Biden ATF Nominee Repeatedly Claimed Ohio Elections are ‘Rigged’

Stephen Gutowski

April 13, 2022

The new nominee to head the ATF has a history of employing heated rhetoric to question the integrity of elections.

Steve Dettelbach, who was recently nominated to run the agency by President Joe Biden (D.), railed against Ohio’s election laws when he was the Democratic nominee for Attorney General. He repeatedly described Ohio’s elections as “rigged” and accused his Republican opponent Dave Yost of “rigging” them.

“Don’t let Yost distract you. He is part of this mess. ECOT. Secret meetings. Rigged elections,” Dettelbach tweeted on April 11th, 2018.

A review of Dettelbach’s social media by The Reload found he sent at least 17 different tweets declaring elections in Ohio were “rigged” in multiple ways. He repeated the election rigging claim in a local media interview. In November 2017, he penned an op-ed accusing Yost of defending a voter registration policy he called “insidious” and tantamount to cheating in the election.

“It’s about whether elected officials can rig the political system to get a partisan edge,” Dettelbach said.

Dettelbach’s comments are strikingly similar to those of former president Donald Trump (R.) who has continually complained his 2020 loss was due to the election being “rigged,” including as recently as this month. President Biden and his party have repeatedly condemned Trump’s rhetoric, especially in the wake of the January 6th Capitol Riot. The House Committee assigned to investigate the effort has concluded Trump’s false claims that the election was rigged were a catalyst for the violence that day and is even considering recommending charges against him.

Attacking election integrity is a bipartisan pursuit, as other Democratic campaigns have shown in recent years. Stacey Abrams, the Democratic nominee for Georgia governor, accepted the election results but refused to concede after losing in 2018, citing similar claims about voter suppression to those made by Dettelbach.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment on Dettelbach’s statements.

Dettelbach’s use of heated rhetoric about “rigged” elections could make his confirmation in an evenly divided Senate more difficult, especially since many on Capitol Hill have personally experienced the potentially violent effects of casting doubt on American elections. He is already facing a tough fight ahead due to his public support for new gun restrictions, including an “assault weapons” ban, and previous endorsements from gun-control groups. President Biden’s previous pick for the job, David Chipman, failed to secure 50 votes over concerns about his rhetoric, support for strict new gun laws, and accusations of racial bias.

Dettelbach’s accusations of election rigging were centered around two separate policies within Ohio. The first was the way the state draws district maps which, as in many states, has been an ongoing political struggle. Dettelbach accused Yost of secretly helping draw the districts to disenfranchise Democratic-leaning voters.

“The political system is broken, and my opponent can’t fix it, because he helped break it,” Dettelbach tweeted. “In 2011, he hid in a secret hotel room with partisans to rig Ohio election maps.”

He also attacked Ohio’s voter registration system as corrupt. Dettelbach said the system, which attempts to remove voters from the rolls if the state believes they’ve moved out of the district they’re registered in, was another example of how Republicans had fixed elections in the state.

“Ohio’s Voter Purge is about rigging the political system,” he said. “Ohioans should hold career pols who attack their rights accountable.”

He argued Republicans designed the system “to undermine the very democratic process that holds government in check.” At various points, he claimed a “truly independent judicial branch” was needed to block the voting law, and “a balanced [Supreme Court]” would not allow it to go into effect.

However, the Supreme Court sided with Yost and the state of Ohio in a decision on clearing voter rolls. It found the state’s practice of removing voters from the rolls was not in violation of federal law.

“The notice in question here warns recipients that unless they take the simple and easy step of mailing back the preaddressed, postage prepaid card—or take the equally easy step of updating their information online—their names may be removed from the voting rolls if they do not vote during the next four years,” the Court ruled. “It was Congress’s judgment that a reasonable person with an interest in voting is not likely to ignore notice of this sort.”

Attorney General Yost’s office declined to comment on Dettelbach’s claims.

