February 21st, 2017 continued. It's been 466 days since the Nov 8, 2016, election of some rich asshole, no. 45, and 394 days since the Jan 20th inauguration.
GOP lawmaker melts down when confronted with his own words on health care
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Rep. Mo Brooks still doesn't understand how health care works.
Republicans lie freely and frequently on television, but as Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks recently learned, those lies are harder to escape when face-to-face with constituents.
At a town hall meeting in Scottsboro, Alabama, on Tuesday, a voter confronted Brooks with his own callous remarks about health care. Brooks responded with a bizarre rant in which he denied making the remarks at all, and compared buying health insurance to buying milk.
In May 2017 during the Obamacare repeal debate, Brooks told CNN’s Jake Tapper that “people who lead good lives” and who have “done things to keep their bodies healthy” should not have to help offset costs for people who have pre-existing conditions.
At the town hall, Brooks’ constituent Jenny Carver called Brooks out for his hypocritical ignorance.
“I assume you’re free and clear of your prostate cancer?” Carver asked, and when Brooks indicated he was, added, “What did you do wrong to develop prostate cancer?”
After telling Carver to “sit down,” which she refused to do, Brooks tried to dismiss her by saying, “What you are saying is what I call fake news, and is distorting it, and is not truthful.”
“These words came out of your mouth,” Carver replied.
Brooks went on to explain his remarks by again claiming that “people who lead good lives” tend to be healthier. And then he began his odd grocery metaphor.
Brooks is just the latest example of a Republican using the “fake news” mantra to deny something that is 100 percent true, a tactic that has been adopted by dictators around the world.
But in America, people like Brooks and the rich asshole will always have to face the voters, and they’ll eventually have to face the truth.
News anchors shame Don Jr. for pushing vicious lies about teens
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MSNBC's Ali Velshi and Stephanie Ruhle called out some rich asshole Jr. after he backed conspiracy theories and lies designed to smear the teenagers protesting to end gun violence.
some rich asshole Jr.’s endorsement of smears against the survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre was called out by a pair of MSNBC anchors.
Ali Velshi and Stephanie Ruhle laid out how the rich asshole Jr. “liked” several posts from conservative news sites that falsely alleged students protesting to end gun violence were fake.
Velshi also singled out Infowars, the site run by conspiracy theorist and the rich asshole ally Alex Jones, for publishing a fake story attacking the young activists.
“If some rich asshole Jr. sees this at some point, or you know some rich asshole Jr., please tell him next time to think about hitting the like button undermining the credibility of children who have just experienced unimaginable horror, a shooting at their school, and the death of their friends,” Velshi said.
They then played an interview with Sam Fuentes, a senior at Stoneman Douglas, with visible injuries she suffered during the shooting.
“You cannot look me in the face and tell me what happened isn’t real,” said Fuentes.
Ruhle asked, “Should we apologize that these high school students are articulate? Are mature? And are passionate? I think that’s what we want of our young people.”
What was once the sort of content generally confined to the fringes has been granted legitimacy through the rich asshole family. some rich asshole appeared on Jones’ program during the 2016 campaign and has reportedly kept in contact with the conspiracy theorist while in the White House.
the rich asshole, his sons, and their underlings have repeatedly promoted these websites and their completely made up stories. They have a similar relationship with racist outlets.
The lies and smears against the teenagers speaking up about gun violence have been given a much wider and dangerous audience thanks to the Trumps, and now the backlash for doing so is increasing.
Watch Stoneman Douglas students sing powerful song they wrote in wake of shooting: ‘We’re tired of hearing we’re too young to make a change’
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The Stoneman Douglas Drama Club wrote an empowering song demanding change.
Titling the song “Shine,” the students stood surrounded by their parents, classmates, teachers, elected officials and community members desperately searching for answers.
“You’re not gonna knock us down. We’ll get back up again,” the chorus rang throughout the arena. “You may have hurt us but promise we’ll be stronger, and we’re not going to let you win. We’re going to put up a fight. You may have brought the dark but together we will shine the light.”
As another student played the piano, those in the audiences turned the lights on their phones and stretched them above the crowd to shine their own light.
“We’re gonna stand tall,” she sang. “Gonna raise above all the voices so we never ever fall.”
Another student sang a warning, “we’re done with all your little games. We’re tired of hearing that we’re too young to ever make a change.”
