Capital Riots – Oath Keepers’ leader pleads guilty to trying to overthrow the US government

In an article called “Capitol riots: Far-right leader pleads guilty to trying to overthrow government” by Isabel Keane of Metro, a first important shoe dropped on a more serious set of charges of seditious conspiracy for the January 6 insurrection.

“The leader of the Alabama chapter of the right-wing Oath Keepers militia group pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to charges of seditious conspiracy and obstruction related to the January 6 attack on the US Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump.

Joshua James, 34, pleaded guilty to the charges stemming from his role in leading the assault on the Capitol, the US Department of Justice announced in a news release on Wednesday.

He is the first person involved in the deadly assault on the US Capitol to be convicted of seditious conspiracy, a rarely used charge considered to be a serious but lesser form of treason.

James, a co-defendant in a criminal case involving Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, pleaded guilty Wednesday, which could potentially cause issues for the 10 others named in the criminal case accused of working to prevent the the transfer of presidential power to Joe Biden following his win against Trump.”

Also this week, a report put forth by the House Committee noted there is evidence the former president is guilty of criminal conspiracy. It will be up to the Justice Department to decide if they want to bring charges. This is not a witch hunt, nor was the insurrection a false flag operation as evidenced by this and other guilty pleas. We cannot allow people to try and overthrow our government to alter the outcome of a fair election, especially for someone who has failed to prove any wrong-doing after loads of money were poured into trying to do so and losing all but one court case out of 65 or so and every vote recount, audit and review.

If that were not enough, the people who funded the legal costs of the lawsuits for Trump want their money back as they felt they were misled. That, and the fact, Giuliani and other attorneys had their law licenses suspended for bringing frivolous cases. Today, the former president is lashing out at his Attorney General William Barr because he repeated the known story that he told the former president his election fraud claims were bulls**t.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/capitol-riots-far-right-leader-pleads-guilty-to-trying-to-overthrow-government/ar-AAUCGK7?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531

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Republican National Committee censures truth tellers

It is bad enough the Republican National Committee (RNC) decided not to have a 2020 platform codified at their last presidential convention. This means we don’t know what my old party officially stands for. Yesterday, the RNC decided to censure the two truth tellers in the party (Rep. Liz Cheney and Rep. Adam Kinzinger) courageous enough to say we must hold the former president and others accountable for the January 6 insurrection.

In my view, this officially puts a dagger in the Republican Party. It has been this way for a while, but the official censure says the party is adrift untethered to the truth and lawfulness. When the truth tellers are vilified and liars aggrandized it says all one needs to know.

Ironically, this latest censure is occurring because the truth is coming out. I read a piece recently that noted the GOP realizes it messed up by not taking the January 6 commission more seriously. As more participants are sentenced and others start telling the truth, the former president loses even more credibility with his fraudulent claims. In fact, former Vice President Mike Pence responded yesterday to his former boss’ latest claims that he could have over-turned the election.

In an interview that appeared on ABC News, Pence said “President Trump is wrong. … I had no right to overturn the election. The presidency belongs to the American people, and the American people alone. And frankly there is almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president.”

So, I guess the RNC will now censure Pence for telling the truth. Of course, they may need to censure Asa Hutchinson, the GOP leader of the National Governors Association who said the former president should not be president again. Or, maybe they should censure former Attorney General William Barr who said directly to the former president, his claims of election fraud are “bull**it” before Barr was fired by said president. Of course, they are on a small but growing list of Republicans who feel there are fewer repercussions to call out the former president for his lies and seditious activities.

Truth be told, the former president had his day in court and has lost all but one of about 65 court cases, a pretty abysmal track record. He has also lost every recount, every audit, and every review. He cannot lose any more than he has. In fact, some funders of his court cases want their money back as they felt misled, while several attorneys, including Rudy Giuliani have had their law license suspended. So, why does his base still believe his BS, as Barr called it.

We need a viable Republican party, but at this point if leaders continue to not only remain silent, but censure the ones with courage to tell the hard truths, maybe this version should expire and a new and more sane version can start up. It is hard enough to solve problems when we look at facts and truth, but much harder when we have to put up with this BS from the RNC and former president.

Retired General urges folks to stop listening to baseless election fraud claims (and the MyPillow CEO) in CNN interview

While Congresswoman Liz Cheney got most of the press yesterday saying it is time for Republicans to choose between the truth and Donald Trump, another retired military person has shared his concerns about the baseless election fraud claims of the former president. Per a summary of a CNN interview, here are few excerpts.

“Retired Brigadier General Steven M. Anderson urged Donald Trump supporters to stop listening to baseless claims about 2020 presidential election fraud and suggested measures to avoid a potential insurrection in 2024.

The former general spoke with CNN host Pamela Brown about solutions that would address the ‘extremism that has gone on within the military.’ He also warned against listening to conspiracists among many Republicans promoting baseless claims of election fraud, including MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.

‘We need to do what we can do now to identify those people [within the military], get them out of our ranks, and train the rest of the force on civics one on one about how our country is supposed to work, how elections work, stop listening to the pillow guy [Lindell] and start learning about our country and how it’s actually supposed to run,’ Anderson said during his recent interview with CNN.

