Saturday, January 13, 2024
If $174.000 a month isn't enough, then how do so many congress members become MILLIONAIRES.?? Give them a "cost of living" raise like those of us on Social Security get! A %age
Story by bmetzger@insider.com (Bryan Metzger) • 22h
Image of Donald Trump, Jeffrey Epstein on private jet is AI generated | Fact check Story by Joedy McCreary, USA TODAY • 21h USA TODAY
Jan. 8 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) purports to show former President Donald Trump sitting on a plane beside disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“This is a picture of two guys on a private jet, going to a private island, that didn’t know each other,” reads the post.
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It was shared more than 700 times in four days.
More from the Fact-Check Team: How we pick and research claims | Email newsletter | Facebook page
Our rating: Altered
The image is a fabrication. It was generated by artificial intelligence, according to computer science experts and AI-detection tools.
AI-generated image shows Epstein with three legs, wedding ring
The image has appeared on social media since at least May 2023, a reverse image search found. It circulated online again in early January with the unsealing of court filings related to a lawsuit against Ghislane Maxwell, Epstein's co-conspirator in a scheme to exploit and sexually abuse minors.
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Earlier versions of the image have a different look and feel, with the original, high-resolution version containing more detail than the grainy one in the latest Facebook post.
“Both images depict the same scene, but the lower quality one likely went through a style model to make it appear rasterized, and hence ‘older,’” Walter Scheirer, an associate professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Notre Dame, told USA TODAY in an email.
Hold On, He’s Coming, President Trump Makes Court Announcement
by Vince Quill16 hours ago16 hours ago
If they are going to run kangaroo courts, run by kangaroo people, then President Trump should act accordingly.I don’t think I have ever seen a happier ‘victim’ of sexual assault than E. Jean Carroll in my life. This is why I believe she is making up these claims.
Much speculation has been making its way around the web as to whether or not President Trump would attend the start of the New York defamation case.
Despite prosecutors not allowing him to lodge a defense against Carroll’s claims, the 45th President told the media that he would be in attendance for the start of the case on Wednesday of next week.
When asked, the former President told the media: “Yeah, I’m gonna go to it and I’m gonna explain, I don’t know who the hell she is.” Take a look at what he had to say and more on the E. Jean Carroll case:
Reporter: "You have the Iowa caucuses Monday, an event in New Hampshire Tuesday, are you going to be back for the E. Jean Carroll case on Wednesday?"
Donald Trump: "Yeah, I'm gonna go to it and I'm gonna explain, I don't know who the hell she is." pic.twitter.com/XMAdAAuWo3
— The Recount (@therecount) January 11, 2024
Trump just name-dropped Reid Hoffman and the Democrats funding the E Jean Carroll lawsuit
"I DONT KNOW WHO THE HELL SHE IS"https://t.co/hyBQRC3vGo
— Jack Poso (@JackPosobiec) January 11, 2024
The Epoch Times reported:
The trial is scheduled to start Jan. 16 and is focused on how much President Trump will have to pay Ms. Carroll for allegedly defaming her by saying she lied about him sexually assaulting her.
In 2019, Ms. Carroll brought a defamation case against President Trump.
Adam Klasfeld shared this letter from Carroll’s lawyers and reported: “E. Jean Carroll’s lawyers warn a judge that Trump wants to “sow chaos” and create a “circus” at his upcoming trial, citing his five-minute courtroom tirade yesterday as evidence. They question whether he can even testify.”
News.....
E. Jean Carroll's lawyers warn a judge that Trump wants to "sow chaos" and create a "circus" at his upcoming trial, citing his five-minute courtroom tirade yesterday as evidence.
They question whether he can even testify.
Developing @TheMessenger https://t.co/XDsPu5OnFZ pic.twitter.com/z6bro4jbH5
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) January 12, 2024
NEW: After the judge in the E Jean Carroll case ruled against allowing Trump to introduce certain evidence at trial, Trump has decided he’s going to introduce it anyway. Carroll’s lawyer is notifying the court and asking to block it again. https://t.co/X6OuQmjLKK
— Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) January 12, 2024
Reuters explained the draconian legal restrictions placed on President Trump as part of the defamation case:
In an order on Saturday night, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan granted Carroll’s request to block the defense from arguing that the jury reached its conclusion because it did not believe Carroll’s rape claim.
Thursday, January 11, 2024
Texas plans to secede ???
© Tim Warner/GETTY
The case was brought by the Texas Nationalist Movement (TNM), a group campaigning for the state to leave the United States and become a fully independent country. On Wednesday, the TNM's petition, with 139,456 signatures, was denied outright, sparking an angry response from secessionist campaigners.
