82 thoughts on “What’s Up With Meadows?”

  1. like the tango, to charge conspiracy takes two (or more)

    wiki:

    In the United States, seditious conspiracy is codified at 18 U.S.C. § 2384:
    If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both.
    This law was enacted in 1861 after secessionists gained control of most slaveholding states, although it was originally sought by Senator Stephen A. Douglas in response to John Brown‘s 1859 raid on a federal arsenal. A substantially similar offense appeared in the Sedition Act of 1798, which expired in 1801.


    Barbara McQuade, “One reason they may have refrained from charging Mark Meadows with contempt is because they’re thinking of him not as a witness but as a defendant. It could very well be that they’re looking at him as a bigger fish.”

  4. BB, yep. in this short span concentration world, they’re sorely needed to get serious points across in the shortest way possible.

     

  5. about those mother truckers

    Neo-Nazis and QAnon: how Canadian truckers’ anti-vaccine protest was steered by extremists | Canada | The Guardian

    […]

    The so-called “freedom convoy” – which departed for Ottawa on 23 January – was the brainchild of James Bauder, an admitted conspiracy theorist who has endorsed the QAnon movement and called Covid-19 “the biggest political scam in history”. Bauder’s group, Canada Unity, contends that vaccine mandates and passports are illegal under Canada’s constitution, the Nuremberg Code and a host of other international conventions.

    Bauder has long been a fringe figure, but his movement caught a gulf stream of support after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced last year that truckers crossing the US-Canada border would need to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19. The supposed plight of the truckers proved to be a compelling public relations angle and attracted an array of fellow travelers.

    Until now, a litany of organizations had protested Canada’s strict public health measures, but largely in isolation. One such group, Hold Fast Canada, had organized pickets of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s headquarters, where they claimed that concentration camps had already been introduced in the country.

    Another group, Action4Canada, launched legal challenges to mask and vaccine mandates. In one 400-page court filing, they allege that the “false pronouncement of a Covid-19 ‘pandemic’” was carried out, at least in part, by Bill Gates and a “New World (Economic) Order” to facilitate the injection of 5G-enabled microchips into the population.

    Both groups are listed as “participating groups” on the Canada Unity website, and sent vehicles and personnel to join the convoy.

    Other organizers joined Bauder, including Chris Barber, a Saskatchewan trucker who was fined $14,000 in October for violating provincial public health measures; Tamara Lich, an activist for a fringe political party advocating that Western Canada should become an independent state; Benjamin Dichter, who has warned of the “growing Islamization of Canada”; and Pat King, an anti-government agitator who has repeatedly called for Trudeau to be arrested.

    Since they have arrived in Ottawa, the extreme elements of the protest have been visible: neo-Nazi and Confederate flags were seen flying, QAnon logos were emblazoned on trucks and signs and stickers were pasted to telephone poles around the occupied area bear Trudeau’s face, reading: “Wanted for crimes against humanity.”

    The official line from Bauder and his co-organizers, however, has remained focused; in a Facebook live broadcast, Bauder instructed his supporters to “stop talking about the vaccine” and instead stick to message of “freedom”.

    Such strict message control has attracted mainstream support. Numerous members of the Conservative party, Canada’s official opposition, have come out to meet the protesters. Elon Musk and Donald Trump have both endorsed the convoy. Fox broadcasters Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson have provided glowing updates on the continuing occupation.

    [continues]

  6. We’ve got gubernatorial candidates in Texas who propose secession from Joe Biden’s America.  Loons. 

  7. more on them and their friends in the usa: 

    Ottawa protesters turn to Christian crowdfunding site after GoFundMe snub | Canada | The Guardian

    A trucker-led protest against vaccine mandates in Canada has raised several million dollars on a Christian crowdfunding site after being removed from GoFundMe, sparking debate over how online platforms moderate campaigns.

    GoFundMe blocked fundraising for the “Freedom Convoy” over the weekend, after the mayor of Ottawa declared a state of emergency over a week-long protest led by truck drivers over Covid-19 restrictions.

