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Quote:

Originally Posted by omahacolt (Post 267070)

i find this very hard to believe.

you aren't for banning anything but the people you support and worship certainly do. which makes you in full support as well

Who the fuck do I support and worship, moron? You know nothing about me, but have zero problem assuming.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lov2fish (Post 267096)

Only people who got screwed was us. They should have never raised the debt ceiling and let the shit default.

You should stop paying your bills. See how that works.

No money to pay the military, their salaries. No mail, no Amtrak, no airline travel, ( air controllers fed employees), no fed guarantee of your money incase of a bank run which there will be, and wall street losing its collective shit. Social Security, Medicare wont be mailing out checks or paying bills.

Trump wants the default, which should tell you what a horrible idea it is

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAFF (Post 267103)

You have absolutely no idea how government spending works. I don't spend more than I make either, cause I am not that fucking retarded. Can't say the same for 535 math illiterate dumbasses we employ.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lov2fish (Post 267109)

You have absolutely no idea how government spending works. I don't spend more than I make either, cause I am not that fucking retarded. Can't say the same for 535 math illiterate dumbasses we employ.

Nice to know. The problem is that we are not talking about new money. The bills that need to be paid are from spending bills passed by BOTH parties in previous sessions. If the treasury runs out of money, they cant pay who we the people owe.

And the rules do not allow for the government to pick and choice. A bill comes due, they pay it. All those eligible for social security get it on the second wednesday, unless the govt. runs out of cash.

You want a second great depression, let the nation default

https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/29/us/ho...day/index.html

What we need is a portable metal detector. Built like the old phone booths, on wheels, with a bit more room. Take it to the park, to an event center, the beach, or local park.

You want to enter the party, you must be examined before enter the party area. You go in and the door shuts, and scan the subject. If it detects metal keep it locked shut until the LEOs arrive. It should Have a breathalyzer, for the idiot who shows up to the party drunk.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAFF (Post 267173)

https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/31/us/te...ety/index.html

1 in 5 would carry. If you have 3 armed teachers per school and a trained resource officer at each school these school shootings would stop. Any place a gun free zone exist is a hunting ground for sick individuals. They know it is full of soft targets with zero to little resistance for a decent amount of time. I personally could care less about those signs. If there is a gun free zone, it no longer is when I arrive.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lov2fish (Post 267177)

Educators carrying guns. Questions I have.

1. Will the school corp provide me with a gun, or will I be expected to by my own gun and ammo?

If you know anything about education and teachers, a school board will by pop guns and spit wads.

2. What gun will I be using?

If its a pistol, I am going to complain. School shooters are bringing AR 15’s. What the fuck am I going to do with a pistol. Give me a shot gun, I will have a chance of hitting something.

3. Will I receive training and instruction, or am I on my own?

Again, if you know anything about school boards, you will be on your own.

4. Liability insurance to cover my use of a gun in a school?

No shit, what happens if I shoot and miss and injure or kill a student/employee of the school? The fantasy here is that the typical educator can turn into Captain America by giving them a gun.

5. Where do I store my pistol/machine gun/ shot gun in the class room?

Am I wearing it on my hip, or is it stored in a box with a glass front to break in case of crazy shooter. Am I carrying it during passing periods, or I keep it stored until I hear gun fire?

Educators need to educate. If the public wants fire arms in schools, they need to hire experts who are trained to do what is necessary to protect our children.

The real problem is that gun violence wont stop by hardening the security around schools. It will just look for another easy target. Parks, zoo, museums, amusement parks, theaters, resturants, ……………..

1. Will the school corp provide me with a gun, or will I be expected to by my own gun and ammo? For what we pay in taxes I would expect a very nice reliable firearm and ammo

If you know anything about education and teachers, a school board will by pop guns and spit wads.

2. What gun will I be using? Hopefully something with serious stopping power. A 40 cal or 45 ACP

If its a pistol, I am going to complain. School shooters are bringing AR 15’s. What the fuck am I going to do with a pistol. Give me a shot gun, I will have a chance of hitting something. This is a fallacy. In closed quarters a pistol is your best defense, again see caliber above.

3. Will I receive training and instruction, or am I on my own? They better be providing training. I know Indiana currently will train teachers in districts where it is approved to be armed. It is approved at a state level but each district is its own little dictatorship.

Again, if you know anything about school boards, you will be on your own.

4. Liability insurance to cover my use of a gun in a school? Versus liability for lawsuits?

No shit, what happens if I shoot and miss and injure or kill a student/employee of the school? The fantasy here is that the typical educator can turn into Captain America by giving them a gun. It is not a fantasy. It is a reality that an armed teacher trained is better than a 15 minute wait until police arrive.

5. Where do I store my pistol/machine gun/ shot gun in the class room? A locked drawer with a key only you have. Nobody will know which teachers are armed. Its not like you have to hang a fucking sign. A sign is how some of this shit happen.

Am I wearing it on my hip, or is it stored in a box with a glass front to break in case of crazy shooter. Am I carrying it during passing periods, or I keep it stored until I hear gun fire? Read above, redundant question.

Educators need to educate. If the public wants fire arms in schools, they need to hire experts who are trained to do what is necessary to protect our children.

The real problem is that gun violence wont stop by hardening the security around schools. It will just look for another easy target. Parks, zoo, museums, amusement parks, theaters, resturants, …………….. Where they all have fucking gun free zones and the only ones who comply are law abiding citizens. Look at mass shootings as a whole from when they started until now. Damn near as many firearms in circulation as now, yet you didn't hear about this shit. It started gaining traction after Reagan gutted the mental health programs. Start there, not with the hundred million gun owners who go about their business every day and not harming a soul.

Making me defenseless is not going to make you safer. The decision to kill was made long before the weapon was ever chosen. Once decision was made no gun control laws have prevented one mass shooting, having gun free zones have contributed to it though.

Trump captured on tape talking about classified document he kept after leaving the Wh

Trump captured on tape talking about classified document he kept after leaving the White House

https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/31/polit...ley/index.html

Quote:

Federal prosecutors have obtained an audio recording of a summer 2021 meeting in which former President Donald Trump acknowledges he held onto a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran, multiple sources told CNN, undercutting his argument that he declassified everything.

The recording indicates Trump understood he retained classified material after leaving the White House, according to multiple sources familiar with the investigation. On the recording, Trump’s comments suggest he would like to share the information but he’s aware of limitations on his ability post-presidency to declassify records, two of the sources said.

20221115 trump web card image updated november 15
Notable legal clouds that continue to hang over Donald Trump in 2023
CNN has not listened to the recording, but multiple sources described it. One source said the relevant portion on the Iran document is about two minutes long, and another source said the discussion is a small part of a much longer meeting.

ADVERTISING

Special counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the Justice Department investigation into Trump, has focused on the meeting as part of the criminal investigation into Trump’s handling of national security secrets. Sources describe the recording as an “important” piece of evidence in a possible case against Trump, who has repeatedly asserted he could retain presidential records and “automatically” declassify documents.

Prosecutors have asked witnesses about the recording and the document before a federal grand jury. The episode has generated enough interest for investigators to have questioned Gen. Mark Milley, one of the highest-ranking Trump-era national security officials, about the incident.

The July 2021 meeting was held at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, with two people working on the autobiography of Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows as well as aides employed by the former president, including communications specialist Margo Martin. The attendees, sources said, did not have security clearances that would allow them access to classified information. Meadows didn’t attend the meeting, sources said.

Meadows’ autobiography includes an account of what appears to be the same meeting, during which Trump “recalls a four-page report typed up by (Trump’s former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) Mark Milley himself. It contained the general’s own plan to attack Iran, deploying massive numbers of troops, something he urged President Trump to do more than once during his presidency.”

The document Trump references was not produced by Milley, CNN was told.

Investigators have questioned Milley about the episode in recent months, making him one of the highest-ranking national security officials from Trump’s administration to meet with the special counsel’s team. Milley’s spokesman Dave Butler declined to comment to CNN.

