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douglas9

(4,473 posts)
Fri Sep 6, 2024, 05:17 AM Sep 6

"He put a gun to my head"

“He said, ‘Help me! Help me!’ and he stuck his hand inside his coat. When I tried to help him, he pulls out a gun. That’s when he told me to get on the ground.”

Mark Anthony Aguirre, a vigilante vote-fraud hunter, ran an air-conditioning repair truck off the road. Then Aguirre put a gun to the repairman’s head—and demanded the driver, David Zuniga, open up the back of his truck. Aguirre believed that Zuniga was smuggling 750,000 forged absentee ballots, all “voting” for Biden, enough to win Texas.

Zuniga, rightly frightened for his life, opened the back of his A/C repair truck to reveal…A/C ducts and pipes. No forged ballots.

The gunman was not some lone crazy: In October 2020, he was paid a stunning $266,400 by a right-wing Texas billionaire, Steven Hotze, who had hired dozens of vigilantes in the hope of proving that Joe Biden was trying to steal the election by stuffing ballot boxes with forged ballots.

In Houston, I met with the man who supposedly forged these 750,000 ballots, Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis. Harris County is better known as Houston, Texas.

https://www.gregpalast.com/he-put-a-gun-to-my-head/

28 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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"He put a gun to my head" (Original Post) douglas9 Sep 6 OP
The billionaires will destroy this country for tax cuts. Irish_Dem Sep 6 #1
As Sen. Warren has said... 2naSalit Sep 6 #2
It becomes a monstrous addiction. Irish_Dem Sep 6 #4
I agree. I did not always feel this way, but I think too many of them just cause damage for their own power. Lonestarblue Sep 6 #6
Yes but the bad outweighs the good. Irish_Dem Sep 6 #12
Not just tax cuts; they want to be the rulers with a puppet, ersatz 'democratic' government. Hermit-The-Prog Sep 6 #8
Yes they are addicted to both power and money. Irish_Dem Sep 6 #13
It's just another form of hoarding. Just as pathological Scrivener7 Sep 6 #10
Yes it is a true addiction/hoarding psychopathology. Irish_Dem Sep 6 #14
Absolutely bizarre isn't it? PatSeg Sep 6 #20
Yes it is a hoarding/addiction disorder. Irish_Dem Sep 6 #21
Yes, we not only "let them do it", PatSeg Sep 6 #23
Exactly. Ruthless pursuit of vast wealth is a virtue, not a sin. Irish_Dem Sep 6 #24
And of course that myth about the virtuous PatSeg Sep 6 #25
Yes worshipping the dollar came from those Irish_Dem Sep 7 #27
Generously spreading their own pathologies to the masses PatSeg Sep 7 #28
Shouldn't both the gunman and the billionaire be charged JT45242 Sep 6 #3
He was genxlib Sep 6 #5
I'm sure that the billionaire will see justice in 10 or 20 years Orrex Sep 6 #7
I wish you were wrong. SunSeeker Sep 6 #9
Nope, he is not. (n/t) OldBaldy1701E Sep 6 #11
It's also an indictment of citizens united ColinC Sep 6 #16
I was just telling a friend about how the stochastic terrorists and terrorists are funded by billionaires ColinC Sep 6 #15
This Delphinus Sep 6 #17
I'm not a violent person, I cry at the sight of roadkill... róisín_dubh Sep 6 #18
It is nice to see someone else thinks France had it right Stargazer99 Sep 6 #26
Well, the Billionaire M*Fucker was indicted Joinfortmill Sep 6 #19
Hotze has been named as a total kook for over a decade, here: Archae Sep 6 #22

Irish_Dem

(55,825 posts)
1. The billionaires will destroy this country for tax cuts.
Fri Sep 6, 2024, 05:24 AM
Sep 6

Their obsessive greed is pathological and dangerous.

Irish_Dem

(55,825 posts)
4. It becomes a monstrous addiction.
Fri Sep 6, 2024, 05:43 AM
Sep 6

They will destroy everything to get more money than they can ever spend in a lifetime.

