Lurker > Humble_Novice

https://tinyurl.com/mrhh6k2u

https://www.rawstory.com/republican-jail-sentence/

Bo Michael Dresner, a former precinct chairman for the Hays County, Texas Republican Party, was sentenced to more than four centuries in prison after pleading guilty to multiple counts of child sexual abuse and more than 60 claims related to child pornography with the intention to promote.

Although Dresner had originally pleaded not guilty after first being arrested on the charges five years ago, he changed his plea once his trial started earlier this month, reports MySanAntonion.com.

The trial was to feature testimony both from Dresner's own daughter and from another child who once lived in Dresner's home.

Dresner immediately raised suspicions when police started investigating claims that he abused children when he was pulled over on his way to an airport and found in possession of a one-way ticket to Armenia, which does not extradite alleged criminals back to the United States.

A subsequent search of his electronic devices featured hundreds of thousands of child pornography images and his search history showed he was looking for countries that specifically did not have extradition treaties with the United States.

Let them fight.

https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1769104156554403951
https://twitter.com/maddenifico/status/1769179919018295576
https://twitter.com/marlene4719/status/1769348857945612561

https://twitter.com/ScooterCasterNY/status/1769418159017033973

https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1768073545941229776

https://www.newsweek.com/florida-homeowners-losing-house-attom-1878771

Florida has registered one of the highest rates of home foreclosure filings in the nation, ATTOM said, amid an annual increase at the national level of such filings.

The real estate data analysis firm reported that one in every 2,632 housing units in Florida had a foreclosure filing in February. South Carolina registered foreclosure filings for one in every 2,248 homes, while Delaware had one in every 2,428.

Home repossession filings increased annually countrywide, with one in every 4,279 homes receiving a foreclosure filingthese are default notices, auctions or lender repossessions. The rate decreased 1 percent from the previous month, but it was 8 percent higher than it was in February 2023.

"The annual uptick in U.S. foreclosure activity hints at shifting dynamics within the housing market," Rob Barber, ATTOM's CEO, said in a statement. "These trends could signify evolving financial landscapes for homeowners, prompting adjustments in market strategies and lending practices. We continue to closely monitor these trends to comprehend their complete effect on foreclosure activity."

In 28 states, the number of completed foreclosures fell 14 percent from January and 11 percent from the year before. The states that saw the highest declines were Georgia at 52 percent, New York at 41 percent and North Carolina at 34 percent. Meanwhile, South Carolina had one of the highest rates of completed foreclosures at 51 percent, followed by Missouri at 50 percent and Pennsylvania at 46 percent.

Two cities in Florida had the highest rates of foreclosures for areas with populations of at least 1 million people: Orlandowith one in 1,938 housing units experiencing foreclosuresand Miami, with one in every 2,392.

In February, lenders began the foreclosure process on more than 22,500 properties, a 4 percent increase from the previous month and 11 percent higher than a year ago.

Giving conservatives a dose of their own medicine.

All the more reason to go out and vote blue like your life depends on it.

At least YouTube's not Twitter or Facebook.

Apparently, this all started because some chud melted down over a young girl being made dinner by her own dad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lROWCsZZUgg

Southernfatman posted...

"Waaaah, people can't go to their obviously biased and bought judges!"

I can think of another place that has four letters and starts with the letter H where he needs to be.

Fixed because some fools will assume you're referring to Heaven.

UnfairRepresent posted...

I'm not sure since it was from his twitter but here's an indisputable one:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/2/2e71b70e.jpg

I just checked and he was actually talking about B. Dylan Hollis in his tweet.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/f/fbe7b791.jpg

UnfairRepresent posted...

Matt Purslow.
White British.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/9/9ce76bc8.jpg

That's a pic of B. Dylan Hollis, not Matt Purslow.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/one-far-leader-ousted-another-100007171.html

Shasta County voters have booted from office a key figure in the county's hard-right shift, even as the fate of a second far-right crusader on the powerful Board of Supervisors still hangs in the balance.

Patrick Jones, a former chair of the five-member board, was soundly defeated in the Super Tuesday election, according to results released by the county registrar Friday afternoon. With 98% of the vote counted, Jones' opponent, Matt Plummer, a nonprofit adviser, was winning outright with nearly 60% of the vote.

