Tweet posted by MAGA asshole Indiana Congressman Jim Banks on Tuesday. Apparently this was one of those “you can Tweet again when you delete the offensive one” situations which did not get on Twitter moderators’ radar until Saturday morning, but it appears Banks has since complied.

Calling someone that was born and lived as a man for 54 years the first "female" four-star officer is an insult to every little girl who dreams of breaking glass ceilings one day. https://t.co/bHKmJbE6cA

— Jim Banks (@RepJimBanks) October 19, 2021

..and yet his profile shows he tweeted basically exact same shit immediately after that on Tuesday.

Politifact: “Newsmax and Fox News have aired old, out-of-context photos of empty grocery store shelves in recent segments bashing President Joe Biden for the jammed-up supply chain that experts say is backlogged due the the coronavirus pandemic’s strain on the global economy. Shortages of labor and raw materials have certainly created bottlenecks at a time when shoppers are looking to spend. And photos of depleted shelves, like these from the Associated Press in October, have legitimately helped to illustrate that story.”

“But other photos that appeared on Newsmax and Fox News were taken as early as March 2020, and some were snapped in other countries. The conservative networks represented them as though they were current and taken in the U.S. ‘It is unprofessional and unethical to repurpose images from another time and place to illustrate a story that has nothing to do with the original context in which those images were made,’ said Nina Berman, the director of the photojournalism program at Columbia Journalism School. ‘Using a photograph which shows empty shelves because of a coming typhoon in Japan, or old images from the early days of panic pandemic buying, to make a point about the current state of the U.S. economy is a classic case of disinformation’. Newsmax and Fox News did not respond to requests for comment about the misleading photos.”

In early October of 2021, the manufacturer Ghost Robotics displayed a series of their highly agile quadripedal robots at the Association of the United States Army Conference in Washington DC. Ghost is currently developing its “Vision 60” series of robots, which includes the model displayed in this article.

“Republicans have succeeded this year in passing a range of voting restrictions in states they control politically, from Georgia to Iowa to Texas. They’re not stopping there. Republicans in at least four states where Democrats control the governor’s office, the legislature or both – California, Massachusetts, Michigan and Pennsylvania – are pursuing statewide ballot initiatives or veto-proof proposals to enact voter ID restrictions and other changes to election law.”

“In another state, Nebraska, Republicans control the governor’s office and have a majority in the single-house legislature, but are pushing a voter ID ballot measure because they have been unable to get enough lawmakers on board. Republicans say they are pursuing the changes in the name of ‘election integrity,’ and repeat similar slogans – ‘easier to vote, harder to cheat.’ Democrats dismiss it as the GOP following former President Donald Trump’s false claims that widespread fraud cost him the election. They say Republicans have tried to whip up distrust in elections for political gain and are passing restrictions designed to keep Democratic-leaning voters from registering or casting a ballot. ‘It’s depressing that this is the way that (the Trump) wing of the Republican Party thinks they have to win, instead of trying to win on issues or beliefs,’ said Gus Bickford, the Democratic Party chairman in Massachusetts. ‘They just want to suppress the vote'” – AP.

“Legislative auditors released a report Friday that contended the state Elections Commission should adopt formal rules if it wants to continue to allow cities to have ballot drop boxes – a move that would clear the way for lawmakers to try to bar their use. The report by the Legislative Audit Bureau was not meant to assess the outcome of the 2020 election, but it noted that none of the machines it reviewed counted votes incorrectly. One of the Republican lawmakers who oversees audits for the Legislature said the review showed the 2020 election was ‘largely safe and secure’ but also revealed the need for changes to the state’s voting systems.”

“The bureau released its findings and recommendations without first allowing the state Elections Commission to review its analysis and respond, which has been the bureau’s practice for years. The report is one of two that have been ordered by GOP lawmakers. The other is being conducted on behalf of Assembly Republicans by former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, who claimed without evidence last year that the election was stolen. Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in Wisconsin by nearly 21,000 votes. Recounts and courts have upheld his victory and the auditors offered further evidence showing the votes were tallied correctly” – Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

BREAKING: @mtgreenee has officially endorsed my campaign for Congress!

MTG is one of the hardest fighting #AmericaFirst conservatives in the country—and a staunch supporter of President Trump! 🇺🇸

Support my campaign here👇https://t.co/ndkYhvwz4m https://t.co/AUNUWeSMrh

— Anthony Sabatini (@AnthonySabatini) October 22, 2021

CNN: “Just days after insurrectionists stormed the Capitol on January 6th, Facebook’s Chief Operational Officer Sheryl Sandberg downplayed her company’s role in what had happened. ‘We know this was organized online. We know that,’ she said in an interview with Reuters. ‘We… took down QAnon, Proud Boys, Stop the Steal, anything that was talking about possible violence last week. Our enforcement’s never perfect so I’m sure there were still things on Facebook. I think these events were largely organized on platforms that don’t have our abilities to stop hate and don’t have our standards and don’t have our transparency.’ But internal documents suggest otherwise. The documents, including an internal post-mortem and one document showing in real time countermeasures Facebook employees were belatedly implementing, paint a picture of a company that was in fact fundamentally unprepared for how the Stop the Steal movement used its platform to organize, and that only truly swung into action after the movement had turned violent.”

