Today's hearing is reminding me of one of those bizarre stories that happened in those chaotic months around the election that seems too weird to lodge firmly in the memory of the timeline but is worth revisiting.  At the hearing today, we heard from the two election workers from Atlanta who were publicly named by Giuliani, for supposed but discredited "briefcases of phony ballots", and who became a major plank of the conspiracy theories and were deluged with threats and harassment as a result.  Of the mother and daughter pair, the mother, Ruby Freeman, had a rather odd encounter.

On Jan. 4, 2021, Freeman had a visit at her home from a woman named Trevian Kutti, accompanied by an unidentified man.  Freeman wouldn't have been aware, but Kutti appears to be a former publicist for Kanye West and R. Kelly, but most relevantly she was also a memeber of what she called the Young Black Leadership Council under Donald Trump.

She said she was sent by a “high-profile individual,” whom she didn’t identify, to give Freeman an urgent message: confess to Trump’s voter-fraud allegations, or people would come to her home in 48 hours, and she’d go to jail.

48 hours later, of course, was Jan. 6.

She asked Cobb County Police to send an officer to keep watch so she could step outside, according to a recording of her 911 call.  “They’re saying that I need help,” Freeman told the dispatcher, referring to the people at her door, “that it’s just a matter of time that they are going to come out for me and my family.”  An officer arrived and spoke with Kutti, who described herself as a “crisis manager,” according to the police incident report.  Kutti repeated that Freeman “was in danger” and had “48 hours” before “unknown subjects” turned up at her home, the report said. At the officer’s suggestion, the women agreed to meet at a police station. The officer’s report did not identify the man accompanying Kutti.

“I cannot say what specifically will take place,” Kutti is heard telling Freeman in the recording. “I just know that it will disrupt your freedom," she said, "and the freedom of one or more of your family members.”  “You are a loose end for a party that needs to tidy up,” Kutti continued. She added that “federal people” were involved, without offering specifics.

According to Freeman, Kutti told her that she was going to put a man named “Harrison Ford” on speakerphone. (Freeman said the man on the phone wasn’t the actor by the same name.) Kutti said the man had “authoritative powers to get you protection,” the bodycam footage shows.  At that point, Kutti can be heard asking the officer to give them privacy. The body camera did not capture a clear recording of the conversation that followed after the officer moved away from the two women.  Kutti and the man on the speakerphone, over the next hour, tried to get Freeman to implicate herself in committing voter fraud on Election Day, according to Freeman. Kutti offered legal assistance in exchange, Freeman said.  “If you don't tell everything,” Freeman recalled Kutti saying, “you're going to jail.”  Growing suspicious, Freeman said she jumped up from her chair and told Kutti: “The devil is a liar,” before calling for an officer.

Police say they did not investigate the incident further.

Bolded because what the fuck?

On Jan. 5, the day after Freeman's meeting with Kutti, an agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation called Freeman and urged her to leave her home of 20 years because it wasn’t safe, Freeman said.  The following day, Jan. 6, Kutti’s prediction that people would descend on Freeman’s home in 48 hours proved correct, according to a defamation lawsuit Freeman and Moss filed last week against a far-right news site. Freeman, the lawsuit said, left hours before a mob of angry Trump supporters surrounded her home, shouting through bullhorns.

Unfortunately, this story was not brought up during today's testimony.  But I did take a goog to see what's up with this Kutti these days, and I'm a little relieved that she has not been forgotten by the Atlanta District Attorney.

It's also worth noting that a former Watergate prosecutor has recently weighed in that the above Fulton County probe, focusing on Trump's attempts to pressure Georgia officials to overturn the ballots, is the most likely current criminal investigation that would actually land Trump in jail.  "No question about it."  In a perfect world, perhaps.

crumbsroom wrote:

I missed this episode. I did catch a little bit of his schooling on some random podcast though, and it was glorious. I generally find Maher to be a relatively well-informed idiot, which are the worst kinds. So it was nice to have someone at least puncture that shell he's built around himself with all the articles he's read and didn't properly absorb. Didn't hear of a stock market collapse? Jesus Christ dude, even my ignorant ass was aware of this.