It marked a stunning turn for Jones, a gun store manager who in his one term in office has emerged as a leading voice in an ultraconservative insurgence that transformed this largely rural Northern California county into a national poster child for hard-right governance and election denialism.

In recent months, Jones led the conspiracy-laden charge to dump Dominion voting machines and return the county to hand-counting its ballots. He helped push through a county resolution pledging fealty to the 2nd Amendment and a measure to allow concealed weapons in local government buildings, in defiance of state law.

More broadly, he worked with militia members and secessionists on campaign efforts that dramatically reshaped governance in a county long run by mainstream Republicans.

In another closely watched primary race, Jones' political ally, Supervisor Kevin Crye, was surviving a recall election by just 46 votes. Crye made headlines last year when he enlisted support for nixing Dominion machines from Mike Lindell, the MyPillow chief executive and pro-Trump election denier.

Meanwhile, Allen Long, a retired Redding police lieutenant and relative moderate, was the front-runner in a race to fill an open board seat representing western Shasta County. In a four-way race, Long had 50.3% of the vote on Friday and was narrowly avoiding a runoff.

On the campaign trail, Long said, many voters shared his horror at what they heard coming out of supervisors' meetings and felt "a desperation for change." The county government, he said, should focus on issues like homelessness and making local communities safer from wildfires.

"I was watching the politics here in our county, and I thought, 'Wow, this has really become extreme,'" he said. "I wanted to guide us back to the middle."

Running a distant second, with 19% of the vote, was Laura Hobbs, who said in her candidate statement she is a stay-at-home mom who is "100% MAGA and America First." She recently accused incumbent Supervisor Mary Rickert a moderate Republican who regularly opposes Jones and Crye of worshiping Satan because her license plate has the number "666" on it.

In her own reelection bid, Rickert led with 40.4% of the vote, but appears to be headed for a runoff against quarry owner Corkey Harmon. Win Carpenter, a prominent far-right voice in the State of Jefferson secessionist movement, was running third.

Taken as a whole, the election results could signal a shift toward the political center in Shasta County or at least a desire for a local government more focused on day-to-day life and operations.

"The last couple of years have been exhausting. And difficult," said Jenny O'Connell, a Redding resident who voted in favor of Crye's recall. "People are saying, 'I just need this to stop. I need just sanity and normalcy.'"

"Part of the problem of dealing with constant insanity," she added, "is that after awhile you forget how crazy it is."

Even if Crye survives the recall, Jones' loss is expected to upend leadership on the board, where ultraconservatives currently have a 3-2 majority.

For years, Jones directed his ire at the longtime registrar-recorder, Cathy Darling Allen, the only Democrat elected to countywide office, publicly accusing her of lying about voting machines.

Elections staffers have been harassed, and during a June 2022 election, someone hung a trail camera the kind hunters use to track wildlife in the alley behind the registrar's office. Darling Allen, 55, recently announced that she will retire this spring because she has been diagnosed with heart failure and needs to reduce her stress level.

Jones' opponent, Plummer, told The Times he had knocked on nearly 9,000 doors while campaigning and that people didn't want to talk about partisan politics but preferred to discuss issues integral to their daily lives like crime and roads.

"We disassociated politics from those everyday issues, because a lot of politics has become about rhetoric and ideology instead of the core issues," Plummer said.

Many residents have grown tired of the drama.

Last spring, after the Dominion vote, residents in Cryes district launched a recall just months after he took office in an election he won by 90 votes. Organizers said they were angered by his decision to upend the voting system, as well as his exploring the idea of hiring a California secessionist leader as the county's chief executive.

He hadnt told us that he was going to do all these things, said retired public defender Jeff Gorder, a leader of the recall effort. In our view, he lied about what he was going to do and he started pursuing this extremist agenda.

Crye did not respond to requests for comment. But he did talk about the recall on his radio show last month, saying the attacks on him have been painful. He called the people behind the recall flat-out liars.

Supervisor Kelstrom, a local chamber of commerce director whose 2022 campaign platform included a desire to bring the punishment back to crime and punishment, remains on the board as an ultraconservative member. He was not up for reelection and could not be reached for comment.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/mitch-mcconnell-fumes-courts-crack-163005320.html

Plaintiffs will no longer be able to choose which judge hears their case due to a policy announced this week that will enforce random judge selection in civil suits that pertain to national legislation. The policy will limit the practice of judge-shopping a tactic long utilized by litigants to effectively guarantee favorable outcomes, according to Politico.