“Asked by CNN about Sandberg’s quote and whether she stood by it, a Facebook spokesperson pointed to the greater context around Sandberg’s quote. She had been noting that Jan. 6 organization happened largely online, including but not limited to on Facebook’s platforms, the spokesperson said. The documents were provided by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen as evidence to support disclosures she made to the Securities and Exchange Commission and provided to Congress in redacted form by Haugen’s legal counsel. The redacted versions were obtained by a consortium of 17 US news organizations, including CNN. One of Haugen’s central allegations about the company focuses on the attack on the Capitol. In a SEC disclosure she alleges, ‘Facebook misled investors and the public about its role perpetuating misinformation and violent extremism relating to the 2020 election and January 6th insurrection.’ Facebook denies the premise of Haugen’s conclusions and says Haugen has cherry-picked documents to present an unfair portrayal of the company.”

• Lev Parnas’s conviction is a great way to end the week. For us, I mean.  Probably notsomuch for him.  
• Colin Powell’s legacy is a complicated one:  A masterful military leader who sullied his reputation by promoting false claims leading to the 2003 Iraq invasion.  Reportedly, he regretted his part in leading the US to that war.  I, for one, believe he did not know the information he presented to the UN was fake and that he was a patsy for the Bush era neo-cons.  
• Had John McCain chosen Colin Powell as his running mate in 2008, he could have very possibly won the Presidential election.  Had Powell decided to run in 2000, he would’ve been the GOP nominee.  His presence at the leadership of the Republican Party would have averted the chaos of the current times.  One person’s desire to stay out of politics drastically changed the course of American history.  
  Read More ▶ “Random thoughts Friday, Volume XLI”

“Donald Trump, at the end of his presidency wasn’t importing one single barrel from Saudi Arabia,” Sean Hannity asserts with a vigorous shaking of his finger.  Unfortunately for him, his Trump Bubble must burst:  in 2020, the US was importing half a million barrels of oil from Saudi Arabia per day.

Ummm…. Not according to any reputable news organization.

The claim may revolve around a loophole in the Fox News corporate policy that people aren’t forced to get vaccinated, but if you can’t prove you are, you must undergo a COVID test every day when reporting to work.  And, y’see, this is very different than the vaccine mandate proposed by the Biden Administration… which only requires the unvaccinated get tested once a week.

Associated Press:  An assistant director unwittingly handed Alec Baldwin a loaded weapon and told him it was safe to use in the moments before the actor fatally shot a cinematographer, court records released Friday show.

“‘Cold gun,’ the assistant director announced, according to a search warrant filed in a Santa Fe court.  Instead, the gun was loaded with live rounds, and when Baldwin pulled the trigger Thursday on the set of a Western, he killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Director Joel Souza, who was standing behind her, was wounded, the records said.  The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office obtained the warrant Friday so investigators could document the scene at the ranch outside Santa Fe where the shooting took place.

They sought Baldwin’s blood-stained costume for the film “Rust” as evidence, as well as the weapon that was fired, other prop guns and ammunition, and any footage that might exist.  According to the records, the gun was one of three that the film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez, had set on a cart outside the wooden structure where a scene was being acted. Assistant director Dave Halls grabbed the gun from the cart and brought it inside to Baldwin, unaware that it was loaded with live rounds, a detective wrote in the search warrant application.

I said what said.

You crazy Blue Checks want to take away our right to defend ourselves with a firearm, and know NOTHING about basic gun safety!

Alec’s careless and ignorant actions KILLED a woman.

If this was a conservative celebrity you’d be calling for his head… https://t.co/fbuGrUv9je

— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) October 22, 2021

A regional airline spent the second consecutive day trying to fix a technical issue that crippled internal systems and forced it to delay or cancel hundreds of flights, impacting the travel of thousands of people around the country, CBS News reports.

SkyWest canceled more than 500 flights Friday and delayed a couple hundred more.  On Thursday, it had to cancel 700 flights due to the same technical issue.  There were no reports of airline staff calling out due to a vaccine mandate, because the airline didn’t have one.

The regional’s problems caused problems and delays with flights from the major carriers it feeds.  According to FlightAware, as of Friday afternoon, United Airlines canceled 12 flights and delayed another 122. American Airlines canceled nine flights and delayed 328 others.

“Former DOJ official Jeffrey Clark is expected to appear before Jan. 6 committee next Friday, per two sources. CNN has also learned Alyssa Farah, former comms director in Trump White House, voluntarily met with Republicans on panel and provided info” reports CNN’s Zachary Cohen.