The ATF director nominee will likely head to the Senate Judiciary Committee for confirmation hearings within a few weeks.

https://thereload.com/biden-atf-nominee-repeatedly-claimed-ohio-elections-are-rigged/

Benjamin Weingarten

@bhweingarten44m

BREAKING:Sussmann motion to dismiss denied

6 pages, a good read

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.235638/gov.uscourts.dcd.235638.67.0_13.pdf

https://twitter.com/bhweingarten/status/1514301954872287233?s=20&t=2qGQJmBaRVR9EXU0CrEU0w

A Warning From Shanghai

A new California bill threatens to strip doctors of their medical licenses for saying things the state doesn’t like. We don't have to imagine what that would look like.

….In October 2020, I, along with colleagues Sunetra Gupta of Oxford, and Martin Kulldorff, then of Harvard, issued an open letter called the Great Barrington Declaration. In it, we expressed deep concern about the damage caused by the international public health response to Covid through sweeping lockdowns, school shutdowns, business closures, and more.

We urged a nuanced approach that focused on protecting those most vulnerable to Covid—primarily the elderly and those with certain comorbidities—and returning to normal life those more harmed by lockdowns than by the disease.

Nearly a million people have signed our letter, including tens of thousands of doctors and scientists from over 40 countries. In other words, we were far from alone in our belief that this was the proper response to an unprecedented pandemic.

But the official response was swift and brutal.

This forced scientific groupthink—and the fear and self-censorship they produce—are bad enough. So far, though, the risk has been social and reputational. Now it could become literally career-ending.

According to California Assembly Bill 2098, physicians who deviate from an authorized set of beliefs would do so at risk to their medical license. The bill, written by Assemblyman Evan Low, a Democrat in Silicon Valley, and currently making its way through the California Legislature, is motivated by the idea that practicing doctors are spreading “misinformation” about the risks of Covid, its treatment, and the Covid vaccine. It declares that physicians and surgeons who “disseminate or promote misinformation or disinformation related to COVID-19, including false or misleading information regarding the nature and risks of the virus, its prevention and treatment; and the development, safety, and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines” shall be subject to “disciplinary action,” which could result in the loss of the doctor’s medical license.

The language of the bill itself is intentionally vague about what constitutes “misinformation,” which makes it even more damaging. Doctors, fearing loss of their livelihoods, will need to hew closely to the government line on Covid science and policy, even if that line does not track the scientific evidence. After all, until recently, top government science bureaucrats like Dr. Fauci claimed that the idea that Covid came from a Wuhan laboratory was a conspiracy theory, rather than a valid hypothesis that should be open to discussion. The government’s track record on discerning Covid truths is poor.

The bill claims that the spread of misinformation by physicians about the Covid vaccines “has weakened public confidence and placed lives at serious risk.” But how significant is this problem in reality? Over 83% of Californians over the age of 50 are fully vaccinated (including the booster).

Because the Covid vaccines protect against severe disease and because older people face a thousand-fold higher risk of death from Covid infection, it is most important that older people be vaccinated. But there is simply no evidence that more older people would have been vaccinated had this bill been in place over the past two years.

What is abundantly clear is that this bill represents a chilling interference with the practice of medicine. The bill itself is full of misinformation and a demonstration of what a disaster it would be to have the legislature dictate the practice of medicine.

For starters, it fails to note that people who have contracted Covid—by now a considerable number of Californians—already have substantial protection against severe disease if they get Covid again. High quality studies have shown that this “natural immunity” provides equivalent or even greater protection than immunity generated by Pfizer and Moderna’s mRNA vaccines. If this bill passes, would a California physician be in trouble for taking into account a patient’s Covid history when making vaccination recommendations?

Another statement in the bill’s preamble asserts that the “safety and efficacy of Covid vaccines have been confirmed through evaluation by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA).” But vaccine safety also depends on any given patient’s clinical circumstances. For example, there is an elevated risk of myocarditis in young men taking the vaccine, especially with the booster.