It makes an interesting contrast with the previous week.  In a way it's slightly more irritating, because as irritating as Kellyanne Conway is, it was at least clear that she was being irritable.  You assume that Maher was maybe caught off guard over how to deal with her dodging and fillibustering, and never seems to bother shutting her down.  Here, with Ball, she has to be as aggressive as Conway in getting heard, but rather than fillibustering or pivoting to non sequitur issues, Ball stays focused and informative.  So how does Maher handle her?  By derisively mocking and talking over her, tag-teaming with his other guest, condescendingly treating her like she doesn't know what she's talking about, and, of course, showing his ass once it's apparent that he really has no idea what he's talking about.  So I guess Maher chose to allow Conway to prattle on, by comparison?  Wouldn't surprise me, considering how Maher is now doing like Joe Rogan in trying desperately to prove his pseudo-libertarian-but-really-maga-junior bonafides.  Maher has gotten more confident in describing covid as a "bad flu", after dampening his long-held anti-vaxx views for most of the pandemic, now that he's comfortable to do so, but he was always peppering anti-mask and anti-lockdown sentiments.  He's been more aggressive with arguing that the rich pay too much taxes.  He fucking praised Ron DeSantis!  Krystal Ball shattered all of that, and stuck it out while he dismissed her, talked over her, did his little bitching under his breath bit.  So as frustrating as it was to watch Ball struggle with this disrespect, it was ultimately very satisfying because I don't think very many people can watch this and still believe that Maher can claim the 'liberal' label, or claim any kind of authority on any relevant issues.  He got embarrassed badly.

crumbsroom wrote:

I did see his (as usual) brilliant talk about the arts. He apparently has at least 20 songs by Bob Dylan on shuffle on his iPod, so this means he's pretty good. But maybe not that great? Honestly, you smarmy melted-candle. This is your grand metric? Just stick to being a talking head for tired and embarrassing talking points and keep moping about how no one on earth finds you remotely funny.

I'm not familiar with this bit at all, but it doesn't surprise me that Maher has zero musical taste.

crumbsroom wrote:

But this talk about music made me think about how I wanted to mention if anyone here has watched his podcast. Club Random (lol). Basically filmed in some neon compound that (according to him, with great wounded pride) is absolutely not a Man Cave. It's a night club, dammit! Now, it's obviously tremendously horrible in a lot of ways. But where it is illuminating is in really showcasing what a desperately lonely and stupid sad sack Maher really is. His 'interview' with Quentin Tarantino is something else. He is slobberingly, stupidly drunk and  just comes off as so desperate for QT to find him interesting,  as he peels off one completely uninformed and idiotic opinion about the arts after another. Even Tarantino has to squirm at the sight. And for almost two hours you just see him constantly clamouring for approval as he struggles to find his mouth with the next joint. It's painfully hilarious, especially since how later on he keeps referring to how badass his podcast is. It's real! Because he gets shitfaced and doesn't have a clue what he's talking about!

I saw one clip from the Tarantino one and another from...Jimmy Kimmel maybe?  Honestly, I don't think he's had any guests that I felt were worth an hour watching Bill Maher pal around with.  I mean, wasn't Dr. Drew on there?

I will say that among these kinds of podcasts, I do like the It's Always Sunny one, the David Spade/Dana Carvey "Fly on the Wall" (I can listen to backstage SNL stories all day), Smartless, and that's about it.

crumbsroom wrote:

Jinnistan wrote:

it doesn't surprise me that Maher has zero musical taste.

The episode he did with Sammy Hagar.

Hahah.

crumbsroom wrote:

I think it was also clear a lot of those Van Halen songs on his ipod were from Hagar years. Which I think is very pertinent information.

