The political crime beat, that's what I cover. Crook:
A Nevada Republican politician who ran unsuccessfully two years ago for state treasurer was found guilty Thursday of using funds raised for a statue honoring a slain police officer for personal costs, including plastic surgery.
A jury convicted Michele Fiore, a former Las Vegas city councilwoman and state lawmaker, of six counts of federal wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, KLAS-TV in Las Vegas reported. The weeklong trial in U.S. District Court in Nevada began last week.
The wire fraud trial saw damning testimony from a number of people, including the sitting Republican governor, Joe Lombardo, who was the Clark County sheriff when officers Fiore pretended to solicit memorial donations for were killed.
Fiore's daughter, Sheena Siegel, testified in her mother's defense. However, she not only failed to provide anything exonerating, but may also have incriminated herself on the witness stand. Presiding District Judge Jennifer Dorsey, who was apparently unaware of an immunity agreement Siegel had with prosecutors, went on to strike her testimony from the proceedings.
According to The Nevada Independent, each charge carries a sentence of up to 20 years. Fiore will be sentenced in January.
"There are many things in my mind that are crystal clear about this case, you are no hero," Barrett added. "You abused your position, and you're a charlatan who used and is still using your prior position in office to peddle a snake oil that's been proven to be junk, time and time again."
Barrett called the damage done by Peters to undermine the integrity of elections "immeasurable."
Here's a video report of the little princess.
And one more.
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Trump is now trying to get obstruction charges tossed from his federal election conspiracy case, arguing that the Supreme Court's recent decision in Fischer v. United States, which erased obstruction charges for January 6 rioters, also applies to him.
But that's not a done deal, former federal prosecutor Elie Honig explained to CNN's Kaitlan Collins on Thursday evening, because special counsel Jack Smith, who recently made an enormous filing detailing explosive evidence against Trump in the case, has one key way he can make a distinction between Trump and the rioters at issue in the Supreme Court's decision.
So RAW STORY is covering the issue.
We hear criticism that Donald's insane mutterings are getting "sane washed" by reporters who try to justify the remarks or down play them or try to instead report what they think he was trying to say. And that's wrong.
But it's also wrong that DEMOCRACY NOW!, COMMON DREAMS, IN THESE TIMES and so many others are ignoring what's at stake.
They don't like Kamala, these outlets. They're too busy grudge f**king America to argue on its behalf.
Many of them are telling and hoping Americans will waste their vote on Jill Stein. She's not going to win and you're throwing your vote away because you're supporting MAGA and Trump because that's who has provided the legal support and the financial support to Jill Stein.
Your inflamed over Gaza to the point that you can't see reality. Trump's not going to help Palestinians. He would make things much, much worse.
Not only are they voting to harm Palestinians, they're also harming support for Palestinians -- support in the US. They don't know what they're doing. And when those of us who were covering it regularly (here, it was daily) stepped back because the Jill Stein crazies lied to America that it was supporting Gaza or supporting Kamala Harris, we saw how interest in the issue caved.
Because they don't know how to sell the issue, they don't know to structure the narrative.
The killing in Gaza has not stopped. But most Americans are not as tied to the issue as they were. It's become a I HATE AMERICA movement with the crazies in charge. And hate is never going to rally good people. It can frighten and trick stupid people -- and often does.
So they offer their hate. And they join with other haters like Glenn Greenwald who can't shut up about, for example, Dick Cheney. And people do realize that Glenn helped sell the Iraq War, right? He was for it. And yet today, he's the virgin protecting his maidenhead from Dick. Ed Snowden's also attacking Kamala Harris. From Russia. As is Tara Reade. From Russia. Seems the more you hate America, the more you flirt with Donald Trump.
I don't know what COMMON DREAMS, DEMOCRACY NOW! and others think there future is. I know that one of the biggest things we're discussing right now -- those of us who have funded independent media -- is their behavior currently. And we're not planning on funding this garbage again.
We're a month away from a US election and DEMOCRACY NOW ignored Jack Smith's filings to give us a film ALJAZEERA made and broadcast about another country.
In a Donald Trump administration, other nations will not be pressured regarding human rights abuses or anything else.
I rightly criticized DEMOCRACY NOW! in 2009 for doing an inauguration party for Barack Obama and I had spent 2008 noting how the program tilted the scales and flat out lied -- Melissa Lie Face Harris you are not forgotten nor do I ever forget that Amy Goodman knew she was campaigning for Barack -- knew it by appearing on Rev Jesse Jackson's program with Lie Face -- and then brought her on DEMOCRACY NOW! and lied to the audience by presenting Lie Face as a disinterested college professor.