The bill directs the California state licensing board to impose disciplinary penalties, which could result in the loss of a medical license, on physicians who disseminate “misinformation.”…

https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/a-warning-from-shanghai?utm_campaign=post_embed&s=r

>>16068946

I got a lifetime exemption og being a juror for back issues, maybe you can get your doctor to write letter to them

Samantha Zirkin

Thank you, Zack! You’re a hero with those fast reflexes. #brooklyn #brooklynshooter #nyc #eastvillage https://t.co/Iy60dsJda0

This is the guy that recognized the shooter and called police

https://twitter.com/SamanthaZirkin/status/1514300556856205319?s=20&t=2qGQJmBaRVR9EXU0CrEU0w

>>16069096

Went to Walmart early on, there was a guy checking for maskless. I walked up and he said do you have a mask, I said, “No, my doctor said…”he cut me off and said Go on in

All the people in there were wearing masks and wouldn’t look at me when I walked by. I thought how stupid are these people?

13 Apr, 2022 17:16

Judge approves case against 'high on cocaine' UK troops

‘Diplomatic immunity’ won’t be used to shield British Army from Kenya’s justice system

The British Army has lost its right to diplomatic immunity in Kenya after a high-court judge said on Wednesday that a 2015 defense agreement allows a lawsuit against UK soldiers for having allegedly caused a wildfire and the death of a local man.

The historic ruling concerns the case of a massive wildfire allegedly caused by UK soldiers stationed at Nanyuki army base in the East African country, a former British colony that declared independence in 1963. The 10,000-acre inferno swept through the surrounding Lolldaiga Hills Ranch sanctuary last March, putting 1,000 local residents at risk of drought and resulting in the death of Linus Murangiri, a Lolldaiga Hills Ranch employee, who was crushed to death by a vehicle while fighting the flames.

The African Centre for Corrective and Preventive Action (ACCPA) and local residents have brought a suit against British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK), arguing that UK soldiers “who tested positive for cocaine,” are responsible for the catastrophe and for Murangi’s death. BATUK denies its soldiers caused the wildfire, and had also sought protection from prosecution under the soldiers’ supposed diplomatic immunity. But Kenyan High Court Judge Antonina Bore sided with the ACCPA, ruling that a 2015 defense agreement between Kenya and the UK was “equivalent to a waiver of state immunity” in cases like the one facing BATUK.

While agreeing that BATUK “has no legal entity” separate from the UK government, Judge Bore’s analysis of the UK-Kenya “Defence Cooperation Agreement” led her to nullify BATUK’s claim to immunity from prosecution for wrongs allegedly committed in Kenya.

She pointed to a clause that stipulated UK service members must “respect and be sensitive to the traditions, customs and culture of the communities” where deployed and “pay compensation” within the framework of the agreement when found liable for “causing any death, injury, loss or damage to… such local communities.” She said this part of the agreement “in the court’s view… anticipated the kind of claim brought by the petitioners.”

The judge ordered the ACCPA and local people to enter negotiations with the UK government in the hope of a mutually acceptable agreement to resolve their dispute. If one cannot be reached, the case will remain in the hands of Kenya’s judicial system.

The case is not the first legal dispute confronting UK soldiers and their host communities in Kenya.

A decade ago, Agnes Wanjiru, a 21 year-old sex worker’s decomposing body was discovered inside a hotel septic tank near Nanyuki. A mother-of-one, she was last seen alive at the hotel in the company of two British soldiers. Despite a Kenyan coroner’s court ruling in 2019 that she had been battered and stabbed by “one or two British soldiers,” it took both the local authorities and the UK armed forces two more years to fully commit to investigating her brutal death. Wanjiru’s family is taking legal action against the Ministry of Defence and demands the disclosure of all records related to death and why her killers were never brought to justice.

In 2003, 650 women from the Masai and Samburu tribes came forward, claiming to have been raped by British soldiers over the course of four decades, but their claims were closed en-masse after investigators concluded Kenyan police files were forged. Among the discrepancies were accusations against army units not stationed in Kenya at the time. Even those that British officials conceded could be legitimate were scrapped.

