#49 | Posted by Alexandrite
#51 | Posted by donnerboy

"First they came for the journalists. After that, we didn't know what happened."

I'm not a journalist, but I do depend on them to know the truth about what's going on.

"Trump is absolutely trying to usurp congress' power."

Yes, but Republicans don't care because they support Trump's policies but couldn't get them through Congress, so they'll let him do it by presidential EOs/fiat:

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
@AOC
Trump is holding all the nation's hospitals and vital services hostage to seize power from Congress and hand it over to billionaires.

We must state the truth: this is a constitutional crisis. It's a massive, illegal power grab that the House and Senate have a sworn duty to stop.

The NY Judge said that anyone who read the Report would call what Trump did rape.
But that because of the exact language of the NY laws, he wasn't found guilty of that exact charge.
#44 | Posted by Corky

Exactly, Corky.

New York expands the legal definition of rape to include many forms of nonconsensual sexual contact
Politics Jan 30, 2024 7:28 PM EST
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) " New York will expand its legal definition of rape to include various forms of nonconsensual sexual contact, under a bill signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday.

The state's current limited definition was a factor in writer E. Jean Carroll's sexual abuse and defamation case against former President Donald Trump. The jury in the federal civil trial rejected the writer's claim last May that Trump had raped her in the 1990s, instead finding the former president responsible for a lesser degree of sexual abuse.

The current law defines rape as ------- penetration by a penis. The new law broadens the definition to include nonconsensual ----, oral, and ------- sexual contact. Highlighting Carroll's case at a bill signing ceremony in Albany, the Democratic governor said the new definition will make it easier for rape victims to bring cases forward to prosecute perpetrators. The law will apply to sexual assaults committed on or after Sept. 1.

"The problem is, rape is very difficult to prosecute," Hochul said. "Physical technicalities confuse jurors and humiliate survivors and create a legal gray area that defendants exploit."

In Carroll's case against Trump, which stemmed from an encounter at a Manhattan luxury department store, the judge later said that the jury's decision was based on "the narrow, technical meaning" of rape in New York penal law and that, in his ----ysis, the verdict did not mean that Carroll "failed to prove that Mr. Trump raped' her as many people commonly understand the word rape.'"

While various states define rape in different ways, every state criminalizes oral, ----, and ------- sexual contact that is nonconsensual, according to Sandi Johnson, a senior legislative policy counsel at Rape, Abuse, & ------ National Network. Prior to its new law, New York defined penetration of the vagina or other bodily orifices with anything other than a penis as "sexual abuse" rather than "rape."

Many other states continue to place unwanted oral or ---- sexual contact in a category other than rape.

Johnson said New York's new guidelines validate what has happened to survivors. Calling a criminal sexual act anything other than rape "kind of sanitizes it," she said.

At Tuesday's bill signing, state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who sponsored the legislation, said the new changes would also make it easier for members of the LGBTQ community to hold perpetrators of sex crimes accountable.

"We can't have our laws ignore the reality that so many New Yorkers, particularly LGBTQ New Yorkers, among others, have experienced," the Democrat said.

"Before today, many of those assaults wouldn't be able to be classified as rape in New York state," he said. "But now we fixed that language."

So sorry I got hit with auto-correct morons. Legally the man is not a rapist and their is precedent in civil courts that spells that out.
#41 | Posted by Bluewaffles

Trump would be considered a rapist now under NY state law. He wasn't when his case was litigated because at that time NY state law defined rape as intercourse; digital penetration was considered aggravated sexual abuse.

Then:
The New York Penal Code gives "sexual intercourse" its "ordinary meaning" which is penetration, however slight, of a vagina by a penis. Digital penetration and penetration by an object are not included in the definition. Thus, where penetration is digital, the charge would not be rape, but aggravated sexual abuse.

Now:
New York's "Rape is Rape" law, signed into effect on January 30, 2024, removed the requirement of penetration to be convicted of rape. This means that digital penetration is now considered rape under New York law.

The "Rape is Rape" law, also known as S.3161/A.3340, defines rape as any nonconsensual sexual contact, including -------, oral, and ---- penetration.

The law aims to better align New York's rape laws with the experiences of sexual assault survivors.
A conviction for digital penetration under New York law could result in up to 15 years in prison and registration as a sex offender.

Lack of consent is a key element of all criminal sexual acts in New York. Consent can be lacking due to force, threatened force, or incapacity.

According to Trump's press secretary, the federal freeze has not been rescinded:

Karoline Leavitt
@PressSec
This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze.

It is simply a rescission of the OMB memo.

Why? To end any confusion created by the court's injunction.

