Open National Issues Discussion

Photo by Tabrez Syed on Unsplash
By Vanguard AdministratorAugust 18, 2023254 comments
Photo by Tabrez Syed on Unsplash

Special note…

As the national election of 2024 approaches, the US faces some unprecedented issues that are of interest to many of our readers.  However, the Vanguard as a publication is focused primarily on local governance and criminal justice reform issues.

Given that this is a topic of interest to some of our readers, but not the main focus of our publication, the Vanguard has decided to provide this space for the open discussion of national issues.

While this will remain a moderated forum, we are relaxing a few key restrictions.

  1. There will be no limit to number of comments
  2. For the most part we will not remove comments that are off-topic
  3. Within reason, we will not moderate the source of information

With that said, we need to maintain basic civility and decorum.  So personal attacks, racist or likewise offensive posts will not be posted, and we need to adhere to libel and copyright laws.

Within those boundaries we are hoping for an open and spirited discussion.

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Breaking News National Issues

254 comments

  1. Remember the days of “Carlos Danger”?  If you only consumed left biased mainstream media and don’t know who this is you may have to look it up.

    Now we have “Robert Peters”, “Robin Ware”, and “JRB Ware”.  Who are they you ask?  Well, they’re Joe Biden pseudonyms.

    President Joe Biden’s use of multiple pseudonyms during his vice presidency appears to have hidden some of his communications from that period, including some involving Ukraine policy and his son, Hunter Biden.
    The House Oversight Committee asked the National Archives on Thursday for communications involving three of Joe Biden’s aliases: Robert Peters, Robin Ware, and JRB Ware.
    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/biden-pseudonyms-hid-ukraine-messages

     

    1. That’s what you lead with?

      Alright. Here’s mine: November 20, 2020 from Keith: “I’m not a fan of Rudy Giuliani, he seems to be losing it in his older years, but Sydney Powell is the real deal. I can’t believe she would put her reputation on the line if she didn’t actually have the goods. We’ll have to wait and see.”

      1. Yeah, I may have missed it on that one.  But I did write “We’ll have to wait and see.” How long have you been waiting to use that?  Maybe I can dig up some of your misses, which I’m sure are plenty.

        That’s what you lead with?

        So you don’t think Joe Biden hiding behind aliases while communicating with his son about Ukraine which Joe Biden claims he has no knowledge of his son’s business dealings is  newsworthy?

         

         

         

        1. You only have 17 years of material to go through… should find quite a bit.

          It did seem like the appropriate week to bring it out since she was listed in the indictment and they actually have evidence that they broke into the Dominion system.

    2. Let’s have at it. 

      This all pales in comparison to the enormous Republican criminal conspiracy literally involving dozens of criminals in multiple states to illegally install Trump in 2020 rather than the rightful winner Biden. I hear Arizona is investigating that state’s Republican fake electors. I love the term “fake elector”. It perfectly encapsulates who they really are. 

      Is that the best you can do Keith for your first post?

        1. Is that the best you can do Keith for your first post?

          I got mixed up between David’s and Keith’s first posts here.

          In any case, there is absolutely nothing illegal or unethical about using pseudonyms with Hunter since Hunter has never been a government official. Only communications amongst government officials have to be non-concealed. If there was any potential illegal activity, this is another instance where the DOJ  under Trump had a full 4 years to investigate and bring any criminal indictments. This is just more Republican nonsense to divert attention away from the real criminals, 100% Republican.

  2. Indictments of Donald Trump, as of 8/18/2023

    1) Federal 2020 election case (District of Columbia)

    Number of charges: Four felony counts. They include:

    ·      Charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States, which includes plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election

    ·      Conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, including plotting to prevent the 2020 election certification

    ·      Obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, which includes actually blocking the certification of the 2020 election results

    ·      Conspiracy against rights, which includes a plan to deprive someone of a constitutional right (in this case, that is the ability to vote)

    2) Georgia election indictment

    Number of charges: 13 felony counts. They are:

    ·      1 count of violating the Georgia RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act, which is basically a catchall charge for the larger conspiracy to overturn the outcome

    ·      3 counts of solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer, which are about Trump’s attempts to convince Georgia officials to overturn the results

    ·      1 count of conspiracy to commit impersonating a public officer

    ·      2 counts of conspiracy to commit forgery

    ·      2 counts of conspiracy to commit false statements and writings

    ·      1 count of conspiracy to commit filing false documents

    ·      1 count of filing false documents

    ·      2 counts of making false statements and writings

    3) Federal documents case (Florida)

    Number of charges: 40 felony counts. They include:

    ·      32 counts of willful retention of national defense information, which includes keeping classified documents related to military activities and nuclear weapons

    ·      1 count of conspiracy to obstruct justice, which includes Trump working with an aide to hold on to classified documents and hide them from a grand jury

    ·      1 count of withholding a document or record from an official proceeding, which included efforts to hide documents from a grand jury

    ·      1 count of corruptly concealing a document or record from an official proceeding, which included hiding boxes with classified documents

    ·      1 count of concealing a document in a federal investigation, which included covering up Trump’s ongoing possession of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago

    ·      1 count of scheming to conceal information the government is seeking, which includes hiding the fact that Trump still possessed classified documents

    ·      1 count of making false statements, which includes directing his attorneys to lie about returning all the classified documents in his possession

    ·      2 counts of altering, destroying, or concealing information the government is seeking, which includes plans to delete security footage

    4) New York state case related to hush money to Stormy Daniels

    Number of charges: 34 felony counts.

    ·      All counts are centered on falsifying business records, which Trump is accused of doing to cover up the hush money payments to Daniels.

    (Summarized by vox.com)

     

      2. Thank you Don for all of the examples of the Democrats using a biased democrat DOJ and biased democrat DA’s to interfere with an election. 

        Of course Keith believes this fantasy. When Keith refers to election interference, he is actually speaking to 2020 and not 2024.

  6. Donald Trump calls off press conference where he said he would share report on Georgia election fraud claims. I bet no such report has ever existed.

