From The San Francisco Examiner

 

(I had a Trump troll come to this blog today and lie about what was behind the Pelosi attack. The troll "Anonymous" repeated a lie and a Qanon conspiracy theory it heard on some Right Wing talk show or read in a Right Wing rag. This report is from the San Francisco Examiner, which includes what the SF police reported.)

The man accused of attacking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband with a hammer after breaking into their San Francisco home told police he planned to hold her hostage and break "her kneecaps," targeting her because of her leadership within the Democratic Party.

David DePape, 42, told the San Francisco Police Department in an interview on Friday that he didn't leave the couple's Pacific Heights home after Paul Pelosi called 911 because he viewed himself as a freedom fighter without the option of surrender, comparing himself to the American founding fathers in the Revolutionary War. 

A summary of DePape's police interview was filed in U.S. District Court on Monday as part of an affidavit. Prosecutors charged DePape that day with assault on the immediate family member of a federal official and attempted kidnapping of a federal official. 

The San Francisco District Attorney's Office said earlier on Monday it would file charges against DePape, a Richmond resident. He is expected to appear in court on Tuesday. 

DePape told police he broke into the Pelosis' home by breaking a glass door with a hammer, seeking out the San Francisco congresswoman because he saw her as the "leader of the pack" of the Democratic Party's lies, FBI Special Agent Stephanie Minor wrote in an affidavit. 

He claimed he wanted to hold Pelosi hostage and would only release her if she told the "truth," which DePape said he didn't expect. As a result, he told police he planned to break her kneecaps, so Pelosi would need to enter Congress in a wheelchair and show her colleagues there were consequences for her actions. 

"Where is Nancy?"

BREAKING:  I just heard that Paul Pelosi is in the ICU and his family has gathered around him. I don't know anything further than that, and I don't know what the implications are in the report.

That's what the attacker who bludgeoned Paul Pelosi in his home called out. 

 SAN FRANCISCO — Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, was violently assaulted by a man who broke into the couple’s home in San Francisco early Friday morning, the police said. 

The authorities identified the suspect as David Depape, 42, and said they were investigating a possible motive. 

The details: The San Francisco Police responded to a break-in at the Pelosi residence at 2:27 a.m. on Friday, Chief William Scott said in a news conference. The assailant, who pulled a hammer from Mr. Pelosi and “violently attacked” him in front of police officers, has been charged with attempted homicide, the chief said. 

The intruder was in search of Speaker Pelosi, according to a person briefed on the attack, and confronted Mr. Pelosi in the couple’s home shouting: “Where is Nancy, where is Nancy?”

NYTimes:

"The police said the intruder was David DePape, a 42-year-old from Berkeley, Calif. CNN reported that DePape’s relatives confirmed that a Facebook account spewing Trumpian conspiracies on topics ranging from climate change to Covid was his. In his posts, he cast doubt on the validity of the 2020 election — sharing pillow pusher and Trump lickspittle Mike Lindell’s absurd videos. And he defended the Trump rioters who stormed the Capitol. 

 With his usual level of class, Donald Trump put out a message of sympathy to the family of Jerry Lee Lewis, “the Killer” of rock ’n’ roll, who died Friday at age 87, but said nothing all day about the Pelosi family."

Since the odious Trump descended the escalator in 2016, we've seen the descent into violence and mayhem in America. I don't believe we'll recover from the destruction to our republic Donald J. Trump and his MAGAts have caused America since his ascent to power. 

The GQP has fundamentally changed America. 

For the worse. And IMO we will never recover.

Trump endorsed the loser.

 

Bolsonaro lost! 

HOORAY! HOORAY! HOORAY!

Brazil ElectionBrazil Elects Lula, a Leftist Former Leader, in a Rebuke of Bolsonaro

YOUR SUNDAY MOMENT OF ZEN

 

SATURDAY NIGHT DANCING AT THE MOVIES

 

This movie, Metropolis, a sci-fi film, was made in 1927 by Fritz Lang. No CGI or any other  enhancements used. Just camera work. I find it amazing.