The encouraged everyone that they could “hug a little tighter, love a little more. Laugh a little harder. We can stand up and roar.
Each student stood at a microphone with a call to action. “We refuse to be ignored by those who will not listen,” one young woman said.
“There are so many things you can do to become involved,” another said.
“Reach out to your Congressman. Mail, call and tweet,” yet another student said.
“The smallest of words can make the biggest difference,” one young woman explained.
“Be the voice for those that don’t have one,” a young man said.
“Together we have the power to change the world around us,” the final student urged.
Watch the moving performance below:
Broward County sheriff hammers NRA’s Dana Loesch: ‘You’re not standing up’ for Parkland students
Broward county sheriff Scott Israel (Photo: Screen capture)
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Broward County sheriff Scott Israel went off on the National Rifle Association spokesperson Dana Loesch during the CNN town hall Wednesday.
“I understand that you’re standing up for the NRA,” he began. “And I understand that’s what you’re supposed to do. But you just told this group of people that you’re standing up for them. You’re not standing up for them until you say ‘I want less weapons.'”
He touted his 39 years in law enforcement before telling Loesch, “we know how to keep America safe,” he said. He said that he along with the people in the audience want three things.
First, he said that the residents of Parkland “want guns out of the hands of those who suffer from mental illness.” Second, Israel said that they would like if the Baker Act could be expanded. The law allows law enforcement, doctors or other health professionals or judges to do an involuntary examination of someone who might be a mentally ill person if they are a threat to themselves or others.
Finally, Israel said that someone shouldn’t have to wait until someone is a danger to themselves or someone else. He said that they should have the ability to work with them long before it reaches a crisis point.
He continued to call BS on Loesch over and over again.
Watch in the videos below:
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow explains what the rich asshole is actually doing ‘while he wants to convince you otherwise’
Rachel Maddow (Photo: Screen capture)
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MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow covered the contrast between the words and deeds of President some rich asshole following the Parkland shooting massacre in a gripping Wednesday fact check.
“After a year or so of covering this new president and this new administration, I have found, in general, that it is always a safer bet to report on what they’re doing, rather than what they’re saying,” Maddow explained. “On this show, we sort of have a staff mantra about this, a silent movie. that’s the rule, treat them as a silent movie, just watch what they do, not what they say.”
“All good rules have their exceptions, but I think what we’re seeing right now in the wake of what happened in Parkland, Florida is an example of why that rule has some weight,” the host continued. “After the massacre in Parkland, you may have seen that this is part of what the president said should be done in response.”
“Since President the rich asshole took office, his administration has moved aggressively on multiple fronts to weaken the background check section for guns,” Maddow reported.
Maddow cited actions to weaken the background check system for fugitives and people with mental illnesses. She also noted the rich asshole’s proposal to cut the budget for the background check system.
“Those are their actions, which it is important to know when that same president is saying what he really wants to do is strengthen the background check system. That narrative from him and those actions don’t tell two conflicting stories, they tell one story, the story of what he’s doing while he wants to convince you otherwise,” Maddow concluded.
Watch:
SAN FRANCISCO — Conservative Twitter users raged against the social media company, lobbing accusations of left-wing bias and censorship after thousands of followers were wiped out in an overnight bot purge.
The suspension of multiple accounts followed the indictment by special counsel Robert S. Mueller of Russian nationals for meddling in the U.S. election, including using fake accounts on Twitter to conduct "information warfare" against the United States.
The hashtag #TwitterLockOut was trending in the U.S. on Wednesday morning as thousands of accounts, including those belonging to Michael Flynn Jr., son of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, and Infowars editor Paul Joseph Watson complained that hundreds, and in some cases thousands, of their followers had been shut down.
"The twitter purge is real," Fox News commentator Dan Bongino wrote. "I woke up and saw I lost 100 or so followers," columnist Adriana Cohen tweeted.
Twitter would not say how many accounts it purged.
"As part of our ongoing work in safety, we identify suspicious account behaviors that indicate automated activity or violations of our policies around having multiple accounts, or abuse," the company said in a statement.
Twitter denied cracking down on conservative voices. "Twitter’s tools are apolitical, and we enforce our rules without political bias," it said.
Social media services from Facebook to Google's YouTube have been struggling to eradicate fake or abusive content without appearing to censor opinions.
