2020 Election Fallout 14: Arrests And The Big Lie

[Audrey2]

Oh Andrew, Jim, and other Republicans who are trying to brush off January 6th or say they were tourists or Patriots, do you really think that had they broken through you would have been recognized and been safe? I don't think so. I think they would have attacked you also, unless you had some obvious symbol that identified yourself to them and at that point we would be talking about treason for you as well.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

So sad that so many of the insurrectionists are linked to the military:

 

[47of74]

Idiot 

Quote

A former Virginia police officer charged with breaching the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6 will need to stay in jail pending trial, a judge ruled Wednesday, after federal prosecutors said he ordered more than 30 guns on the internet and endorsed political violence after his arrest.

Federal Judge Christopher Cooper ordered Thomas Robertson — a former Virginia police officer — to be held in custody while awaiting trial for violent entry and several other offenses stemming from his alleged participation in the Capitol riot.

Robertson was initially released from jail in January, but federal authorities allege he violated a judge’s order to avoid possessing firearms on pretrial release and broke a federal law barring people under felony indictment from shipping firearms.

Federal officials said Robertson made arrangements to buy guns and ammunition online just weeks after he was ordered to get rid of all his firearms, and by June, some 34 guns were awaiting his pickup at a local firearm broker.

 

[fraurosena]

9 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

So sad that so many of the insurrectionists are linked to the military

Sad, yes. But not surprising.

First of all, being in the military doesn’t automatically make one a good person, or even a patriot. Secondly, soldiers are trained to follow commands without question. They’re not trained to think,  they’re trained to do whatever it is their commanders tell them to do. And guess what the commander in chief told them to do that day…

 

[Ozlsn]

10 hours ago, 47of74 said:

34 guns were awaiting his pickup at a local firearm broker.

34 guns?!?! What does anyone need 34 guns for?? How many arms does this guy have, sounds like he'd be rivaling Durga.

Also talk about someone's security blankie.

[Sarcastically spinster]

5 hours ago, Ozlsn said:

34 guns?!?! What does anyone need 34 guns for?? How many arms does this guy have, sounds like he'd be rivaling Durga.

There are people for whom guns and target shooting are a hobby.  They just enjoy it - and if target shooting is in the Olympics, I think it can be considered a legitimate sport.  And different guns handle differently.  A true hobbyist who has the money for it might end up with a fairly large collection.  But that typically would be collected over time - my friends for whom shooting is a hobby extensively research their purchases before they make them, and it's usually more like a new gun every couple of years.  Not going and mass ordering 34 all at once.  This isn't a hobbyist gradually ending up with a collection over time.  

[WiseGirl]

May some of those that gave them "tours" end up in prison as well.

 

[Ozlsn]

7 hours ago, Sarcastically spinster said:

There are people for whom guns and target shooting are a hobby.  They just enjoy it - and if target shooting is in the Olympics, I think it can be considered a legitimate sport.  And different guns handle differently.  A true hobbyist who has the money for it might end up with a fairly large collection.  But that typically would be collected over time - my friends for whom shooting is a hobby extensively research their purchases before they make them, and it's usually more like a new gun every couple of years.  Not going and mass ordering 34 all at once.  This isn't a hobbyist gradually ending up with a collection over time.  

To be honest I have friends who are into hunting, clay pigeon shooting and IPSC, and/or are farmers, and 34 is still way above the number any of them have accumulated. I can see collectors getting to that over a period of time, but those would be mostly inactivated. 34 guns in essentially one order sounds like either "I intend to arm a militia" or "you'll never get me out of this bunker (alive)!" 

Meanwhile, apparently Mo Brooks wore body armor on Jan 6th to protect himself against marauding tourists. I hope he is also forced to testify and prosecuted.

 

[Sarcastically spinster]

2 minutes ago, Ozlsn said:

To be honest I have friends who are into hunting, clay pigeon shooting and IPSC, and/or are farmers, and 34 is still way above the number any of them have accumulated. I can see collectors getting to that over a period of time, but those would be mostly inactivated. 34 guns in essentially one order sounds like either "I intend to arm a militia" or "you'll never get me out of this bunker (alive)!" 

I have friends who I think would easily reach that number if they had the money for it.  You're probably also more likely to get a larger collection if it's shooting that's a hobby, vs a more narrow hunting/clay pigeon hobby where you'd be looking for guns specialized to those activities rather than a broader collection.  