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 30: White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows listens as U.S. President Donald Trump meets with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy in the Oval Office of the White House April 30, 2020 in Washington, DC. New Jersey, like many states, is seeking assistance from the federal government for the health and economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Out of the spotlight, Mark Meadows wields quiet political power amid Trump legal woes
The revelation that the former president and commander-in-chief has been captured on tape discussing a classified document could raise his legal exposure as he continues his third bid for the White House. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.

A Trump campaign spokesman said “leaks” are meant to “inflame tensions” around Trump.

“The DOJ’s continued interference in the presidential election is shameful and this meritless investigation should cease wasting the American taxpayer’s money on Democrat political objectives,” the spokesman added.

When asked at a CNN town hall this month if he showed classified documents he kept after the presidency to anyone, Trump answered: “Not really. I would have the right to. By the way, they were declassified after.”

A lawyer for Meadows declined to comment. A lawyer for Martin declined to comment.

Smith’s investigation has shown signs of nearing its end, though it hasn’t yet resulted in any criminal charges. A spokesman for the special counsel’s office declined to comment for this story.

In this February 2020 photo, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley chats with President Donald Trump after he delivered the State of the Union address at the Capitol in Washington, DC.
In this February 2020 photo, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley chats with President Donald Trump after he delivered the State of the Union address at the Capitol in Washington, DC.
Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images/File
Trump was outraged at New Yorker story on Milley and Iran
The recording that’s now in the hands of prosecutors shows they are not only looking at Trump’s actions regarding classified documents recovered from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, but also at what happened at Bedminster a year earlier.

The meeting in which Trump discussed the Iran document with others happened shortly after The New Yorker published a story by Susan Glasser detailing how, in the final days of Trump’s presidency, Milley instructed the Joint Chiefs to ensure Trump issued no illegal orders and that he be informed if there was any concern. The story infuriated Trump.

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 31: U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump walk on the South Lawn while returning to the White House on December 31, 2020 in Washington, DC. President Trump and the First Lady returned to Washington, DC early and will not be in attendance at the annual New Years Eve party at his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
'You're blowing this': New book reveals Melania Trump criticized her husband's handling of Covid
Glasser reported that in the months following the election, Milley repeatedly argued against striking Iran and was concerned Trump “might set in motion a full-scale conflict that was not justified.” Milley and others talked Trump out of taking such a drastic action, according to the New Yorker story.

On the recording and in response to the story, Trump brings up the document, which he says came from Milley. Trump told those in the room that if he could show it to people, it would undermine what Milley was saying, the sources said. One source says Trump refers to the document as if it is in front of him.

Several sources say the recording captures the sound of paper rustling, as if Trump was waving the document around, though is not clear if it was the actual Iran document. There’s also laughter in the room that’s captured on the recording.

The US military has contingency plans and courses of action that apply to countries and situations around the globe.

Honig: Trump prosecutors have put themselves "into a calendar corner'
07:16 - Source: CNN
The meeting took place well before Trump’s team shipped 15 boxes of presidential records and classified documents back to the National Archives and Records Administration in January 2022 after months of back-and-forth between his team and the records agency.

The Justice Department later obtained additional documents with classified markings from Trump, seizing more than 100 during a search of Mar-a-Lago last August. Trump’s legal team hired people to search other Trump properties, including Bedminster, late last year.

Investigators from the special counsel’s office also have asked in their document handling and obstruction investigation about other scenarios in which Trump may have shown national security documents, such as maps, to others, sources say. They’ve also asked several witnesses to share details about Trump’s anger toward Milley.

During the summer of 2021, sources say multiple people were making recordings of Trump as he held conversations with journalists and biographers.

Trump’s different explanations on the declassified documents
Trump and his attorneys have given several different, often conflicting, explanations for why Trump didn’t intentionally retain classified materials in violation of federal law. 

Initially, Trump allies argued he had a “standing declassification order” so that documents removed from the Oval Office were immediately declassified.  A few weeks later, Trump told Fox News that he could declassify things “just by thinking about it.”

Earlier this year, Trump’s legal team told Congress that classified material was inadvertently packed up at the end of the administration. Most recently, Trump told CNN at a town hall that materials were “automatically declassified” when he took them.

However, there’s no indication Trump followed the legally mandated declassification process, and his attorneys have avoided saying so far in court whether Trump declassified records he kept.

Far right attacks Chik F A,

The right is going after Chik F A?

One of the best companies in terms of employer/employer relations.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormu...h=413f2ef57d1f

The New 'Anti-Woke' Crusade Targets DEI—And Chick-Fil-A?
Conor Murray
Forbes Staff
I'm an explainers and trends reporter for Forbes.
Follow
May 31, 2023,04:24pm EDT
TOPLINE As companies and colleges face a sudden surge in online and legislative attacks against diversity, equity and inclusion programs—the latest in an anti-”woke” political movement on the right—online critics are zeroing in on targets including, somewhat bizarrely, Christian-affiliated restaurant chain Chick-fil-A.
Chick-fil-A Ranks As America's Favorite Restaurant According To One Industry Survey
Critics are accusing Chick-fil-A of going "woke" because of its DEI commitment. (Photo by Brandon ... [+]GETTY IMAGES
KEY FACTS

Many companies and universities have made commitments to a diverse and inclusive workplace, especially since the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements of the last decade, with every Fortune 100 company voicing a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and an estimated 83% of companies working to implement DEI programs, according to a WorldatWork survey of 656 companies.
DEI programs have faced backlash from right-wing critics, who have moved to boycott companies who make commitments to diversity—most recently Chick-fil-A, which became the target of right-wing backlash on Tuesday when its years-old announcement of its commitment to DEI and its hiring of a vice president of DEI resurfaced on Twitter.
PROMOTED

Though the backlash is new, Erick McReynolds has served as vice president for DEI since November 2021, and was previously executive director of DEI since June 2020, according to his LinkedIn.
Chick-fil-A’s critics were further outraged by a resurfaced three-year-old video of chairman and former CEO Dan Cathy shining a Black man’s shoes onstage in an Atlanta church during a discussion about racism, a gesture meant as a means to “put words to action” in repenting for racism, that was criticized as “bizarre” at the time.

KEY BACKGROUND

On Monday, both chambers of the Texas state legislature passed a ban on DEI programs at publicly funded universities, two weeks after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) signed a bill into law defunding DEI programs at Florida public colleges and limiting how race can be discussed in classes. At least 20 states have introduced various bills targeting collegiate DEI programs, diversity in hiring and identity-based preferences for admission, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, though some of these bills have failed.

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CHIEF CRITICS

Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, criticized Chick-fil-A’s DEI commitment on Twitter to his 2.2 million followers. He accused DEI initiatives of being “anti-white, anti-American, and anti-Christian,” as well as a “Marxist Trojan Horse with a sweet sounding name.” Conservative Blaze TV host Lauren Chen tweeted to her 500,000 followers there is “no legitimate, non-woke reason for any company to have a ‘DEI’ department or program” because “individuals will be rewarded or penalized on the basis of race, gender, or sexuality.” DeSantis, a high-profile DEI critic, has previously suggested the acronym instead stands for “discrimination, exclusion and indoctrination.”

CONTRA

McReynolds stated Chick-fil-A’s mission of “ensuring mutual respect, understanding and dignity everywhere we do business” on the company’s DEI webpage. The Chick-fil-A DEI statement commits to promoting equal opportunity for employees and cites its work with universities and organizations like the Women’s Foodservice Forum, National Black MBA Association and Association of Latino Professionals of America to hire talent. Democratic politicians have also defended DEI from right-wing attacks, including Ohio State Rep. Casey Weinstein (D-Hudson), who tweeted: “Good for @ChickfilA!” Texas Democrats, including State Rep. Barbara Gervin-Hawkins (D-San Antonio), defended diversity as “not a threat but a strength” after the Texas House passed a bill banning DEI programs in public universities.