Texan nationalists have received a number of major boosts over the past few years, with the Texas GOP backing calls for a referendum on whether the state "should reassert its status as an independent nation" at its June 2022 convention.
Texas state Representative Bryan Slaton introduced legislation in March 2023 that would have triggered a referendum on "whether or not the State should investigate the possibility of Texas independence," though it failed to move past the committee stage.
Last month, TNM President Daniel Miller delivered a petition calling for a "TEXIT" referendum to the state GOP headquarters in Austin, well over the 97,709 signatures required to get a vote added to the primary ballot.
Texas Republican Party Chair Matt Rinaldi rejected the petition, claiming "the vast majority of petition signatures were invalid." He said some were missing essential information such as "residence address, county of registration, and date of birth/voter registration number." Other names were invalid, while only 8,300 of the signatures had been submitted by hand, rather than electronically, which Rinaldi claimed was a requirement. The Texas GOP also said the delivery of the petition was "untimely," with it being received on the deadline, as opposed to the day before.
Republican Speaker Mike Johnson PHONES Biden and tells him to use executive action to secure the southern border as migrant crisis reaches breaking point Call came as Republicans held hearing on impeaching Mayorkas and held a hearing to advance a resolution to hold Hunter Biden in contempt ....In the letter the speaker directed the president to end 'catch-and-release' and even use emergency authority to shut down all migration temporarily
PUBLISHED: 13:21 EST, 10 January 2024 | UPDATED: 17:25 EST, 10 January 2024
'Speaker Johnson spoke with President Biden today. The speaker strongly encouraged the president to use his executive authority to secure the southern border,' Johnson spokesman Raj Shah wrote on X.
Finding a border fix is imperative as over 200,000 migrants crossed into the U.S. in December - the most recorded in a month in history.
Judge Bars President Trump From Making A Defense At Trial by Vince Quill 20 hours ago
Every day I think that we couldn’t possibly become more of a banana republic than we are right now, but apparently, it’s a long way down.I have long said that those who wish to prevent something from being said are the ones with something to hide—it is they who are wrong.
The entire point of a court of law is to get to the bottom of things and to ensure justice. If something is nonsense, it should still be allowed to be said in court.
The court can then show how ridiculous that hypothetical nonsense is through well-reasoned arguments, witnesses, and evidence. This is the point of courts.
Instead of sticking to this time-honored tradition, U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan has opted for the more ‘progressive’ route.
According to Judge Kaplan’s recent ruling, President Trump is not allowed to lodge a defense in his upcoming defamation case brought forward by E. Jean Carroll.
More specifically, he will not be able to argue against her claims of sexual abuse. How is this legal or just? Take a look at the reports below and let us know if you believe Carroll’s claims:
1. Guess what? Reid Hoffman is also funding the E. Jean Carroll lawsuits against President Trump. Yup, you guessed it: no surprise there! https://t.co/7lBotu3pqu pic.twitter.com/tJTHbz6cXP
— Jewels Jones (@JewelsJonesLive) January 4, 2024
Donald Trump cannot argue to a jury assessing damages at the writer E. Jean Carroll's upcoming defamation trial that he did not rape her in the mid-1990s, based on another jury having found that he only sexually abused her, a US judge ruled https://t.co/Tk9MO7KfHP pic.twitter.com/Uhsz7ZICWX
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 8, 2024
A U.S. federal judge has bizarrely ruled that former President Donald Trump may not argue that he did not rape author E. Jean Carroll in …
Read more:https://t.co/79EQpGFFnm
— Raheem. (@RaheemKassam) January 9, 2024
Bloomberg provided a portion of Judge Kaplan’s ruling:
“Mr. Trump is precluded from offering any testimony, evidence, or argument suggesting or implying that he did not sexually assault Ms. Carroll, that she fabricated her account of the assault, or that she had any motive to do so.”
Attorney Jeff Clark claimed: “I know The E Jean Carroll lawsuit is the brainchild of fake conservative/nonconservative George Conway. And the moneybags for the Carroll suit is Reid Hoffman. Conway plus Hoffman equals a devilish cocktail.”
I know.
The E Jean Carroll lawsuit is the brainchild of fake conservative/nonconservative George Conway.
And the moneybags for the Carroll suit is Reid Hoffman.
Conway plus Hoffman equals a devilish cocktail. https://t.co/l6uJb57ngi
— Jeff Clark (@JeffClarkUS) January 4, 2024
According to The Epoch Times, President Trump had this to say about both Judge Kaplan and Carroll:
In a speech he delivered on Jan. 6 in Iowa as front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in advance of the Jan. 15 primary election there, President Trump referred to the judge as a “radical Democrat” and made disparaging comments about Ms. Carroll for not speaking up at the time, if she was attacked.