Lonestarblue

(11,557 posts)
6. I agree. I did not always feel this way, but I think too many of them just cause damage for their own power.
Fri Sep 6, 2024, 06:20 AM
Sep 6

That said, many do good things with their money, people like Soros or Gates. People like the Kochs, the Mercers, the Uileins, Theil, Norquist, etc., simply want a government that serves only them and they use their excessive wealth yo buy power, not to help people.

Irish_Dem

(55,825 posts)
12. Yes but the bad outweighs the good.
Fri Sep 6, 2024, 06:59 AM
Sep 6

And how the money is spent should be decided by voters and elected officials.

Scrivener7

(52,391 posts)
10. It's just another form of hoarding. Just as pathological
Fri Sep 6, 2024, 06:40 AM
Sep 6

as those people with rat infested junk they will never use piled to the ceiling.

Irish_Dem

(55,825 posts)
14. Yes it is a true addiction/hoarding psychopathology.
Fri Sep 6, 2024, 07:01 AM
Sep 6

No amount of money is enough for them.
They can never fill the holes in their soul.

PatSeg

(49,607 posts)
20. Absolutely bizarre isn't it?
Fri Sep 6, 2024, 08:07 AM
Sep 6

The lengths they will go to have more money when they already have more than they could ever spend in a hundred lifetimes. It is most definitely a psychological disorder.

Irish_Dem

(55,825 posts)
21. Yes it is a hoarding/addiction disorder.
Fri Sep 6, 2024, 08:15 AM
Sep 6

And like most addicts they will do anything to get their fix.

The sad part is that we let them do it.
Because Americans love money too.

PatSeg

(49,607 posts)
23. Yes, we not only "let them do it",
Fri Sep 6, 2024, 10:15 AM
Sep 6

people tend to applaud them for their success, as if it is a good thing, not an addiction.

PatSeg

(49,607 posts)
25. And of course that myth about the virtuous
Fri Sep 6, 2024, 09:12 PM
Sep 6

pursuit of wealth was started by the wealthy and the downtrodden bought it.

JT45242

(2,824 posts)
3. Shouldn't both the gunman and the billionaire be charged
Fri Sep 6, 2024, 05:41 AM
Sep 6

That sure seems like a conspiracy to commit kidnapping or false imprisonment or something.

I hope some legal minds here can tell me what charges (would need to be federal, cause Texas you know)

Orrex

(63,916 posts)
7. I'm sure that the billionaire will see justice in 10 or 20 years
Fri Sep 6, 2024, 06:23 AM
Sep 6

and he'll make payment 10 or 20 years after that.

SunSeeker

(53,486 posts)
9. I wish you were wrong.
Fri Sep 6, 2024, 06:28 AM
Sep 6

But you're not.



Still, it is pretty clear the billionaire approved of the kidnapping/assault:

Aguirre allegedly never told police that he had been paid a total of $266,400 by the Houston-based Liberty Center for God and Country, with $211,400 of that amount being deposited into his account the day after the incident.
https://abc13.com/mark-anthony-aguirre-former-houston-police-department-captain-arrested-aggravated-assault-liberty-center/8802235/

ColinC

(10,408 posts)
16. It's also an indictment of citizens united
Fri Sep 6, 2024, 07:12 AM
Sep 6

If the group could not set up a fund like that, they would likely have had more difficulty funneling it the way they did.

ColinC

(10,408 posts)
15. I was just telling a friend about how the stochastic terrorists and terrorists are funded by billionaires
Fri Sep 6, 2024, 07:10 AM
Sep 6

This is clearly one example of the latter

róisín_dubh

(11,880 posts)
18. I'm not a violent person, I cry at the sight of roadkill...
Fri Sep 6, 2024, 07:43 AM
Sep 6

but I'm recalling something from France, oh about 1789 or so...that might help with these problematic billionaires.

Joinfortmill

(16,257 posts)
19. Well, the Billionaire M*Fucker was indicted
Fri Sep 6, 2024, 07:45 AM
Sep 6
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/04/20/steve-hotze-houston-indicted-voter-fraud/

'GOP megadonor Steven Hotze charged after a bogus election fraud scheme led a former cop to threaten a repairman

The charges stem from Hotze’s hiring of more than a dozen private investigators to look for voter fraud in Harris County ahead of the 2020 presidential election.'
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