Prior to the policys announcement, plaintiffs have been able to cherry-pick judges sympathetic to their cause, but the new policy will enforce random judge selection in cases involving national and state-wide policy implementation. This move, hailed as a win by Democrats, aims to promote impartiality and reduce bias in the court systems.

Judge-shopping has long been utilized by Republicans, who pick single-judge judicial districts with conservative inclinations. Random judge selection will not be geographically restricted and judges will be chosen randomly from any of the 94 federal judicial districts.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., criticized the new policy, calling it half-baked guidance that just does Washington Democrats bidding," according to NBC News.

McConnell and other Republicans have urged judges nationwide to resist the policy, claiming it will shut down access to justice in the venues favored by conservatives.

Texas has long been the site of numerous judge-shopping incidents, where cases challenging the Biden administrations federal policies were brought to sympathetic judges. The attempt to remove the abortion drug mifepristone from shelves was purposely seen in the town of Amarillo, where Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, a conservative Trump-era appointee, was almost guaranteed to preside. The Supreme Court will consider the removal later this month.

Democrats also utilized judge-shopping during the Trump administration in New York and California, but the judge selection wasnt as sure-fire as similar efforts in places such as Texas due to the districts being much larger with more available judges.

It is your job to manage the caseload of your court according to the dictates of local circumstances and convention, McConnell states in a letter to Chief Judge Reeves of Kentucky penned Thursday.

We therefore hope and expect that you will continue to do what is in the interest of justice for litigants in your jurisdiction without regard to partisan battles in Washington, D.C. If at any time current law is insufficient to meet the needs of justice, you can be assured that Congress and not the Judicial Conference will make the relevant changes.

https://www.reddit.com/r/LeopardsAteMyFace/comments/1bfvt2t/searches_for_vpns_spike_in_texas_after_pornhub/

https://bsky.app/profile/goldstein.bsky.social/post/3knr3gfynzx27
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/7/7bf2a534.jpg

https://www.mediaite.com/news/lauren-boebert-rages-at-selfish-ken-buck-for-rigging-her-reelection-bid-in-his-district/

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) fumed on Wednesday that Rep. Ken Bucks (R-CO) resignation next week will muddy her chances to stay in Congress, which she slammed as selfish on his part.

Buck, a hardline conservative who has become a thorn in the side of MAGA House Republicans, surprised the political establishment Tuesday by announcing he will retire at the end of next week. Buck had previously announced last November he would not seek reelection, a move that prompted Boebert to switch from CO-3 to Bucks CO-4 district.

Boebert has been plagued by scandal after scandal and nearly lost her reelection bid last cycle to the same Democrat challenging her again this year. Her move to CO-4, if she can win the June primary, would set her up in a much safer seat and give her a fresh start.

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-cutting-medicare-social-security-benefits-2024-3

Donald Trump on Monday handed President Joe Biden a gift while calling in to CNBC.

When asked how the US could cut spending and his outlook on handling entitlements like Social Security and Medicare benefits, Trump suggested cuts could be made to the programs, which offer guaranteed financial support to retired and disabled workers.

"There is a lot you can do in terms of entitlements in terms of cutting and in terms of also the theft and the bad management of entitlements, tremendous bad management of entitlements. There's tremendous amounts of things and numbers of things you can do," Trump told CNBC's Joe Kernen in a rambling response to the question that touched on the stock market, oil drilling, and his administration's response to the COVID pandemic.

He added: "I know that they're going to end up weakening Social Security because the country is weak," in an apparent suggestion that the Biden administration would make cuts to the program.

Trump's campaign quickly jumped into damage-control mode, sending out a press release saying that the former president's remarks had focused on "protecting entitlements like Social Security and Medicare" and that he "would get rid of waste and fraud."

But Biden seized upon Trump's remarks just as quickly, telling a crowd of voters in New Hampshire that Trump had said cuts to the programs were on the table. Biden vowed to protect the entitlements more than 70 million Americans rely on.

