The first casualty of war is truth. Amen.

I almost feel sorry for the true believers who thought Trump was going to be the peace president and put America first. Almost.

It seems to me this is a form of cruel and unusual punishment. That they can do this so easily to imprisoned people is appalling and should be a warning to us all.

From Putin's perspective he is one very old man, who could have dropped dead any day, and as long as he has other hardliners in the country to work with, he isn't going to miss that one very old guy. Now, if all the hardliners get killed and replaced by moderates, then Putin will have a problem. In the meantime, he's liking the increase in oil revenue.

Trump is doing something for the good of humanity that few presidents ever attempt.
#42 | Posted by BillJohnson

You must have a stockpile of Trump Kool Aid packets at the ready to drink everyday and twice on Sundays.

@#3 what's the saying? Bombing for peace is like -------- for virginity?
#41 | Posted by 2020Rocks

Something like that:

In his novel 1984, George Orwell highlighted the dangerous insanity of war propaganda with this leading example: "WAR IR PEACE." Yet that is precisely the rationale invoked by various Trump supporters to somehow depict this new war as aligned with Trump's vows of peace (starting massive new wars is merely "peace through strength").

What do you think Putin cares more about:

the death of a very old man in Iran

or

the rising price of gas at a time when he desperately needs more cash on hand to fight his 4+ year old war in Ukraine?

FTA:

Last Thursday, the Trump administration released its new policy outlining how it will treat transgender people in Bureau of Prisons (BOP) custody. Under it, the approximately 2,200 trans people held in federal prisons will be denied access to medically necessary healthcare, subjected to constant misgendering by staff, and have all of their gender-affirming items"including binders, bras, and makeup"confiscated.

Instead, the policy will impose a treatment that targets "psychological distress/dysphoria" through "psychotherapy" (talk therapy) and "psychotropic medication" (like antidepressants) until the gender dysphoria diagnosis can be marked as "resolved." Additionally, the new policy designates gender dysphoria as a "mental illness" that requires "routine mental health care."

FTA:

It is hard to overstate what a massive fraud Donald Trump, his campaign and his political movement are. For more than a decade, Trump has ranted and raved against the evils of regime-change wars and neocon dogma, only to launch a new war that most perfectly encapsulates and aggressively advances both. . . .

And it is not an exaggeration to say--in fact, basic honestly requires one to say--that the 2024 Trump/Vance campaign is one of the most fraudulent political campaigns in American history:[.]

In a profile on the outspoken Georgia Republican published in The New York Times this week, just ahead of when she is set to officially make her departure from Congress, Greene described a call she said she received from the president following a news conference in which she offered to get the names of people connected to Epstein from his victims and publicly identify them. The news conference was after Greene spoke with victims as part of a closed-door hearing on Capitol Hill.

"My friends will get hurt," Greene claimed the president said in response to her threat to reveal names.

That union guy who got Trump to give him the finger had it right. If Trump isn't a pedophile himself, and I think he might be, he is undoubtedly a Pedophile Protector.

Trump made a lot of CYA statements on Jan6-21, too, and also technically didn't join in with the protest. He also made a number of slipups, just like when Lemon said "after 'we' do this operation..." The people making excuses for Lemon's behavior are starting to come across as just as nonsensical as those make excuses for Trump's.
#224 | Posted by sentinel

Trump was one of the masterminds behind 1/6, and as Jack Smith pointed out, the 1/6 insurrection was done for his benefit. Many of the insurrectionists stated flat out that they went to the Capitol because Trump told them to. IOW, they were acting on his behalf and at his bequest. What that has in common with Lemon's actions in this case is beyond me.

The people making excuses for Lemon's behavior are starting to come across as just as nonsensical as those make excuses for Trump's.
Posted by sentinel at 2026-01-31 02:40 PM | Reply

Which laws, if any Lemon, broke will be up to a jury, who will hear all the evidence and testimony, to decide. I've already said I think the protest in the church was wrong-headed and foolish and will lead to no good.