    […]

    GoFundMe’s decision to block fundraising for the group has drawn criticism from both ends of the political spectrum, with some condemning tech platforms for allowing fringe groups to fundraise while Republicans claim anti-conservative bias.

    Republican attorney general Patrick Morrisey of West Virginia urged residents on Friday to report GoFundme if they had been “victimized by a deceptive act or practice” and Donald Trump Jr tweeted that “All GOP Attorney Generals” should follow suit.

    Four other states over the weekend promised to investigate GoFundMe, including Florida, Louisiana, Ohio and Texas. Ohio attorney general Dave Yost told the Washington Post he is looking into GoFundMe’s policies on refunds and suspensions of campaigns.

    [continues]

  9. milbank’s op ed today is a worthy read. here’re just some excerpts

    Opinion | The RNC is calling Jan. 6 ‘legitimate political discourse.’ So what isn’t? – The Washington Post

    God bless those crafty wordsmiths of the Republican Party! The people who gave us “alternative facts,” “enhanced interrogation techniques,” “tender age shelters” and “hiking the Appalachian Trail” have outdone themselves.

    The Republican National Committee last week passed a resolution condemning GOP Reps. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) and Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) for serving on the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection — or, as the RNC called it, “a Democrat-led persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.”

    Legitimate political discourse! Seven people died in connection with the attack, 140 police officers were hurt and 734 people have been prosecuted on charges ranging up to seditious conspiracy. Marauders sacked the Capitol for the first time since the War of 1812, threatening assassination, and smashing, clubbing and defecating to the tune of $1.5 million in property damage. But the Republican Party says it’s all legit. Just a bit of civil discourse.

    […]

    Can we now expect others to exercise their right to legitimate political discourse as the insurrectionists did? Hauled into the principal’s office after a schoolyard fight, Johnny explains that his knuckles engaged in legitimate political discourse with Billy’s nose. After a bar brawl, a drunk tells the cops his chair entered into legitimate political discourse with another patron’s skull. A homeowner informs animal control his dog was engaging in legitimate political discourse with the postal carrier’s leg. An angry dad threatens to “open a can of legitimate political discourse” on his curfew-breaking teen.

    Pretty soon, we’ll be reporting the news RNC-style:

    Russian troops are massed for what appears to be a large-scale engagement of legitimate political discourse in Ukraine; President Biden says legitimate political discourse is imminent.

    Truckers have engaged Ottawa police with rocks, eggs, nails and other forms of legitimate political discourse.

    […]

    Euphemisms have been with us since even before the Reagan-era MX missile was dubbed the “Peacekeeper” and the estate tax became the death tax. But calling violence “legitimate discourse” is a particularly illegitimate twisting of the English language.

    Then again, former president Donald Trump’s GOP has been a serial offender. Trump aides had a euphemism for Trump’s laziness: “Executive time” was the item listed on his official schedule when he wanted to sit on the couch and watch Fox News. They had a euphemism for his misogyny: “locker room talk.” His fabrications were alternative facts, or “truth impressions” in the phrase of Mark Meadows, Trump’s last chief of staff. They even had a euphemism for his racism: He refused to be “politically correct.”

    Now, the insurrectionists have become peaceful tourists or “political prisoners,” the Capitol Police murderers, the would-be assassins martyrs. Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker now advising House Republicans, proposes jailing the members of the Jan. 6 committee. A week ago, Trump himself called for uprisings against “radical, vicious, racists prosecutors” investigating him, “because our country and our elections are corrupt.” He dangled pardons for the insurrectionists if he’s returned to power.

    […]

    Now, the Republican National Committee, the official leadership of the GOP, has embraced this unspeakable violence as legitimate discourse. It’s an absurd euphemism — and it points to another one.

    To call a person who endorses violence against the duly elected government a “Republican” is itself Orwellian. More accurate words exist for such a person. One of them is “fascist.”