If you're a gun owner for self-defense purposes, you're probably going to have 1-5ish.  One or two concealable guns and carry one of them daily, and a larger gun (or again, maybe two) in case of a home defense situation.  But if you're just looking for self-defense, you only need to arm yourself (and maybe any other competent household members), so you'd be looking at extra magazines for a quick reload, not more guns.  You might stockpile ammo, because for an every day carry you want to shoot it frequently to keep your skills sharp, and if you're anticipating an ammo shortage, you don't want to get caught unable to load your gun.  

But yeah, ordering 34 in a short span of time when you're also not legally allowed to have them is super sketch.  Like I said, not hobbyist behavior.  

[GreyhoundFan]

"Maricopa County defies state subpoena seeking to expand GOP ballot review, calling it an ‘adventure in never-never land"

Quote

Elected leaders in Arizona’s largest county responded defiantly Monday to a new subpoena issued by the state Senate that sought local computer routers and internal logs to bolster a GOP-commissioned review of the 2020 presidential election results.

Senate President Karen Fann (R) has said the items are needed to conclude the controversial audit of the election in Maricopa County, which private contractors have been conducting on behalf of the Senate since April.

County officials rejected her claim in a scathing letter.

“It is now August of 2021. The election of November 2020 is over. If you haven’t figured out that the election in Maricopa County was free, fair, and accurate yet, I’m not sure you ever will,” Board of Supervisors Chairman Jack Sellers (R) wrote in a letter to the Senate on Monday.

He added: “The Board has real work to do and little time to entertain this adventure in never-never land. Please finish whatever it is that you are doing and release whatever it is you are going to release.”

Earlier this year, the Senate used a subpoena to obtain the county’s nearly 2.1 million ballots and tabulating machines, and handed them over to a private company whose chief executive has echoed false claims that the election was stolen.

Fann has said the audit is intended to help improve the state’s election laws, but former president Donald Trump has suggested it could lead to the decertification of President Biden’s victory in the swing state. The ballot review has been largely financed by private groups touting Trump’s false claims that fraud tainted the outcome.

The Republican-led Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has said that the routers are used for county services other than elections, including the sheriff’s department, and that giving them to a private company could compromise security. What’s more, they said they are reluctant to assist an audit that they believe has been run ineptly and is undermining faith in democracy.

In his letter Monday, Sellers told the Senate that there was no “injection of ballots from Asia” nor “a satellite that beamed votes into our election equipment” — both unsubstantiated allegations advanced by Trump supporters.

“It’s time for all elected officials to tell the truth and stop encouraging conspiracies,” he added.

Sellers’s terse missive was accompanied by a separate five-page letter from a county lawyer, which raised various legal and practical objections to the subpoena.

A spokesman for Fann did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Separately, a lawyer for Dominion Voting Systems, whose election equipment is used in Maricopa, separately wrote to the Arizona Senate and raised legal objections to a subpoena it received last month seeking administrative passwords to the county’s voting software.

Both the county and Dominion argued that some of the Senate’s requests are now moot because the Senate’s contractor, a Florida-based company called Cyber Ninjas, concluded its review of the ballots last week and returned them to Maricopa’s custody.

Fann has said the company is working on a report of its findings and plans to release it later this month, though she has warned that it will be incomplete if Maricopa does not cooperate and turn over the additional items.

The Senate’s options in the face of the county’s defiance are not clear. Fann could ask the Senate to hold the board in contempt, but she does not appear to have the votes to do so. The GOP holds only a one-vote majority in the state Senate, and a previous contempt vote in February failed after state Sen. Paul Boyer (R) said he was opposed. Since then, Boyer has become only more vocal in his opposition to the audit.

 

 

[fraurosena]

Here’s the letter from @GreyhoundFan’s post:

They are absolutely fed up with the Senate GOP’s shenanigans. 

[GreyhoundFan]

This is horrible. Two more police officers have committed suicide. Their blood is staining the tiny orange hands.

 

[fraurosena]

17 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

This is horrible. Two more police officers have committed suicide. Their blood is staining the tiny orange hands.