Bari Weiss' wife is in the Trumpstein Files. Lol
www.justice.gov
#21 | Posted by reinheitsgebot

Not just Weiss' wife but lots of people in Trump's cabinet. Well, he did tell MTG that he didn't want the Epstein files released because it would hurt a lot of his friends:

The Tennessee Holler
@thetnholler.bsky.social

Former Tennessee Libertarian party chair @joshuaeakle.com notices how many in Trump's cabinet/inner circle are in the files--and theorizes maybe this is no coincidence

Two judges refused to sign an arrest warrant due to a lack of evidence.
But Trump's DOJ went after him anyways.
#209 | Posted by ClownShack

They actually struck out three times in the courts:

Federal prosecutors tried to charge Lemon, his producer, and six others shortly after the protest, but a magistrate judge refused a warrant for Lemon and his producer, saying prosecutors had not shown evidence that would justify the arrests. The administration then asked a federal judge to overturn the magistrate judge's decision. When he, too, refused, calling the request "unprecedented," the administration rushed the case to the Eighth Circuit. It, too, refused.

At that point, it appears the administration went to a federal grand jury to indict Lemon.

Participating is the word that needs to be defined. Horn participated by chanting "USA" along with the crowd. Lemon didn't do anything comparable to that and repeatedly identified himself as a journalist. At any rate my comment you quoted was referring to Steve Baker, who was a music teacher and not a certified journalist as far as I know.
#176 | POSTED BY GAL_TUESDAY

I stated before Lemon said
After we do this operation - Don Lemon.
x.com
#181 | Posted by oneironaut

Here's the full quote proved by Sentinel:

"These are resistance protesters that are planning an operation that we're gonna follow them on. I can't tell you exactly what they're doing, but it's called Operation Pull-Up, and it's Nekima Armstrong, and she has been doing this since George Floyd, Dante Wright, and others, where they surprise people, catch them off-guard, and hold them to account. So that's what we're doing here, and then after that, after we do this operation, you'll see it live. These operations are surprise operations, again I can't tell you where..."
x.com
#108 | Posted by sentinel

Notice that Lemon says he is "gonna follow them". IOW, he wasn't part of the operation and/or participating in it, but was following the operation and reporting on it. He wasn't chanting with the protesters the way did Horn:

Jarrett Ley and Samuel Oakford of the Washington Post reviewed the video Lemon filmed at the church protest. They wrote that the video shows that Lemon identified himself as a journalist and followed protesters into the church. Inside for about 45 minutes, he interviewed four parishioners and five protesters. Eight of those nine exchanges appeared calm. The video does not show Lemon participating in the chants with which the protesters disrupted the service. A pastor asked Lemon to leave, and seven minutes later he exited the church.

If we decide anyone with a camera is a journalist and anyone filming in the Capitol on 1/6 was a journalist, that also means anyone recording ICE anywhere in the country today is a journalist. Alex Pretti was a journalist.
#155 | POSTED BY GAL_TUESDAY
Ridiculous, Stephen Horn was a credentialed journalist on 1/6.
The Judge in his case didn't allow that evidence in because it was "irrelevant" to whether his conduct was illegal.
Once you are participating, your credentials don't matter.
#162 | Posted by oneironaut

Participating is the word that needs to be defined. Horn participated by chanting "USA" along with the crowd. Lemon didn't do anything comparable to that and repeatedly identified himself as a journalist. At any rate my comment you quoted was referring to Steve Baker, who was a music teacher and not a certified journalist as far as I know.

Everyone everywhere with a camera can be a citizen journalist, so that basically means every person in this country with a cell phone is potentially a citizen journalist. Okay, but that isn't a turn of events our founding fathers anticipated.

If we decide anyone with a camera is a journalist and anyone filming in the Capitol on 1/6 was a journalist, that also means anyone recording ICE anywhere in the country today is a journalist. Alex Pretti was a journalist.