  12. What Mertle has wrought in the Court. 

    Supreme Court stops lower court order requiring Alabama to draw a new district voting map favorable to Black residents

    A divided Supreme Court on Monday restored an Alabama congressional map that creates only one district favorable to a Black candidate, and put on hold a lower court’s order that said a second district was necessary to comply with the Voting Rights Act.

    Over the objections of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and the court’s three liberals, its five most consistently conservative justices halted a decision last month by three federal judges. The panel threw out Alabama’s new congressional map, which included only one congressional district with a majority of Black voters even though they make up more than a quarter of the state’s population.

    The court’s ruling was a blow to voting rights advocates and Democrats after a series of redistricting wins over the past several weeks. It means the 2022 congressional elections in Alabama will take place under a map drawn by the state’s Republican leaders.… continues …

    Voting rights to ensure that minority votes are not diluted through partisan gerrymandering are now dying a quick death. 

  14. just whose freedom are they protesting for?

    Protesters in Canada block Ambassador Bridge (freep.com)

    An ongoing protest in Canada over COVID-19 vaccine mandates spilled over into Detroit Monday evening via the Ambassador Bridge. 
    The protesters blocked traffic on the largest international suspension bridge and prevented motorists from passing, with signs calling for an end to the mandates. 
    […]
    Gregg Ward, president of Detroit-Windsor Truck Ferry, has been in the border-crossing business for 30 years. He said the bridge closing is unprecedented.
    He said the last time he can remember it fully shut down over a demonstration was in 1990 for the independent truckers protest.
    The bridge is used to transport goods for trade, and businesses often rely on getting their deliveries on time, he said. Now, those businesses, especially in the auto industry, won’t get their supplies when they need them.

  15. ‘Freedom’ protest closes bridge from Detroit to Canada | TheHill

    Ongoing protests against COVID-19 vaccine mandates in Canada blocked traffic at Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Canada, Monday evening. 

    Protesters prevented motorists from passing over the bridge and eventually closed the span, according to a report by Detroit Free Press. The Michigan Department of Transportation was reportedly advised motorists to use a tunnel or take an alternate bridge to Canada instead. 

    […]

    On Monday, multiple people were arrested over the “Freedom Convoy” protests and 500 citations were issued to demonstrators.

    Ottawa declared a state of emergency because of the protests on Sunday as thousands of people gathered to demonstrate against vaccine mandates. 

    The Canadian Trucking Alliance condemned the actions of protesters during the event, calling the demonstration a “disgusting act.”

  16. as to fearless leader’s thread topic and what’s next for meadows and the conspiracy tango

    randy needs to add mark to his sequel of “cell block tango.”  here’s part one produced back in 2019

  17. Book of the Day:
    King Rat, by James Clavell
     
    Remember the end of King Rat?    I think same kind of thing is coming up for a lot of folks…….

  18. Well the great Ford of July, the wonder truck, is headed for the Automobile Graveyard.   Old Whitey Ford.’96  He done real good and peacefully died in his own garage from natural causes.   
    Yeah, he was one of those guys you could actually look under the hood and get an idea about something or other you might want to fool with, instead of its looking like you were staring into the guts of a great big computer.

    It just dawned on me that this is the last time I’ll ever see anything like that under a hood.

  19. Losing another set of glacier brakes  …………. 
    Larsen B Embayment Breaks Up
     
     
    The breakup is the latest in a series of notable events in the Larsen B embayment over the past 20 years. Prior to 2002, glacial ice on the Antarctic Peninsula flowed toward the sea and fed into a vast floating ice shelf known as Larsen B. The shelf helped buttress inland tributary glaciers, pushing back against them and slowing their seaward flow. But in early 2002, the shelf abruptly fractured. With 3,250 square kilometers (1,250 square miles) of ice suddenly gone, glaciers thinned and flowed more quickly into the open water.
     
    https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/149410/larsen-b-embayment-breaks-up
     
     

    Comes with one of those nifty sliders, before and after.

  22. From what i’ve been reading, it sure seems like the Chinese government is essentially torturing athletes for their power and prestige, and your entertainment, so maybe don’t watch?