 

What I find absolutely disheartening is that they might not be getting the help they need to deal with the aftermath of what happened, either because it's not available, or they think it shows weakness, or it's too expensive for them. That alone would make it hard enough to cope. But to make things infinitely worse Republicans are actively whitewashing what happened, denying the horror of it all and diminishing their personal sacrifice.

[Alisamer]

On 8/2/2021 at 6:42 PM, fraurosena said:

Here’s the letter from @GreyhoundFan’s post:

They are absolutely fed up with the Senate GOP’s shenanigans. 

That is the best letter I have ever read and I think it needs to be preserved for posterity. Whenever students in the future are taught about the insanity of the last few years, they should be made to read this letter as well, so they understand the sheer ridiculousness and how those of us who are sane and intelligent felt about the entire mess.

[AlmostSavedAtTacoBell]

6 hours ago, fraurosena said:

What I find absolutely disheartening is that they might not be getting the help they need to deal with the aftermath of what happened, either because it's not available, or they think it shows weakness, or it's too expensive for them. That alone would make it hard enough to cope. But to make things infinitely worse Republicans are actively whitewashing what happened, denying the horror of it all and diminishing their personal sacrifice.

The right wingers are not just denying the horror and diminishing their personal sacrifice but are outright mocking the officers who have come forward and testified at the Congressional hearing.  Fuck every single person who mocked them but especially fuck Laura Ingraham for mocking Michael Fanone with her bullshit "best performance award" bit.  I guarantee that if someone (especially a POC) so much as sneered in her direction she would lose her damn mind and call the 911, expecting an officer to arrive to save her precious white ass but she went on a national tv network to try to undermine and criticize the very powerful testimony of someone who almost died by his own service weapon on January 6th.  I cannot fathom how much mental anguish the officers are undergoing just as a result of having been attacked on January 6th but to have the same people who for years yelled "Blue Lives Matter" and ran around waving their "Blue Line" flags now making fun of them and essentially calling them the bad guys much be absolutely surreal. 

[fraurosena]

Can’t say I’m surprised. Appalled, yes, but not surprised.

'We're Going Back To The Capitol': Ex Trump Campaign Official Announces 'Huge' Protest

Quote

The former data chief for Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign has announced a protest next month at the nation’s Capitol — to rail on behalf of so-called “political prisoners” charged in the Jan. 6 insurrection.

“We’re going back to the Capitol, right where it started. And it’s going to be huge,” Matt Braynard told former White House strategist Steve Bannon as he announced the rally on Bannon’s podcast last week. 

The protest, “Justice for J6,”  has been set for Sept. 18 at the Capitol. It’s being orchestrated by the group Look Ahead America, headed by Braynard. 

“As we continue to raise the profiles of these individuals” who have been arrested, it “makes it harder and harder for the left’s phony narrative about an insurrection to stick,” Braynard told Bannon. “We’re going to push back on the phony narrative that there was an insurrection.”

Despite multiple dramatic videos of scenes to the contrary, Braynard told Bannon the crowd that day was “largely peaceful” — and simply “egged on in many cases by the Capitol Police.”

Braynard promised that “high-profile” speakers including members of Congress would attend the rally.  He declined to reveal their identities to HuffPost until “confirmed.”

One person who met with Trump on Saturday at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, mentioned a “rally” by a “little bit of a special group” — though it wasn’t clear if the person was referring to the new “Justice for J6” protest.

Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) posted and then deleted a clip of that comment a day after former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows announced that Trump was meeting with “Cabinet members” — apparently as part of some imagined parallel presidency — to make “real” plans for the future. Trump is, of course, no longer president and has no real Cabinet.

Braynard told HuffPost he was unaware of that meeting or the video. He later clarified that the “rally” mentioned in the clip had nothing to do with his.

Braynard said he has already obtained permission for the rally from the Metropolitan Police Department, pending final checks the day of the protest.

An MPD spokesperson would not confirm to HuffPost that a permit had been approved. A Capitol Police spokesperson said the department is aware of the rally but cannot discuss a permit or security plans.

The rally is planned for the West Lawn of the Capitol, where protesters moved on the building after Trump told them to go there and “fight much harder.”

Braynard told HuffPost the rally is only in support of “nonviolent” Capitol protesters. That includes Ashli Babbit, who crawled through a broken window in a barricaded door to get to members of Congress. As a mob of rioters yelled “Let’s go” and “Fuck the blue,” a Capitol Police officer warned Babbit to stop before he fatally shot her. (The incident can be seen in a disturbing video here.)