‘There is a threat within [the military]. We’ve got some people that just haven’t been educated. They haven’t been found out, and they’ve grown in power through perhaps inaction on the parts of some of our key leaders,’ he added.“

What continues to bother me is the open attacks on the truth tellers in the Republican party who are calling out the overt lies of the former president, while those covering for the ex-president get elevated status in the party and media ranks. It should matter that these folks know they would be vilified,yet speak out anyway. Why is that? These lies led to an insurrection against a branch of government and people died and many were in danger.

We can never forget what happened leading up to that day a year ago and the fact the former president continues what his former attorney general William Barr told to his boss’ face – the election fraud claims are BS.

The Big Lie has been Altered in Orwellian Fashion

This piece of news gave me a chuckle, but made me sad as it is an attempt to take advantage of the gullibility of followers. For those of who still pay attention to the machinations of the most recent former president, apparently, he does not care for the term “The Big Lie” to define his planned and staged deceitful efforts to call the outcome of the 2020 election into question.

In my view, the reason is it aptly describes his attempts to convey this message of election fraud are untruthful. This is evidenced by his inability to prove in court or get even Republican election officials to say what he wants them to say. My favorite pushback came from his own Attorney General William Barr, who told him in a group meeting that “his claims of election fraud are b*lls**t.” This of course got the AG forced out in a few days.

Now, with an Orwellian flair from the novel “1984,” the former president has repurposed the term “The Big Lie” to mean the election was stolen, not that he is trying to steal it. So, the former president has, in fact, stolen the counterpoint slogan for his own purpose. So, when his followers here the term “The Big Lie,” they will be confused or think the person is siding with the former president’s untruthful ploy.

I used “1984” as a key point of the novel is disinformation. As an example, there are three world powers, with the country the protagonist supports allying with one of the other two against the third. Midway through the book, the alliance shifts, so that enemy is now allied with his country against the former ally. The totalitarian government uses disinformation to convey that this was happening all along and there was no change.

Think of that when you see what the former president just did. He does not like the term “The Big Lie” being pointed at him, so he appropriates the term in an attempt to tell his followers The Big Lie is the election was not stolen. The Big Lie is too on point as the former president is following his modus operandi of deceitful behavior. So, it must be dealt with.

In a nutshell, this is why the former president does not warrant a lot of trust. He has not earned it. So, I will side with AG Barr on this one.

You might be a conspiracy parrot

Comedian Jeff Foxworthy is famous for his “you might be a redneck” bit making fun of himself and people he has observed. Using the pacing of his bit, please consider the following regarding conspiracy parrots.

-If you believe Jewish space lasers are causing wildfires, then you might be a conspiracy parrot.
-If you believe that 27 people were not killed at Sandy Hook, then you might be a conspiracy parrot.
-If you believe the Parkland High School shooting was a hoax, then you might be a conspiracy parrot.
-If you believe the former president won the election and it was stolen from him, you might be a conspiracy parrot.
-If you believe the former president did not invite and incite violence on the capitol building, you might be a conspiracy parrot.
-If you believe Hillary Clinton was running a child pornography ring from a pizza parlor in DC, then you might be a conspiracy parrot.

These themes are bounced around the popular conspiracy platforms. It should be noted the Sandy Hook hoax concept was used like a hammer by Alex Jones of Infowars. He lost a lawsuit for bringing mental anguish to the loved ones of victims. It should be also noted a North Carolina man is in jail for believing the child pornography story showing up at a pizza parlor armed and dangerous.

And, numerous people have been arrested for storming the capitol building on January 6 after buying into the former president’s BS about the election. The full word BS was used by the Attorney General William Barr to define the former president’s bogus claims to his face.

Trump Attorney General says no evidence of voter fraud that would change the outcome

Excerpts from the article entitled “William Barr: no evidence of voter fraud that would change election outcome” by Amanda Holpuch of The Guardian should carry weight with the sycophants who continue to belabor the voter fraud accusations made by the outgoing president. It won’t be enough, but it is a large voice.

“William Barr said on Tuesday the US Department of Justice has not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

The attorney general’s comments come despite Donald Trump’s repeated claims that the election was stolen, and his refusal to concede to President-elect Joe Biden.

Trump did not immediately comment. But campaign lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis said in a statement: “With the greatest respect to the Attorney General, his opinion appears to be without any knowledge or investigation of the substantial irregularities and evidence of systemic fraud.”

Barr made his comments in an interview with the Associated Press. US attorneys and FBI agents have been working to follow up complaints and information, he said, but have uncovered no evidence that would change the outcome of the election….

‘Most claims of fraud are very particularized to a particular set of circumstances or actors or conduct. They are not systemic allegations and those have been run down; they are being run down,’ Barr said. ‘Some have been broad and potentially cover a few thousand votes. They have been followed up on.’”

The above speaks for itself. The only thing I will add is how many Republican election officials, judges, secretaries of state, governors, cybersecurity officials, and now a small but increasing number of Republican elected officials will it take to tell the outgoing president he lost because he got fewer votes and have it sink in?

They need to use the term that maybe, just maybe, will rattle his core as he plays this masculine role with false bravado – man up and admit you lost.

William Barr: no evidence of voter fraud that would change election outcome | William Barr | The Guardian