    The former president said his lawyers would instead put “Irrefutable & Overwhelming evidence” in their legal filings over his latest indictment.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/17/donald-trump-calls-off-press-conference-where-he-said-he-would-share-report-on-georgia-election-fraud-claims-00111785

    1. It’s only the beginning Keith. I have a lot more ammunition in the coming weeks and months.

      Instead of attending the first Republican debate, coward Trump has decided to have a conversation with Tucker Carlson. The revelations from the Fox News and Dominion lawsuit tell us Carlson actually despises Trump.

      It was all quite a sight to see coming from a man who has been exposed to hold Trump in great disdain, as evidenced by private messages he sent which have come to light as part of Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox News.
      Carlson actually “hate[s]” Trump. And he hates him “passionately.” He believes Trump is a “destroyer.” A “demonic force.” A president who was a “disaster.” A politician whose behavior after losing the 2020 election was “disgusting.”
      https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/04/12/media/carlson-trump-interview/index.html

      1. It’s only the beginning Keith. I have a lot more ammunition in the coming weeks and months.

        Enjoy yourself Walter and enjoy your Google searches.  I doubt anyone else is following.

        1. I already knew that Tucker didn’t really appreciate Donald because it was widely reported at the time. It appears to just be a marriage of convenience. I just needed the reference to support my statement.

          Republicans have become a party of criminals and fascists with numerous supporting enablers.

        2. Enjoy yourself Walter and enjoy your Google searches.  I doubt anyone else is following.

          Actually, I am – for amusement purposes only.

          Not to read the actual comments or links, but just to see how much more Walter is willing to talk to himself.

          Good thing that the Vanguard “opened up” the national discussion.  It’s been scintillating, and has really encouraged a lot of new or returning commenters to participate.

          And I’m quite sure that it will make a difference regarding national races.

           

        3. There is such a tidal wave of information that reveals orange and his friends for what they are that it’s become impossible to follow anyone for more than a millisecond.  Orange is only losing support, albeit slowly, from even some of those who are committed in the same way religious followers see actual blood flowing from statues.

  13. Gov Sununu of NH: “If Mr. Trump is the Republican nominee for president in 2024, Republicans will lose up and down the ballot. According to a recent Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll, nearly two-thirds of Americans say they would likely not support Mr. Trump in 2024 — not even Jimmy Carter had re-election numbers that bleak. Every candidate with an (R) next to their name, from school board to the statehouse, will be left to answer for the electoral albatross at the top of the ticket. Instead of going on offense and offering an alternative to Joe Biden’s failing leadership, Republicans will continue to be consumed with responding to Mr. Trump’s constant grievances and lies, turning off every independent suburban voter in America. And Mr. Trump, ever the narcissist, will spend the entire campaign whining about his legal troubles and bilking his supporters of their retirement savings to pay for his lawyers”

  14. Tomorrow is arrest day for Donald Trump in Fulton County Georgia. It’s too bad I can’t post his mug shot or that of any of his 18 alleged traitorous co-conspirators. ??

    2. Strange for a supposed billionaire like Trump using a bail bondsman to put up $200,000 for bail. Maybe he isn’t really a billionaire after all.

      1. Cheaper that way. He can put up 10% and be done with it but eat that 20 percent. Or put up 100% himself and get it back. I figured he’d probably put up the 10 percent and eat it.

  15. Instead of calling this “Open National Issues Discussion” it would’ve been more appropriate to name it the ‘Greenwald/Shwe Trump Hate Discussion’.
     

        1. My amusement is more along the lines of the irony of your comment. I guess I would just expect that someone coming to post comments in a place where they are clearly in a minority/ adversarial role would have thicker skin.

    2. Keith is as thin skinned as Ron Oertel. They may not be up to the rigors of serious political commentary.

      From the beginning you have been able to comment here to your heart’s content. You have discussed Joe and Hunter Biden, but House Republicans and you haven’t been able to pin any actual crimes on President Biden. Hunter has never worked for the Federal Government. I need to repeat that the DOJ under Trump had a full 4 years to indict Joe for anything, but apparently could not. Trump asserts that he only hires the best people. The Special Counsel that Trump appointed as US Attorney did investigate and indict Hunter. Hunter will now stand trial for his alleged criminal activities after a proposed plea deal fell through. 

      The same thing is happening to Trump as far as being prosecuted for his alleged crimes. Trump is a one person crime spree, thus is constantly in the news. That’s the chief reason I frequently comment on this page. This state of affairs is hilarious.

      You can scream bloody bias all you desire regarding Judge Chutkan, but I will counter with Judge Cannon. Let me remind everyone that Cannon was actually appointed by the primary defendant in that case. That is not only bias, but a definite conflict of interest as well.

  26. This is a brief update on the Proud Boys or as I prefer to call them the Traitorous Boys. Note: I hope the white text shows up in this comment. I don’t have access to a computer here.

    Proud Boys could get record sentences this week in Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy case
    Sentencing is set to move forward Wednesday after a federal judge oversaw an all-day hearing that included the reading of victim impact statements.
    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna102318

  29. Clarence Thomas Acknowledges Undisclosed Real Estate Deal With Harlan Crow and Discloses Private Jet Flights
    The new filing comes after ProPublica’s reporting on the Supreme Court justice’s beneficial relationship with the billionaire GOP megadonor. Thomas also reported three private jet trips provided by Crow. Finally!
    https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-disclosure-filing-harlan-crow-real-estate-travel-scotus?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=majorinvestigations&utm_content=feature

    1. Pressure grows on Clarence Thomas after more gifts from rightwing donor
      Disclosures detail flights and stays with Harlan Crow as Democrats vow to investigate scandal ‘in which this court is enmired’

      https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/31/clarence-thomas-gifts-harlan-crow-supreme-court

      “Justice Thomas’s lengthy explanation as to why he omitted various gifts and free trips on previous disclosures does not countermand his decades of willful obfuscation when it comes to his reporting requirements,” Roth said.

      “What’s more, he’s chosen not to update earlier reports with details about the tuition gift, the RV loan” – from Anthony Welters, a healthcare magnate, and first reported by the New York Times – “or his countless private plane fights, all of which were reportable.