The President's EO's on federal funding remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented.
.1:40 PM Jan 29, 2025

FYI: Democrats always believed Project 2025 was real. It was the mainstream media and a segment of Trump voters who prefered to pretend it wasn't:

Nicole Hemmer
@pastpunditry.bsky.social
Guest on Megyn Kelly this week: "So, that's the thing is the funniest joke we ever pulled on the Democrats was convincing them that Project 2025 wasn't real ... it's over, we won, yes, we're going to do Project 2025. And the other thing is, it's good."

For those saying it wasn't a Nazi salute.
....

The headline should read...
Trump Pardons American Terrorists.
#51 | Posted by Nixon

Trump Pardons American Nazis:

I wanted to pray for Trump and the GOP, especially since the election in November but I wanted my prayers to be sincere, so I thought for a long time about how to pray for them. In the end I settled on praying that they would be blessed with gifts of the Holy Spirit like wisdom and compassion. I hadn't thought about mercy, but, yes, that is also a Christian quality I can get behind asking they be blessed with.

God help us if we have another pandemic during the next 4 years that affects children. The American people aren't going to be as sanguine about kids dying as they were about seniors dying during the Covid pandemic.

Senator Bernie Sanders
@sanders.senate.gov

Today, Pres. Trump gave a sweeping legal reprieve to nearly 1,600 defendants who attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, including those convicted of violent crimes & seditious conspiracy.

More than 150 police officers were assaulted during that attack. Some eventually died.

President Trump: You do not stand for law and order when you give a free pass to rioters who attacked the police.

In fact, you are signaling that violence is okay and attacking law enforcement is acceptable behavior.

As someone who was on the Hill that day, I'm grateful to the officers who put their lives on the line to defend myself and my colleagues.

It's outrageous that the President would betray officers who defended our democracy by absolving violent insurrectionists of their crimes.

God weighs in:

Letters From God
Fascist Charlatans Furious Over Sermon on Mercy
Bless this bishop!

Lo, I say unto thee: was this not glorious? A charlatan exposed, a bishop raised, and the cowards squirming in their pews. Donold's fragile ego was no match for a simple sermon about mercy, and his tantrum proves it.

#85 | Posted by LauraMohr

Good list. Bears repeating:

Opposition to Marxism. Modern fascists try to use socialism as a boogeyman to scare people. This is particularly true in the US.

Opposition to (parliamentary) democracy. You will see this in attempts to make it difficult for people to vote, often under the guise of "preventing voting fraud" even when they cannot produce evidence of fraud.

Opposition to political and cultural liberalism. Fascists will often claim that liberalism undermines traditional values and morality.

Totalitarian ambitions. Fascists want to control all political power and will tell you that only they can set things right.

Conservative economic programs. Historically, very few fascist movements were left or left-centrist, and when they were they were small and short-lived.

Corporatism. Historically the ultimate aim was to destroy labor movements and suppress political dissent. A favorite tool of modern-day fascists is deregulation that results in profits to businesses at the expense of consumers.

Imperialism. Nuff said.

Military values. Historically fascists favoured military values such as courage, unquestioning obedience to authority, discipline, and physical strength. They also adapted the outward trappings of military organizations, such as paramilitary uniforms and Roman salutes. We see this today in self-styled "militias."

Volksgemeinschaft. A German word referring to a racially unified and hierarchically organized group in which the interests of individuals are strictly subordinate to those of the nation. They literally tell you that they want to put you under their control, and chances are very good that you won't be invited to the ruling committee.

Leadership principle. The belief that the party and the state should have a single leader with absolute power. Beware claims along the lines of "We need a strong leader with the common sense to fix things."

The "new man." Fascists aimed to transform the ordinary man into the "new man," a "virile" being who would put decadent bourgeoisie, cerebral elites, and "feminine" liberals to shame.

Struggle against decadence. Fascists will define a group of people that are misleading you, that are stealing from you, that are destroying your future. Modern targets are educated "elites" that earn their living through well-paid white collar work rather than "honest" blue collar work that is less well paid.

Extreme nationalism. Fascist ideologues taught that national identity was the foundation of individual identity and should not be corrupted by foreign influences, especially if they were left-wing. Interestingly, modern-day fascist movements are often funded by rich foreigners with the goal to destabilize other countries that they wish to control.

Anti-urbanism. The "elites" live in cities rather than in suburban settings where everyday man lives.

Sexism and misogyny. Fascist movements tend to have strategies around controlling women's bodies, ideas that women must subjugate themselves to their husbands, and that the primary role of women is to have and care for babies.