In African countries beyond Kenya, London maintains a military presence in Somalia, Djibouti, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Mali. In 2020, the UK military was reported to maintain a permanent presence at 145 base sites in more than 40 countries and territories around the world.

https://www.rt.com/news/553827-kenya-uk-troops-court/

13 Apr, 2022 16:49

Ukrainian move ‘irritating’ – Germany

Kiev earlier decided to turn down President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s visit

Germany is doing enough to support Ukraine, Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the country’s RBB radio broadcaster on Wednesday. The head of government has also said he has no plans to travel to Kiev after the Ukrainian authorities turned down a visit by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

The chancellor said he had been to Kiev not long before the start of the military conflict, adding that he is in constant contact with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky by phone. “There is hardly any head of state or government who has such intensive contacts with me,” he told RBB.

Scholz called Kiev’s decision not to receive the German president “irritating,” adding that Steinmeier would have gladly visited the Ukrainian capital and “it would have been good” for Ukraine to welcome him.

The German president was about to visit Kiev with counterparts from Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on Wednesday. On Tuesday, he revealed he “apparently was not wanted” in the Ukrainian capital. An aide to Zelensky then said Kiev would only welcome foreign officials who come with “specific” proposals, adding that Germany could have offered Kiev “heavy equipment” or “guarantees” regarding Ukraine’s accession to the EU, among other things.

Scholz maintained on Wednesday that Berlin is doing enough to help Kiev. “I am sure that Ukraine knows exactly who has provided it with the greatest financial aid in recent years,” he told RBB, adding that “Germany has been doing [that] for many years.” The chancellor also said his nation has been supplying Kiev with “defensive weapons on a large scale,” and this help has already proven invaluable to the Ukrainian military effort.

It has enabled Ukraine to stop what the chancellor called a “Russian invasion,” and he added that the “attempt to conquer Ukraine in a short period of time was unsuccessful.” Scholz was referring to the ongoing Russian military operation in the country. Moscow never publicly stated that it was seeking to conquer Ukraine. Instead, it has repeatedly identified the goal of the military action as supporting and defending the two Donbass republics, which it had earlier recognized.

Ukraine’s military efforts “would not be possible without what we have done and what our allies have done and what we are doing and will do,” Scholz said. Berlin will continue to supply Kiev with arms, he said, adding, however, that Germany would never “do it alone” and will only act “in the same way” as its “friends across the Atlantic and… in Europe.”

Berlin and Kiev have drawn up a list of “possible supplies,” including some “readily available” weapons, the chancellor confirmed, adding that Germany would only provide arms that would not require a German military presence on Ukrainian soil, as it wishes to “prevent NATO, its member states and Germany” from becoming a party to the ongoing conflict.

https://www.rt.com/russia/553825-germany-president-ukraine-visit-irritating/

13 Apr, 2022 16:59

Kremlin responds to talk of ‘swapping’ Ukrainian opposition leader

Viktor Medvedchuk has nothing to do with Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, Moscow insists

Moscow sees no possibility of swapping the Ukrainian opposition leader, Viktor Medvedchuk, for any of Kiev's soldiers captured during the ongoing Russian military offensive in the country, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.

Earlier, the idea was raised by the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Medvedchuk “has nothing to do with Russia’s special military operation to demilitarize Ukraine,” Peskov told journalists, adding that Medvedchuk was also not a Russian citizen but a “foreign politician” and it isn’t not even clear if he wants Russia to play any role in his fate.

The Ukrainian opposition leader was arrested on Tuesday by the SBU – Ukraine’s main intelligence and security agency, founded in 1991 to replace the Soviet-era KGB. Zelensky praised the development and later suggested exchanging the politician for Ukrainian soldiers captured by Russia.

An aide to Ukraine’s interior minister then suggested beating the opposition leader into making “some confessions” before exchanging him with Russia.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has called it a “very dangerous tendency” that Kiev entertains the idea of exchanging Ukrainian opposition politicians with Russia. “There are very many opposition-leaning politicians and public figures” in Ukraine, the ministry’s spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, told a media briefing on Wednesday.

