Say What Now?

There's a definite probability that Trump is trying to do his usual Pay-For-Play thing, but I think it's at least as likely that Trump turned against it because it signals an effort in Congress to get something done, and Trump's whole schtick is that nobody can do anything without him. ("Only I can fix it")

And of course, there's some probability that Trump is playing monkey in the middle again, setting up the conflict and looking for his profit opportunity, which kinda knits the whole thing together.

Steve Bannon Suggests Donald Trump Has Been Bought

Steve Bannon, the one-time adviser to Donald Trump, suggested on Saturday that the former president was paid off after a shift in stance on TikTok.

TikTok, the immensely popular video-sharing app known for its predominantly young audience, has once again come under scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers. The app is currently owned by Chinese tech company, ByteDance, which has spurred significant suspicion that its abundance of user data is being furnished to the Chinese government.

While ByteDance and TikTok have dismissed these accusations, lawmakers have continued to consider their options. A bipartisan bill put forward by members of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party last week would work to "incentivize divestment of TikTok" by ByteDance by blocking it from appearing in American app stores and granting Executive Branch authority to take similar action in the future against social media companies operated by a "foreign adversary."

Lawmakers on the House Committee on Energy & Commerce advanced the legislation last week in a 50-0 bipartisan vote to the full U.S. House of Representatives. TikTok, meanwhile, characterized the bill as a ban, and urged users to encourage their local representatives to block it.

Despite his past stances in favor of action against TikTok for its Chinese ties, Trump, the leading candidate for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, wrote in a Truth Social post on Thursday that he opposed the recent bill, citing his oft-repeated false claims about widespread voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election.

"If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck [CEO Mark Zuckerberg] will double their business," the former president wrote. "I don't want Facebook, who cheated in the last Election, doing better. They are a true Enemy of the People!"

In response to this post, reports noted that the seeming shift in stance from Trump came after a meeting with Jeff Yass, a conservative hedge fund manager who has a $33 billion stake in TikTok. Yass, according to Intelligencer, has been allegedly threatening to pull support from GOP lawmakers who back the bipartisan divestment bill.

American Plutocracy 101: The rigging of the system lies in a rich guy exerting influence over policy by waving his checkbook at the decision-makers.

Bannon, who led Trump's successful 2016 presidential campaign and served as a White House adviser for the first several months of Trump's presidency, took to Gettr to make his suspicions about the situation clear.

"Simple: Yass Coin," he wrote in a post that included a link to an Axios story about Trump's flip on TikTok, without providing further evidence. Newsweek has not seen any evidence that Trump's meeting with Yass and his stance on TikTok are connected.

Newsweek reached out to Trump's office via email for comment on Saturday afternoon. Any responses received will be added to this story in a later update.

In August 2020, Trump issued an executive order ordering ByteDance to sell its U.S. assets and destroy all data within 90 days.

"There is credible evidence that leads me to believe that ByteDance Ltd.... through acquiring all interests in musical.​ly...might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States," the order read.

Call It Grift Drift

The one thing I wish she'd mentioned is the probability that the bots are programmed to pick up on anything that promotes division or chaos, or the kind of content that can be refined into pro-plutocracy propaganda.

I think what we're seeing online is a phenomenon of popular inertia - The Bandwagon Effect - or something along those lines.

People see the "great response" to whatever pops up on their social media feed, and they assume it must be good because, holy crap - just look at how much traffic this guy's getting. And cynical manipulators are quick to exploit it.

I got my first inkling of this years ago when talking with my late ex-mother-in-law. I asked her who she'd be voting for, and she told me, "I don't know - I don't know who all my friends are going to vote for yet."

Remember the Ford Pinto!

Today's Beau

"The grifter culture of Conservative inc."

NRA civil trial threatens to shake up gun rights organization even with leader’s resignation

Wayne LaPierre, two other current and former NRA leaders and the organization itself are facing a lawsuit that alleges they violated nonprofit laws and misused NRA funds to finance their lavish lifestyles.

Wayne LaPierre’s civil trial, slated to begin Monday in New York, still threatens to unravel the National Rifle Association despite his resignation from the powerful and prominent gun rights group.

LaPierre, 74, had led the NRA for more than 30 years as the organization’s executive vice president. He announced his departure Friday as jury selection neared an end.

He, along with two other current and former NRA leaders and the organization as a whole are fending off a lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James in 2020 that alleges they violated nonprofit laws and misused millions of dollars of NRA funds to finance lavish lifestyles for themselves.

The jury will spend the next six weeks in a Manhattan courtroom hearing testimony from roughly 120 witnesses.

If the jurors find the individual defendants liable, they will recommend the amount of money that each defendant would have to repay the NRA.

They would have also been tasked with recommending whether LaPierre should be ousted from the helm of the group, which is now moot.

But the trial outcome may still have important ramifications, according to Shannon Watts, who founded the gun safety group Moms Demand Action in 2012 in part to challenge the gun lobby.