Bots — accounts powered by automated software, not people — have plagued Twitter for years. Researchers estimate as many as 15% of accounts on Twitter could be fake. Twitter says that number is lower.
Until scrutiny of bots intensified after the presidential election, Twitter had little incentive to remove fake accounts that pad its user and growth numbers, critics say. Last month, Twitter shut down more than 1 million fake accounts uncovered by a New York Timesreport.
According to Twitter's rules, automated software is permitted to tweet but is banned from posting misleading or abusive content or spam. Twitter has begun rooting out and shutting down automated accounts linked to Russian disinformation campaigns.
Fake accounts on Twitter have been traced to a Kremlin-linked "troll farm" accused of inflaming political divisions on hot-button national issues such as gun control after last week's Florida school shooting. According to researchers at the University of Southern California, conservatives retweeted Russian trolls about 31 times more than liberals and produced 36 times more tweets.
An organization that tracks Kremlin-backed Twitter accounts — the Alliance for Securing Democracy — says such influence operations have remained active since the election, serving to amplify disputes bubbling on the Web. On Wednesday, #twitterlockout and #twitterpurge were the top and trending hashtags used by the accounts linked to Russian influence operations tracked by the Alliance's Hamilton 68 project.
In hearings last year, U.S. lawmakers criticized Twitter for not taking the Russian bot scourge seriously enough.
The overnight Twitter purge took some conservative users by surprise. A few complained they were temporarily locked out of their accounts because of "unusual activity" and "automated behavior" and had to share a phone number with Twitter to regain access.
Twitter said it asks account holders who may be in violation of its terms of service to provide a phone number "so we can confirm a human is behind it."
"That’s why some people may be experiencing suspensions or locks," the company said in a statement. "This is part of our ongoing, comprehensive efforts to make Twitter safer and healthier for everyone."
Hello @jack a lot of people are asking about #TwitterLockOut could the company please provide the criteria for erasing followers while folks sleep. I know there is a lot of pressure to be more responsible in curbing certain actions but that shouldn't extend to muting opinions
That twitter attack on conservatives hit me too last night. I was deemed “ineligible” to use twitter ads and had followers purged. @twitter should ashamed, we have to organize a response. #TwitterLockOut
Cutting off the fire hose of bot-generated content is a pressing issue for Twitter, which needs to grow its user base and attract more advertising. But conservative users and the rich asshole supporters say Twitter deploys a double standard, unfairly singling out voices on the right.
White nationalist Jared Taylor sued Twitter on Tuesday for banning him from the service in December, claiming the company is discriminating against him for his political views. The suit filed in San Francisco Superior Court alleges Twitter violated a California law that protects free speech in public spaces. Taylor says Twitter cited its user agreement prohibiting accounts affiliated with groups that promote violence when it suspended his account. He denies that he or his group, New Century Foundation, promote violence or associate with groups that do.
In January, right-wing journalist-turned-entrepreneur Charles C. "Chuck" Johnson sued Twitter, alleging the company violated his right to free speech when it permanently suspended his account in 2015 after he asked for donations to "take out" civil rights activist DeRay Mckesson. Johnson said the tweet was not intended as a threat.
More: 'white supremacy' escalates war against Silicon Valley, pledges to expose bias against conservatives
Last month, Project Veritas, a conservative advocacy organization that purports to expose media bias, released undercover videos of current and former Twitter employees condemning President the rich asshole and discussing tactics the company uses to make it tougher to find the tweets of controversial users.
If you lost a lot of followers overnight, it means you had a lot of bots. Which means you probably peddle Kremlin BS. SAD! #TwitterLockOut
Tuesday Feb 20, 2018 · 8:48 PM EST
Rick Scott was to be a headline speaker at this year’s NRA's 2018 Leadership Forum in Dallas. As of 2/19, days after the deadly Parkland shooting, Rick’s ugly mug was still featured on the site as a speaker. I suppose he had a sudden realization that being pro-school-shooter/terrorist isn’t exactly a winning electoral strategy in today’s climate, because his mug is no longer there. (The forum is now so toxic that even the Dallas mayor doesn’t want it.) It might have had something to do with this viral tweet from Wesley Jordan:
Florida Gov Rick Scott is a featured speaker at this year's NRA Leadership Forum.