Some facts on the U.S.'s oil production

 Frequent contributor to P.E., Dave Miller, contributed some of these facts in a comment. The rest were found @Forbes

* The U.S. is now the world’s largest oil producer and needs almost no Saudi oil; as the U.S. has already cut its imports of Saudi oil by over 90% over the last decade to a mere 356,000 barrels a day. 

* The U.S. owned Aramco but recklessly gave it to the Saudis when President Nixon and Henry Kissinger panicked in the 1970s. 

* Gasoline prices should have fallen recently to match the decline in crude oil, but refineries are enjoying a soaring windfall, with profits quadrupling from 2021 levels. Refiners have added $30 a barrel in refining margins on top of the price of crude—even though 1 million barrels per day in refining capacity was added in 2022 with more coming in 2023. That’s not counting the return of hundreds of thousands of barrels of capacity which was taken offline due to idiosyncratic outages and disruptions the last couple months due to refinery mismanagement. 

* The billions of dollars oil producers lost in 2020 was not due to Biden, who had not been elected yet, but due to COVID-related economic shutdowns. 

* Federal leases under Biden far exceed those under Trump—with 3,557 permits for oil and gas drilling on public lands in Biden’s first year, far outpacing the Trump Administration’s first year total of 2,658, with record numbers of unused leases. That’s the case even though all federal leases combined account for less than 20% of all U.S. oil and gas production. 

* The U.S. already provides more gas to the EU than Russia did at its peak, and now the EU buys 80% less from Russia than they did before Russia’s attack on Ukraine. 

* The recent Saudi/OPEC price hike was not justified by oil markets as producers were already making 80% profit margins. Only the inefficient oil producer Russia, with break-even production costs twice that of Saudi Arabia, needed these price hikes, to fuel its war. 

 * U.S. SPR releases are not political. Every modern president has authorized significant SPR releases, including Donald Trump—who likewise faced attacks from self-serving industry voices. Furthermore countries like Saudi and China maintain their own sizable strategic petroleum reserves from which they released ample supplies at least until this year. 

 * Biden’s new policy of replenishing the SPR through futures contracts, taking advantage of backward-dated futures markets where oil is hovering cheaply around $70 a barrel, locks in hefty profits for domestic oil producers for years to come—which Riyadh refused to do.

 

October 25 -- St. Crispin's Day

 

Republicans' War on Women and Girls

 

YOUR SUNDAY MOMENT OF ZEN

 

SATURDAY NIGHT DANCING

 

What a surprise! The Lying Liar Lied! Under Oath!

 

A federal judge found that Donald Trump LIED  UNDER OATH about voter fraud in Georgia while trying to overturn the 2020 election results.

A federal judge said Wednesday that Trump lied under oath about voter fraud claims in the 2020 election. 

Trump "knew that the specific numbers of voter fraud were wrong" but touted them "both in court and to the public," 

Judge David Carter wrote. Carter made the determination in a ruling ordering a GOP lawyer to turn over his communications to the Jan. 6 committee.

What are the gobshites saying?

"Jan 6 was an idiotic freakshow and a stain and embarrassment on our nation, but it doesn’t come close to 9/11."

Excuse me?

A FOREIGN ENTITY attacked our country and flew planes into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. Another attack by the same FOREIGN ENTITY was thwarted and downed in Pennsylvania by brave passengers on Flight 93, which was probably headed toward the Capitol building.

January 6 was attack on our country BY OUR OWN PEOPLE, who were in the Capitol building hunting down Speaker Pelosi and Vice President Pence, hoping to do them bodily harm -- even KILL them.

Which one is worse? January 6, because traitors to our own country were the people who perpetrated that evil act.

Leave it to Trumpers to not be able to see the difference and to pretend what happened on January 6 was NBD -- even though the NBD was being led by American insurrectionists against their own government, spurred by a defeated POTUS who lied to his gullible supporters about the 2020 election.

Donald Trump KNEW he lost, and he willfully lied to his supporters and Republican lawmakers in Congress to get them to overturn a free and fair election.

This NEVER happened in America until the Liar, Cheat, and Fraud lost an election and tried to steal it from the American people.