State Supreme Court Judge Joel Cohen, who has the final say over monetary damages and remedies, could determine whether the defendants should be permanently barred from serving on the board of any charity in New York and whether an independent monitor should oversee the NRA’s finances.

“It was never just about Wayne LaPierre,” Watts said, adding that the organization “needs to be taken down at the studs.”

In his announcement, LaPierre said he has been a “card-carrying member” of the NRA for most of his adult life and that he would “never stop supporting the NRA and its fight to defend Second Amendment freedom.”

“My passion for our cause burns as deeply as ever,” LaPierre said. He cited health reasons for his exit, which will take effect Jan. 31.

James touted LaPierre’s resignation as “an important victory.”

“LaPierre’s resignation validates our claims against him, but it will not insulate him from accountability,” she said in a statement. “We look forward to presenting our case in court.”

A ‘personal piggy bank’

The lawsuit alleges that LaPierre diverted millions of dollars away from the group’s charitable mission for his personal use of private jets, expensive meals, travel consultants, private security and trips to the Bahamas for him and his family.

The attorney general claims LaPierre spent more than $500,000 of the NRA’s assets to fly himself and his family members to the Bahamas. From May 2015 to April 2019, the NRA incurred over $1 million in expenses for private flights on which LaPierre was not a passenger, according to the lawsuit.

LaPierre received more than $1.2 million in expense reimbursements from 2013 to 2017, the lawsuit alleges.

The other defendants are also accused of violating nonprofit laws and internal policies as they enriched themselves, the suit says, contributing to the NRA’s loss of more than $64 million in three years.

They are Wilson “Woody” Phillips, a former NRA treasurer and chief financial officer, and John Frazer, the corporate secretary and general counsel.

Joshua Powell, a former chief of staff and executive director of general operations, was also a defendant. But he told NBC News on Friday evening that he had officially settled the case against him. The attorney general’s office confirmed the settlement in a statement Saturday.

At a news conference announcing the lawsuit in 2020, James, a Democrat, accused the four defendants of using the NRA as a “personal piggy bank.”

None of the defendants has been criminally charged as part of James’ lawsuit.

Potential key moments

The defendants have collectively named 86 witnesses, a court filing shows. The plaintiffs named 36 witnesses, including former NRA higher-ups.

One of them is Oliver North, a former NRA president who was in a heated battle with LaPierre when he left the group in 2019. North had reportedly attempted to remove LaPierre from NRA leadership after he began investigating possible financial improprieties.

Another key witness for the plaintiffs is Chris Cox, the NRA’s longtime top lobbyist before he was pushed out of the group in 2019 amid leadership turmoil.

The testimonies from the two former NRA insiders, who have not yet spoken publicly, could reveal details that may be especially eye-opening to current NRA members, according to Justin Wagner, senior director of investigations with Everytown for Gun Safety, a national gun violence prevention nonprofit.

“This is a monumental moment in the organization’s history,” said Wagner, who is also a former prosecutor in the New York attorney general’s office.

“The main witnesses to the NRA’s mismanagement are adamant gun rights supporters,” he added. “I think those firsthand accounts will really be impactful at trial.”

The plaintiffs have asked for two hours to deliver their opening statements Monday, a court filing shows. The remarks come after failed attempts by the defendants to dismiss the lawsuit, change the court venue and countersue. The NRA also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

James initially set out to dissolve the NRA as part of her suit. However, Cohen dismissed that effort in 2022, saying her complaint “does not allege the type of public harm that is the legal linchpin for imposing the ‘corporate death penalty.’”

The lawsuit also targets the NRA as a whole. The organization has operated as a nonprofit charitable corporation in New York since 1871. Its assets are required by law to be used in a way that serves the interests of its membership and advances its charitable mission.

In the last few years, the NRA has been considerably weaker, with less influence in the political sphere and fewer members, Watts and Wagner said.

Membership fell to 4.2 million from nearly 6 million five years ago, The New York Times reported. Membership dues dropped by $14 million from 2021 to 2022, according to an audit filed as part of the lawsuit.

The NRA did not respond to a request for comment about the trial. In 2020, the group said in a statement that the lawsuit was a “baseless, premeditated attack” on the NRA and on Second Amendment freedoms.

LaPierre previously called the investigation an “unconstitutional, premeditated attack aiming to dismantle and destroy the NRA.”

In a statement Friday, a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office said they “look forward to proving our case and ensuring all charities in New York adhere to the rule of law.”

Today's Grift

Somebody please explain to me how these "Christians" who get themselves all frothed up into a murderous rage are different in any substantive way from the Taliban douchenozzles who run around beating women and dynamiting Buddhist statues.

There is no ideology more violently hateful

than a religious devotee's love for his deity imaginary friend.

What a sucker this Cassidy clown is. Not that he's been suckered into zealotry, but that he's been suckered into believing a good grift is all you need to play the game, and break into the big leagues - that nobody will ever get wise to the fuckery.

