Elie Mystal: 'This Is What Happens When You Have A Government That Nobody Can Trust'

Above the Law's Elie Mystal weighs in on the damage that Trump and his "stooge" William Barr are doing to our institutions.



Source

Former Republican Lawmaker Tells America To Vote EVERY Republican Out Of Office

Former Republican Representative David Jolly has some advice for the American public: Vote every single Republican out of office in the next election.

Jolly didn’t mince words during an interview earlier this week where he made those comments, and he’s 100% correct about how to fix this country.

Republicans are standing in the way of progress on so many issues, and the only way to move forward is to leave them behind. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.



https://www.huffpost.com/entry/david-jolly-beat-republicans-gun-control_n_5d49199de4b01ae816c79bbb

Jeffrey Epstein Commits Suicide At Manhattan Jail

Mr. Epstein, the financier indicted on sex trafficking charges last month, hanged himself and his body was found this morning.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/10/nyregion/jeffrey-epstein-suicide.html

Chris Hayes Is Electric In Rant Against Trump

Source

Ring Is Teaching Cops How To Obtain Doorbell Camera Footage Without A Warrant

To be part of your local law enforcement's surveillance network, all you need is a little tech from Amazon. Amazon's Ring doorbell/camera is being handed out to cops, who can then give them to citizens with the implication the recipients of this corporate/government largesse will deliver recordings upon request.

Every Ring installed is another contributor to this ad hoc network of cameras -- something both cops and Amazon have access to. Amazon is looking to corner two markets at one time, roping in both the public and private sectors with an eye on dominating both. The added bonus -- at least as far as Amazon is concerned -- is its Neighbors app. Neighbors allows people to report suspicious things to other neighbors, as well as law enforcement.

Unsurprisingly, early adopters have tended to report the existence of brown people in their neighborhoods more often than anything else.

The whole process is guided by Amazon's heavy hand. Government agencies participating in the Ring handouts are given talking points, pre-written press releases, and contractual obligations to promote the product they're giving away. Recently-obtained documents show Amazon has even crafted scripts for police officers and press relations staff to use when questioned by citizens.

But there's even more to this partnership than everything you see above. Lucas Ropek of GovTech reports cops have an Amazon-enabled workaround if Ring recipients aren't willing to turn over footage without a warrant.

If the community member doesn’t want to supply a Ring video that seems vital to a local law enforcement investigation, police can contact Amazon, which will then essentially “subpoena” the video.

“If we ask within 60 days of the recording and as long as it’s been uploaded to the cloud, then Ring can take it out of the cloud and send it to us legally so that we can use it as part of our investigation,” [Fresno County Sheriff's Office public information officer Tony Botti] said.

So much for asserting your rights. The only way to shut law enforcement out completely and demand they actually get a warrant supported by probable cause is to store all recordings locally. (It appears only a subpoena is needed to obtain footage from Amazon.) Very few people will be taking those steps. And, as Tony Botti points out, most people "play ball" and allow cops to collect footage without a warrant.

If the implicit obligation of "repaying" a government agency for giving you a free doorbell camera isn't persuasive enough, Amazon is crafting scripts for law enforcement to use to talk people out of their Constitutional rights. Thanks to even more public document requests, the pitches are now public. Caroline Haskins has more details at Motherboard.

Emails obtained from police department in Maywood, NJ—and emails from the police department of Bloomfield, NJ, which were also posted by Wired—show that Ring coaches police on how to obtain footage. The company provides cops with templates for requesting footage, which they do not need a court warrant to do. Ring suggests cops post often on Neighbors, Ring’s free “neighborhood watch” app, where Ring camera owners have the option of sharing their camera footage.

"I have noticed you have been posting alerts and receiving feedback from the community,” a Ring representative told Bloomfield police. “You are doing a great job interacting with them and that will be critical in increasing the opt-in rate.”

“The more users you have, the more useful the information you can collect,” the representative added.

“Seems like you wasted no time sending out your video Request out to Ring Users which is awesome!!” a Ring “Partner Success Associate” told Maywood police.

This guidance is supposed to create a perverse circle of life that ditches Constitutional niceties in favor of keeping cops awash in doorbell footage and Amazon well ahead of the pack in the doorbell camera market.