America has faced foreign enemies before and prevailed against them.

But 35% of the voting public STILL support the man who lied about the 2020 election being stolen and would have stopped the peaceful transfer of power for the first time in American history, unlawfully installing himself, like a tin-pot dictator, in the presidency.

Dear gawd! THIS! is what America is up against. Foolish people who haven't the ability to see the glaring differences between 9/11 and J6, and what it means to our democratic republic.

We now know that there are forces within America who seek to destroy our democracy and who look to countries like Hungary and Russia as models for America. 

MEANWHILE, the capo di tutti capi of all grifters, Donald J. Trump, overcharged the country he was head of for Secret Service lodgings while he made 500 visits to his properties while in office. 

"The Trump Organization appears to have overcharged the Secret Service for stays at Trump-owned properties by agents protecting the then-president. The charges exceeded the government's approved rate, according to the House Oversight Committee, which says Secret Service records show payments totaling over $1.4 million. 

 "The exorbitant rates charged to the Secret Service and agents' frequent stays at Trump-owned properties raise significant concerns about the former President's self-dealing and may have resulted in a taxpayer-funded windfall for former President Trump's struggling businesses," Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney wrote in a letter to Kimberly Cheatle, the service's director.

According to the documents, the Secret Service was charged as much as $1,185 per room per night, nearly five times the government rate, which is set by the General Services Administration."

 

BREAKING: Ghislaine Maxwell just said Trump gave her a "big boost" after she was arrested when he said he wished her well. 

 Why does Trump wish pedophiles well? 

Well of course he would. Who else but Donald J. Trump would give encouragement to a woman who was the lover of a disgusting criminal pedophile who procured and joined with Epstein in his sexual exploitation and abuse of minors?

Donald Trump has shockingly horrible taste in people he "boosts."  But his "Christian Nationalist" fans will never, ever stop supporting the ex-president and phenomenal dirt bag.

The Friday Night Herschel Walker vs Senator Ralph Warnock Debate:

 

"Surely, the event’s significance boiled down to Walker’s decision to defend his claim to have worked for law enforcement by holding up an honorary police badge, which has no official significance, and declaring, 'I am work with many police officers.'”

The current Trumpublican Party believes this deeply flawed candidate would be a great addition to the United States Senate. 

Herschel Walker threatened to KILL his ex-wife.

Herschel Walker is an absentee father.

Herschel Walker paid for his girlfriend's abortion.

Herschel Walker lied about his education.

Herschel Walker lied about supervising several hospitals.

Herschel Walker lied about being in law enforcement.

The Trumpublican Party is OK with all of this.

Ask yourself if you think the Trumpublican Party would believe a Black Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate with the same background as Walker would be THE BEST candidate?

We know the answer.

We also know that the Trumpublican Party cares nothing for the truth, honor, decency, and last but not least "family values.

The choice of Walker as a candidate is grossly cynical. To choose a Black man with a history of domestic violence as well as either a mental handicap or brain damage from playing football that prevents him from expressing himself clearly, is an insult to every Black person or ANY person who would actually qualify for the job. 

A senator is supposed to represent the people who elect him, to understand the issues that concern his constituents, and to serve as a role model, mentor, and a person with the kind of experience and education to perform the office to the best of her/his ability. 

And this is who they choose?

YOUR SUNDAY MOMENT OF ZEN

 

SATURDAY NIGHT DANCING

 

Secret Service received this warning 11 days before the J6 attack: “Their plan is to literally kill people. Please, please take this tip seriously and investigate further.”

That heading is alarming, but there are people in America who think inflation and gas prices are more serious than a POTUS who lied about the 2020 election and schemed to hang onto the presidency he LOST. There are people who don't care about the end of democracy and will ignore the facts that came out of yesterday's J6 Committee hearing.

Here are more facts that should scare us all:

"The committee also found tape of Roger Stone, another Trump confidant, declaring on the day before the election, “I really do suspect it’ll still be up in the air, but when that happens the key thing to do is to claim victory. Possession is nine-tenths of the law." He added, “I said f--k the voting, let’s get right to the violence.”