Pardon me:

Joshua Holland
@joshuaholland.bsky.social
Mark my words: There will be less outraged coverage, over a shorter period of time, of Trump pardoning violent militia members who committed sedition and RW thugs who beat up cops than there was of Biden pardoning a son who was a top target of the right and whose conviction was highly irregular.

And Dems won't make a third as much noise over this outrageous assault on the rule of law as Republicans did with Hunter's pardon.

Also, quite a few Dems amplified and legitimated the GOP's tantrum over Biden's pardon. Won't see much of that if any from Republicans.

I'm sure many of them are disgusted"that mob wanted their blood"but it's too dangerous for Republicans to speak out about Trump. You gotta worry about his deranged, heavily-armed thugs stalking you, the RW media trashing you and Elon funding a primary challenger.

I hope Mike & Karen Pence aren't attending any of these balls. We know none of the January 6 committee members are:

Seth Abramson
@sethabramson.bsky.social
CNN reports that the January 6 criminals have been told they are invited to attend inaugural balls tonight. They are going to be released from the D.C. jail momentarily.

All are insurrectionists.

We are not a democracy anymore, folks. We do not have rule of law.

Are eggs free yet?

No, just the J6 Capitol attackers.
#139 | Posted by REDIAL

Olga Lautman
@olgalautman.bsky.social

Just in case people don't fully grasp it. The pardoning of insurrectionists is Trump's way of building loyalty from militias and domestic terrorists to carry out unofficial acts for him

Trumpocracy.
Better give me the credit.
#146 | Posted by e1g1

Will do but someone beat you to it:

tillymint.bsky.social @tillymint.bsky.social
1h
-----------------

Veg The Aging Hippie @vegematic.bsky.social
3h
----------.

Michele @micheletinkerbell.bsky.social
2h
Trumpocracy

Tristan Snell
@tristansnell.bsky.social

plutocracy - rule by the wealthy
kleptocracy - rule by corrupt thieves
kakistocracy - rule by the worst, least qualified

But what if it's all 3 -- what's the word for that?

Enjoy the incoming authoritarian oligarchy.

FTA:

More people hold an unfavorable than favorable view of him, most are against pardoning those convicted of attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and they're split on whether to mass deport immigrants who are in the U.S. without legal status.

Perhaps most importantly, Americans have high expectations that their personal financial situations will improve under Trump, but more think tariffs will hurt rather than help the economy.

Trump has promised bold action, but, as the NPR poll shows, the politics may be tricky. Presidents often become vulnerable because of overreach. They tend to believe " falsely " that because they were elected, they have a mandate for everything on their agenda. Clearly, that's not the case.

"The opening round of the second term is not going well with the public," said Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, which conducted the survey of 1,387 adults. "Americans are not convinced of Trump's agenda pillars, including pardons and tariffs. Mass deportations are only getting mixed reviews."

FTA:

Almost ten weeks after the 2024 election, North Carolina remains in turmoil from it. Voters in the state elected Donald Trump to the presidency, but they elected Democrat Josh Stein for governor and former Democratic representative Jeff Jackson as attorney general, and they broke the Republicans' legislative supermajority that permitted them to pass laws over the veto of the former governor, Democrat Roy Cooper. They also reelected Justice Allison Riggs, a Democrat, to the state supreme court.

Republicans refuse to accept the voters' choice.

The Princeton Gerrymandering Project gives North Carolina an "F" for its maps. In states that are severely gerrymandered for the Republicans, politicians worry not about attracting general election voters, but rather about avoiding primaries from their right, pushing the state party to extremes. In December, Molly Hennessy-Fiske of the Washington Post noted that Republican leaders in such states are eager to push right-wing policies, with lawmakers in Oklahoma pushing further restrictions on abortion and requiring public schools to post the Ten Commandments, and those in Arkansas calling for making "vaccine harm" a crime, while Texas is considering a slew of antimigrant laws.

This rightward lurch in Republican-dominated states has national repercussions, as Texas attorney general Ken Paxton in December sued New York doctor Margaret Daly Carpenter for violating Texas law by mailing abortion pills into the state. Law professor Mary Ziegler explains that if the case goes forward, Texas will likely win in its own state courts. Ultimately, the question will almost certainly end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.

In the United States today, a political minority has used the mechanics of government to take power and is now using that power to impose its will on the majority.

I'm upset with his MO of blaming the effects of weather related disasters on state and local officials but only if they are Democrats.

I'm upset with his plans to make across the board federal government policies based on climate change denialism.

Senator Bernie Sanders
@sanders.senate.gov

Yes. We need to deal with excessive federal bureaucracy and waste.

But don't kid yourself.

Musk-Trump's goal is to privatize USPS, the VA, NASA, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security and give them to their billionaire friends.

Oligarchy marches on--unless we stop it.