Medvedchuk heads the second largest party in the national parliament, the “Opposition Platform – For Life.” He also opposed the 2014 Kiev Maidan and Ukraine’s pro-western policies, which he believes could hurt the nation’s interests. In late March, his party’s activities were suspended by the Ukrainian authorities amid the ongoing Russian military operation.

The politician himself was placed under house arrest last year on “treason” charges. Medvedchuk hit back by accusing Zelensky of seeking to establish a dictatorship in Ukraine and suppress the legally-elected opposition.

Medvedchuk has been deemed Russian President Vladimir Putin's “closest ally in Ukraine” by both Ukrainian and western commenters alike. Moscow has denied any special relationships with the politician.

The Kremlin “has no backdoor relations” with Medvedchuk, Peskov has said on Wednesday, adding that if the politician did have any connections to Moscow, he would have left Ukraine before the start of the Russian operation. If Kiev listened to the opposition leader instead of focusing on his alleged Russian ties, it might have helped Ukraine avoid a confrontation with Moscow.

“If his ideas and those of his party had been taken into account in due time and had been used in Ukraine’s state policy, there would have been no military operation,” the Kremlin spokesman has said.

https://www.rt.com/russia/553828-medvedchuk-kremlin-swap-plan-ukraine/

13 Apr, 2022 16:36

Meta unveils fees on metaverse sales

Firm plans to take nearly 50% cut for transactions on its virtual reality platform

Facebook’s parent company Meta Platforms will charge creators around 47.5% on sales of digital assets and experiences made inside the firm's virtual reality platform Horizon Worlds.

Meta spokesperson confirmed to CNBC on Wednesday that the overall charge is comprised of a 30% hardware platform fee for sales made through Meta Quest Store, where it sells apps and games meant for its virtual reality headsets. On top of that Horizon Worlds will charge a 17.5% fee.

On Monday, the social media giant announced it would start testing tools for creators to sell digital assets and in turn make money on Horizon Worlds.

A key part of Meta’s plan for creating a metaverse, Horizon Worlds (formerly Facebook Horizon) is a free virtual reality, online video game that allows people to build and explore virtual worlds.

Meta’s fees for the sale of virtual assets on the platform are significantly higher than those Apple charges developers on its App Store. CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other Meta executives have previously criticized Apple for charging developers a 30% fee for in-app purchases.

Meanwhile, the size of the announced fees has angered some in the NFT community, with one Twitter user writing “I hate you Facebook.” Another one said that “If Meta wants 47.5% of NFT sales they gotta talk to the IRS because I don’t even have that after taxes.”

https://www.rt.com/business/553814-meta-huge-fees-metaverse/

>>16069316

It seems to me when these people speak lies all day long, they are just mimicking their father:

"When he (Satan) lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44c). He also told the group of accusers that they were the children of the Devil because they were spreading lies about Him and refusing to see the truth. So, Satan is not only the father of lies, but of those who suppress the truth.

13 Apr, 2022 14:46

HomeRussia & FSU

NATO Ukraine arms convoys legitimate targets – Russia

Moscow says it will respond to Western interference in Ukraine

This is Putin’s “fuck around and find out” statement

Russia will perceive convoys delivering arms from NATO states to Ukraine as legitimate targets for its military once they reach Kiev controlled territory, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov warned in an interview published on Wednesday.

Regular contact with the US is impossible for Russia, considering “Washington’s unabashed support for militaristic intentions of the Kiev regime [and] the pouring of modern weapons” into the country by NATO members, the diplomat explained Moscow’s goal now is to make it abundantly clear for the US and its allies that Russia will use harsh methods in response to attempts to stymie its military in Ukraine.

“We are warning thatAmerican-NATO transportscarrying weapons across the Ukrainian territory are considered legitimate military targets,” he stressed.

Moscow has maintained this position from the early days of hostilities in Ukraine. This week, the Russian defense ministry reported destroying four launchers from a battery of the S-300 air defense system delivered to Ukraine by an unnamed European nation.