And this:

"Plus, although the committee was unable to retrieve deleted texts exchanged among Secret Service agents on Jan. 6, there is considerable evidence that the Secret Service and others had been warned of violence. One source told the Secret Service that the Proud Boys wanted to 'literally kill people,' adding, 'Please please take this tip seriously and investigate further.'

It defies credulity that the Secret Service or intelligence committee would conceal this from Trump. Indeed, the agency scrambled to prevent Trump from going to the Capitol on Jan. 6."

Donald Trump’s supporters had come to kill.

The White House knew it. President Trump knew it. And yet he knowingly sent armed fanatics to the Capitol with murder on their minds, then he sat back and watched for hours the violence they unleashed.

"So trump’s stolen election lie was planned months before the election. And how about the unexpected, post-election order to withdraw from Somalia and Afghanistan! Nancy was begging for assistance. The GOP lies exposed! Thank you for your dedicated work @January6thCmte! Now we know."

Glenn Kirschner @glennkirschner I had the pleasure of attending today’s J6 committee hearing, and you know what I saw? I saw proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Donald Trump committed several federal felonies. Time for accountability. #TimeToIndict.

 BREAKING:

Supreme Court Rejects Trump Request to Intervene in Documents Case

Without comment or any noted dissents, the court issued a one-sentence statement that amounted to a stinging rebuke to the former president.

The Most Vile Man in America

 

Alex Jones ordered to pay nearly $1 billion to Sandy Hook families 

Jones is a particularly loathsome worm, lacking all decent human qualities. 

A Connecticut jury ordered the founder of Infowars to pay the damages to the families of eight victims of the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary, as well as an FBI agent who responded to the massacre, for years of lies that the shooting was a hoax.

Trump, who is a repulsive human being in his own right, has nothing but admiration and praise for Jones: 

"Jones is a reckless purveyor of conspiracy theories and a prominent supporter of former president Donald Trump, who has returned the praise. 

'Your reputation is amazing,' Trump told Jones in late 2015 as he ramped up his campaign for the presidency. 'I won’t let you down.'”

"In 2018, YouTube, Facebook, Apple, Spotify and Twitter all removed Jones from their platforms, saying he violated their policies against abusive and harmful content."

Slander is NOT free speech. Jones deserves every financial blow and MORE that justice will give him. 

From a friend:

"It is a testament to the civility of the parents and all their friends and relatives that none of them hunted down their tormentor, though I expect more than a few of them thought about it. 

The next phase of this ugly saga still lies ahead where the plaintiffs have to go back to court repeatedly to enforce the judgement and part Jones from his ill gotten wealth. 

 In a better country what Jones has done and is doing would be criminal, and we would have been spared most of this blight on humanity. 

 In a better country no one would have given Jones an audience, but here we are."

All decent Americans are ashamed that this country could produce and give a voice to this depraved and cowardly blight on humanity.

The Party of Trump and "Family Values:"

The Party of Trump, once called the Republican Party that valued character, that called abortion "baby killing," and that ridiculed Black men who made babies with several women and were absentee fathers, has embraced Herschel Walker and forgiven him for his hypocritical life and lies about being a good father.  That same political party ridiculed and detested Barack Obama -- who had only one wife and was a faithful husband and responsible, loving father.

The current Party of Trump cares nothing for family values, honesty, and decency in who they run for political office, q.v. Donald J. Trump, Herschel Walker.  

The current Party of Trump has gone all in for Mammon in service to political power.

Source: Washington Post 

"The mother of one of Herschel Walker’s children had to repeatedly press the former football star who is now the Republican Senate nominee in Georgia for funds to pay for a 2009 abortion that she said he wanted her to have, according to the woman and a person she confided in at the time. 

 “When I talked to him, I said, 'You need to send — I can’t afford to pay for this,” the woman said in one of several interviews with The Washington Post in recent days, adding that she also told him: “We did this, too. Both of us did this. We both know how babies are made.” 