      “It’s time for the Judicial Conference, as required by the disclosure law, to refer these issues to the [US] justice department for further investigation.”

  32. In court, Trump supporter faces election official he violently threatened
    PHOENIX — The election officials piled into the front row of a federal courtroom — a show of support for a local public official who has endured more than two years of attacks for his role in helping to certify Donald Trump’s loss in Arizona in 2020.

    …

    Mark Rissi, a 65-year-old from Iowa who has worked in customer service in recent years, walked into the courtroom using a cane. …In April, he pleaded guilty to sending threatening communications to Hickman and the state’s former attorney general, Mark Brnovich, also a Republican.

    …

    Instead, U.S. District Judge Dominic Lanza, a Trump nominee, showed Rissi a severe sentence.

    Lanza issued a sentence of 30 months — six months more than requested by the Justice Department, drawing audible gasps in the courtroom.
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/08/30/arizona-2020-election-violent-threats/

  51. Trump’s co-defendants are already starting to turn against him

    There’s a nascent courtroom strategy by some people close to Donald Trump: Heap blame on the former president.  If the captains are going down, they want to take the Trump crime syndicate head down with them! Yolo County right wingers are sore quitters, losers and whiners.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/05/trump-cases-defendants-flipping-00113910#:~:text=There's%20a%20nascent%20courtroom%20strategy,blame%20on%20the%20former%20president.&text=The%20finger%2Dpointing%20among%20Donald%20Trump's%20inner%20circle%20has%20begun.

  52. Three-judge panel blocks Alabama’s congressional districts, ordering new lines drawn!

    A three-judge panel has blocked Alabama’s new congressional map after lawmakers failed to create a second district where Black voters at least came close to comprising a majority, as suggested by the court.

    https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/judge-panel-blocked-alabamas-congressional-districts-ordering-new-102928948#:~:text=The%20three%2Djudge%20panel%20blocked,to%20the%20U.S.%20Supreme%20Court.

    Blatantly racist Alabama Republicans are at it yet again. They never seem to learn from their racist ways.

     

  53. New York AG asks judge to sanction Trump for rehashing failed legal arguments  LOL!

    New York Attorney General Letitia James asked a judge Tuesday to sanction Donald Trump, other defendants and their lawyers for rehashing the same legal arguments in James’ big civil fraud lawsuit against the former president.
    James asked that all the defendants be fined $10,000 collectively, and that another fine of $10,000 be imposed on their lawyers collectively.
    James’ request came four weeks before trial in the lawsuit is set to begin in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan. The attorney general in that suit is seeking $250 million in damages from Trump and the other defendants for what she alleges is widespread fraud related to a decade of financial statements.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/05/new-york-ag-asks-judge-to-sanction-trump-for-rehashing-failed-legal-arguments.html

  54. Ex-Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio sentenced to 22 years in prison for Jan. 6

    https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4188274-ex-proud-boys-leader-enrique-tarrio-sentenced-to-22-years-in-prison-for-jan-6/

    Republican traitors and insurrectionists don’t deserve leniency. Now that the Republican mob soldiers and their lieutenants have been largely put away, it’s high time to do likewise to the underbosses and the don himself, Donald Trump.

  55. Trump Media’s funding partner gets reprieve only days before possible liquidation
    DWAC, a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, and Trump Media & Technology Group, which operates Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social, didn’t return requests for comment from CBS News. DWAC shares, which traded for $175 in 2021 shortly after the company’s initial public offering, rose 3.9% in afternoon trading to $17.16. ?

    https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/donald-trump-truth-social-dwac-vote-digital-world-acquisition-corp/

  57. Clarence Thomas’ Corrected Ethics Disclosure Form Is Not Actually Correct ?

    Thomas’ level of inattention to disclosure obligations, as revealed by last week’s amended form, is shocking for a Supreme Court justice who, as observed by Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern, “applies one standard to himself and another to everyone else,” including indigent criminal defendants, whose inadvertent errors of timing and procedure are never excused by Thomas, even when they are facing the death penalty.

    It is especially galling for Thomas to claim inadvertence because this is not the first time it has happened. In 2011, Thomas amended 20 years of disclosure reports from which he had “inadvertently” failed to include his wife’s employment “due to a misunderstanding of the filing instructions.” In fact, Virginia Thomas had earned at least $686,000 from the conservative Heritage Foundation during that period. The excuse was barely plausible then, given the simple language of the form, and it beggars belief that a Supreme Court justice, whose job includes interpreting complex statutes and regulations, would continue to take his statutory reporting obligations so lightly.

    https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/09/clarence-thomas-ethics-republicans.html

    Conservative Thomas’ unchecked corruption is staggering. BTW, please get baby pacifiers for 4 especially thin skinned individuals on that other site ASAP.

  58. Six Colorado voters file lawsuit to remove Trump from the state’s 2024 ballot!

    Their lawsuit contends that Trump should be disqualified from running in future elections because he violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment with his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection.

    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna103660

    Let the insurrectionist Trump ballot disqualifications commence!

  59. Fani Willis lays out criminal case against false electors

    Her arguments were part of her battle to keep the 19-defendant racketeering case on her home turf in Georgia.

    Georgia prosecutors contended Tuesday that the GOP activists who falsely claimed to be legitimate presidential electors — three of whom are now charged as Donald Trump’s alleged co-conspirators — were playing an elaborate game of pretend that crossed criminal boundaries.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/05/fani-willis-criminal-case-electors-trump-00114149

  60. Constitutional debate over Trump’s eligibility to run more extensive than realized
     
    Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said she has been talking to other secretaries about it.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/06/colorado-14amendment-trump-00114339#:~:text=The%20legal%20theory%20argues%20Trump,forbidden%20from%20holding%20public%20office.

     
    As I said previously, please ban away! To the people on that other site, I have never witnessed such a sad bunch of whiners and quitters in my entire life. It’s truly pathetic.

  61. Biden impeachment talk draws groans from GOP senators

    What they’re saying: Asked if she believes there is enough evidence to impeach Biden, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), a member of Senate GOP leadership, said bluntly: “I do not.”

