a kind of personal development movement started by Li in China in 1992. It combines tenets of Buddhism and Taoism, and followers practice with meditation and flowing breath and movement exercises, and by studying Li’s teachings.
...
To his followers, Li is a God-like figure who can levitate, walk through walls and see into the future. His ultra-conservative and controversial teachings include a rejection of modern science, art and medicine, and a denunciation of homosexuality, feminism and general worldliness.

How The Epoch Times Created a Giant Influence Machine

...But the organization and its affiliates have grown, in part, by relying on sketchy social media tactics, pushing dangerous conspiracy theories and downplaying their connection to Falun Gong, an investigation by The Times has found. The investigation included interviews with more than a dozen former Epoch Times employees, as well as internal documents and tax filings. Many of these people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation, or still had family in Falun Gong.
...
Many employees and Falun Gong practitioners contacted by The Times said they were instructed not to divulge details of the outlet’s inner workings. They said they had been told that speaking negatively about The Epoch Times would be tantamount to disobeying Mr. Li, who is known by his disciples as “Master.”

The judge's statements aren't special to Trump; they give the same warnings to all criminal defendants. They're known as Parker Warnings, based on People v. Parker in 1982. A criminal defendant has a right to be present for their trial under the Confrontation Clause, and there's a strong preference against trials in absentia. The Parker court established that you have to inform the defendant of their rights, the consequences of not showing up, and recommended that proceedings should be adjourned so that a bench warrant can be issued if a defendant doesn't show up (assuming that there isn't clear evidence that the defendant knowingly and voluntarily waived his/her right to be present for trial).

I love how conservative idiots are trying to turn ordinary court procedure into fake evidence that the court is biased against Trump.

@blablarg18 I like the clever wording of the statement. It is technically true that the accuser received no money from Schlapp or the ACU, because he was paid off by an insurance carrier.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/27/politics/matt-schlapp-settlement-sexual-assault-lawsuit?cid=ios_app

The $480,000 settlement was paid to Carlton Huffman through an insurance policy, according to a source familiar with the details.

LINK: Japan high court rules same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional

@blablarg18 Your attempt to seem ambivalently, nonchalantly detached doesn't work when YOU'RE the one that summoned my attention back to this old post.

You clearly do care.

@blablarg18 I'll read your Harvard Law Review article if you read mine; especially Part II, Subpart B about "Grooming Hysteria."

LINK: Drag Queens, The First Amendment, and Expressive Harms

LINK: ‘America Is Under Attack’: Inside the Anti-D.E.I. Crusade

https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN2AJ2BG/

@raphjd said in Ilhan Omar (D-MN & own brother's legal wife) declares allegiance to Somalia & Islam, contempt for USA:

She pretended to be a part of another family so she could get into the US.

She was a criminal mastermind when she was only 8 years old? Is that what you're hinging your theory on?

@duncanlem I agree. I wish more journalists would interview like that, but unfortunately "access journalism" rules the day here in the US.

Take an interview that's anything more than slightly confrontational, and you can forget about your entire network ever being allowed to interview that politician again.

@blablarg18 said in Ilhan Omar (D-MN & own brother's legal wife) declares allegiance to Somalia & Islam, contempt for USA:

Omar's second husband was indeed her brother, by DNA match & FBI helped squelch it.

You idiots keep saying she married her brother so that he could come to the US. There are two major problems with that theory:

1. As soon as their 2-year marriage ended, he went back to England and doesn't seem to have ever had much interest in living in the US.

2. She doesn't need to marry him to get him a green card. Refugees can sponsor their siblings. There's already a process for that. And, in fact, it's an easier and more reliable process than a sham marriage.

You guys are so fucking stupid!

@phoenixstorm said in Biden Says Texas Has Till End Of Day To Remove Razor Wire Or Else Frinlerbagsuzzit Dorblelerg:

I thought congress was on the verge of passing bi partisan legislation to help alleviate this issue?

Now, even some GOPers are pointing out their own party's bullshit antics around this issue.

https://x.com/DerekFriday/status/1751953759826018391?s=20

Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday” asked Lankford why he would want to let Biden take a victory lap in an election year, and she repeated GOP claims that the proposed measures would still let in many immigrants.

“It’s definitely not going to let a bunch of people in,” Lankford said. “It’s focused on actually turning people around on it. It is interesting ― Republicans four months ago would not give funding for Ukraine, for Israel and for our southern border because we demanded changes in policy. So we actually locked arms together and said, ‘We’re not going to give you money for this. We want a change in law.’ And now it’s interesting, a few months later, when we’re finally getting to the end, they’re like, ‘Oh, just kidding. I actually don’t want a change in law because it’s a presidential election year.’”

@raphjd said in Sex Criminal Ordered to Pay $83.3M:

I don't trust a leftist jury.

So your response is: "I see your reality. I reject your reality, and I substitute my own."

How about applying that same level of skepticism to Biden. Of course, we know you won't, because your a double-standard loving political hack.

@raphjd True, but on that note, it does help that he's running after the SCOTUS decision was rendered. Those that came before him didn't have that luxury.

LINK: 'I Cannot Really Remember': GOP Rep. Busted For Taking Credit For Bills She Voted Against

It's sad that the GOP has to rely on the Democrats' accomplishments back in Washington while campaigning back home in their districts.

@raphjd said in Sex Criminal Ordered to Pay $83.3M:

You support a rapist, incestuous fuck, and a child sniffer.
You should be ashamed of yourself.

You support a sexual abuser, who grabs women by the pussy without consent, and peeps on little girls at beauty pageants.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

I don't care about the Somali stuff. I just came here to point out that you believing she married her own brother is nonsense.