Ring's PR partners encourage law enforcement agencies to increase their social media presence. (There are scripts for that as well.) While engaging with local residents, agencies should also be pushing the Neighbors app. This gives cops more credits to trade in for more cameras to give to more people. Everyone receiving a camera is nudged by the app to post footage publicly. Cops will be online more often to encourage further sharing of recordings.

Once this feedback loop is engaged, people will be nudged towards thinking there are no legal barriers between police officers and their camera footage. When the cops ask for footage they haven't seen yet, homeowners will likely feel there's no difference between posting footage to Neighbors or handing it over to law enforcement.

While many people do install security cameras at their homes, they seldom do so with the intent of becoming an unofficial extension of a government agency's surveillance network. The pitches and scripted pushes accompanying the Ring rollout suggest Amazon believes this is nothing more than the evolution of snitch tech. It has repeatedly shown it prefers to ingratiate itself to government agencies at the expense of the millions of customers who helped it become the retail behemoth it is.

And those are the people Amazon is leaving behind in its quest to dominate a market very few consumers wanted to see it entering.

Source

Takedown Of Rich Brat Tucker Carlson & His Lie About The Threat Of Violent White Supremacists Being A Hoax!

Join Jesse Dollemore as he corrects Tucker Carlson's propaganda about the actual serious threat posed by radicalized racist white supremacist terrorists in the United States.

He reads from joint Homeland Security Department/Federal Bureau of Investigation intelligence briefings & Government Accountability Office threat assessments. Also included is brief sworn testimony from Director of the FBI Christopher Wray.



Sources:

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/8/6/20754828/el-paso-shooting-white-supremacy-rise

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/04/el-paso-shooting-white-nationalist-supremacy-violence-christchurch -

https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2019/08/04/white-nationalists-praise-el-paso-attack-and-mock-dead

McConnell On Stage At Fancy Farm Picnic As Crowd Chants "Moscow Mitch"

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell jabbed at political rivals on stage at the Fancy Farm Picnic in rural Graves County, Kentucky, on August 3 before a crowd divided by party line - with Republican supporters on one side and jeering Democrats on the other, the latter chanting "Moscow Mitch."

 Kentucky Democrats are capitalizing on the viral nickname following criticism over McConnell's blocking of legislation designed to protect the political system against a foreign attack.

Video by WKMS News

Moscow Mitch Makes Headlines // Malcolm Nance - AM Joy MSNBC

Joy Reid hosts Malcolm & panel to consider why Republican Senate leader, Mitch McConnell, refuses to condemn Russian interference in American politics.

Cowardly Republicans Hide From Media After Weekend Violence

CNN had a hard time finding Republicans willing to come on their network on Sunday morning, and things only got worse over the next 24 hours.

According to the network, only ONE Republican out of 50 that they asked was willing to talk to them about the events that transpired over the weekend, showing how truly cowardly the Republicans are in this time of crisis. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.



Stunning cowardice: CNN says 49 of 50 Republicans contacted refused to discuss mass shootings on-air

Trump Voters: I'm Ashamed I Voted For Him

Trump is losing his supporters. Brooke Thomas, Nando Vila, and Ana Kasparian, hosts of The Young Turks, break it down.

Everybody Loves Insurance Companies!

PROMOTING VIOLENCE!!! The Unholy Trinity: Donald Trump, Fox News, & White Supremacist Terrorists!

Let's talk about the clear connections between white supremacist terrorists, white nationalist, neo-Nazis, alt-righters, and Donald Trump & Fox News (especially Tucker Carlson & Laura Ingraham).

They all speak the same rhetoric and traffic in the same conspiracy theories, I believe, in an effort to ramp up the anger and rage in soon-to-be gun-wielding domestic terrorists!

John Delaney Cries On Fox And Friends

John Delaney is salty about getting shut down by Bernie and Elizabeth Warren. Adrienne Lawrence, Maytha Alhassen, and Ana Kasparian, hosts of The Young Turks, break it down.

