quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
Trump has also vowed to combat "wokeness" and progressive culture in education, repeatedly railing against DEI initiatives, which he believes are inadvertently discriminatory.

I take issue with this specific statement by Fox News. The discriminatory aspects of these DEI initiatives are anything but inadvertent...

Blatent or inadvertent?

Is that really a point worth debating?

Depends if you think these people are evil or just "misinformed."

quote:

Originally posted by bcereuss:


Is that really a point worth debating?

quote:

Depends if you think these people are evil or just "misinformed."

Again, why does it matter when Trump has vowed to combat it?

If it wasn’t an accident it was deliberate

All those that think this has all been an accident raise their hands

This message has been edited. Last edited by: nhtagmember,

That's a shame. Fucking scumbags.

George Stephanopoulos and ABC "apologize" to Trump, are forced to pay $15 million to settle defamation suit
As part of the agreement, Stephanopoulos and the network issued statements of 'regret' for comments that prompted the lawsuit

By Gabriel Hays , Brooke Singman | Fox News
Published December 14, 2024 3:15pm EST

ABC News and their top anchor George Stephanopoulos have reached a settlement with Donald Trump in his defamation suit, which will result in the news network paying the president-elect $15 million.

The settlement was publicly filed on Saturday, revealing that the two parties have come to an agreement and avoided a costly trial. According to the settlement, ABC News will pay $15 million as a charitable contribution to a "Presidential foundation and museum to be established by or for Plaintiff, as Presidents of the United States of America have established in the past." Additionally, the network will pay $1 million in Trump's attorney fees.

Stephanopoulos and ABC News will issue statements of "regret" as an editor's note at the bottom of a March 10, 2024, online article, about comments made earlier this year that prompted Trump to file a defamation lawsuit.

"ABC News and George Stephanopoulos regret statements regarding President Donald J. Trump made during an interview by George Stephanopoulos with Rep. Nancy Mace on ABC’s This Week on March 10, 2024," the statement reads.

Trump filed a defamation suit against Stephanopoulos after he asserted that Trump was found "liable for rape" in a civil case during a contentious interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., last March.

After playing a clip of Mace discussing being a victim of rape, Stephanopoulos asked her, "How do you square your endorsement of Donald Trump with the testimony we just saw?"

"You've endorsed Donald Trump for president. Judges and two separate juries have found him liable for rape and for defaming the victim of that rape," Stephanopoulos said, alluding to the legal victory by Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll.

Stephanopoulos repeated that claim ten times during his spat with Mace, despite the fact that a jury actually determined Trump was liable for "sexual abuse," which has a distinct definition under New York law.

After the federal jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse, but not rape, Judge Lewis Kaplan wrote in a later ruling that just because Carroll failed to prove rape "within the meaning of the New York Penal Law does not mean that she failed to prove that Mr. Trump ‘raped’ her as many people commonly understand the word ‘rape.’"

Initially, Stephanopoulos was defiant in the face of Trump’s lawsuit, telling CBS late-night host Stephen Colbert that he wouldn’t be "cowed out of doing my job because of a threat"

"Trump sued me because I used the word ‘rape,’ even though a judge said that’s in fact what did happen. We filed a motion to dismiss," Stephanopoulos said.

The settlement came after U.S. Magistrate Judge Lisette M. Reid recently ordered Trump and Stephanopoulos to attend an in-person deposition hearing next week ahead of the Dec. 24 deadline for the defendants to file a motion for summary judgment, in order to avoid a trial.

In his lawsuit against Stephanopoulos and ABC, Trump was represented by Florida attorneys Alejandro Brito and Richard Klugh, who also represent the president-elect in his legal case against CNN. The settlement with ABC was filed in the Southern District of Florida Federal Court where both parties signed and agreed to the terms.

The settlement comes after a string of legal victories for Trump and his legal team, coordinated by senior legal adviser Boris Epshteyn.

Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan recently granted Special Counsel Jack Smith’s recent request to dismiss his case against Trump related to the 2020 election. Smith also tossed his appeal in the classified records case on Monday after a federal judge dismissed the charges altogether in July, ruling that he was unlawfully appointed as special counsel.

In New York v. Trump, Judge Juan Merchan granted Trump’s request to file a motion to dismiss the charges stemming from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case and removed the sentencing date for the president-elect from the schedule.

Trump is also suing CBS News for $10 billion in damages, stating the network practiced "deceptive conduct" for the purpose of election interference in its interview in October with Vice President Kamala Harris.

quote:

ABC News and their top anchor George Stephanopoulos have reached a settlement with Donald Trump in his defamation suit, which will result in the news network paying the president-elect $15 million.

Makes me smile.

I just don't ever get tired of winning. I so hope that Trump can have that mess with Alvin Bragg dismissed and he can recover the bale $$$ and interest.