TANGENT

Right-wing outrage against DEI programs follows increasing attacks on companies deemed to be “woke” for their marketing campaigns that include LGBTQ people or their Pride Month product lines. Bud Light faced a boycott and criticism from conservative pundits after it sent transgender TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney a custom can with her image on it in early April. Since then, a long line of companies have faced online backlash, including Target and Kohl’s for their Pride Month products, as well as The North Face and Jack Daniels for marketing campaigns featuring drag queens. Some of these marketing campaigns are old but have been dug up and recirculated on social media by angered conservatives, including a months-old Miller Lite marketing campaign that originally aired in March for Women’s History Month but went viral on Twitter more than two months later. Attacks on DEI in education also follow several states’ efforts to ban “critical race theory” in schools and books in schools and libraries.

SURPRISING FACT

The conservative backlash to Chick-fil-A’s DEI commitment is a stark contrast to its history of tension with the LGBTQ community, which has prompted some LGBTQ supporters to boycott the company and conservatives to readily embrace it. Chick-fil-A vocally abides by Christian values, stating its corporate purpose is to “glorify God by being a faithful steward of all that is entrusted to us.” The company famously closes its restaurants on Sundays according to the wishes of its founder, Truett Cathy, who wanted employees to rest and worship if they choose. Chick-fil-A has long faced criticism from the left wing because of Dan Cathy’s statements opposing same-sex marriage in 2012, and the company’s charitable foundation’s history of donating money to anti-LGBTQ groups. Some conservatives have supported the company because of Cathy’s religious beliefs and anti-gay marriage stance: in 2012, former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Ark.) declared August 1 to be “Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day,” and praised Cathy on Facebook for “his view that the Biblical view of marriage should be upheld.”

FURTHER READING

Kohl’s Becomes Latest Target Of LGBTQ Culture Wars: Here Are All The Others—From Bud Light To Target (Forbes)

Molson Coors Slaps Anti-‘Woke’ Critics—Like Joe Rogan And Ben Shapiro—And Defends Miller Lite Women’s History Ad (Forbes)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lov2fish (Post 267201)

No one is asking law abiding gun owners to give up anything. What most people want is a way to keep guns out of the hands of the criminal and mentally ill. We need to have PROFESSIONAL people to guard schools, malls, hospitals, zoos, public places. That means TRAINING, supervision, and building security systems to keep the nuts out of the buildings.

Disney nixes $1 billion Florida development, latest casualty in DeSantis' 'war on wok

Disney nixes $1 billion Florida development, latest casualty in DeSantis' 'war on woke'

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opini...a/70233556007/

Never fuck with someone who buys printers ink by the barrel

Arizona announces limits on construction in Phoenix area

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/01/us/ar...ate/index.html

How humans have changed the enviroment

Idiots from both sides are always trying to cancel out shit instead of minding their own business and staying in their lane. Glad I grow my own food and hunt the meat. Can't protest Ma'Nature, she is always correct

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lov2fish (Post 267280)

Which has nothing to do with the article.

Chic-F-A is one of the most successful fast food restaurants, who conquered Covid and showed the world how to run a business. The focus on the teachings of Jesus, treat all employees with respect and do not judge them for their private lives. It gets cold in Indy in the winter, so local chic-f-las put their crew in winter clothes and put heaters outside so the crew members had some cover from the weather.

They stand by the teachings of Jesus, love thy neighbor. The customers and their crew. If that is woke, then Im for it.

Just because of one tweet (or twit), you think the whole lot is against a company? SMH

Quote:

Originally Posted by Racehorse (Post 267292)

Just because of one tweet (or twit), you think the whole lot is against a company? SMH

Not the point. They take equity and equality for their employees seriously, and are an example how a business should be run. But for some reason the far right hates them

Heres the quote

Quote:

Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, criticized Chick-fil-A’s DEI commitment on Twitter to his 2.2 million followers. He accused DEI initiatives of being “anti-white, anti-American, and anti-Christian,” as well as a “Marxist Trojan Horse with a sweet sounding name.” Conservative Blaze TV host Lauren Chen tweeted to her 500,000 followers there is “no legitimate, non-woke reason for any company to have a ‘DEI’ department or program” because “individuals will be rewarded or penalized on the basis of race, gender, or sexuality.” DeSantis, a high-profile DEI critic, has previously suggested the acronym instead stands for “discrimination, exclusion and indoctrination.”

That is the politics of hate. They are attacking chik-f-a because the wont join their politics that divide a community. The far right wants to separate the races, put women back in the kitchen and use religion to scare people rather than bring them together.

Having a DEI office is a means to monitor how an organization is managing its hiring and employe retention. What is the make up of management, who are attracting for jobs and rate of turnover by store, by region, in the country.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAFF (Post 267299)

Not the point. They take equity and equality for their employees seriously, and are an example how a business should be run. But for some reason the far right hates them

Heres the quote

Again, you are quoting one guy in the media and one politician. My point stands. You are taking what two people are saying and making it equate to an entire group. There is a word for that, but somehow you only apply it to conservatives.

Quote:

HAHAHAHA. nNo. You try to make one side seem like morons, but defend the morons on your side. When will you grow up and see there are morons everywhere, including on your vote on your ballot.

Quote:

Having a DEI office is a means to monitor how an organization is managing its hiring and employe retention. What is the make up of management, who are attracting for jobs and rate of turnover by store, by region, in the country.

I have no issue with any such office. I guess you think everyone on one side of the aisle agrees with everyone else on that side. Seems mire like your side to me. The right is a fractured group, because many issues important to one segment is irrelevant to another, which is why we ended up with Trump.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAFF (Post 267282)

My point being, I don't care about fast food joints, who is protesting them and who isn't. My definition of fast food is, is a 3 year old deer faster than a 4 year old deer, or how fast is that rabbit running when leading him.

Fuck em all, and fuck those who care about it.

o

The general theme of this thread reminds me of this song, by the late Joe South. ......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDeVonv3kY0

o

Utah school district that banned Bible considers removing Book of Mormon

https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...-of-morman-ban

Utah school district that banned Bible considers removing Book of Mormon

Quote:

Originally Posted by Colts And Orioles (Post 267346)

o

The general theme of this thread reminds me of this song, by the late Joe South. ......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDeVonv3kY0

o

I had forgotten that song.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAFF (Post 267173)

https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/31/us/te...ety/index.html

o

Maybe they ought to just let the students themselves carry guns ...... then, we'd REALLY see a "survival of the fittest" atmosphere come to fruition.

o

Mark Meadows testifies

Mark Meadows testified to federal grand jury in special counsel probe of Trump

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/06/polit...obe/index.html

Quote:

—
Mark Meadows, Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, has testified to a federal grand jury as part of special counsel Jack Smith’s ongoing investigation into the former president, according to one source familiar with the matter.

Meadows was asked about the former president’s handling of classified documents as well as efforts to overturn the 2020 election, another source familiar with the matter said.

George Terwilliger, a lawyer representing Meadows, said in a statement that “Without commenting on whether or not Mr. Meadows has testified before the grand jury or in any other proceeding, Mr. Meadows has maintained a commitment to tell the truth where he has a legal obligation to do so.”

A spokesperson for the special counsel’s office declined to comment.

The New York Times first reported on Meadow’s appearance before the grand jury.

ADVERTISING

Meadows is viewed as a critical witness to Smith’s investigation. He was ordered to testify before the grand jury and to provide documents after a judge rejected Trump’s claims of executive privilege.

His testimony could provide investigators key insight into the former president’s actions and mental state following the election he lost to Joe Biden as well as into Trump’s actions after he left office in January 2021.

CNN previously reported that Meadows, under subpoena, turned over some materials to the Justice Department as part of their investigation.

Multiple sources told CNN last week that Smith has focused on a meeting related to Meadows as part of his criminal investigation into Trump’s handling of documents. Two people working on the former chief of staff’s autobiography attended a meeting in Bedminster, New Jersey, in July 2021 where Trump acknowledged he held onto a classified Pentagon document about a potential attack on Iran, the sources said. The meeting was recorded, but it is unknown from where the Justice Department first obtained the recording. Meadows didn’t attend the meeting.