    “We’ve got so many things we need to be focusing on,” Capito said. “I don’t see the glaring evidence that says we need to move forward. I didn’t see it in the Trump case, and voted against it, I don’t see it in this case.”
    Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) told Axios: “I don’t know that there have been any high crimes or misdemeanors alleged. If there are, that would be a matter to consider, but until something like that is alleged, I don’t know what the purpose of that inquiry might be.”
    “If we start converting impeachments into no-confidence votes and we don’t do the homework … then I’m not going to take it seriously,” said Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), another leadership member.

    https://www.axios.com/2023/09/06/biden-impeachment-republican-senators-mccarthy

    1. The Dems in my view made a mistake trying to impeach Trump the first time. The second time, they had no choice. If the Republicans pursue impeachment against Biden, they’re just going to look goofy and vindictive.

        2. Let’s get real.

          For one thing, much earlier Keith did comment under this post himself. Is he saying his own comments are also goofy and vindictive?

          Keith doesn’t appreciate people including me repeatedly calling out Republicans that he supports for their felonies and the repercussions resulting from their crimes. There is a huge difference between vindictiveness and actual criminal behavior. Keith would rather be no difference at all between the two. I must continue to admit I find this whole state of affairs really funny.  Conservatives are criticizing the criminal justice system for doing its job according to the law. I thought conservatives supported the criminal justice system. I must be mistaken. They really want show trials that always favor their interests, desire a ultraconservative banana republic and have any pretenses of democracy eliminated.

  62. Republican George Santos: Internal campaign research raised red flags before his election

    Months before that victory, in the fall of 2021, Mr Santos’ campaign commissioned the so-called vulnerability report, as it began preparing for potential attacks from opponents.

    He claimed to have graduated with an MBA from New York University and a bachelor’s degree from Baruch College, but “there was no record of Santos earning any degree from either university”
    While Mr Santos publicly identified as gay, he had been married to a woman of unclear immigration status from 2012 to 2019 before going on to date and live with an illegal immigrant who was “fearful of being deported once Trump was elected”
    He”has made a career out of working for companies that have been accused of fraud and scamming customers“, including one accused of operating a Ponzi scheme

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-66741976

  65. Takeaways from the full Georgia special grand jury report on 2020 election subversion

    The list of those recommended for charges is widespread: It includes a sitting US senator, South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham; two former US senators from Georgia, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler; former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn; and pro-Trump attorney Cleta Mitchell. ?

    https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/08/politics/takeaways-georgia-special-grand-jury-report-trump/index.html

  67. ‘Zip Tie Guy’ and His Mom Get Prison Time Despite Pleas for Mercy ?
     

    On Friday, however, U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth appeared unmoved, sentencing Munchel and his mom, registered nurse Lisa Marie Eisenhart, to a combined 7.25 years in federal prison.

     

     

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/zip-tie-guy-and-his-mom-get-prison-time-for-capitol-riot-despite-pleas-for-mercy#:~:text=On%20Friday%2C%20however%2C%20U.S.%20District,7.25%20years%20in%20federal%20prison.

     

    More accountability for convicted Republican traitors!

     

     

  68. Trump suffers big loss in E. Jean Carroll defamation case, judge says he’s liable!
     
    Judge Lewis Kaplan said the upcoming trial for Carroll’s civil lawsuit against Trump will only deal with the question of how much the former president should
     

    https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/09/06/trump-suffers-big-loss-in-e-jean-carroll-defamation-case-judge-says-hes-liable.html

     

    Please make Trump pay through the nose for his lies and defamation.

  72. Vivek Ramaswamy wants to trigger mass layoffs at federal agencies — and he thinks SCOTUS will back him up
    Vivek Ramaswamy believes he has the perfect approach to undermining the administrative state and the power wielded by career civil servants — trigger mass layoffs at federal agencies and defend his effort before the Supreme Court.
     

    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna104676

     

    Ramaswamy is just a Trump clone without the criminal baggage. He is just as the big of a f word as Trump is. I am not referring to the f swear word.

     

  73. Too Many Hats
    Continued reporting on the Supreme Court and its surrounding boosters has made the problem perfectly clear.
     
    Recent revelations surrounding the hyperpartisan takeover of our courts keep bringing me back to a single quote from 2017. At the time, Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, was lavishing praise on dark-money kingpin and judicial impresario Leonard Leo at an awards ceremonyfor far-right leaders. “He has many hats,” Thomas said cryptically of Leo. “That isn’t even all he does. He doesn’t really tell all that he does.”
    Fortunately, it’s becoming harder and harder to hide all that Leo does, thanks in part to yet more new Politico reporting by Heidi Przybylathat dropped this past weekend. While it’s possible to read her report as a byzantine labyrinth of phony charitable groups, unreported donations, troughs of dark money, and multimillion-dollar campaigns, even the most confused reader can still connect the blacked-out dots to its inevitable conclusion.
    It seems that at precisely the same moment the Supreme Court was poised to decide the 2010 Citizens Unitedcase that would set aside a century of campaign finance regulations under the novel theory that money is speech, Thomas, wife of a sitting justice, in concert with Leo, was secretly building the sort of dark-money front group that would soon be greenlit by the court’s decision. That group would be funded by Harlan Crow, the billionaire who spent decades secretly enriching the same justice who would sit on the case and the same spouse who would benefit from the outcome of the case. And the dark-money group founded by Ginni Thomas would go on to advocate for cases argued before the court as her husband heard those cases.

    https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/09/ginni-thomas-ethics-supreme-court-hats.html

    More evidence of right wing corruption on the nation’s highest court.

  77. False claims from GOP’s James Comer start to catch up with him

    It’s a problem that James Comer keeps making untrue claims about Joe Biden. The motivation behind the Republican’s deceptions make that problem worse.

    The principal problem with the Kentucky Republican’s recent work is that Comer has failed spectacularly to uncover any evidence of wrongdoing against Biden, despite months of effort. He’s periodically made bold promises and issued hyped findings to great fanfare, but in each instance, Comer’s revelations have been embarrassing flops.