That I called out.
That's not journalism and it's nothing to be proud of.
They should be ashamed to this day.
And I am not calling for them to provide that kind of treatment to Kamala Harris campaign. (Although it is worth noting that they and other outlets celebrated Barack Obama as a Black candidate -- remember David Lindorf's infamous quote? -- while today refusing to celebrate Kamala as the same.) All I'm asking is that they cover the news, actually cover the news. And Jack Straw's filing is news. And Myrlie Evers-Williams endorsing Kamala Harris was news. But DEMOCRACY NOW! couldn't even note that in a headline -- despite having had this Civil Rights pioneer, the widow of Medgar Everts on their program before.
You're not doing journalism.
So-called 'independent' media -- that begs constantly for money -- either whores for their favored candidate or they ignore the one that they don't care about.
There's no balance, there's nothing between the two extremes. And this is not journalism and should not be mistaken for it.
As Stacey Abrams notes in the video above, "There could not be a starker choice."
Stacey Abrams . . . who's been a guest multiple times on DEMOCRACY NOW! in the past. But endorsing Kamala means she's vanished.
I've talked about why I support the coalition building around Kamala. Maybe Amy doesn't? Could be. But how is this coalition not worthy of a debate or segment on DEMOCRACY NOW!?
We know who Donald Trump is. We know the damage he has done. We know the damage he wants to do. I don't see the point in ever giving another dime to DEMOCRACY NOW! or any of the other outlets that are working to get Donald back in the White House.
What I'm hearing as I speak with one group after another every day this week is that 'independent' media doesn't care about Black people. They complain about the way DN! and others refuse to celebrate Kamala Harris' run as historic, they complain about how their views and their opinions are not being embraced. I'm going to note Betty's post from last night:
"We need to take his comments very, very seriously, partly because this time he's bull-in-a-china-shop determined to get his way, partly because (by contrast with 2016) he's surrounded by a core of smart and ruthlessly committed helpers and ideologues, whose ideas are most definitely coherent, thought-through and focused," Eley said in an email.
Trump's "political accomplishment," Eley said, has been in imparting to large swaths of the country that "democracy, proceduralism, civility, speaking across differences, and the rule of law have outlived their purposes — they're fictions, illusions, tricks, and they no longer matter."
Despite Trump's insistence both at the rally and throughout his campaign that crime "has gone through the roof," data indicates that the opposite is true.
Recently released FBI stats show a 2.4% decrease in property crime between 2022 and 2023. Preliminary data comparing periods of 2024 ranging from the first quarter to the first half to the same periods of 2023 also indicated a drop in violent crime following the COVID-19 isolation-era uptick, suggesting this year will see a continued decline in the nation's crime rate.
“They made him chair of the Black Caucus. Whoop-de-doo,” Lee said on an audiotape obtained by HuffPost.
Lee went on to denigrate the CBC, following a pattern of insults over the last year. In August, he said they were comparable to a “blond-haired caucus,” and he had previously called the group “stupid.”
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Lauryn Fanguen condemned Lee’s remarks in a statement.
“John Lee’s shocking comments about Black Nevadans and CBC Chair Steven Horsford are not only deeply offensive but betray an utter disdain for a large swath of the district he claims to want to represent,” Fanguen said.
Ava and I have spent a lot of time in Georgia with Betty (Betty is exclusively speaking Georgia -- her home state -- and has taken time off from her job to do so).
Donald Trump is using Black people, threats against them, insults and targeting them for violence. And that's disgusting. But where's our 'independent' media in this? They aren't rushing to defend.
We were speaking -- Betty, Ava
and I -- near Johns Creek yesterday to a group and a Black woman from
Johns Creek stated she felt as though the left media -- she named COMMON
DREAMS -- was playing the oppression olympics and giving all this
credence to issues outside this country while ignoring the very threats
to Black people in our country.
Betty is correct in her post that Donald's doing dog whistles and Willie Horton-ing Black people. He's playing to and promoting racism. And apparently White-White-White 'independent' media can't grasp that -- can't grasp what Black people are seeing and feeling.
Let's note that THE BLACK COMMENTATOR is back from its summer hiatus:
Hurricane preparation, survival and cleanup
delayed publication of this issue
October 3, 2024
Read issue 1012
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