A source close to Trump’s legal team told CNN earlier in May that Trump’s lawyers had had no contact with Meadows and his team and were in the dark on what Meadows is doing in the investigation. Meadows’ silence has irked lawyers representing other defendants aligned with Trump who have been more open, several sources familiar with the Trump-aligned legal teams said at the time. In particular, they pointed to a $900,000 payment Trump’s Save America political action committee paid to the firm representing Meadows, McGuireWoods, at the end of last year.

Meadows’ testimony and records were hotly pursued in multiple investigations around January 6 and the 2020 election, although he had stopped short of providing answers to the House select committee and a criminal investigation in Fulton County, Georgia.

A juror on the Atlanta-based grand jury shared earlier this year that Meadows had testified but declined to answer questions, saying Meadows cited his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination as well as other privileges.

That may indicate Meadows required from federal prosecutors in Smith’s investigation an assurance he wouldn’t be charged with a crime if they sought his substantial testimony.

While Meadows refused to testify in front of the January 6 House select committee, the Justice Department declined to charge him with a crime on those grounds.

The panel said that Meadows appeared to be one of several participants in a criminal conspiracy as part of Trump’s attempt to delay and overturn the results of the 2020 election. Its final report paints Meadows as an integral part of that effort, as documented by the more than 2,000 text messages Meadows turned over to the committee before he stopped cooperating.

The government has been presenting evidence in both probes for months to grand juries in Washington, DC. Prosecutors are also using a grand jury based in Miami in the classified documents probe, bringing in multiple witnesses in recent weeks.

CNN previously reported that Secret Service agents assigned to protect the former president have been called to testify in the classified documents probe. Another source familiar with the matter tells CNN that every member of his detail – more than 20 agents – have testified.

Meadows burned papers after meeting with Scott Perry, Jan. 6 panel told

Meadows burned papers after meeting with Scott Perry, Jan. 6 panel told

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/0...former%20aides.

Quote:

The unusual move came after a meeting between then-President Donald Trump’s then-chief of staff and the Pennsylvania Republican, according to recent testimony.
Then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows talks to reporters at the White House.
Then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows talks to reporters at the White House on October 21, 2020. | Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

By BETSY WOODRUFF SWAN and KYLE CHENEY
05/26/2022 02:08 PM EDT
Updated: 05/26/2022 09:02 PM EDT
Then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows burned papers in his office after meeting with a House Republican who was working to challenge the 2020 election, according to testimony the Jan. 6 select committee has heard from one of his former aides.

Cassidy Hutchinson, who worked under Meadows when he was former President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, told the panel investigating the Capitol attack that she saw Meadows incinerate documents after a meeting in his office with Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.). A person familiar with the testimony described it on condition of anonymity.

The Meadows-Perry meeting came in the weeks after Election Day 2020, as Trump and his allies searched for ways to reverse the election results.

It’s unclear whether Hutchinson told the committee which specific papers were burnt, and if federal records laws required the materials’ preservation. Meadows’ destruction of papers is a key focus for the select committee, and the person familiar with the testimony said investigators pressed Hutchinson for details about the issue for more than 90 minutes during a recent deposition.

POLITICO could not independently confirm that Meadows burned papers after a meeting with Perry.

A lawyer for Meadows declined to comment, as did a spokesperson for the Jan. 6 committee. A lawyer for Hutchinson did not respond to requests for comment, and neither did a spokesperson for Perry.

Before the 2020 election, Perry — who represents the Harrisburg, Pa. region — had a relatively low national profile. But testimony and documents obtained by congressional investigators show he was the first person to connect Trump with Jeffrey Clark, a top Justice Department official who sympathized with the then-president’s efforts to overturn his loss to Joe Biden.

Senior Trump DOJ officials have testified that the former president came close to appointing Clark as acting attorney general in order to use the department’s extraordinary powers to sow doubt about the election results and urge state legislatures to consider overriding Biden’s victory.

Perry, now chair of the pro-Trump House Freedom Caucus, spent weeks pressing Meadows to implement the plan.

“Mark, just checking in as time continues to count down,” Perry texted Meadows on Dec. 26, 2020, according to messages released by the select panel. “11 days to 1/6 and 25 days to inauguration. We gotta get going!”

But the effort didn’t come to fruition. Instead, in an Oval Office meeting, the rest of DOJ leadership threatened to quit if Trump made Clark attorney general.

The select committee has also revealed that Meadows and Perry took steps to conceal some of their communications after the election. For example, in a Dec. 2020 text message exchange the committee included in an April court filing, Perry told Meadows he had “just sent you something on Signal,” referring to the encrypted messaging app popular with journalists and government officials.

An investigation by Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee last year delved further into Perry’s involvement in the attempt to overturn the election and urged the Jan. 6 select panel to look into the Pennsylvanian further.

Earlier this month, the select panel also subpoenaed Perry and four other Republican lawmakers. Perry’s compliance deadline is today, and he hasn’t signaled whether or not he will cooperate. The select committee also subpoenaed Clark and later voted in favor of holding him in contempt of Congress, although the full House has not taken any such vote.

Since his involvement with the former president’s efforts, Perry has gained political clout. In November, he was elected head of the Freedom Caucus, which wields significant influence in the House Republican conference.

The New York Times first reported that the committee heard testimony indicating Meadows burned White House papers. The Trump White House’s unorthodox approach to document management has drawn significant media scrutiny in recent weeks — and has also caught the attention of DOJ.

During his presidency, Trump was known to tear up papers and throw them in the trash. Aides would scurry to reassemble those papers for archiving, as federal record-keeping laws require.

After leaving the White House, Trump had 15 boxes of documents shipped to Mar-a-Lago. Some of those boxes were marked as classified, according to The Washington Post, and the Justice Department is now investigating the matter. Mishandling classified material is illegal.

Trump says he’s been indicted in federal classified documents probe

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/0...probe-00101165

Quote:

Former President Donald Trump said Thursday that he has been indicted on charges connected to his handling of classified national security records, writing on social media that he has been summoned to federal court on Tuesday in Miami.

The precise charges that federal prosecutors have obtained against Trump were not immediately clear, but Trump said his attorneys were informed by the Justice Department on Thursday that a grand jury indictment had been obtained.

Prosecutors are charging the former president with seven criminal counts, according to a person familiar with the indictment.

The documents investigation has been overseen by special counsel Jack Smith and appeared to be nearing the charging phase in recent days. Smith’s team recently sent Trump a target letter and Trump’s lawyers met with senior Justice Department officials in Washington in what now appears to have been an unsuccessful bid to head off criminal charges against the former president.

A Justice Department spokesperson referred questions about Trump’s assertions about an indictment to a Smith spokesperson, who declined to comment Thursday evening.

It’s a moment as fraught as it is historic: the first-ever federal charges against a former president, who also happens to be the Republican Party’s frontrunner for the 2024 nomination. The charges ignite what is sure to be a protracted and intense period of pretrial litigation that will overlap with the GOP nominating contest and galvanize Republican voters who have so far been unfazed by Trump’s legal entanglements.

Trump, who is already facing state felony charges in Manhattan related to alleged hush money payments to a porn star, has now been tagged with his second set of criminal charges, with more potentially looming. An Atlanta-based district attorney is gearing up to make a charging decision in a long-running probe of Trump’s bid to subvert the 2020 election as soon as next month. And Smith is similarly investigating Trump for his effort to derail the transfer of power to Joe Biden.

Trump has spent months railing against Smith and other investigators, seeking to cast their probes as a politically motivated conspiracy against him — and he spent the days preceding the latest indictment attacking the Justice Department by making false comparisons to Joe Biden’s own handling of classified information.