  28. dress rehearsal for new play based on an updated version of the book “it could happen here.”

    a few well-placed semis cloggin up the nation’s air and sea ports and major city squares would do it.

  29. The next big bug , and it’s coming, is really going to thin the herd.  Given  this foundation of foolishness we have around us now. 
     

  31. Sen. Ron Johnson on Tuesday accused President Joe Biden’s nominee to serve as the top U.S. antisemitism envoy of engaging in “malicious poison” after the renowned Holocaust scholar called out the Wisconsin Republican for “white supremacy.”
    Deborah Lipstadt, the Emory University professor nominated last year to serve as the State Department’s special envoy for monitoring and combating antisemitism, has faced scrutiny from Republicans for her past public criticism of what she identified as dangerous rhetoric — including occasional callouts of specific lawmakers, like Johnson. Republicans had demanded additional vetting of Lipstadt, causing a six-month delay of her consideration by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

     
    https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/08/malicious-poison-ron-johnson-antisemitism-envoy-jan6-00006702

  32. haha
    Rep. Troy Nehls is on twitter crying about the capitol police intelligene investigating his office without his knowledge or permission etc etc whine whine whine…….finally Keith Olberrman tweets him……”You’re a suspect in a crime, moron.”

  33. food to feed future ford trucks

    the hill:

    President Biden on Tuesday said the creation of a facility to build chargers for electric vehicles in Tennessee is part of a comeback for American manufacturing and a sign of the post-pandemic jobs resurgence. 
    […]
    Tritium, an Australian company, announced on Tuesday it is building a U.S. manufacturing plant that will begin production in Fall 2022 and have the initial capacity to build over 10,000 fast-charging units per year.
    The plant will have room to expand to building 30,000 units per year and plans to employ over 500 people over the next five years.
    […]
    The plant will be the largest Tritium factory globally, the company’s CEO Jane Hunter said at the White House. She called the creation of the facility a story of American-Australian partnership.
    White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy, Energy Sec. Jennifer Granholm, Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg
    and Rep.     Jim Cooper     (D-Tenn.) were also present for the remarks. 
    […] 
    Biden called the Tritium announcement good new for the planet and said “it’s going to deliver greater dignity and a little more breathing room to workers and their families and it’s going to have a ripple effect beyond, far beyond, one state.” 
    The bipartisan infrastructure law, which the president signed in November, included $7.5 billion for electric vehicle chargers. Biden said he will announce later this week a state-by-state allocation for $5 billion of the funding for chargers so states can start making plans to build out networks of chargers.
    Biden said this funding will help ensure that the U.S. leads the world on electric vehicles. 
    “China has been leading that race up until now, but this is about to change because America’s building convenient, reliable, equitable, national public charging networks,” he said.
    He added that “the foundation will help American automakers set the pace for electric vehicles.”
    Biden mentioned Intel’s recent announcement that it will invest $20 billion to build chip factories and General Motor’s announcement that the auto giant will invest nearly $7 billion in electric vehicle manufacturing sites in Michigan.
    [continues]

  34. Deborah Lipstadt, the Emory University professor
     
    Has more guts and brains than Ron Johnson , who rates near the amoeba family in both categories. 

  37. Hamsters can transmit Covid to humans, data suggests

    Research confirms a pet shop was the likely source of the recent Delta variant outbreak in Hong Kong

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/08/hamsters-can-transmit-covid-to-humans-data-suggests

     
    Canadian  Truckers may be done with this virus, but it ain’t done with us.
    It’s in white tail deer in New York state. etc. etc. 
    This info makes me think that it did indeed jump out of bats into humans.
    This ability to move from mammal to mammal is not good.  Not good at all.

  40. Spinal Implant Enables Paralyzed Man With Severed Spine to Walk Again

    SARA HUSSEIN, AFP
    8 FEBRUARY 2022

    In 2017, Michel Roccati was in a motorbike accident that left his lower body completely paralyzed. In 2020, he walked again, thanks to a breakthrough new spinal cord implant.
    The implant sends electrical pulses to his muscles, mimicking the action of the brain, and could one day help people with severe spinal injuries stand, walk, and exercise.

    https://www.sciencealert.com/implant-allows-man-with-severed-spine-to-walk-again

     
    More scientific voo-doo. 