    But there’s a related problem: Comer hasn’t just been failing, he’s also been lying.

     

    https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/false-claims-gops-james-comer-start-catch-rcna105256

  78. Former attorney not supporting Trump reelection over ‘malignant’ tendency to say he’s never wrong

    “I know [Trump] well as a friend and a former boss, I have great love and respect for him personally,” Ellis said on her radio show Thursday. “I simply can’t support him for elected office again. Why I have chosen to distance is because of that frankly malignant, narcissistic tendency to say that he’s never done anything wrong.”

    https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/4206919-ellis-not-supporting-trump-reelection/amp/

  91. Anti-Clinton lawsuit leads to another harsh rebuke for Team Trump

    Donald Trump filed a frivolous anti-Clinton case that led to harsh sanctions. Last month, one his lawyers refiled the lawsuit. That didn’t go well.

     

    https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/anti-clinton-lawsuit-leads-another-harsh-rebuke-team-trump-rcna105805

     

    I wonder why Trump and his lawyers keep losing in court. Could it be that their lawsuits have little to no merit whatsoever?

  93. Jan. 6 defendant who wanted to arrest ‘the traitors’ to ‘protect the Capitol’ sentenced to four years
     A defiant Ed Badalian repeatedly interrupted his sentencing judge and told the U.S. Marshals who took him into custody they had the duty to resist unconstitutional orders.
    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna117261

     

    Republicans R dangerous and delusional traitors! ?

  95. Biden warns against threats to democracy and says Americans must speak out
    https://www.npr.org/2023/09/28/1202234748/biden-democracy-speech-arizona-mccain

     

    The Moms for Liberty and the Republican Party are precisely what Biden was referring to. If any Republican wins the Presidential election, they will execute Project 2025. This is truly scary stuff.

    https://www.wpr.org/project-2025-conservative-think-tanks-plan-republican-presidency#:~:text=The%20more%20than%20900%2Dpage,affect%20how%20we're%20governed.

  96. Dianne Feinstein, California’s longest-serving senator, dies at 90

    Dianne Feinstein, the oldest member of the U.S. Senate and the longest-serving senator from California, has died at age 90.
    Feinstein’s death leaves vacant her powerful Senate seat, requiring Gov. Gavin Newsom to appoint a temporary successor.
    The Democratic senator’s decades-long career was studded with major legislative achievements on issues including gun control and the environment.

    https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2023/09/29/dianne-feinstein-dead.html

  97. House Republicans’ biggest plan just blew up in their faces (LOL)

    Sadly, this will not be the end of Republicans’ reckless escapades

    Keep in mind that they decided to hold this preposterous hearing two days before the government is set to shut down because a tiny rump faction of extremists in their party is demanding that they get everything they ever wanted or they’ll hold their breath until they turn blue.

    https://www.salon.com/2023/09/29/republicans-biggest-plan-just-blew-up-in-their-faces/

    This is just the latest House GOP screw up. They really all belong in the nearest garbage dump.

  98. Bail bondsman is first Trump co-defendant to plead guilty in Georgia election subversion case
     
    Hall was accused of conspiring to unlawfully access voter data and ballot counting machines at the Coffee County election office on January 7, 2021.
    He spent hours inside a restricted area of the election office when voting systems were breached, which was connected to efforts by pro-Trump conspiracy theorists to find voter fraud. Hall was captured on surveillance video at the office on the day of the breach. He testified before the special grand jury in the Fulton County case and acknowledged that he gained access to a voting machine.
    https://www.cnn.com/cnn/2023/09/29/politics/fulton-county-election-plea-scott-hall/index.html

    This sounds like something straight out of Watergate.

  100. GOP waging a “coordinated national effort to undermine American elections,” says leading official
    New report highlights a nationwide onslaught of threats and harassment that’s driving election officials to quit
    https://www.salon.com/2023/09/30/waging-a-coordinated-national-effort-to-undermine-american-elections-says-leading-official/#:~:text=%22There%20is%20a%20coordinated%20national,provide%20access%20to%20voting%20equipment.

  101. Donald Trump and the tiny radicalized extremist House Republican minority must be taken out by all legal means available to rescue democracy and freedom from the clutches of Russian interference. ?

  103. Prosecutors Probe Trump’s Efforts to Steal Arizona’s Election — Years After He Lost

    https://news.yahoo.com/prosecutors-probe-trump-efforts-steal-000000210.html

    Prosecutors in Arizona are probing the extent to which Donald Trump and his allies were still working behind the scenes to reverse the results of the 2020 presidential election — years into Joe Biden’s presidency. According to two people with knowledge of the situation, investigators with the Arizona attorney general’s office are inquiring about efforts to overturn the election that continued well into 2021 and 2022. ?

  106. Trump allies offered plea agreements in Georgia election interference case

    At least half of fake electors have already reached deals with district attorney’s office for immunity in exchange for assistance! ?

     

    https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/03/trump-allies-plea-agreements-georgia-rico-act-elections-case

     

    The flipping accelerates towards the ultimate objective of putting the Republican kingpin Donald Trump behind bars where he rightfully belongs.

  108. The fact of the matter is that Trump’s Presidential election campaign is interfering with the civil and criminal justice systems, not the other way around. He is lying every time he falsely accuses the justice system of getting in the way of his election campaign. He is a verified pathological liar. To escape from the clutches of a prison cell, he has already begun throwing his own children under the bus. He has frequently dishonored and disparaged our nation’s veterans. With Donald Trump the question is how low can you go.

  109. Comedian Trolls ‘Moms For Liberty’ And They CAN’T Handle It

    https://youtu.be/oee1ACUcfic?si=ghjkYZyWeaV7p-5h

     

    Moms for Liberty members and supporters love attacking others, but can’t take it in the least. They are so thin-skinned you could peel them with a dull plastic knife. They remind me of someone I used to know. They love to spew their vile lies all over the community. America needs to rid ourselves of these very deplorable people before they succeed completing a right wing coup.