"I won't cut Social Security and I won't cut Medicare," Biden said, per CNN, adding: "I will protect and strengthen Social Security, Medicare and make the wealthy begin to pay their fair share."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/hungarys-orban-ready-occupy-brussels-122628621.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/oklahoma-recall-vote-judd-blevins-enid-city-council-rcna143041

ENID, Okla. The photo of Judd Blevins was unmistakable.

In it, Blevins, bearded and heavyset, held a tiki torch on the University of Virginia campus, on the eve of Unite the Right, a 2017 coming-together of the nations neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups.

Connie Vickers had found the photo online along with others showing Blevins marching alongside an angry mob a crowd of men recorded throughout the night spitting and shouting Jews will not replace us! Vickers had it enlarged at a local print and copy shop. On a January night in 2023, she and Nancy Presnall, best friends, retirees and rare Democrats in a deeply red Oklahoma county, brought it to a sparsely attended forum where Blevins, a candidate running to represent Ward 1 on Enids six-seat City Council, was making his case.

They had hoped to get a question in while Blevins was on stage, but settled for confronting him after.

Hearts pumping, Presnall and Vickers approached the 41-year-old former Marine. From a kitchen trash bag, Vickers pulled out the blown-up photo of Blevins and asked about his ties to white nationalists.

As his campaign manager whisked a red-faced Blevins away, Vickers and Presnall followed, yelling, Answer the question, Judd!

He ran away from two little old ladies, Presnall recalled.

But a white nationalist campaigning for office is one thing; his election is another. And Blevins win didnt sit well with many in Enid. It marked the beginning of a fight to expel Blevins from the City Council a fight for the very soul of Enid that would unite a coalition of its most progressive residents, divide its conservatives and show the power of community organizing.

Over the next year, grandmothers would be branded antifa radicals, local organizers would be accused of attempted murder, and a national white power movement would stake its claim on the City Council. And for a growing number of state and local governments confronting extremism in their ranks, the outcome of that fight Blevins recall election on April 2 will serve either as a model or a warning.

Blevins has declined multiple interview requests. (In response to questions about his white nationalist ties, he told a reporter, I hope you find God.) So when, how and why Blevins got involved with a white supremacist movement may never be known.

What is clear is that from at least 2017 to 2019, Blevins was an active leader in Identity Evropa, one of the largest among the white nationalist and neo-Nazi groups that collectively made up the alt-right.

In public, Identity Evropa eschewed the racist label, opting instead for sanitized descriptors like identitarians who were focused on preserving Western culture. But privately, in secret meetings and internal online chat groups, members were clear about their motivations and beliefs. In posts that praised Nazis, denigrated racial minorities and professed the superiority of white people, pseudonymous Identity Evropa members spoke candidly about their goal of normalizing racist ideologies and infiltrating conservative politics.

The chamber was packed with members of the ESJC and Blevins supporters for the Nov. 21 meeting where the motion to censure Blevins would be decided. Mason, the mayor, was sure he had the votes.

And then Derwin Norwood spoke. Norwood, the owner of a concrete business, a registered Republican and the councils only Black member, took the floor for eight minutes. In a fiery speech that sounded at times like a sermon, Norwood told of his own experiences with racism and quoted scripture.

We need to stop this foolishness, stop fighting, stop bickering, Norwood said.

And then, although Blevins hadnt directly asked for his forgiveness, Norwood was moved by the Holy Spirit to offer it. He remembers it like an out-of-body experience.

Stand up, Norwood told Blevins. Do you love me?

Yes I do, as a brother in Christ, Blevins replied.

l forgive you, Norwood said, and the men embraced to applause and groans.

With that, the votes were gone. The council voted unanimously to table the matter until after the recall election.

No one not the mayor or Blevins or the ESJC or Norwood himself had expected the display, photos of which led news coverage and white nationalist websites alike. Norwood knows his voice carries extra weight when the topic is racism, and he knows that his forgiveness, and that hug, might have given cover to Blevins, but he didnt see any other way.

A lot of people were mad at me, Norwood said, sitting in the lobby of Enids new, but empty, downtown hotel. But Im proud of what I did. I was the example of righteousness.

Besides, he continued, Now no one can say that we influenced the election.