Former congressional candidate charged with vandalizing Satanic Temple display at Iowa Capitol

A former congressional candidate from Mississippi has been charged with allegedly vandalizing the Satanic Temple of Iowa's statue depicting the pagan idol Baphomet at the Iowa State Capitol.

Michael Cassidy, 35, of Lauderdale, Mississippi, was charged with fourth-degree criminal mischief on Thursday, according to the Iowa Department of Public Safety. The charge could carry one year in prison and a $2,560 fine.

The Satanic Temple of Iowa had announced on Facebook its display had been "destroyed beyond repair."

The installation, permitted under state rules governing religious displays in the building, has been debated and criticized by Iowa and national politicians. Presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis on Tuesday joined a chorus of Republicans calling for its removal while others in the GOP said that, though it is offensive, it is a protected form of free speech. Gov. Kim Reynolds called the display "objectionable" and called for Iowans to pray in response.

"In a free society, the best response to objectionable speech is more speech, and I encourage all those of faith to join me today in praying over the Capitol and recognizing the Nativity scene that will be on display ― the true reason for the season," she said.

Crowdfunding campaign for man charged in vandalism reportedly raises $20,000
Newsweek reported a crowdfunding campaign was launched for Cassidy's legal fund, which raised its target of $20,000. Some donors included conservative campaign group Turning Point USA, which gave $10,000.

Cassidy posted on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, thanking people for their support. He said the campaign raised enough money "in just a couple hours." DeSantis said on X he would contribute to the campaign.

He defended the attack and criticized those who, while saying they found the display offensive, took the position that it was permitted as an exercise of free speech.

"To Christians who defend Satanic altars when they speak with their church, family, friends, coworkers, or on @X: Would you use the same argument if you were speaking with God? Think on that," he wrote.

• First, the fact that he assumes there's a god for anyone to be "speaking with" is at the core of the problem
• Second, I could see this vandalism as an act of civil disobedience, but while the guy admits to it, he's not willing to pay the penalty for it, which is absolutely the bare minimum requirement if your action is to be considered legit protest
• As it stands - IMHO - this is a standard issue political stunt, meant to grift a few bucks from the rubes and gain some notoriety  

Cassidy ran for the Mississippi 3rd Congressional District in 2022, losing against incumbent Republican Michael Guest. On his LinkedIn page, he lists himself as a former active duty Navy pilot, now a Naval reservist, and a civilian test pilot. A native of Virginia, he says he has a bachelor's degree in history from Virginia Tech and a master's in liberal arts from Harvard University's extension service, with a focus on government.

"I'm a Christian conservative who loves our nation and is committed to preserving the blessings of liberty bestowed upon us by the Founding generation," he said on his campaign website.

In an interview with the Marion County, Mississippi, Columbian-Progress during his congressional campaign, he said he grew up in the Baptist and Episcopal churches.

"Jesus Christ is the anchor of my life," the Columbian-Progress quoted him as saying "I am serene because of my faith. The United States is going downhill since the removal of Jesus Christ. The country needs to return to God or it will continue on this bad path."

He ran on a platform that, according to Mississippi Today, included providing newlyweds with a $20,000 wedding gift, "paid back if the couple divorces." He also endorsed allowing all citizens to enroll in Medicare, regardless of age ― a position similar to U.S. Sen Bernie Sanders' "Medicare for All" He finished second in his three-candidate congressional race and forced incumbent U.S Rep. Michael Guest, R-Mississippi, into a runoff, but Guest won that vote handily.

Facebook posting says Satanic Temple plans 'closing ceremony' for display
The Satanic Temple in its Facebook posting about the attack on the display said the Baphomet idol, a robed effigy with a gilded ram's head holding a ribbon-bedecked pentangle, was the primary target. On Friday, the display seemed to be mostly disassembled, with the original candles and body of Baphomet rearranged. Christian offerings and a rosary had been placed near the display and a man sat in front of it, praying.

The Iowa Department of Administrative Services, which oversees the Capitol, allowed the display for two weeks under rules that permit religious installations. On Facebook, Mortimer Adramelech, identifying himself as minister of Satan and a council member of the Satanic Temple of Iowa, called on Iowa satanists to gather at the Capitol at 10 a.m. Saturday for "our closing ceremony."

"YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS THIS!" he wrote, adding, "Dress in your Satanic best and get ready to hail Satan."

In a news release, Jason Benell. president of the Iowa Atheists and Freethinkers, condemned the attack.

"Not only was that display targeted, but it was also targeted specifically by Christians, for sectarian religious reasons. This targeting was encouraged by legislators and even had the Iowa Governor, Kim Reynolds, calling it 'evil.' This is unacceptable," Benell wrote. "When our leaders make it permissible to destroy religious - or non-religious - displays they find religiously objectionable, they are abdicating their responsibility to safeguard the freedom of expression of the citizens they represent."