Ha ha, ya little asshole.

Hilarious

DC Restaurant Releases Statement Announcing Firing of Woke Employee After She Smeared Trump Officials and Said She Would Not Serve Them

A liberal DC Restaurant server has learned the hard way that words have consequences.

As The Gateway Pundit reported, several DC food workers wallowing in Kamala Harris’s landslide defeat told The Washingtonian in interviews on Wednesday that they would make Trump administration officials pay should they decide to visit their establishments, even at the cost of their livelihoods.

They feel it is their sworn duty to ‘own’ MAGA conservatives who want to save our country.

One of these leftists, Suzannah Van Rooy, worked as a server and manager at Beuchert’s Saloon on Capitol Hill. She told The Washingtonian the issue was a matter of ‘morality.’

“I personally would refuse to serve any person in office who I know of as being a sex trafficker or trying to deport millions of people,” she said.

“It’s not, ‘Oh, we hate Republicans.’ It’s that this person has moral convictions that are strongly opposed to mine, and I don’t feel comfortable serving them,” Van Rooy continued.

Van Rooy now probably wishes she had not made that statement or decided to remain anonymous because Beuchert’s Saloon decided to send her packing on Friday.

As one will see, the establishment minced no words in a brutal statement.

“Not only do Ms. Van Rooy’s comments clearly violate our zero-tolerance policy on discrimination, but her decision to sign into our social media accounts in the middle of the night to post her own rhetoric in wildly offensive responses to comments is a further breach of conduct and protocol. She has no authority to speak on our behalf, and her comments do not reflect the positions of over twenty other people who make up our staff,” the statement reads.

“For these reasons as well as the sheer dismay and disgust we feel at her unforgivable behavior, Ms. Van Rooy has been dismissed immediately. Our staff and families (many of whom are personally offended by Ms. Van Rooy’s comments about them) are still reeling from what Ms. Van Rooy said and did, and we as a restaurant are simply horrified to be associated with base prejudice,” the statement continued.

As Fox News notes, Van Rooy worked to help elect Democrats before entering the hospitality industry. According to her since-deleted LinkedIn page, she previously worked as an organizer for far-left Texas Democrat Beto O’Rourke’s unsuccessful run for governor in 2022.

One should not be surprised if some woke elected official rescues her from unemployment because they see discriminating against conservatives as an asset.

Some more Saturday winning, this the evening edition.

BACKFIRE: DC Restaurant Releases Brutal Statement Announcing Firing of Woke Employee After She Smeared Trump Officials and Said She Would Not Serve Them

By Cullen Linebarger | Dec. 14, 2024 6:00 pm

A liberal DC Restaurant server has learned the hard way that words have consequences.

As The Gateway Pundit reported, several DC food workers wallowing in Kamala Harris’s landslide defeat told The Washingtonian in interviews on Wednesday that they would make Trump administration officials pay should they decide to visit their establishments, even at the cost of their livelihoods.

They feel it is their sworn duty to ‘own’ MAGA conservatives who want to save our country.

One of these leftists, Suzannah Van Rooy, worked as a server and manager at Beuchert’s Saloon on Capitol Hill. She told The Washingtonian the issue was a matter of ‘morality.’

“I personally would refuse to serve any person in office who I know of as being a sex trafficker or trying to deport millions of people,” she said.

“It’s not, ‘Oh, we hate Republicans.’ It’s that this person has moral convictions that are strongly opposed to mine, and I don’t feel comfortable serving them,” Van Rooy continued.

Van Rooy now probably wishes she had not made that statement or decided to remain anonymous because Beuchert’s Saloon decided to send her packing on Friday.

As one will see, the establishment minced no words in a brutal statement.

“Not only do Ms. Van Rooy’s comments clearly violate our zero-tolerance policy on discrimination, but her decision to sign into our social media accounts in the middle of the night to post her own rhetoric in wildly offensive responses to comments is a further breach of conduct and protocol. She has no authority to speak on our behalf, and her comments do not reflect the positions of over twenty other people who make up our staff,” the statement reads.

“For these reasons as well as the sheer dismay and disgust we feel at her unforgivable behavior, Ms. Van Rooy has been dismissed immediately. Our staff and families (many of whom are personally offended by Ms. Van Rooy’s comments about them) are still reeling from what Ms. Van Rooy said and did, and we as a restaurant are simply horrified to be associated with base prejudice,” the statement continued.

As Fox News notes, Van Rooy worked to help elect Democrats before entering the hospitality industry. According to her since-deleted LinkedIn page, she previously worked as an organizer for far-left Texas Democrat Beto O’Rourke’s unsuccessful run for governor in 2022.

One should not be surprised if some woke elected official rescues her from unemployment because they see discriminating against conservatives as an asset.

