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Hunter S. Thompson once wrote that "when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." Perhaps even Thompson, who gained fame writing about motorcycle gangs and U.S. politics in the tumultuous '60s and '70s, never imagined things would get as weird as they have in 2016.
A YouTube video posted Saturday reportedly shows James Weeks drop out of the race for Libertarian Party chair by accepting a dare to strip down to a thong on live television.
The video shows Weeks turn on music, then start clapping and dancing, before he takes off all his clothes, except his underwear. He appeared to be broadcast live on CSPAN.
According to the Washington Times, he was at the Libertarian National Convention in Florida and started out by telling the crowd, "I thought we could use a little bit of fun."
At the end of his routine, he seems to lose the crowd and tells them, "I'm sorry, that was a dare."
While many are booing, some in the video can be seen laughing hysterically.
Watch Weeks carry out his dare, as posted to YouTube, here:
Jan. 6 organizer Ali Alexander, who calls himself the "founder" of former president Donald Trump's "Stop the Steal" movement, announced Saturday that he will comply with a subpoena from the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol insurrection.
"You may have missed the news that I've been subpoenaed by the Democrats' partisan Jan. 6 committee," Alexander said in a video posted to the right-wing social-media platform Telegram. "This is a midterm issue that they want to run on, and what they want to do is paint me as the Black face for a white supremacy movement that doesn't actually exist."
Speaking in front of a poster of singer Johnny Cash flashing the middle finger, Alexander added that he respects his "fellow patriots" who are defying the committee, but called it "an expensive right" — claiming that it would cost between $250,000 and $500,000 to fight the subpoena.
"I frankly don't have that money to spend on legal bills, so for this unselect committee, I will actually be privately deposed in December," Alexander said. "I've asked to make it public testimony. They won't cooperate with that request."
"The only reason I'm going is that I don't want to go to jail," he added. "So under the threat of imprisonment and spending tens and tens and tens of thousands of dollars on lawyers, I will be privately deposed before this committee in December, and I will make public whatever I can."
In a post accompanying the video, Alexander wrote that he plans to submit to the committee "photographic and video evidence of agitators sabotaging his January 6th peaceful protests."
Referring to himself in the third person, Alexander wrote: "He will also present evidence to the Committee that President Trump was betrayed by someone in his inner circle. Someone made the decision to take instructions for patriots out of the Ellipse Rally. Ali says he's not backing down and the Democrat Committee has already threatened to imprison him."
Watch below.
Ali Alexander www.youtube.com
"Flash mob" thieves targeted big box stores on Black Friday — including a Home Depot in Los Angeles where they threatened employees and customers with sledgehammers that had been stolen from the store.
"At about 7:45 p.m., eight or nine young men entered Home Depot ... and stole multiple hammers, crowbars, wrenches and other tools before fleeing into waiting vehicles," KTLA Channel 5 reports, adding that the tools were valued at $400 and "could be used for future crimes."
Home Depot employee Luis Romo told KTTV Channel 11: "We tried to stop them. We closed the front entrance, and they put their sledgehammers up and whoever got in the way, they were going to hurt them."
Video from the incident (below) appears to show the suspects threatening a customer with sledgehammers after bumping into him on their way out of the store.
Meanwhile, at least 30 people entered a Best Buy store in Burnsville, Minnesota, on Friday and stole electronics. Another Best Buy store nearby was also burglarized by a group of 10-12 people, CNN reported.
Reuters noted that the incidents are part of a "a surging U.S. crime trend in which groups of thieves swarm a store, ransack the shelves and flee."
CNN host Jim Acosta on Saturday took aim at Colorado Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert and other members of the "freak show caucus" — including GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
"You might be feeling all filled up after Thanksgiving, but unfortunately we got an extra helping of turkey from Colorado Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, who proudly displayed her ignorance and bigotry in comments about Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar," Acosta said.
He went on to run down some of Boebert's long history of similarly inflammatory remarks.
"Boebert appears to believe that trolling, overt racism and the glorification of political violence all come with the job here in Washington. Now, where would she get that idea?" Acosta said, before playing a clip of former president Donald Trump. "Welcome to the Trump Republican Party freak show caucus, congresswoman. ... The freak show caucus knows the party's current leader in the House, Kevin McCarthy, is not going to stand in their way."
Acosta noted that Rep. Greene wants to award Kyle Rittenhouse the Congressional Medal of Freedom, and that Boebert and others have been arguing over who will get to hire the Kenosha shooter as an intern. This week Boebert challenged Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC), who uses a wheelchair, to a "sprint" to determine who gets to hire Rittenhouse.
"I know what you're saying, she's not the brightest bulb on the Captiol Christmas tree," Acosta said. "Also, an internship? Really? It sounds like (Rittenhouse is) on his way to a speakership. Would Kevin McCarthy object to that? I have my doubts."
"As we're all gathering with family and friends for the holidays, ask yourselves, is this who we are?" he added. "Bigoted, hateful, violent? I don't think so. Sadly I'd say we are complacent and enabling more than anything else. Too many of us are standing on the sidelines sticking our head in the sand and biting our tongues in hopes that the freak show will eventually go away. Sounds like appeasement. How did that work out over the last four years — or the last century for that matter?"
Watch below.
Jim Acosta on Lauren Boebert www.youtube.com
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Happy Holidays!