A bigger question is what exactly did Lemon achieve by going in with the criminals that couldn't have been done without disrupting a religious service? Couldn't they have confronted the pastor when he was walking on the street or somewhere else? Basically, all he's done is helped Trump distract from what his ICE thugs have been doing.
#138 | Posted by sentinel

I think the protesters and Lemon should all have stayed outside of the church. They could have brought attention to the ICE pastor just as effectively without, as you say, giving Trump a way to "Trump distract from what his ICE thugs have been doing."

*in the same cateogory as a nationally known journalist

" A citizen journalist maybe:"
Which is what Lemon is at the moment. He doesn't work for any news outlet.
#135 | Posted by BellRinger

Putting a music teacher and wannabe a rightwing media personality in the same cateogory a nationally known journalist who used to work for CNN in the same category is ludicrous, and you know it. I'd say nice try, but really it's just lame:

Don Renaldo Lemon-Clark (born March 1, 1966) is an American television journalist best known for being a host on CNN from 2014 until 2023. He anchored weekend news programs on local television stations in Alabama and Pennsylvania during his early days as a journalist. Lemon worked as a news correspondent for NBC on its programming, such as Today and NBC Nightly News.

Lemon is also a recipient of an Edward R. Murrow Award in 2002 for his coverage of the capture of the Washington, D.C. snipers. He also received three regional Emmy Awards for his special report on real estate in Chicago and a business feature on Craigslist.

He joined CNN in 2006, also as a correspondent and later achieved prominence as the presenter of Don Lemon Tonight from 2014 to 2022. He most recently served as a co-host of CNN This Morning, alongside Kaitlan Collins and Poppy Harlow. After several on-air controversies and reports of alleged decades-long instances of misogyny, he was fired by CNN in April 2023.

Compare to the prosecution of Steve Baker, an I depend t journalist arrested covering Jan 6 riots
extremism.gwu.edu
#126 | Posted by Miranda

Hmm, seems a stretch to call Baker a journalist. A wannabe journalist at best. A citizen journalist maybe:

At the time, the defendant was a music teacher and also a live streamer: he broadcast a show through YouTube and other social media sites. It appears the defendant was an aspiring right-wing media personality, and that he planned to broadcast whatever happened on January 6, 2021.

That said, he seems to have done a really good job livestreaming what was going on that day:

His camera fully captures the noise of the crowd and, from time to time, clearly captures
discussions of violence. About four minutes after his entry, the defendant recorded other rioters
talking about breaking into parts of the Capitol. (Exhibit 7.) About five minutes after that, he
recorded a woman comment "I still wanted a couple strands of [Speaker] Pelosi's hair," and a man
replied, "----, I want her head, not just her hair."

"These are resistance protesters that are planning an operation that we're gonna follow them on. I can't tell you exactly what they're doing, but it's called Operation Pull-Up, and it's Nekima Armstrong, and she has been doing this since George Floyd, Dante Wright, and others, where they surprise people, catch them off-guard, and hold them to account. So that's what we're doing here, and then after that, after we do this operation, you'll see it live. These operations are surprise operations, again I can't tell you where..."
x.com
#108 | Posted by sentinel

Thanks for the greater context.

Lemon literally saying "after we do this operation"
x.com
#80 | Posted by oneironaut
Stephen Horn was a credentialed journalist on 1/6.
The Judge in his case -- he went to trial -- didn't let that evidence in because it was "irrelevant" to whether his conduct was illegal.
Seems like if we're going to use the same measure, its not important if Don Lemon was a "journalist".
#81 | Posted by oneironaut

"After we do this operation, you'll see it live."

It sounds to me like the "we" he is referring to is himself, his camera man and others on his produciton crew. Contrast that with the Stephen Horn's actions on 1/6:

FBI agents say Horn walked over a fence on the ground with a "No trespassing" sign before walking into the Capitol building during the attack and making his way to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office.

Horn can be heard in the video chanting "U.S.A." with others in the Capitol building, according to the FBI.