The woman, who lived in the Atlanta area at the time, said she became pregnant when she was unemployed and had less than $600 in her bank account. Walker sent a $700 check via FedEx about a week after the procedure, the woman said. 

The Post reviewed an image of the check that was printed on an ATM slip, with Walker’s name, signature and an address associated with him at the time. It was deposited nine days after the woman said she had an abortion. 

The Post has reviewed a receipt for $575 at a women’s medical center that day. She said she did not know exactly how much an abortion would cost and estimated the amount she told Walker she would need based on online searches."

And this:

"The second time she became pregnant, in 2011, Walker also did not respond immediately to her calls, she said. Walker again said she should not have the baby, according to the woman and her confidant. Again, Walker said it was “not a good time” for a baby, she said. 

 But the woman said she did not want to undergo a second abortion and felt fate had intervened, with the second pregnancy being a “sign” that she should raise the child. Walker sent occasional checks to the woman during her second pregnancy, she said, but the money didn’t come on any regular schedule so she could not depend on it. 

“It was just whenever he felt like getting around to it,” the woman recalled. Eventually the woman took Walker to court to get child support, records show. 

 “The child’s mother is a graduate student … struggling to make ends meet,” according to a May 2013 statement about that case from her lawyer at the time, Andres Alonso. 

“Unfortunately, Mr. Walker has thus far decided not to take full financial responsibility for the care of his alleged son.” 

Reminder: We don't care that Herschel Walker and his former girlfriend decided to have an abortion. It's the Republicans who think he is a baby murderer, not us. 

On the other hand, we do care, and you should too, that he is a violent misogynist who beats up his intimate partners, threatens to murder them, abandons his children, and refuses to pay child support. 

He's a bad person. Period.

A vote for Herschel Walker is a vote of approval for men who behave like him.

There are so many stories in the news today...

 but this one caught my eye. It's personal.

For some reason, Hannity of FAUX NOOZ aired this telephone conversation between Joe Biden and his son Hunter:

What did Hannity hope to achieve by airing this to his audience? 

What it shows is a compassionate, loving father dealing with a terrible problem that millions and millions of parents in this country deal with every day. So where's the story here? Did Hannity think this audio would put Joe Biden in a bad light?

It doesn't. What this audio showed is a decent father who loves his son and who stood by him in the most difficult time of his life. Joe Biden is the very embodiment of what fake Christians like to preach but seldom, if ever, follow: "Love one another." Their very own Savior teaches them that is the most important thing. And here's a father doing it in one of the most difficult situations a parent can face.

FAUX NOOZ thought this was an "own" on Joe Biden:

So many parents have experienced this heartbreak. It takes FAUX NOOZ to exploit a family’s private issues. I hope they never have to go through it but if they do, I'd hope they'd tell their child, “I love you more than the whole world.”

Thank you, FAUX NOOZ and Hannity for showing your viewers the decent and caring man that is Joe Biden. I'll stick with this loving, compassionate father -- HE is the embodiment of what Christians believe Christianity is about.

This guy is NOT!

 

 

SATURDAY NIGHT DANCING

 

With Fred and Ginger:

The Pride of the GOP:

 

Herschel Walker asked girlfriend to have second abortion, New York Times reports

Woman who said Georgia Senate hopeful Herschel Walker paid for her 2009 abortion told The New York Times he asked her to terminate a second pregnancy two years later.

I found this in the Washington Post today.

 

We need to pay attention:

"147 Republican Congressmen participated in the Jan. 6th plan to overthrow the 2020 election. Many of them are running for office, asking for our vote when they did not respect out vote in 2020. 

 Look up the candidates HERE.  

These Republicans are more than election deniers, they are the perpetrators of the plan to seize power by non-democratic means. 

The fact that these Republicans and others want to control the voting process when they wanted to cheat the voting process in 2020 makes it clear that they do not respect democracy.

How do we correct this mass delusion when 30-35% of the population doesn't care about objective reality? (The guy who runs the blog in the link NEVER, EVER supplies ANY evidence for his belief in the stolen election. He's just one sorry example among many.) 