The ESJC collected more than enough signatures and filed its petition to recall Blevins. There was still one hiccup: finding someone to replace him.

They discussed supporting a progressive Democrat, but this was no time for delusions Blevins was already sending out campaign mailers featuring pro-LGBTQ Facebook posts from Balden and Neal, the chair and vice chair, as evidence that any candidate who tried to unseat him would be a tool of the ESJC. At a City Council meeting in December, Blevins pointed his finger toward Balden and offered a warning.

I want anybody whos thinking about filing to understand this. You will be the social justice squads candidate, he said. You will have to campaign as this candidate in a ward that went for Donald Trump by 80%. So good luck with that.

They say older people tend to experience more mood swings.

So he was a NEET?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/rnc-add-lawyers-focusing-claims-035351726.html

https://apnews.com/article/ohio-senate-election-2024-bernie-moreno-09e34f6331708c192c89d7c1727c2458

ai123 posted...

It is used to imply that Biden supporters are as rabid and cult-like as those of Trump.

It hasn't caught on at all, though. Despite some pushing it really hard.

It's a very popular phrase with radical leftists who adamantly refuse to vote Democrat.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/kamila-valieva-russian-figure-skater-184615260.html

Banned Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva was given 56 medications, nutritional and dietary supplements, the Court of Arbitration for Sport has revealed.

They were given to Valieva over a two-year period from January 2020 to December 2021, when she was aged 13-15.

None of the substances are on the World Anti-Doping Agency's (Wada) banned list.

Valieva, 17, was given a four-year ban for doping by Cas in January.

She tested positive for banned heart medication trimetazidine in December 2021, shortly before competing in the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Cas has released a document on the other medications and supplements, which were prescribed by the Russian federal medical and biological agency (FMBA), specifically Dr Adamov, Dr Shumakov and Dr Shvetskiy.

A Russian Anti-Doping Agency (Rusada) investigation found the teenager bore "no fault or negligence" for a failed test on 25 December 2021, before Cas upheld an appeal by Wada in January.

"The doping of children is unforgivable," Wada said in response.

Speaking on Tuesday, Wada's director general Olivier Niggli said: "It is clear that the taste of this case is very unpleasant when you see that there was a choice made to sacrifice an athlete rather than indicating who actually helped her dope."

Valieva became an instant global star as the first female skater to land a quadruple jump at a Winter Olympics.

Russia won gold in the team figure skating event on 7 February 2022, but it was announced four days later that Valieva had failed a drugs test before the Games.

Her ban was backdated to the date she took the failed test, which Valieva claimed could have been caused by a strawberry dessert prepared by her grandfather on the same chopping board he used to crush his pills.

UnholyMudcrab posted...

Guys, I'm getting the feeling the Republican Party might not be in the best of shapes

And we all need to take advantage of this by turning out the vote even more. Create a blue wave so massive that even the media won't be able to spin it in a negative light.

Block_that_Kick posted...

I wont feel comfortable until its noon eastern on January 20th and its Joe Biden taking the oath of office.

Agreed. We all need to do our part and turn out the votes for Democrats in November. This is the election of our very lives here.

https://twitter.com/axidentaliberal/status/1768093349523677370

https://www.newsweek.com/republicans-against-donald-trump-ken-buck-1878848

Oof.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/f/f33707b2.jpg

Heavy_D_Forever posted...

Weak ass damage control. This lady is full blown racist and shouldn't be associated with any game developer in any role.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/f/fb16ecac.png

https://www.reddit.com/r/videogames/comments/1be2j7d/psa_the_racist_black_panther_dev_is_not_the_lead/

LinkDaLunatic posted...

love how people claim they are against racism or hate racists, then openly state that they discriminate against an entire race and don't see even the tiniest grain of hypocrisy in it.

Unfortunately, many of them work for Kotaku.
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/9/926b3355.jpg

mybbqrules posted...

Can we show the whole thread since some of us don't have Musk's propaganda site?

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/c/cec08a83.png
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/0/0b8e3129.png
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/f/f1c5fdca.png
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/e/e52ccbac.png
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/d/dcbc779c.png

On another, it turns out she's also a food blogger: https://www.instagram.com/dani.lalonders.eats/

Some of those dishes look really appetizing.

The guys in that game look hot, but many of the women... are something else, I must admit.