     

  110. Tennessee Neo-Nazis Show Up to Support Far-Right Mayoral Candidate
     

    Previously, WTVF exclusively reported that Hanson, who recently spearheaded an unsuccessful bid to block a Pride festival in Franklin, was found to have cheered on her husband, Tom Hanson, at a Chicago Pride event in 2008, where he sported nothing but an American flag Speedo. This revelation contradicts her self-proclaimed stance of protecting “innocent children” from such public displays.

     

    https://www.advocate.com/politics/neo-nazis-franklin-gabrielle-hanson

     

  111. Donald Trump, he’s not really a guy who puts much stock in concepts like “the law” or “logic.” But his latest legal filing—a motion from his lawyers attempting to get him out of Jack Smith’s Jan. 6th prosecution—honestly breaks new ground in terms of absurdity. As Jeremy Stahl points out, the lawyers are trying to argue that Trump shouldn’t be prosecuted because he wasn’t convicted in the impeachment trial. But … those same lawyers argued during the impeachment trial that Trump shouldn’t be convicted because he could be prosecuted. Really!

    https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/10/slatest-news-politics-newsletter-trump-jan-6-elizabeth-warren-scotus.html

    Today’s good laugh from none other than Trump and his platoon of lawyers.

  113. Trump is a vile Hitler clone.

     
    Ex-Fox News host Geraldo Rivera has slammed Donald Trump over comments he made about immigrants coming into the U.S. Rivera told CNN that he was ashamed that he was ever friends with the former president after Trump said undocumented immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.” “I think it’s vile. I think it’s disgusting. It’s very disappointing. To sink to that level, it’s for me a personal embarrassment that we were friends for so long,” he said. “I beseech his followers to listen to what he said about poison blood. Who else used that kind of language? That kind of poisonous rhetoric? It was the Nazis, and I hate to use Nazi or Hitler references, but it is impossible to miss the obvious parallels.”

  114. Fear and loathing grips the House GOP (LOL)

    The House GOP has entered an angrier and more bewildered phase in its leadership crisis.

    The fractious Republican conference has rejected a second speaker hopeful in eight days — this time, Kevin McCarthy’s longtime heir apparent, Steve Scalise. While Republicans appear to be turning next to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), some are already airing open doubts that Jordan can pull off what the majority leader couldn’t.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/13/republicans-speaker-mccarthy-jim-jordan-00121370#:~:text=While%20Republicans%20appear%20to%20be,the%20majority%20leader%20couldn't.&text=The%20House%20GOP%20has%20entered,phase%20in%20its%20leadership%20crisis.

    The fact of the matter is that Republicans unlike Democrats are incapable of governing in any effective manner.

  116. Kenneth Chesebro: Pro-Trump lawyer pleads guilty in Georgia election subversion case, implicates Trump in fake elector conspiracy ?
    The plea deal is another blow to Trump and a major victory for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who charged Trump and 18 others in the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election. It comes one day after former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell also pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. ?

    https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/20/politics/kenneth-chesebro-georgia-election-subversion/index.html

  117. House Republican says she received death threats after speaker vote
    Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks(R-Iowa) said Wednesday she received “credible death threats” and “a barrage of threatening calls” afterwithdrawing her support for Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) to be House speaker.

    https://www.axios.com/2023/10/19/house-republican-death-threats-speaker-vote-jordan

    This is what the Republican Party has devolved in to. Eating their own. Still lovin’ it.

  119. Trump Asked Melania To Don A Bikini For His Buddies, Insider Claims (LOL)

    In the audio, which was recorded without the billionaire paper-and-packaging exec’s knowledge, and made sometime during Trump’s time as president, Pratt described a time Trump asked his third wife to wear a bikini around Mar-a-Lago to make other men jealous.

    Pratt, who ingratiated himself with the Trump world as a high-paying member of the Palm Beach, Florida, country club, remembers the president, 77, asking the then-First Lady, 53, to saunter around the pool in her swimsuit “so all the other guys could get a look at what they were missing.”

    In the recordings, Pratt said the Slovenian model bit back by telling her husband, “I’ll do that when you walk around with me in your bikini.”

    Trump has managed achieved the triple crown of discrimination, sexism, bigotry and racism.

  120. Trump glowers as Cohen dishes

    Michael Cohen, Trump’s former fixer, testified against him and described how Trump wanted his assets inflated.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/24/michael-cohen-testimony-trump-00123255#:~:text=Cohen%20testified%20that%20falsified%20documents,staged%20dramatic%20flourish%20by%20Trump.

    This is the fraudster and morally bankrupt individual that Republicans want to return to the White House. That’s the Republican Party in a nutshell.

    1. The walls keep closing in on the kingpin Donald Trump. Today the public learned that former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has spoken with Special Counsel Jack Smith at least 3 times. I wonder what was discussed.

  122. Where do these delusional Republicans come from? This bigoted and racist hypocrite could one day be thrust in to the Presidency.

    New House Speaker Blamed School Shootings on Teaching Evolution and Abortion
    Mike Johnson is a Christian nationalist with extreme views on guns, reproductive rights, and more. He’s now second in line for the presidency

    https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/mike-johnson-blamed-shootings-teaching-evolution-abortion-1234863223/amp/

    1. No decent, reasonable human being gives a rotten, runny fig what this hateful, ridiculous creature “demands.” I find it hilarious that these proud neo-fascist hatemongers get all hurt and howl from the heavens when they are labeled what they are by others and when others roundly reject their hatred.

      Listen, lady. Maybe try being a decent human being for one moment in your life and you won’t end up on the ADL’s list. Ever thought of that? Naw, that thought likely never crosses her (or anyone like her) little pea brain rotted out by hatred.

      1. Thank you for noticing this comment Kendra. I attempted to post this on a more appropriate page here, but was denied. If you don’t succeed, try again.

  124. Since House Speaker Johnson is an ardent supporter of twice divorced Trump, he is definitely another right wing hypocrite and bigot.