I have a huge 80s playlist with pleasures guilty and not, and it has about 2/3s of 1984 on there.  I'm not proud, but I do have a single Hagar-era track which most of you will hate: "Finish What You Started".  All I'll say is that that deceptively simple guitar riff is insanely difficult to pull off.

But it still ain't no "Tombstone Blues".

I'm on the phone with Dee Snyder as I type this.  We will have order in here.

Jinnistan wrote:

I'm on the phone with Dee Snyder as I type this.  We will have order in here.

Dee Snyder > Sammi Hagar

Rock wrote:

crumbsroom wrote:

Got to love the cluelessness of today's BBC headline regarding those election workers who were being harassed and were receiving death threats for doing their job.

Shaye Moss: "I Don't Want Anyone Knowing My Name"

Like, that's deliberate, right? Naming the person who doesn't want to be named, in a headline quoting her as saying she doesn't want to be named.
 

I feel bad doing so, but I did chuckle.

How can you not? It's such a perfectly illustrated snapshot of insensitivity. I laughed too. But then I had to feel guilty because it's clear who ever wrote that doesn't. I suspect they may even be proud of themselves.

Further down in the article, there is a photograph of this woman's hand being held up as she gets sworn in.



And I get it. Those acrylics strike a great image and any photographer worth their salt is going to look for this kind of image. It jumps out at you. It's an intriguing contrast between the vibrancy of those nails, and the seriousness of what is about to happen..

But there is also something off here. Something distasteful about how they are fetishizing this particular detail of her. Considering how sobering her testimony turned out to be, and how starkly frightening what she went through was (and still is), there is something going on here that seems to be trying to undercut the seriousness of her story and her legitimate concerns for returning to anonymity.






 

crumbsroom wrote:

Got to love the cluelessness of today's BBC headline regarding those election workers who were being harassed and were receiving death threats for doing their job.

Shaye Moss: "I Don't Want Anyone Knowing My Name"

Like, that's deliberate, right? Naming the person who doesn't want to be named, in a headline quoting her as saying she doesn't want to be named.
 

It's not the first time this question has crossed my mind: Isn't this illegal???

A quick goog search seems to confirm my suspicions:
https://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/publishing-personal-and-private-information

https://www.justice.gov/opcl/overview-privacy-act-1974-2020-edition/disclosures-third-parties


I've asked this question for years. We know what can happen. 
The Sandy Hook parents.
Pizzagate.
George Tiller.

How do they get away with it???

Of course those links are for US gov laws. I guess BBC is governed by a different set of laws. I'll do that due diligence later; g2g atm.

Rampop II wrote:

Of course those links are for US gov laws. I guess BBC is governed by a different set of laws. I'll do that due diligence later; g2g atm.

Dude, she testified, willingly, in front of Congress.  There's no law involved here.  Like I said, that cat is out of the bag.

The perpetrator is Giuliani and those Trump goons who splashed her and her mother's name and addresses all over social media in a defamatory smear campaign.  Those are the laws that we need to be looking at.  BBC is doing their job.

Jinnistan wrote:

crumbsroom wrote:

Got to love the cluelessness of today's BBC headline regarding those election workers who were being harassed and were receiving death threats for doing their job.

Shaye Moss: "I Don't Want Anyone Knowing My Name"

Like, that's deliberate, right? Naming the person who doesn't want to be named, in a headline quoting her as saying she doesn't want to be named.

The cat's kinda out of the bag at this point. 

I'm not saying her name wasn't already out there for those who want to find it. I'm talking about the absurdity of placing her name at the beginning of a headline which reads she doesn't want her name out there. By treating her name like the actual headline. This actually ends up drawing more attention to it simply by having us read it before her request for anonymity. Like Basquiat said about the words he used in his painting, he could draw more attention to them by crossing them out. This draws attention to the very thing she doesn't want attention on. There is something callous and dismissive  about how it reads.

Now do I think it's illegal? No. Was she hiding her identity during her testiomy? No. But do I think it was a weird way to format their headline? Kinda.