MORE TYT: https://tyt.com/trial

Read more here:

https://www.mediaite.com/tv/john-delaney-attacks-elizabeth-warren-on-fox-friends-her-policies-are-extreme/

Here’s why Nintendo Switch consoles keep frying

Blame nonstandard design elements that exist in both Nintendo's and third parties' docks.

4 Politicians Who Really Need To Go Back To Where They Came From

Another post from the Rude Pundit's designated millennial guest blogger, R. Sharp. His views do not necessarily reflect the views of all millennials because that would be fucking dumb.)

So, two weeks ago that bloated, white supremacist  king of idiots told four congresswomen of color - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib - to go back to where they came from and accused them of hating their own country. Not surprising whatsoever considering

 Dipshit has been plunging America into the kind of stink-filled swamp he said he would drain in the first place. I’m not even fazed by whatever atrocious thing he says or does. Everything just provides extra motivation for me to vote him and all of his taint-licking enablers out in 2020. Not only has this been the most ineffective and cruel administration in modern American politics, it’s also boasted an impressive collection of morons. It takes a special kind of mental deficiency to tell four Congresswoman to go back to where they came from when three of them were born in the fucking United States and one is a naturalized citizen. Much like that play-wife Melania.

Here are the first two of four people who actually hate what America stands for.

First, of course, there's Trump. The grotesque orange monster doesn’t care about anybody except for himself (and Ivanka, but only after she’s done lubing his cashew dick to a shine). He relishes pulling America down into this divisive shit storm, because it distracts us from what’s really going on. Think about it: he attacks Amazon and other companies as their stock drowns. Here's my theory: He starts a trade war with China and the market falls. In the background, he has his shills buy up stock for him. He changes his mind, market shares rise again, and there you have it. He’s supposedly made billions. All he cares about is money, but we live in a capitalist dystopia now and things like this should just be expected. Frankly, that just scratches the surface of his hatred for America.

What ticks me off about him and his goddamned Republican henchman is that they pay excessive lip service to the integrity of our democracy. But, they’ve taken every active step to chip away at it. From election security to voter suppression, Republicans have known for a long time they can’t win the popular vote. They need the Electoral College or the Supreme Court, or to enlist aid from a hostile foreign government. Republicans will stop at nothing to ensure that their enraged clementine will remain in power. America was built on the idea that we didn’t bow down to kings and dictators who employ these exact tactics to weaken the foundations of our democracy. Trump is by far the most un-American president we’ve ever had. He will drag this country into oblivion as long as he can see dollar signs at the end.

Obviously, Mitch McConnell is by far the most damaging member of the Republican-controlled Senate that’s been reaming our asses since 2011. He recently said that he’d be delighted to be called the “grim reaper for progressive policies,” which include such Communist nightmares like addressing climate change, ensuring millions have adequate healthcare, and making the top 1% pay their fair share of taxes. What he’s basically saying is, “As long as I’m taken care of, I could give two shits about the rest of you plebes. Now please, keep voting for me and my horrible motherfuckers.” If ensuring the peace of mind of lobbyists and politicians while casting the public aside isn’t awful enough, there's his whiny bitch approach to Russian election interference.

Moscow Mitch doesn’t like when he gets called out for being a Russian asset. We know that President Obama approached Comrade McConnell in 2016 and wanted to launch a bi-partisan rebuke against potential Russian election interference. Mitch curled up into his shell and refused to do such a thing. God forbid the Senate Majority Leader ensure our democracy remains strong and secure. Hell, there were Senate elections involved. I mean it’s not like he took an oath to “defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” or anything, right? Moscow Mitch is a liar and a traitor. He would gladly hand his balls over to Putin to ensure Trump a second term. 

(Tomorrow: The other two Republicans who can get the fuck out of here.)

 

Continuing R. Sharp's post from yesterday. He's getting a bunch of shit off his chest, so just kick back and enjoy the ride. Yesterday, he went after Trump and McConnell. Here are his other two politicians who we should send back to some goddamn place.)