This is a huge double fisted FU to Floridians, esp those grieving the loss of loved ones in the Parkland massacre.#NRA#NRAKills#NRABloodMoney#NRABloodOnYourHands#NRAIsATerroristOrganization
My pure speculation: the NRA KNOWS they are toxic, and gave him permission to drop out to help his chances in November. They know he will do their bidding as always.
After all, on the front page of NRA.org, he is the only governor featured for signing more pro-gun bills in a term than any other in history. It’s quite something to be “honored” for allowing an expelled 19-year old with obvious mental health issues to get a deadly military-grade assault rifle along with smoke grenades and a high-capacity clip with no questions asked. Well done, Rick.
Rick Scott is directly responsible for turning our state into a live shooting range. He has overseen, in just the last two years, TWO of the TOP TEN mass shooting massacres in history.
It goes without saying that Rick Scott is the worst governor in America. It also goes without saying that he is besties with some rich asshole, whom he called out when he headlined the NRA’s big event last year:
It’s great to follow my good friend some rich asshole. He is going to do a great job believed[sic] in the Second Amendment.
The rest of the nation was introduced to Rick Scott’s NRA sickness during this infamous exchange with an exasperated Soledad O’Brien on CNN. Scott was obviously given two talking points by the NRA after Sandy Hook, because he couldn't stop repeating them:
He refused to take any legislative action after kindergartners were slaughtered—so why would he do anything different with a high school?
In fact, less than ONE DAY after the Parkland shooting, he was going to sign a bill for weakened background checks—which was hidden inside a f-ing AGRICULTURE BILL!! (Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, who is the likely GOP candidate for Florida in 2018, was the one responsible for putting it there as a pure face-sucking move to the NRA. It was on pgs 88-90 of a 98-page bill that discussed things like oyster harvesting and water vendors.)
To give you a taste of how Rick Scott turned our state into a kill zone, here is an abbreviated list provided by the OrlandoWeekly:
2011: Rick Scott signed preemption legislation, prohibiting localities from regulating firearms and ammunition. Cities and counties were forced to allow guns in parks, hospitals, and government buildings as a result. [Tampa Bay Times, 8/19/11]
2011: Rick Scott signed a controversial “docs versus glocks” bills, which punished doctors who asked patients about gun ownership. Pediatricians feared the safety repercussions of the legislation.
2011: Rick Scott said he would sign a guns-on-campus bill if it reached his desk despite the fears of many about the dangers of the mixture of guns and alcohol on campuses.
2012: A Federal judge barred enforcement of the docs v. glocks law, saying it was based on anecdotal information and unfounded conjecture.
2012: Rick Scott cut the cost of a concealed weapons permit.
2013: Rick Scott said he would not be proposing any changes to state gun laws during the year, despite the Sandy Hook massacre just weeks earlier.
2013: Rick Scott opposed universal background checks for gun purchases: “It’s always easy to say do something when no one understands what it is.”
2014: Rick Scott signed House Bill 89, which intended to allow people to use threatened force, such as a warning shot, as part of the stand your ground defense.
2014: Rick Scott signed legislation allowing children to play with simulated weapons in school.
2015: Rick Scott signed Senate Bill 290, which allowed Floridians to carry a concealed weapon for 48 hours during a mandatory evacuation without a license.
2016: Rick Scott cut the cost of a concealed weapons permit — for a second time in his Administration.
2016: Rick Scott refused to talk about gun measures in the aftermath of the Pulse shooting: "There will be plenty of time to deal with how our society comes together.”
2016: Rick Scott refused to talk about gun measures in the aftermath of the Fort Meyers club shooting: “The Second Amendment Has Never Shot Anybody"
2017: 11th Circuit Court Of Appeals struck down the docs v. glocks law.
2017: Miami Judge ruled that the new changes to the Stand Your Ground Law were unconstitutional.
2017: Rick Scott refused to talk about gun measures in the aftermath of the Fort Lauderdale Airport shooting: “It’s not a time to be political" [Transcript – Rick Scott Press Conference, 1/6/17]
2017: Rick Scott cut the cost of a concealed weapons permit — for a third time in his Administration.
Ironically, Rick Scott called on the FBI director to resign because of the Parkland shooting.
If anyone should resign over the death of my fellow Floridians, it’s Rick Scott. He won’t, so I’ll take his defeat instead.
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