New York Times: “A prominent Washington lobbyist close to Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, is warning Republican political consultants that they must choose between working for Rep. Liz Cheney or McCarthy, an ultimatum that marks the full rupture between the two House Republicans. Jeff Miller, the lobbyist and a confidant of McCarthy’s dating to their youthful days in California politics, has conveyed this us-or-her message to Republican strategists in recent weeks, prompting one fund-raising firm to disassociate itself from Cheney, a Republican from Wyoming.”

“In response, The Morning Group, a fund-raising firm she hired to help prepare for a primary next year against a challenger endorsed by former President Donald J. Trump, informed her last month they could no longer work on her campaign, according to Republicans familiar with the matter. Miller’s warnings illustrate the disintegration of the relationship between the two lawmakers, who began this year serving together in the House Republican leadership. They also underline McCarthy’s willingness to wield his leadership position to undercut Cheney’s re-election and head off an impediment to his claiming the speakership, should Republicans win a House majority next year. Were Cheney to return to Congress, she would loom as a potential instigator of any effort to block McCarthy from leading their party in the House.”

“A U.S. judge will consider on Nov. 4 former President Donald Trump’s claim of executive privilege in response to a document request from a congressional panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol. In a lawsuit filed in the DC District Court Trump asserted that materials sought by the House committee are covered by a legal doctrine known as executive privilege, which protects the confidentiality of some White House communications. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who was designated by random assignment to hear the lawsuit, on Friday signed off an agreement by Trump and the committee to expedite the case for a Nov. 4 oral argument” – Reuters.

Washington Post:  “The number of Americans getting coronavirus vaccine boosters is outpacing the number of those getting their first vaccine shots, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For the week ending Tuesday, a daily average of roughly 340,000 people received booster shots. Meanwhile, an average of 157,605 people each day received their first vaccine shot during the comparable period of time, government data shows.

“The numbers represent the vaccination gap among Americans. As additional vaccines are authorized by federal regulators as boosters, more people who had already been immunized will get further protection. At the same time, a large number of people nationwide remain unvaccinated, underscoring the challenge of improving protection against the coronavirus for the general population.

“About 66 percent of the nation’s population has received at least one coronavirus vaccine dose, according to data tracked by The Washington Post. A growing number of industrialized countries have surpassed the United States on this count, even though many had later starts in their vaccine rollouts.”

Associated Press:  “A New York jury convicted a former associate of Rudy Giuliani on Friday of charges that he made illegal campaign contributions to influence U.S. politicians and advance his business interests.  The verdict was returned in Manhattan federal court, where Lev Parnas was on trial for more than two weeks as prosecutors accused him of using other people’s money to pose as a powerful political broker and cozy up to some of the nation’s star Republican political figures.

“One part of the case alleged that Parnas and an associate made illegal donations through a corporate entity to Republican political committees in 2018, including a $325,000 donation to America First Action, a super PAC supporting former President Donald Trump.  Another part said he used the wealth of a Russian financier, Andrey Muraviev, to make donations to U.S. politicians, ostensibly in support of an effort to launch a legal, recreational marijuana business.

“Parnas was convicted on all counts.  Parnas, 49, a Soviet-born Florida businessman, insisted through his lawyer that he never used the Russian’s money for political donations.  A co-defendant in the case, Ukraine-born investor Andrey Kukushkin, was convicted of being part of the effort to use Muraviev’s money for political contributions. He had also denied any wrongdoing.”

“The reports we’ve been getting indicate that the folks here that are being held in pretrial confinement and are being punished, although that is unconstitutional to punish somebody while they’re awaiting trial and not being convicted, um, they’re not treated nearly as well as blood-thirsty murderers that are being held in Guantanamo,” noted asparagus advocate Congressman Louie Gohmert (Q-Tex.) states.

I had no idea that the people who are being held with bail in US prisons, pending trial for their roles in an attack to take down the federal government, have been denied visits from family, use of communications like phones and email, or been waterboarded like the prisoners in Guantanamo–most of whom have not even had a bail hearing, let alone a court case–in nearly two decades.

Perhaps Louie should take up the mantle of defendants’ rights and fight for court dates for the dozens of uncharged people being held at Guantanamo, and he should support bail reform, right?

Washington Post: “GOP gubernatorial nominee Glenn Youngkin is facing allegations of antisemitism after accusing allies of Jewish philanthropist George Soros of a shadowy campaign to place secret political operatives onto Virginia school boards. In an appearance Tuesday night at a rally at the Burke Volunteer Fire Department, Youngkin tried to link Soros, his Democratic opponent Terry McAuliffe, and cultural debates roiling some suburban Northern Virginia public school systems. In particular, some parents are protesting equity initiatives they associate with critical race theory, an academic framework that examines how systemic racism is ingrained in the country’s history.”

“‘The present chaos in our schools lays squarely at the feet of 40-year politician Terry McAuliffe. It just does,’ Youngkin said at an appearance Tuesday night. ‘But also at George Soros-backed allies, these allies that are in the left, liberal progressive movement. They’ve inserted political operatives into our school system disguised as school boards.'”