The weapons in question was believed to be from Slovakia, which announced donating an S-300 battery to Ukraine last week. Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger called the Russian claim “propaganda,” citing Kiev’s denial of the report.

In an interview with TASS news agency, Ryabkov said Washington de facto refused to give straight answers about Pentagon-funded biolabs in Ukraine. Moscow and China said they were concerned that the labs were used for bioweapons research, an allegation that US officials have denied. The lack of a proper answer to legitimate questions “confirms that our concerns have grounding,” the Russian diplomat said.

Ryabkov said that all talks between Russia and the US on strategic stability and nuclear deterrence have been frozen. New START, the last treaty on nuclear arms reduction binding the two nations, which has survived since the Cold War, will remain in force until February 2026, he said.

The official added that American attempts to damage Russia through economic sanctions failed to achieve their goal, contrary to the “expectations that the Russians would surrender, as the West convinced itself.” The restrictions are hurting Western nations and businesses too, he pointed out. And while they may slow down Russia’s development, in the long run they won’t stop it, Ryabkov assured.

Washington “is irritated by our calm focus on the tasks of stabilizing the economy and ensuring its sustained functioning in the environment of unprecedented foreign pressure,” he said.

https://www.rt.com/russia/553811-nato-weapons-legitimate-targets/

13 Apr, 2022 15:46

HomeRussia & FSU

Ukraine urges Vatican to change Good Friday plan

Kiev’s has expressed concern over the idea of bringing together Ukrainian and Russian women to carry the cross

Ukraine expressed concern on Wednesday over the Vatican’s intention to have Russian and Ukrainian women carry the cross together during a traditional ceremony, which will take place at the Colosseum on Good Friday.

According to the Ukrainian ambassador to Vatican City Andrey Yurash, the diplomatic mission “understands and shares general the concern in Ukraine and many other communities” about the idea.

“Now we are working on the issue [of] trying to explain the difficulties of its realization and the possible consequences,” the ambassador wrote.

He also posted a comment by the Kiev-based head of the Greek-Catholic church in Ukraine, Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, who on Tuesday called the idea of bringing together Russian and Ukrainian women for the Stations of the Cross ceremony an “untimely, ambiguous” thought which “does not take into account the context of Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine.”

Shevchuk added that he had already reported to the Vatican “multiple negative reactions” of the Greek-Catholic clergy members who are apparently convinced that any “gestures of reconciliation” between Ukraine and Russia would be possible “only when the war is over and those responsible for crimes against humanity are justly convicted.” The head of the church has also expressed hope that, following the requests from Ukraine, the Vatican would agree to change its plan.

Responding to the criticism, the Rev. Antonio Spadaro, a Jesuit priest in Rome who is reportedly close to Pope Francis, told Italian state radio network RAI on Wednesday that the Pontiff “is a pastor, not a politician.”

The Vatican on Monday published the meditations and prayers for the Via Crucis, or Way of the Cross, which is presided-over by the Pope. For the 13th station, “Jesus dies on the cross,” Ukrainian and Russian nurses who work together at a Rome hospital and are friends, will read their reflections on the conflict.

“Lord where are you? Speak to us amid the silence of death and division, and teach us to be peacemakers, brothers and sisters, and to rebuild what bombs tried to destroy,” reads the text of the reflection which the two women wrote together.

The nurses with their families will pass the cross to a family of migrants which will carry it for the final, 14th station.

Pope Francis has many times urged Russia to stop its offensive, stressing that what is happening in Ukraine is a “war” and not just a “military operation.” During his Palm Sunday Mass in the Vatican on April 10 he called on the sides to declare an “Easter truce.” The main holiday of the Catholic church calendar will be celebrated on April 17.

https://www.rt.com/russia/553819-ukraine-vatican-friday-cross/

Kek

https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/1514329497243463680?s=20&t=BL7COY5SiYNgsmzy9mYjtQ

https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/1514222531896647683?s=20&t=BL7COY5SiYNgsmzy9mYjtQ