The documents probe has its origins in a dispute between Trump and the National Archives, which began shortly after Trump left office in January 2021. Archives officials, who realized Trump had retained some presidential papers, began asking him to return the records because they were property of the federal government.

But Trump resisted, triggering a lengthy round of negotiation that stretched to January 2022, when he agreed to return 15 boxes of material to the Archives. That’s when Archives officials discovered several documents that were marked classified and alerted the Justice Department.

By April 2022, DOJ issued a subpoena to Trump’s office for all remaining classified documents at his Mar-a-LAgo estate. They also subpoenaed for surveillance footage from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, which his company, the Trump Organization, monitored remotely. In early June 2022, top DOJ officials visited Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump’s lawyers Evan Corcoran and Christina Bobb, who handed over another sealed folder containing classified records. Accompanying the folder was a signed letter assuring DOJ that the folder represented all of the remaining classified material at Trump’s property.

But that turned out to be false. In August, based on evidence that Trump had not fully turned over additional classified documents, the FBI raided Trump’s estate and recovered additional boxes containing highly classified material mixed with Trump’s personal items and other non-classified presidential records.

The raid galvanized public attention to the documents probe and drew Trump’s fury in a way it hadn’t before. Two weeks later, he sued to reclaim his property, igniting a legal fight that would briefly delay the Justice Department’s investigation. That fight stretched into November, when Trump announced his latest bid for the White House.

That announcement also triggered Attorney General Merrick Garland’s decision to appoint Smith as special counsel to oversee both the documents investigation and the probe of Trump’s 2020 election gambit. Garland indicated that Smith, who returned to the United States from a stint as a war crimes prosecutor at the Hague, would maintain the rapid pace of the investigations, which had been ongoing for months by the time he arrived.
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Although the election probe drew higher-profile witnesses, like former Vice President Mike Pence and other senior figures in Trump’s White House, the documents probe always seemed poised to wrap first, and Smith brought in a steady stream of witnesses — employees of Trump’s estates, advisers and even Corcoran, Trump’s lawyer.

To secure Corcoran’s testimony, Smith fought a secret grand jury battle that was ultimately decided in his favor by U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell, who ruled that attorney-client privilege did not apply to Corcoran’s testimony and documents because they likely included evidence of a crime.

National Review editorial board: Impossible to read Trump indictment and ‘not be appa

National Review editorial board: Impossible to read Trump indictment and ‘not be appalled’

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...dd309db14&ei=6

Quote:

The editorial board for The National Review said one cannot read the allegations outlined in the federal indictment against former President Trump and “not be appalled.”

The editorial board said in a post on Saturday that it has in the past pointed out times that it believes Trump’s opponents have manipulated the law to pursue politically motivated legal claims against him. It added that the members of the board do not like the precedent of a federal prosecutor who serves under the president indicting the president’s lead rival for reelection.

“That said, it is impossible to read the indictment against Trump in the Mar-a-Lago documents case and not be appalled at the way he handled classified documents as an ex-president, and responded to the attempt by federal authorities to reclaim them,” the editorial states.

The board for the conservative news outlet noted that many of the boxes that Trump had moved from the White House to Mar-a-Lago at the end of his presidency only contained newspaper clippings, photos, cards and letters, but they also included hundreds of documents with classified markings.

The information on the documents covered information relating to U.S. nuclear programs, defense capabilities, vulnerabilities and plans for potential retaliatory action in the event of an attack from another country, according to the indictment.

The board said Trump no longer had a right to possess these documents after his term ended, and he stored them “recklessly” in locations like his bedroom, a bathroom and a ballroom at Mar-a-Lago. It also mentioned federal prosecutors’ allegations that Trump ignored requests for the documents to be returned for months and attempted to keep investigators from obtaining the documents he had.

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The editorial board argued the “most damning” part of the indictment is the transcript of the conversation Trump had in which he showed one document to a reporter who was not authorized to see it.

“Equally damning, particularly for someone who was and would like again to be the nation’s chief executive, responsible for the enforcement of the laws, is the evidence that Trump not only deceived the investigators and the grand jury, but his own lawyers — knowing and intending that they would consequently obstruct the investigation,” the editorial states.

The indictment alleges that Trump had an aide, who has also been indicted, move boxes of documents away from a storage room when one of his attorneys came to Mar-a-Lago to confirm that the subpoena was being fully complied with. This caused his legal team to wrongly tell investigators that all documents had been turned over.

The board said it understands conservatives might be frustrated with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton not facing charges for her use of a private email server while serving and that President Biden might not face charges for his own alleged mishandling of some classified documents.

“But it doesn’t change the fact the country wouldn’t be in this uncharted territory if Trump hadn’t taken documents he had no right to, and simply complied when asked to give them back,” the editorial concludes.

The board previously declared in November that it would reject Trump as a choice for the Republican nomination for president in 2024.

One of the most dangerous hours in America is now 11 o’clock on Sunday morning

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/10/us/fa...cec/index.html

Quote:

—
Jeanne Assam had a gut feeling that something terrible was about to happen as she watched parishioners leave a Sunday worship service at a Colorado megachurch one snow-covered December day.

That morning, a gunman had escaped after killing two people at a missionary training center about 70 miles away. Assam had a premonition that the gunman would next target the Colorado Springs church where she volunteered as an unpaid security officer. Her feeling was so strong that she volunteered to work that day, even though she had planned to stay home.

At 12:55 pm., Assam heard someone in the church lobby say that something weird was going on in the parking lot. Someone had lit a smoke bomb. A rifle shot then rang out in the parking lot. Assam heard a panicky voice shout from the packed crowd in the church lobby, “Get down! He’s got a gun!”

“I could tell it was the crack of a high-powered rifle,” Assam said. “It [the gunfire] was just thundering out really loud, just booming. People were screaming and running.”

As people fled, Assam reached for a Beretta 92FS 9mm semi-automatic pistol tucked in her jeans and sprinted toward the gunshots. She found a hiding spot near the church church’s main hallway.

She peeked out from her hiding spot and spotted the source of the rifle shots. A man was carrying an assault rifle in his left hand and had a thick black glove on his right hand. He was wearing a bulletproof vest and a backpack, and was cursing aloud as he moved, firing his rifle.

Assam gripped her Beretta and said a silent prayer: “God be with me.”

She then stepped from her hiding spot and faced the gunman.

What happened next at the New Life Church in December 2007 would change the way many churches approached security. It would also foreshadow a disturbing trend that has only worsened in subsequent years: 11 o’clock on Sunday morning is now one of the most dangerous hours of the week in America, pastors and church security officials say.

And for religious leaders, this poses a dilemma.

The church has become a frontline for the nation’s social ills
The New Life shooting was a transformative event that convinced many churches to add armed security to their Sunday morning worship services. But the security issues facing houses of worship have worsened since then, religious leaders and security officials say.

Church leaders say they are concerned about another array of threats that have become more common in a post-pandemic America where many people are on edge. Many of the contemporary issues afflicting the country — too many people carrying concealed weapons, domestic disputes that turn violent, people struggling with mental illnesses — are now spilling into Sunday morning worship services, pastors and security officials say.

Jake Stephens pays his respects outside the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina June 19, 2015, two days after a mass shooting left nine dead during a bible study at the church. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Jake Stephens pays his respects outside the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, on June 19, 2015 -- two days after a mass shooting left nine dead during a Bible study meeting at the church.
Brian Snyder/Reuters
Churches have long been concerned about losing members as church attendance plummets across denominations. Now they have a new worry: protecting those members that remain.

“Everything that is happening in the culture spills over into the church,” says the Rev. Brady Boyd, senior pastor of New Life Church, the same church where Assam confronted a gunman 16 years ago. Boyd says it’s rare but not uncommon for uniformed officers to handcuff someone creating a disturbance – usually related to a domestic dispute – in his church.

“That’s actually why the church exists,” he says. “The church should be a place where we see cultural problems manifest. It shouldn’t surprise us that we’re seeing broken families show up in our building, we’re seeing mental health issues and people wrestling with post-Covid anxiety.”