  42. Didn’t entire Tennessee congressional delegation vote against the bill? Why reward them? @WhiteHouse

    …because Biden isn’t a vindictive prick like dipshit and his cult

  44. RNC defends cop killers. McCarthy and GOP voted against $350m in new police funding, refused to honor Jan 6 heroes, and supports Trump who pledges to pardon cop killers.

  50. Youtube got wise about the wordpress embed-workarounds  on mobile devices for its adverts and background-playing, which is why i stopped posting music, on here, because i can’t do anything else on my phone without the embedded music stopping
     
    …was fun while it lasted😭

  51. I think under all this hurricane of madness , is that people sense this entire world we have made for ourselves is at an end. 
    By that I mean , buy more , buy more now. 
    There is a terrible unease that the balloon is about to pop. 
    When there was no toilet paper on the shelves in March 2020.
    I wish I had a dime for every mile I drove hauling toilet paper into Vegas from Lewiston . 
    Back then , every 3rd semi on the big road was hauling kitty litter out of one mine in Wyoming , paper towels , and toilet paper.  

  52. i figure Putin wants to invade after the Olympics end, but his hand gets weaker by the day as NATO allies use that time to plan and prepare.  He needs to be given an opportunity save face if war is to be averted- not an easy prospect for the firm-hand crowd, maybe like KY infrastructure funding, but better than the alternative 

  55. I’m not Jack.
    I’m the Orginal Colorado Bob , I picked my teeth with blasting caps, and slammed steel on Crazy Woman Creek with a Failine 1250 Holemaster. And charmed the Mormon girls .

  56. My unvaxxed coworker was on a zoom with another coworker in Canada. Oh, the whining about how the unvaccinated are just getting blamed for everything and their rights are getting trampled on, but they aren’t even allowed to protest anymore. It seems that the jackassery spans the northern border.

  57. WASHINGTON — A Jan. 6 rioter who stormed the Capitol while he was out on bail on an attempted first-degree murder charge was arrested by the FBI on Tuesday, more than 10 months after he was first identified by online sleuths.
    Matthew Jason Beddingfield, of North Carolina, faces felony charges of assaulting officers, impeding officers during a civil disorder and carrying a deadly or dangerous weapon on restricted Capitol grounds, as well as several misdemeanors, according to court records.
     
    https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/fbi-arrests-trump-fan-stormed-capitol-bail-attempted-murder-rcna15169

  60. I don’t dismiss the issues being raised about the conditions in Beijing, but complaints about bad conditions in Olympic Villages are nothing new.  Most of the current complaints about Beijing I’ve read about are either about the Covid-19 quarantine hotels and lack of clear information regarding them, the weather or the food. If you’re reading the NY Post article, it’s the NY Post.  One thing I noticed about coverage from NPR and The Hill is that the bulk of the problems are related to the Covid quarantine hotels and weather, and the complaints are not coming from American athletes, which I find odd.   Regardless, I’m watching alpine skiing events and the bobsled/luge/skeleton events.  The other stuff, not really interested.

  61. OM – I saw, somewhere this morning, that the Canadian convoy was not liked by Canadians.  And, the organizers were the same anti-American group that was behind the idiocy here for the last five years.  And (I know shame on me for stacking) they are working on organizing a truckers convoy to D.C.  Considering how touchy many are around here after the insurrection attempt I would not want to be in that convoy and bust across the Mall.  Some of those police and national guard have real bullets in their pea shooters.

  62. Blue –
    It’s Whiney Party , the me, me, me, party. 
    The no solutions party  it’s not a  parliament  of pimps and whores, it’s parliament of cry babies with AR-15’s .
     

  63. The cry babies will run on CRIME ! 
    Check out my home town the ruby red of Texas , Lubbock .
    Look at our murder rate, it’s floating on a sea of guns. 