    Speaker Mike Johnson’s Wife Runs Counseling Service That Compares Homosexuality to Beastiality

    “We believe and the Bible teaches that any form of sexual immorality, such as adultery, fornication, homosexuality, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, pornography or any attempt to change one’s sex, or disagreement with one’s biological sex, is sinful and offensive to God,” the document states.

    https://www.advocate.com/politics/mike-johnson-wife-counseling-lgbtq

  125. Right wing neo-facism at its finest!

    This Extremist Group (Moms for Liberty) Calls Itself A ‘Parental Rights’ Org. Now It’s Targeting School Boards In 1 Key State (Pennsylvania)

    In at least three school districts, Moms for Liberty is attempting to take over entire school boards.

    In the Owen J. Roberts School District in Chester County — approximately an hour’s drive from Philadelphia — the full slate of GOP candidates has been endorsed by Moms for Liberty. The board is currently made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans, with one Republican declining to run for reelection.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/extremist-group-calls-itself-parental-173451998.html

  126. Chaya Raichik is really devilish venom. This has particular relevance to Davis considering the proven link between Beth Bourne and the Libs of TikTok.

    Libs of TikTok Creator Seems Overjoyed at Report Highlighting Her Dangerous Posts

    USA Today reporter Will Carless, who wrote the Libs of TikTok piece, wrote on X: “My story last week was about how @LibsofTikTok tweets have led to harassment, bomb threats & death threats dozens of times. Chaya Raichik told me she condemned any threats. Here’s her post from today,” under which he quoted a post from NBC reporter Ben Collins, showing a screenshot of a Libs of TikTok post from earlier on Monday.

    My story last week was about how @LibsofTikTok tweets have led to harassment, bomb threats & death threats dozens of times.\n\nChaya Raichik told me she condemned any threats.\n\nHere’s her post from today:\n\nhttps://t.co/hacp15S35q

    — (@)

    “About as despicable as it gets,” Collins wrote, echoing a sentiment of dismay from those who view Raichik’s celebration as a disregard for the severe consequences that have followed her social media activity, which often targets LGBTQ+ people and at times includes misinformation.

    https://news.yahoo.com/libs-tiktok-creator-seems-overjoyed-131212066.html#:~:text=On%20Monday%2C%20Raichik%20updated%20her,and%20social%20media%20users%20alike.

  127. This sort of disgusting behavior is par for the course with this hate group.

    Moms for Liberty Leadership poses with Proud Boys and flashes “White Power” sign

    UPDATE 11/14/23 12:10PM:Hamilton County Moms for Liberty Chair Tonya Dodd sitting next to Proud Boys’ Bobby Bean while wearing his Proud Boys hat. Tonya posted the photo herself of their first chapter meeting on their Moms for Liberty Facebook page. There seems to be an ongoing trend of Proud Boys members posing with Moms for Liberty Chapter Chairs in official photos while wearing Proud Boys attire.

    UPDATE 11/14/23 10:35AM: Moms for Liberty just responded to our article with a statement. It should be noted that in the photos with the Proud Boys, there were additional members from Moms for Liberty posing that were not the Chapter Chairs. We are awaiting a comment on the status of their membership, but they blocked us from their Twitter. As of the posting of this statement, the Chapter Chairs are still listed as such on the Moms for Liberty website.

    Moms for Liberty, which this year was classified as an extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, is making headlines again with another labeled hate group, The Proud Boys. Earlier this year, a Moms for Liberty Chapter received international criticism for quoting Hitler on the front page of it’s official newsletter.

    This time, several members of Moms for Liberty in Kentucky, and at least two of is County Chapter Chairs in Kentucky, posted photos of themselves posing with a Kentucky Chapter of The Proud Boys. Also in the photos, some of the members are flashing what is known to most as the “white power” symbol.

    https://thespacecoastrocket.com/moms-for-liberty-leadership-poses-with-proud-boys-and-flashes-white-power-sign/

  128. This is evidence that college degrees are in some ways completely worthless.

    A traitor’: Anonymous former senior Trump official speaks out in new book

    Former High Level Trump Official Describes His Former Boss

    “He lacks any shred of human decency, humility or caring. He is morally bankrupt, breathtakingly dishonest, lethally incompetent, and stunningly ignorant of virtually anything related to governing, history, geography, human events or world affairs. He is a traitor and a malignancy in our nation and represents a clear and present danger to our democracy and the rule of law.”

    https://youtu.be/dI675lCJrHY?si=6OowX9MMgA4i2-wi

  129. Trump’s Truth Social Is an Unmitigated Failure ?
    Trump’s media company admitted that unless there is “material progress” toward taking the app public, it “may be difficult to raise additional funds through traditional financing sources.” Furthermore, the company’s accountant has expressed “substantial doubt as to its ability to continue as a going concern.”

    https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/11/trumps-truth-social-is-an-unmitigated-failure.html

  131. Thank you Elon for showing us who you really are. As a result of Republican Musk’s antisemitic hate, Twitter advertisers are abandoning ship in droves. Speech does have consequences.

    White House Slams Elon Musk’s ‘Abhorrent Promotion of Antisemitic and Racist Hate’

    The White House condemned Elon Musk as promoting “antisemitic and racist hate” after the tech mogul endorsed a conspiracy theory that Jewish people “promote hatred against whites.”

    On Wednesday, Musk — CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of X — agreed with an X user who promoted the conspiracy theory that Jewish communities “have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.” In the now-removed post, the X user said they were “deeply disinterested in giving the tiniest shit now about western Jewish populations” who are facing “hordes of minorities that support flooding their country.”

    In response to that, Musk commented, “You have said the actual truth.”

    https://variety.com/2023/digital/news/white-house-condemns-elon-musk-antisemitic-racist-hate-1235795049/

  132. Rightwing personalities use X to bring antisemitic theories to light in US

    Experts say figures like Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson bringing ‘great replacement’ theory mainstream signals growing extremism

    The racist and antisemitic “great replacement” theory is encroaching out of the far-right and more visibly into mainstream US politics in the wake of its platforming by major figures like Elon Musk and Tucker Carlson, in a move experts believe shows the growing extremeness of rightwing politics in the US.

    High profile users of Twitter/X including rightwing personality Carlson and the platform’s proprietor Musk, are helping to mainstream extremist narratives that are increasingly prevalent on the site, experts and advocates say.