Good riddance to Paul Ryan, that spineless piece of trash. My only wish was that he had been voted out instead of comfortably retiring. Here’s the thing though: Paul Ryan might be out of politics, but his actions in and on his way out of office prove that this motherfucker doesn’t give a shit about America or anything that can’t make him filthy rich. Not only did he enable Candidate Trump and work with him to get him elected, he knew a possible https://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2019/08/guest-post-four-politicians-who-really_2.html Cheeto would be a complete disaster. He could smell Trump from a mile away (it's true - this is a proven fact about Trump), and he did nothing to stop him. In fact, he worked with Trump and assimilated him into the Republican Party’s decadent framework.

Sadly, Ryan isn’t a complete idiot. He planned his moves very carefully. He saw the results of the 2016 election as an escape hatch from American politics. When his disastrous American Healthcare Act failed in the Senate, Ryan knew he was on his way out. But before he retired, he promoted Trump’s cruel immigration policies and actively supported Republican candidates before the 2018 midterms. What really pisses me off about Ryan was his final act in Congress. In late 2018, Ryan pushed for thousands of unused work visas to be used for Irish citizens who wanted to emigrate to the United States. Yeah. After years spent blocking comprehensive immigration reform, Ryan decided he would hand out visas to white people who shared his heritage, but he even failed at that since it was blocked by a Republican, Tom Cotton, in the Senate. The final shiv from his own party. Ryan helped build the horrifying America we see today. Then he retired and left his mess all over the place for others to clean. If Ryan loves Ireland so much maybe he should go back. He clearly doesn’t give a damn about the United States.

Finally, the last deplorable prick on the list is an oldie by Trump administration standards. You may remember John F. (Fucking Asshole) Kelly as Trump’s chief of staff starting in mid-2017 and through 2018. You probably recall his hardline stance on immigration and his oversight on the implementation of the zero-tolerance policy at the southern border. Kelly pushed policies that led to thousands of Central American children being detained at the border in facilities run by government contractors. We’ve all read the stories and seen the news. These places are essentially prison camps where children have no access to basic hygiene products, are regularly abused and neglected, and have been indefinitely separated from their parents. If Kelly’s support for these facilities wasn’t bad enough, wait until you hear what he’s been doing since leaving the White House.

Kelly is currently on the board of Caliburn International, the parent organization of the company that runs the largest facility housing migrant children in the United States. He actively pushed for family separation and throwing innocent children into prison camps, and when he left the White House he saw an opening to make money on other people’s suffering. But this is only part of the reason why Kelly sucks so much. You see, Kelly is a military man. He served as a four star general in the Persian Gulf War, Operation Desert Storm, and the Iraq War. He’s been to countries where children and their parents live in squalor with absolutely nothing but the clothes on their backs. He fought to end oppression in these regions. He fought to uphold American ideals. But that all seemed to change when he entered the White House. Kelly is making money off practices that are totally un-American, and that’s simply because he doesn’t care. He’d rather see children mistreated and live in their own shit than fight for what’s right. Just as long as he gets a fat paycheck at the end of the week.

There you have it. Throw these four fuckers out of the country. Chant "Send them back" at them, but, of course, Trump voters are too high on their racist fumes to know who the real enemies of the state are.

Moscow Mitch Is Hard At Work Making Sure Russia Is Able To Interfere In The 2020 Elections!

Moscow Mitch McConnell seems to be doing everything he can to get in the way of secure elections in the United States. He is working overtime to block any and all legislation that passes the House of Representatives.

Trump Defends Mitch McConnell By Saying He’s Dumber Than Trump

Donald Trump was asked about Mitch McConnell’s refusal to secure our elections, and his answer might be the first time he was honest with reporters.

He said that McConnell knows less about collusion or election interference than Trump himself, and Trump knows nothing about it.

So his whole defense is that both men are stupid? Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.

New Tapes Reveal That Ronald Reagan Was Racist, Too

Recently-unearthed tapes reveal that Ronald Reagan didn’t exactly have a high opinion of people from African countries, and he referred to them as “monkeys” during a 1971 phone call to Richard Nixon.

This confirms what we’ve been saying for a long time, and that is that Trump isn’t an outlier in terms of hating on non-white people – this is who the Republican Party has been for decades.

Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.

The Secretary Of Shade Breaks It Down - TRUMP VS. BALTIMORE

DDm dishes on Trump’s attack’s on Baltimore City and Elijah Cummings

Meanwhile, On Parallel Earth