Braynard claimed that Babbit had been “executed.” The officer who shot her has been cleared of any wrongdoing.

Braynard said the rally will focus on arrests linked to the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol and will discourage protesters from holding signs about any election or candidates and will also discourage the use of “MAGA gear.” Asked if his group had been active on behalf of any peaceful “political prisoners” arrested at Black Lives Matter protests, he said: “I don’t know anything about that.”

Amid talk of coming protests and Trump’s “reinstatement,” security officials fear a repeat of the Capitol insurrection or even more serious domestic terrorism. 

Trump disciple and My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell initially said that the former president would somehow be reinstated to the White House in mid-August. He revised that prediction in an interview with a far-right-wing radio program last week, claiming instead that Trump will present “proof” next month to the Supreme Court that the election was “stolen by the Chinese.” No credible evidence has yet emerged to support this.

Nevertheless, Lindell believes that after Trump makes his case, the court could decide to order an election do-over. Maybe “that’s a thing,” he added.

It’s not.

 

[Becky]

5 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Can’t say I’m surprised. Appalled, yes, but not surprised.

'We're Going Back To The Capitol': Ex Trump Campaign Official Announces 'Huge' Protest

 

Lovely.  I hope law enforcement is paying attention this time.  There is every chance this will go sideways.  

[Audrey2]

The new rally idea is terrifying. I expect more violence and more bloodshed.

My heart goes out to the law enforcement officers who were there at the Capitol on January 6th. From my experience, those in law enforcement tend to skew much more strongly Republican, and would be some of the Fox News viewers. Imagine having gone through this horribly traumatic awful event and then being told that your primary news source, by the people you trust to get news (those of us here on this board know that fox is just for entertainment purposes and not even good entertainment but to the right wingers this is a new source) that you didn't experience what you really experienced. I suspect that this could lead to some of them choosing to end their own life.

[Alisamer]

8 hours ago, fraurosena said:

“We’re going to push back on the phony narrative that there was an insurrection.”

By... having another insurrection?

Which will ALSO certainly be recorded on multiple cameras. I don't get how the cognitive dissonance works to be able to see violence on video and say it's not violence. Up is down. These people are disturbed.

[AlmostSavedAtTacoBell]

"Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) posted and then deleted a clip of that comment a day after former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows announced that Trump was meeting with “Cabinet members” — apparently as part of some imagined parallel presidency — to make “real” plans for the future. Trump is, of course, no longer president and has no real Cabinet."

So his handlers really are just going with the whole Truman Show thing here, right?  They're just placating him, letting him believe he's POTUS, doing a whole pretend microcosm world and making him think he's doing important presidenting type things like declaring today Diet Coke Day.  Please tell me that's what's really happening and not some real attempt at overthrowing the legitimate government. 

[Audrey2]

7 hours ago, AlmostSavedAtTacoBell said:

"Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) posted and then deleted a clip of that comment a day after former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows announced that Trump was meeting with “Cabinet members” — apparently as part of some imagined parallel presidency — to make “real” plans for the future. Trump is, of course, no longer president and has no real Cabinet."

So his handlers really are just going with the whole Truman Show thing here, right?  They're just placating him, letting him believe he's POTUS, doing a whole pretend microcosm world and making him think he's doing important presidenting type things like declaring today Diet Coke Day.  Please tell me that's what's really happening and not some real attempt at overthrowing the legitimate government. 

I will put it this way. The last 12 years has proven to me that everything is on the table for the Republicans. I would not be surprised if they did try to overthrow the government. Then again after seeing McConnell during President Obama's term and the Trump years I don't think they could do too much to surprise me.

[Cartmann99]

 

[WiseGirl]

Yes we do.

 

[Ozlsn]

On 8/6/2021 at 3:24 PM, fraurosena said:

Braynard promised that “high-profile” speakers including members of Congress would attend the rally.  He declined to reveal their identities to HuffPost until “confirmed.”

Ooh, a guessing game! Let me see, the three G's, Broebert, Jim and his mate... who else?

[fraurosena]

This is a very interesting thread:

Rest under spoiler, because no unrolled version is available yet:

Quote

 

The pictures of Sean Moon with his crown of bullets and golden AR-15 are both hilarious and disturbing at the same time.