LeoRavus posted...

I can't tell if Validate is a game or the name of a smaller developer. She doesn't mention EA at all.

Either way she can't be saying this shit. I don't know what would even prompt her to bring up racist hiring policies so hard. "Who is your team"? "Oh they're definitely not white".

ValiDate is a game she made: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1319850/ValiDate_Struggling_Singles_in_your_Area/

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/5/5ad8521e.jpg

Looks like she made her Twitter account private.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Truth be told, can it really be called diverse if there are little to no white people around?

And right-wingers are using it to further smear leftists and persuade non-political gamers into hating content that is considered "woke". From what I've seen, they've largely succeeded in the Asian gaming sphere where fans are not too fond of (political correctness).

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/lead-developer-of-eas-new-black-panther-game-explains-why-she-doesnt-hire-white-people.1668413/

Right-wingers are up in arms over what this lead developer just said in a video:
https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/d/dbb3d97d.jpg
"I have a team of 21 right now for Validate. It's a pretty big team. It's a crazy big team for indie games. But who is your team? Validate has a team of mostly all people of color. We have no white people on our team. I did that because I wanted to create a safe environment and I know the best way for the environment to be safe is to be around people who are just like me. And I'm not saying that white people in the industry are creating unsafe environments. I'm not saying that. That is not what I'm saying. I am saying that sometimes it is hard to work with white people because they think that something may be okay, but it was really a microaggression. And no one wants to deal with that while you're trying to make a game that they love."

https://twitter.com/JoeRobinEnjoyer/status/1767879421334073535

https://www.nhpr.org/nh-news/2024-03-13/democrats-win-nh-house-seats-special-elections-results

Democrats have narrowed the slim Republican advantage in the New Hampshire House by winning two special elections on Town Meeting Day.

In Rockingham County, Portsmouth Democrat Jennifer Mandelbaum defeated Republican Carol Bush to fill the seat left vacant by the resignation of Democrat Robin Vogt, who moved out of the district late last year.

In Strafford County, Democrat Erik Johnson of Lee topped Republican Joseph Bazo of Madbury, to win the open seat created by the death of Democrat Hoy Meneer, last November.

The results were unsurprising in districts that tilt Democratic, and they shrink the GOPs partisan edge in the House to just six seats.

They also continue the strong run for Democrats in House special elections, who have won the last seven of nine of those elections since 2022.

The two GOP wins took place Jan. 23, the day of the state presidential primary, for seats in Coos County.

Tuesdays outcome means Republicans now hold a 201-195 advantage over Democrats in the House, with two independents, Maria Perez of Milford and Shaun Filiault of Keene.

Both won election in 2022 as Democrats and tend to vote with that partys caucus.

Two House seats, in Bedford and Hanover, remain unfilled.

The open seat in Bedford vacancy was caused by the resignation of Independent Rep. Dan Hynes who resigned in February.

The Hanover vacancy was caused by last months death of longtime Democratic Rep. Sharon Nordgren.

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/arrest-armed-jan-6-rioter-new-harm-gop-talking-points-rcna142788

About a month after the Jan. 6 attack, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson scoffed at those alarmed by the riot. This didnt seem like an armed insurrection to me, the Wisconsin senator said. I mean armed, when you hear armed, dont you think of firearms?

In the months and years that followed, GOP lawmakers such as Arizonas Paul Gosar and Georgias Marjorie Taylor Greene also questioned whether the insurrectionists had guns.

As recently as last week, Donald Trump himself used his social media platform to insist, while responding to President Joe Bidens State of the Union address, The so-called Insurrectionists that he talks about had no guns. They only had a Rigged Election.

Such rhetoric has long been foolish, but the GOP voices whove questioned whether the rioters were armed looked quite a bit worse late last week. NBC News reported on John Emanuel Banuelos, who allegedly fired two gunshots at the Capitol on Jan. 6, and who was arrested by federal authorities on Friday.

NBC News report added, While numerous rioters were armed with guns on Jan. 6, none were known to have actually fired their weapons; Banuelos is the first to be charged with doing so.

That distinction is relevant. Despite Republican talk about the rioters not being armed during the pro-Trump violence, the facts have been evident for quite some time. Remember this Washington Post report from nearly two years ago?