A house of worship, though, is traditionally the last place someone would expect to see lethal violence. Churches are called sanctuaries for a reason. A sanctuary is defined as a place of refuge and safety “set apart from the profane, ordinary world.”

But church and security officials say houses of worship are placed in a uniquely dangerous position every Sunday morning. Congregations are traditionally unprotected and are expected to welcome “the stranger” no matter how dangerous they may look. Houses of faith are one of the few public communal spaces in the country that were created to embrace all comers, including broken or disturbed people on the fringes of society.

The New Life shooting in Colorado ushered in an era of mass shootings where even churches are no longer safe.

In 2015, a White supremacist gunman killed nine worshippers at a historic Black church in Charleston, South Carolina. Two years later, a gunman killed 26 worshippers at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. In 2019, a gunman killed two people inside a Texas Church of Christ—including an armed parishioner working security—before he was shot to death by another member of the church’s security team. The entire shooting incident, from the time the gunman pulled a weapon to the time he was shot, lasted six seconds.

SUTHERLAND SPRINGS, TX - NOVEMBER 12: The First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs is turned into a memorial to honor those who died on November 12, 2017 in Sutherland Springs, Texas. The inside of the church has been painted white with 26 white chairs placed around the room. On each chair is a single rose and the name of a shooting victim. The chairs are placed throughout the room at the location where the victim died. The memorial will be open to the public. Devin Patrick Kelley shot and killed the 26 people and wounded 20 others when he opened fire during Sunday service at the church on November 5th. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
The First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs, Texas, is turned into a memorial to honor the 26 people who died November 5, 2017 when a gunman opened fire at the church.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
And in May 2022 a gunman killed one person and wounded five others at a Presbyterian church in Orange County, California.

And then there are the less lethal acts of violence that don’t make the news. Those are hard to quantify, but a church security firm released a report in 2019 that estimated some 480 incidents of serious violence take place at communities of worship in the US each year. The report also said that two-thirds of the assailants had no affiliation with the congregation.

Mosques and synagogues have become targets too
These mass shootings, though, are not confined to churches. Every house of worship is now considered a soft target. In 2012 a man gunned down six people at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. And in 2018, a gunman killed 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. A 50-year-old man faces federal hate crime charges and the death penalty at his trial, which began in Pittsburgh last week.

Rabbi Hillel Norry of the Temple Beth David in Georgia says synagogues have recently started using more advanced protective technology, such as security apps and surveillance cameras with remote live feeds.

Most houses of worship are trying to find the balance between being too open or too vigilant, Norry says.

“There’s two things that I know are wrong: being wide open and the other is being closed up and shuttered where everything is locked up and only members can get in if they have the code,” says Norry, a black belt in Tae Kwon Do who advocates for armed self-defense in synagogues where it’s permitted.

PITTSBURGH, PA - OCTOBER 31: Mourners visit the memorial outside the Tree of Life Synagogue on October 31, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Eleven people were killed in a mass shooting at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood on October 27. (Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)
Mourners visit a memorial outside the Tree of Life synagogue on October 31, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania -- four days after 11 people were killed in a mass shooting there.
Jeff Swensen/Getty Images/File
“That’s why congregations are there – to greet people who we don’t know yet,” Norry says. “If not, close your doors and get into another line of work. If you’re only there for the people who are already there, that’s not church. That’s a club.”

Mosques also face increased fears about security. A gunman who killed 51 people during an attack on two mosques in New Zealand in 2019 demonstrated the potential risks of anti-Muslim sentiment in the US.

The CEO of a company that offers security training says mosques are struggling to pay for added security while now contending with a new threat.

“One of the biggest challenges facing mosques are cyberattacks,” says Shaukat Warraich of Mosque Security. “Aggressive and hateful emails and social media posts against [Islamic] centers have become more and more abusive.”

‘Hope is not a strategy,’ one security consultant says
These threats have led more churches to not only add and train armed security but to hire security consultants like Full Armor Church. Full Armor, like similar businesses, helps churches organize, train and operate security ministries. Dwayne Harris, Full Armor’s president, says the typical house of worship has about five minutes before a first responder answers an emergency, such as an active shooter, a member suffering a medical emergency or a fire.

Some churches’ security plans amount to this: Hope nothing bad happens, he says. Harris says he launched Full Armor in 2016 to accommodate a growing number of churches searching for ways to boost their security.

“Hope is not a strategy,” says Harris, an ordained bishop who says on his website that he “actively serves in full time law enforcement” and has experience with SWAT teams, and de-escalation training programs.

“You have to have some training, walk through and talk-through plans on how you’re going to confront a crisis,” Harris says.

OAK CREEK, WI - AUGUST 7: Police officials stand guard outside the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin August, 7, 2012 Oak Creek Wisconsin. A suspected gunman, 40-year-old Wade Michael Page, allegedly killed six people at the temple August 5, was shot to death by police at the scene. He was an army veteran and reportedly a former leader of a white supremacist heavy metal band. Three others were critically wounded in the attack. (Photo by Darren Hauck/Getty Images)
Police stand guard on August, 7, 2012, outside a Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. A gunman had killed six people at the temple two days earlier before he was shot to death by police.
Darren Hauck/Getty Images
Full Armor and other church security firms offer similar advice: Install video surveillance, train armed security staff, create a single entrance for the church and identify members with military, law enforcement and medical training.

One of the most effective weapons a church can deploy to protect itself is something else: friendliness, Harris says.

The more people can greet visitors to the church the more chance they can access potential risks. He cites the multiple checkpoints, or “touchpoints” that greet airline travelers. Each layer of interaction boosts security.

“Hospitality is the number one tool for church safety,” Harris says. “The more touchpoints you have for individuals, the easier it is to identify risks. Having touchpoints—greeting people at the door, interacting with them, and discovering their needs, their family dynamics—you may be able to identify someone who is agitated or has a grievance.”

Some of the biggest threats are internal
Despite the specter of mass shootings, some pastors say their greatest security challenges are internal. They cite other risks, such as mentally unstable members of the congregation or pedophiles who try to join church ministries that put them into contact with children.

Others also cited the threats of domestic violence or family disputes erupting in a congregation. An enraged man whose wife and children left him often knows where they will be on a Sunday morning.

“What causes some people to go south is they lost hope,” says the Rev. Tim Russell of the Light House Church in Missouri, which has an armed security staff.

“A man may have received a phone call. Their wife said, ‘I’m leaving after 30 years,’ and they lost their job. And they think they have nothing to live for, so they just go south.”

The Geneva Presbyterian Church is seen after a deadly shooting, in Laguna Woods, California, U.S. May 15, 2022. REUTERS/David Swanson
The Geneva Presbyterian Church is seen after a deadly shooting, in Laguna Woods, California on May 15, 2022.
David Swanson/Reuters
Sometimes a pastor’s sermon also can go south if they anger the wrong person. Pastors said they are seeing more people rushing the pulpit during services out of anger or a misguided attempt to share a message with the pastor.

Boyd, of New Life church, says he was preaching a holiday sermon two years ago about the violence in the Christmas story (Israel’s ruler ordered the execution of infants after hearing about Jesus’ impending birth) when a large young man rushed the pulpit, and started yelling and cursing at him.

At first, Boyd’s security team did nothing. They thought the pulpit intruder was a dramatic prop Boyd had arranged beforehand to deploy during his sermon.

Then they rushed the stage and subdued the man.

Boyd says the emotional demands on church leaders is almost nonstop.

“We have more counseling appointments for anxiety, fear, depression suicide than ever before in the history of our church right now,” he says.

Another concern, some pastors say, is the rise of churchgoers bringing concealed weapons into the pews. Many churches in the Bible Belt are located in open-carry states where worshippers often carry guns into services, pastors say.

Boyd says New Life typically has about 20 armed security officers in its sprawling church complex, which draws an estimated 14,000 members. But his church security does not have a monopoly on Sunday morning firepower. Colorado Springs is home to both an army and air force base. Many military veterans, aware of the church’s prior mass shooting, come to the service armed and ready, he says.