Lots of winning. The cherry on top would be a reversal of the E. Jean Caroll verdict.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:

Fascinating, Captain.

Trump leaves China guessing what his next move is with unusual inauguration invitation
'We have a good relationship with China. I have a good relationship,' Trump told CNBC on Friday

By Morgan Phillips | Fox News
Published December 15, 2024 4:00am EST

President-elect Trump took China by surprise when he invited President Xi Jinping to his upcoming inauguration, a friendly gesture ahead of a widely expected trade war.

The move left everyone wondering what Trump was up to — a Chinese head of state has not attended a U.S. inauguration in all of history.

Xi is not expected to accept the invitation, sources told CBS News.

"We have a good relationship with China. I have a good relationship," Trump told CNBC on Friday. "We've been talking and discussing with President Xi some things."

But the invitation comes as the U.S. intelligence community disclosed a massive hack of eight U.S. telecom companies, finding that Chinese hackers had accessed the data of millions of Americans, including Vice President-elect JD Vance.

The hack, nicknamed Salt Typhoon and one of the most far-reaching in history, affected mostly people in the Washington, D.C., area, and was targeted at government-linked people. Information about their phone calls and texts was intercepted.

Meanwhile, a Chinese national was arrested on suspicion of flying a drone over Vandenberg Space Force base in Northern California, the Department of Justice said Wednesday.

"Many people were disappointed by this invitation," said China expert Gordon Chang.

"A man who is responsible for spreading COVID beyond China borders, for being behind the fentanyl program, which kills 70,000 Americans a year, that was not a good look for the United States," he went on. "And it betrayed weakness."

"The Chinese president looks at that and believes that Trump is not serious," said Chang.

"Xi Jinping has made it clear that the United States is China's enemy. He's done that in many ways. And for an American president to show friendship is not a gesture in Xi's mind, it's a display of weakness, and Chinese leaders always take advantage of weakness."

It's not clear if the invitation means that Trump is looking to take a more diplomatic approach to the relationship with China after a campaign marked by threats of hiking tariffs.

Trump has floated the idea of a 60% across-the-board levy on all goods imported from China, which would cover some $400 billion worth of products.

Free trade supporters have worried this would break a top campaign promise for Trump: to rein in and prevent the record inflation figures seen under the Biden administration.

And the threat of a trade war comes as military tensions rise in the Indo-Pacific. China has been putting on displays of force in the waters off the shores of U.S. allies like the Philippines and Japan, and increasingly threatening Taiwan, an island democracy it views as its rightful territory.

Defense experts have begun to muse whether the U.S. could find itself at war with China.

Lyle Goldstein, Director of Asia Engagement at Defense Priorities think tank, welcomed the news of the invitation, reading it as a sign of being willing to engage.

"Nothing like that has happened under the Biden administration," he said. "Trump is a dealmaker, and I think China is eager to make deals.

"The Biden approach was very ideological, you know, the world is black and white."

"If we go into a new Cold War, the results, I think, will be devastating for both the United States and China," Goldstein added. "I think there is some understanding in the Trump team that the stakes are enormous here."

China, meanwhile, is considering devaluing its currency further in anticipation of Trump's tariffs, according to a Reuters report.

Glad to see Ric gets a spot.

President Trump Nominates Ric Grenell as Presidential Envoy for Special Missions

By Margaret Flavin | Dec. 15, 2024 9:45 am

On Saturday, President Donald Trump named Ric Grenell Presidential Envoy for Special Missions.

Grenell has been a loyal ally to the MAGA movement and a fierce, effective, and enthusiastic warrior for America First.

During Trump’s first term, Grenell served first as the U.S. Ambassador to Germany and then as the Acting Director of National Intelligence.

The newly established post of Envoy for Special Missions will provide important stewardship for the administration’s policies in some of the most contentious regions of the world.

President Trump announced the nomination on Truth Social:

“I am pleased to announce Richard Allen Grenell as our Presidential Envoy for Special Missions. Ric will work in some of the hottest spots around the World, including Venezuela and North Korea.”

“In my First Term, Ric was the United States Ambassador to Germany, Acting Director of National Intelligence, and Presidential Envoy for Kosovo-Serbia Negotiations. Previously, he spent eight years inside the United Nations Security Council, working with North Korea, and developments in numerous other Countries.”

“Ric has a B.A. from Evangel College and a M.P.A from Harvard. Ric will continue to fight for Peace through Strength, and always put AMERICA FIRST.”

“Congratulations Ric!”

Grenell responded to the announcement, “Working on behalf of the American people for @realDonaldTrump is an honor of a lifetime.”

“President Trump is a problem solver who keeps Americans safe and prosperous.”

“We have so much to do. Let’s get to work.”