I cite him and his blog to illustrate how people like him contribute to the Big Lie; and eventually, if we don't stop this mass delusion, the Big Lie will be the end of our democracy. And he and ilk will bear the blame.

Inflation and gas prices are transitory challenges. 

The loss of Democracy is forever. 

This is who the former Republican Party supports for the US Senate from Georgia:

From The Daily Beast: 

"Herschel Walker says he has no idea who this woman is who claims she had an abortion at his urging. 

We can now reveal, with her permission, that the woman is actually the mother of one of his children."

 

In addition to domestic abuse and violence, recent reports (with documentation) revealed Walker paid for an abortion for a girlfriend (he denies it.)  Walker is against abortion for ANY reason, even to save the life of the mother. 

That's just hypocrisy No. 1. There's more:

 

Walker's been vocal about Black men being absentee fathers. We now know that he fathered more than one child out of wedlock, in fact, he's fathered FOUR. And has been an absentee father!

Big wigs in the Trumpublican Party have praised Walker and stated he'd make a great US Senator -- Nikki Haley is one of those who can't say enough good things about Walker. And Walker has the undying support of a fellow sexual assaulter, Donald Trump -- the guy who lost the last presidential election and who incited an insurrection against his own government and encouraged an armed mob to hang his vice president.

Walker is being used by the Trumpublican Party to advance their anti-democracy agenda, and the party and its supporters don't care about his personal background, which is antithetical to everything the former Republican Party was for!  

"...back in July 2021, the Associated Press reported that Walker’s ex-wife had secured a protective order against him and that relatives had informed her that he’d told them he planned to kill her. 

 Walker denied to police that he’d made the threats, per the AP, but one relative testified to this under oath, and a judge saw “good cause” to grant the protective order. What’s more, as the AP delicately put it, Walker “alarmed business associates with unpredictable behavior.” --WaPo

 “Republicans stand with him,” [said] Senator Rick Scott, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

This is a cynical and shameful political bargain, but nothing new from the former Republican Party. The current Trumpublican Party doesn't care about policies, the law, the Constitution, or personal character and human decency.

Afterall, they fell over themselves to support a Liar, a Cheat, and a Fraud for president of the U.S., and they got what they deserved. Good and hard.

Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter

New GOP: “I’m against abortion in all cases except for convenience of the father, politics, and personal interest.”

6:57 PM ∙ Oct 4, 2022

 

BREAKING NEWS:

Trump Asks Supreme Court to Intervene in Review of Mar-a-Lago Records 

In earlier cases, the justices have ruled against Mr. Trump when he sought to shield his financial and presidential records from prosecutors and congressional investigators.

On October 1, Trump said...

 *SEE BELOW, PLEASE.

"I don't believe we'll ever have a fair election again."

This is how countries abandon democratic norms and turn themselves over to strongmen dictators -- authoritarians who say "Only I can fix it!"

And just to be clear, Trump did NOT question the 2016 election that he won. He did, however, warn his cultists that if he lost, that would mean that the election was rigged. Trump said the same thing in 2020. The election is rigged when he loses; the election is fair when he wins.

"It's not only our faith in the election process that is at stake here. It is our very ability to discern fact from fiction. there was NEVER any evidence of a rigged election as sure as there is no evidence that the Earth is flat." -- Gordon Brooks

Cultists don't know they're in a cult. And this is a dangerous, anti-democratic cult, led by a messianic crook:

PS: Can anyone name one policy Donald Trump has articulated at his rallies that tells his cultists how he would lower food costs? Lower energy costs? Help Americans with health care costs? 

All Trump offers his cultists are grievances, whining about the election he lost, calling people names, and telling his gullibles how great he is.

Like the GQP, there is no plan, no policy, no vision for America -- just lies and support for other liars running for political office.

*H/T to Dave Miller for this link:

Bulwark 

MORNING SHOTS 

The Trump Before Trump: Krauthammer's Warning 

Plus: Herschel's abortion "bombshell" 

-- Charlie Sykes

YOUR SUNDAY MOMENT OF ZEN

 

SATURDAY NIGHT DANCING