“Because we live in Colorado, where the gun laws are pretty liberal—if you can make fog on a mirror here you can get a gun—I bet we have 200 or 300 other people in our services that are carrying, men and women,” Boyd says.

He adds that having more guns in church does not make him feel safer.

“We would prefer people leave their weapons in their vehicle,” he says. “If a shooting were to happen and everyone pulled their weapons, it would be difficult to determine the good guys vs. the bad guys.”

Can churches go too far with security?
Adding too much security, though, could detract from the historic mission of houses of worship, some religious leaders and security officials say.

Churches are supposed to welcome the stranger, not frisk them, they say.

Churches are directed to minister to the “least of these” on the fringes of society. In many cases, the least of these include people who not dressed well, may be off the streets, may not smell well or act in unusual ways. If churches get too preoccupied with security, they could turn away the very people Jesus gravitated to, says the Rev. Tommy Mason of the Marion County Baptist Association in Alabama.

“You don’t want to turn people away just because they look a little different or because they don’t have the best clothes on,” says Mason, who received training from Full Armor to beef up his church’s security.

“And you don’t to be a place that looks like a prison or where you have a bunch of bouncers standing at the door. You have to welcome and assist them because they’re broken, and they want to hear the Word of God.”

Members of the Secret Service stand guard as US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden attend a memorial mass at Saint Joseph on the Brandywine Catholic Church on the anniversary of the death of their son Beau Biden, on May 30, 2023, in Wilmington, Delaware. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP) (Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Members of the Secret Service stand guard as President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden attend a memorial mass at Saint Joseph on the Brandywine Catholic Church on the anniversary of the death of their son Beau Biden, on May 30, 2023, in Wilmington, Delaware.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty
How Assam stopped a gunman
Some broken people, though, may not want help. They may want to inflict pain.

That was the situation Assam, the New Life church volunteer, faced on that bitterly cold Sunday morning when she confronted a gunman in the megachurch”s main hallway.

“Police officer! Drop your weapon!” she shouted at the man as she leveled her Beretta handgun at him.

The man turned to her and leveled his weapon. He said nothing to her, Assam says. She fired.

“He just goes flying backwards, like had been pushed,” Assam says.

The gunman was down but still dangerous. He sat up and start firing at her again as she closed the distance, Assam says. She fired again, hitting him in his carotid artery. His blood splattered on her face, jeans and boots, Assam says.

By this time, the gunman had killed two teenaged sisters and wounded three others.

“It was awful to have to kill somebody,” Assam says. “I had to. He gave me no choice.”

Jeanne Assam, second right, the security guard who shot and wounded an armed assailant in the New Life Church after services on Sunday, holds hands with worshippers during the family service at the church in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2007. A lone gunman killed two worshippers outside the church after services on Sunday and was gunned down by a security guard when he entered the building. The gunman is also connected to a double shooting at a missionary school in the northwest Denver suburb of Arvada, Colo., roughly 12 hours before the massacre at the New Life Church. (AP Photo/Jerilee Bennett, Pool)
Jeanne Assam, second right, the security guard who shot an armed assailant at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs in 2007, holds hands with worshippers during a family service at the church.
Jerilee Bennett/AP
Assam was widely lauded for her actions. President George W. Bush posed for pictures with her. News reports focused on her calm and faith. Assam credits her poise to her experience as a police officer. Before moving to Colorado Springs, she spent five years as an officer with the Minneapolis Police Department.

Assam says she supports churches elevating their security but that hiring armed staff with no experience in law enforcement or the military may not be enough. A shooting range doesn’t replicate the actual experience of facing a yelling, cursing human being charging at you with a weapon, she says.

“You’re going to be shooting at a human being who is probably enraged and not in the right mindset, and you cannot hesitate, or you will die.”

And yet armed church security cannot be too eager to use violence, she says.

“Not everybody who dresses weird is going to be an active shooter,” she says. “They need to be vigilant, but they also need to be compassionate and respectful of people who don’t look or smell like they do. Churches are like hospitals for the hurting.”

Houses of worship must strike a balance between openness and safety
Church leaders want their congregations to feel safe.

But striking a balance between protecting their flock and serving the broken stranger will be one of the most difficult challenges they face in the years ahead.

If they get the balance wrong, they can unintentionally accelerate the already alarming decline in church membership. And what may seem like vigilance could seem instead like hypocrisy.

Consider this sobering Sunday morning scenario:

A spiritual seeker visits a church and finds it filled with metal detectors and armed security guards carrying walkie-talkies. As he or she looks around, they may ask themselves, how can a church sing “A mighty fortress is our God” when they have security teams flanking the pastor and people deemed suspicious being ejected from the service?

This is the tension many places of worship must navigate today as they mobilize to protect their flock from spiritual and lethal threats.

They must somehow find a way to be both a sanctuary, and — when need be — a fortress.

'He's toast': Bill Barr 'shocked' by Trump's 'damning' Espionage Act charges

'He's toast': Bill Barr 'shocked' by Trump's 'damning' Espionage Act charges

https://www.rawstory.com/bill-barr-trump-toast/

Quote:

During an interview on Fox News, Barr was asked about Trump's recent federal indictment.

"What about this chief argument that comes up for the president's allies and his legal team that this should have been handled under the Presidential Records Act, not this Espionage Act charge and other federal statutes that were used here?" host Shannon Bream wondered.

"It started out under the Presidential Records Act and the archives trying to retrieve documents that Trump had no right to have," Barr replied. "But it quickly became clear that what the government was really worried about were these classified and very sensitive documents."

01:53

03:52
Barr said he was "shocked by the degree of sensitivity of these documents and how many there were."

"And so the government's agenda was to get those, protect those documents, and get them out," he continued. "And I think it was perfectly appropriate to do that. It was the right thing to do."

"And I think the counts under the Espionage Act that he willfully retained those documents are solid counts," Barr added. "But I do think that even half of what Andy McCarthy said, which is if even half of it is true, then he's toast. I mean, it's a pretty, it's a very detailed indictment, and it's very, very damning."

Trump indictment document

So the public knows what has happened

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2023...indictment-dg/

Those are the government charges

Trump can't win': Koch network releases ads targeting ex-president

Trump can't win': Koch network releases ads targeting ex-president

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...eb7e38d9&ei=18

Wow, there is a huge shot to bad orange mans ego

“That is not a defense”: Ex-Mueller prosecutor says Trump’s post-arrest speech was a

“That is not a defense”: Ex-Mueller prosecutor says Trump’s post-arrest speech was a “confession”

https://www.salon.com/2023/06/14/tha...-a-confession/

Quote:

Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday spoke to supporters at his Bedminster, N.J. golf club hours after he was fingerprinted, booked and pleaded not guilty to 37 federal criminal charges in Miami, declaring that he had "every right to take these documents."

Trump pleaded not guilty to charges that he illegally retrained national security information and sought to obstruct the investigation into the missing records.

"Whatever documents a president decides to take with him, he has the right to do so. It's an absolute right. This is the law," Trump declared in his speech.

That is not the law. While the Presidential Records Act allows Trump to retain "personal" records like family photos, it requires the National Archives to "assume responsibility for the custody, control, and preservation of, and access to, the Presidential records of that President."

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"There is absolutely no legal authority that supports the idea that a president could assert, for example, that classified records are 'personal.' That would still be true even if such records were declassified," Jason Baron, former director of litigation for the National Archives and Records Administration, told CBS News, adding that Trump "simply is wrong in saying that he had an absolute right to take official documents with him when he left office."

Related

Legal experts destroy Trump's defense: "Every single iota of evidence" came from his "own people"
Trump also claimed that "the president enjoys unconstrained authority to make decisions regarding the disposal of documents."

But the Presidential Records Act says that the National Archives must sign off on any disposal of presidential records.