  64. Law and order to goopers is letting cops shoot black folks and beat up hippies protesting for peace, love, civil rights and the environment. 
    So that Beddingfield fellow probably wishes he’d thought twice about showing his face on 1/6. Hope his trial is a long way off and he gets to cool it in jail for a bail bond violation while he waits for his attempted 1st degree murder trial to begin.
     
    And Bob, nope, like the bottle wasn’t done with Gregg, Covid ain’t done with us yet.  Wapo.

    Though considered milder than other coronavirus variants, omicron has infected so many people that it has driven the number of daily deaths beyond where it was last spring, before vaccines were widely available, according to Washington Post data.

    Omicron has been particularly lethal to people over 75, the unvaccinated and the medically vulnerable, according to doctors and public health officials. The soaring death toll also illustrates why experts pleaded with the public to beware of the highly contagious variant even though it is less virulent than others.
    … Continues …

    And as Sturg said, “America is chock full of loons.” … to say nothing of morons (or is that redundant?)

  65. Time to come to Jesus  –
    Utah’s Shrinking Great Salt Lake Could Be Headed for Ecological Disaster
     
    https://www.newsweek.com/utahs-shrinking-great-salt-lake-could-headed-ecological-disaster-1676065
     
    This is that end of that buy more thing , which goes with  our take more thing. 
    When this lake dies it will kill the state of Utah .  There is some seriously nasty stuff in that lake bed. and it will blow into their cities. 
    Watch this one play out ,  they are just now waking up to their peril. 
     

  67. We have made a man walk again , and wait   on our eyes to cool enough to see deep into the past . Our finger tips are touching the future. 
    There is so much we have to hope –
     

  72. lol, a family member just made the mistake of asking me, “Are you watching the Olympics?”
     
    20 minutes, later, they were like “it was a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question”

  74. https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/08/politics/january-6-capitol-attack-first-trial-witnesses-guy-reffitt/index.html

    “Reffitt allegedly drove to Washington with guns in his car in the days before January 6, 2021, with another member of the Three Percenters militia. Prosecutors allege that Reffitt took a gun to the Capitol, where he engaged in a prolonged battle with police.”

    “Afterward, prosecutors say, Reffitt returned to Texas and told his daughter and son that if they turned him in to authorities, they were traitors, and “traitors get shot.”

    “Prosecutors elaborated on their plans to question Reffitt’s children about his mindset after the riot and to introduce recordings that Reffitt’s 18-year-old son secretly took of his father in the days after the riot.”

    “Prosecutors plan to put Reffitt’s fellow Three Percenter on the stand to discuss the weapons and tactical gear Reffitt allgedly brought to DC as well as the conversations and plans the two had during the trip. He would also discuss Reffitt’s actions at the Capitol. The man, identified in court records only as “R.H.,” is the first person revealed to have immunity in the sprawling January 6 investigation.”

    “Reffitt wore a camera strapped to his helmet during the riot, and prosecutors plan to play at least some of that video during the trial.”
    ______

    A loon is someone who storms the Capitol to overturn an election.

    A moron is someone who films himself doing it.

  75. Bink,
    No problem with my laptop, can still play the whole list with no commercials and have it playing in the background 
    I rarely use my phone but have done some while traveling.
    As to Russia/Ukraine, I’m of the mind that Putin was seeing how far he could push Biden. The longer he waits the more expensive an invasion gets. We just shipped them a bunch of Javelin antitank missiles. Kinda curious who is doing the training on them. I suspect CIA contactors.
    Jack 

  77. i laugh at people mocking Russia’s military might and entreat them to go lay in front of one of those 200+ tanks that look plenty operational to my untrained eye

  79. 2-5 miles interior to the Ukrainian border, and with the sovereign Ukrainian government’s permission, we could preemptively carpet-bomb a ditch that would potentially neutralize the advantage of Russia’s tanks, just spitballin’

    We would be bombing an ally with their permission, not an adversary, how elegant🤓

  81. lol @ the ‘Javelin mullet’: “a little bit of ‘tactical unit’ the front, a little bit of ‘war crime’ in the back”😆

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