Michael Cohen on Trump: "He'll be guilty"

Trump during his speech decried his indictment as "the most evil and heinous abuse of power in the history of our country" even though more than a dozen of his former administration officials admit the allegations in the indictment are damning.

"There is not an Attorney General of either party who would not have brought today's charges against the former president," prominent conservative Judge Michael Luttig tweeted on Tuesday. "He has dared, taunted, provoked, and goaded DOJ to prosecute him from the moment it was learned that he had taken these national security documents."

Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.

Trump accused President Joe Biden of having his "top political opponent arrested on fake and fabricated charges of which he and numerous other presidents would be guilty, right in the middle of a presidential election in which he is losing very badly."

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Trump then went on to vow to do the same thing he accused Biden of doing – appointing a prosecutor to investigate his opponent.

"I will appoint a real special prosecutor to go after the most corrupt president in the history of the United States of America, Joe Biden, and the entire Biden crime family," Trump said.

Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, who served on special counsel Bob Mueller's team, zeroed in on Trump's claim that he had "every right" to take the documents he is charged with violating the Espionage Act over.

"Those statements that you just played are admissible as admissions, regardless of whether Donald Trump takes the stand or not. Those are admissions. So, that is–part of what he said is just a straight-out confession. It's not a defense. It's a confession," Weissmann told MSNBC.

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"He said, 'I could take these,'" Weissmann later added. "When you are charged with the illegal retention, the illegal possession of the documents, it is not a good idea to say, 'Hey, you want to know why I took these? Because I could. That is not a defense to that charge. That is an admission to the charge."

Poll: Majority Says Trump Should Drop Out of Presidential Race

Poll: Majority Says Trump Should Drop Out of Presidential Race

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...5980d64c&ei=19

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A strong majority of 56% of Americans think former President Donald Trump should drop out of the 2024 presidential race because of his second indictment involving his alleged "willful" possession of classified documents, according to a poll released Friday by the Marist institute of Public Opinion.

But Republicans largely say they'll stick with him anyway, if he chooses to stick it out and seek the Oval Office job again, according to the survey.

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The poll was taken after Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith announced 37 charges involving Trump's possession of classified documents and his refusal to hand them over despite requests, a subpoena and a search of his Mar-a-Lago home by federal agents – a historic and unprecedented federal indictment of a former commander in chief.

But the survey found that a partisan thread remains woven through the most recent Trump drama, with a devoted segment of his Republican Party saying the charges won't keep them from backing the current front-runner for the 2024 GOP nomination. Even though an overwhelming majority of the public as a whole thinks Trump did something illegal or at least wrong, Republicans aren't letting it affect their votes.

The poll found that 64% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say they will continue to support Trump if he remains in the race, while 32% of Republicans say they plan to support another GOP candidate in the increasingly crowded primary.

Buttressing Trump's own claims that his legal woes only make him more appealing to his base, the survey found that 76% of Republicans have a favorable opinion of Trump, up from 68% who felt that way in February.

Since the winter, Trump has lost a civil case brought by advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, with a jury finding Trump committed "sexual abuse" of her and defamed her. That jury said Trump should pay Carroll $5 million.

In March, Trump was indicted by a grand jury in New York on charges related to his hush-money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. And more indictments, including federal charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol and a Georgia case related to whether the former president attempted to overturn the 2020 election results in the swing state.

But Trump's mounting legal problems, while solidifying the views of his political critics, aren't deterring Republican voters and may even be helping Trump, who has cast himself as the victim of a political "witch hunt."

On the question of whether Trump should stay in the race, 56% say no and 43% said yes, the Poughkeepsie-based, independent Marist poll found. The group wanting Trump to leave the race includes 87% of Democrats and 58% of independents. But among Republicans, 83% say the twice-impeached and twice-indicted Trump should stay in the fight for the nomination.

And while the overwhelming majority of Democrats, 78%, and half of independents – up from 41% in March – believe Trump broke the law, Republicans sharply disagree. They survey found that half of Republicans think Trump did nothing wrong – up from 45% in a March Marist survey.

"Time will tell if this pattern holds. But for now, Republicans are grounded on where they stand on Trump regardless of these unfolding events." Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute, said in a statement.

Trump continues to lead in national and most statewide primary polls. His GOP opponents have been largely measured in their criticisms of him, and several have said they would pardon the former president if they themselves were elected to the White House – a sign of the power Trump's base has in the party.

Trump and many of his primary opponents are scheduled to speak next week at the Faith & Freedom Coalition conference in Washington.

Donald Trump Just Got Dumped by His Lawyer Again

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...01f80d58&ei=44

Quote:

Donald Trump is bleeding lawyers as quickly as he needs them, with Jim Trusty—once representing the former president in both his criminal documents case and a defamation lawsuit—motioning to end his relationship with Trump altogether on Friday.

Trusty wrote in a motion that he was dropping Trump as a client in his defamation suit against CNN because of “irreconcilable differences” that made it impossible for him to “effectively and properly represent” him.

“The defamation lawsuit against CNN is entering a new phase, as more irrefutable facts are revealed,” a spokesperson for Trump told Politico. “We thank Mr. Trusty for his work on this case and wish him all the best.”

Trump is seeking $475 million in damages from CNN, claiming the network conducted a “campaign of dissuasion in the form of libel and slander.”

CNN has asked the judge for the case to be “dismissed with prejudice.”

The motion to withdraw from Trusty came after he’d already removed himself as counsel to Trump, as did the attorney John Rowley, in the federal documents case brought by special counsel Jack Smith. That criminal case relates to sensitive government documents that Trump allegedly kept after his time in the White House and his alleged obstruction of the federal investigation.

Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges in Florida on Tuesday.

Trump is reportedly still looking to hire more lawyers to beef up his defense, but has been struggling to find someone willing and qualified to take the gig.

have no idea how the guys here can still love trump after all that has came out. they will say they don't like him but they do

Quote:

Originally Posted by omahacolt (Post 268101)

have no idea how the guys here can still love trump after all that has came out. they will say they don't like him but they do

I don't think people love Trump. I know I don't.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Racehorse (Post 268104)

I don't think people love Trump. I know I don't.

We have lots of them in rural Indiana. 4 wd rust buckets with trump flags flying

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Originally Posted by JAFF (Post 268114)

We have lots of them in rural Indiana. 4 wd rust buckets with trump flags flying

I don't think they like the actual guy, but what he represents to them. He is the first republican candidate who has stood up to the democrats since Reagan. Now, Reagan was loved, and by a lot on both sides of the aisle. trump is a tool for the angry voters from the right wing. Gingrich was close to being the guy, but then he did some stupid stuff and disappeared.

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Originally Posted by Racehorse (Post 268115)

they love the guy. i know tons of trump fans and they love him. a guy without a single redeeming quality and they love him.

i agree with you that they love that he pretends to be some macho tough guy. that he is fighting the evil democrats and establishment for them. its all fucking bullshit. trump loves himself and himself only. a pure garbage human being.

most of that is because the republican propaganda machine is fucking massive and extremely effective. what fox news and am radio has done to the american people has been a disaster. just constant rage baiting the people consuming it. its probably mostly effective because your average republican is a moron. the vast majority of the republican base is very uneducated. they fall in lock step with whatever message the republican party puts out there. will vote against their best interests and show a disturbing lack of empathy.

trump and his cronies are clearly criminals. were some democrats criminals? yeah. im sure they are. lets get them too.

the problem is trump has no regard for this country. anyone that thinks they weren't trying to overthrow the government by overturning the election is a child with their fingers in their ears. it happened. there was a plan in place and they were trying to execute it. shockingly Pence found the one time in his entire life to do the right thing. more people than just pence but he was a key figure that they needed and he wouldn't go along with it.

trump is a danger to this country and that is why he needs to be made an example of. whatever punishment he gets, if any, won't be enough. no telling how his mishandling of documents cost this country. this isn't a tds rant. its just the facts. which many people will refuse to listen to because they are to insecure to realize they backed the wrong horse.