    Despite Musk’s aggressive responses to organizations that criticize X for promoting extremism, white nationalists and other extremists last week took to the platform to celebrate the role of Musk, his platform, and star attractions including Carlson for “shifting the Overton Window” on antisemitism.

    https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/nov/21/great-replacement-theory-antisemitism-racism-rightwing-mainstream

  133. Another small victory for real freedom and democracy and against Republican sedition!

    Jan. 6 rioter who used sovereign citizen ‘gobbledygook’ at trial is found guilty

    Taylor James Johnatakis was convicted by a jury on multiple charges, including assaulting officers. The federal judge overseeing his trial grew frustrated with his arguments.

    A Jan. 6 rioter who represented himself during a jury trial and advanced sovereign citizen arguments that a federal judge described as “bulls—” and “gobbledygook” was found guilty Tuesday and ordered into government custody.

    Taylor James Johnatakis of Washington state was arrested in February 2021 and went to trial starting last week. After just a few hours of deliberation, a jury found Johntakis guilty on Tuesday of felony counts of obstruction of an official proceeding, assaulting officers and civil disorder, as well as four misdemeanor charges.

    https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/jan-6-rioter-used-sovereign-citizen-gobbledygook-trial-found-guilty-rcna126236

  136. The news keeps getting worse for the Trump crime syndicate and the Republican Party.

    Rep. George Santos expelled from Congress for corruption, cutting GOP majority

    The House voted to expel Republican Rep. George Santos of New York from Congress.

    Removing Santos shrinks Republicans’ already meager nine seat majority, making it more difficult for them to pass legislation without Democratic support.

    A recent House Ethics report found Santos “blatantly stole from his campaign” and spent donor money on things like Botox and the adult site OnlyFans.

    https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/01/gop-rep-george-santos-faces-expulsion-vote-in-house.html

  140. Prosecutors cite Trump’s history of false election claims as evidence of motive

    The special counsel team prosecuting former President Donald Trump for interference in the 2020 presidential election is signaling it wants to use Trump’s false claims about election fraud dating back a decade to demonstrate “his motive, intent, and plan” to cling to power.

    In a new court filing, prosecutors said Trump had a record of refusing to honor the peaceful transition of power — and a pattern of sidelining people who pushed back on his bogus assertions of fraud, including the former chief counsel to the Republican National Committee and a Georgia election worker, sometimes encouraging violence against them.

    https://www.npr.org/2023/12/05/1217372828/jan-6-case-special-counsel-trump-false-election-claims#:~:text=Embedded-,Prosecutors%20cite%20Trump's%20history%20of%20false%20election%20claims%20as%20evidence,election%20interference%20case%20against%20him.

  142. TRUMP’S PLAN TO POLICE GENDER 

    His campaign is promising a more repressive and dangerous America.

    After decades of gains in public acceptance, the LGBTQ community is confronting a climate in which political leaders are once again calling them weirdos and predators. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has directed the Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate the parents of transgender children; Governor Ron DeSantis has tried to purge Florida classrooms of books that acknowledge the reality that some people aren’t straight or cisgender; Missouri has imposed rules that limit access to gender-affirming care for trans people of all ages. Donald Trump is promising to nationalize such efforts. He doesn’t just want to surveil, miseducate, and repress children who are exploring their emerging identities. He wants to interfere in the private lives of millions of adults, revoking freedoms that any pluralistic society should protect.

    https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/01/trump-lgbtq-transgender-community-protections/676139/

  143. In the Wake of a Sex Scandal, a Moms for Liberty Co-Founder’s Career Is Crumbling

    Bridget Ziegler stepped down from her job, and the Sarasota School Board chair called for her resignation.

    On Wednesday, the Daily Beast reported that the Leadership Institute, the conservative political training group where Bridget Ziegler works as a vice president, had removed her profile from its website; the group later confirmed that she had stepped down. Later that day, Sarasota school board chair Karen Rose, a conservative, said in a statement that she planned to ask Bridget to resign from the board. “I am shocked and deeply saddened by the conduct and deplore the salacious news coverage,” she wrote. “I personally care about Bridget and her family and deeply regret the necessity for this course of action, but given the intense media scrutiny locally and nationally, her continued presence on the Board would cause irreparably harmful distractions to our critical mission.”

    https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/12/bridget-ziegler-in-the-wake-of-a-sex-scandal-a-moms-for-liberty-cofounders-career-is-crumbling/

  144. The far right has not only gone full neo-fascist, but also extreme transphobic, homophobic, hypocritical and sometimes outright bonkers. The lies from the right never cease. If Republicans don’t get their way, they just lie about it. 

    Trump, Ramaswamy and the Moms for Liberty are excellent examples of the aforementioned.  By now we all know Trump’s never ending lies. Ramaswamy has fallen into this bad habit. Both still maintain that the 2020 election was stolen despite Bill Barr stating on the record that it was not. Trump even goes further in falsely maintaining that the 2012 election was stolen. Say what?

    Jack Smith wants to tell jury about Trump’s earlier attempts to sow doubt about elections
    The special counsel is seeking a judge’s permission to introduce evidence that may help jurors assess Trump’s intent in the weeks leading to Jan. 6.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/05/jack-smith-trump-elections-jan-6-00130200

  145. Transphobic Republican Debate Condemned as ‘Failure of Leadership and of Journalism’ by GLAAD
    The LGBTQ+ group is denouncing the misinformation spread by most of the candidates and one moderator.
    “Last night’s debate was a failure of leadership and of journalism, full of unchecked disinformation about LGBTQ Americans and their families,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in the organization’s release. “In a few instances, a moderator was the one fueling the disinformation and egging on the candidates for shameful pile-ons of transgender people. GLAAD asked the moderators to ask questions about how to keep Americans safe, including LGBTQ Americans who are facing unprecedented violence and harassment. Moderator Megyn Kelly chose instead to grossly mischaracterize life-saving health care and bait candidates into outdoing one another in anti-transgender fear mongering. This debate was an embarrassment for the candidates, for the host, and for the American people looking for real answers to actual problems, not more bullying of vulnerable people and lying about who they are. Voters, responsible reporters, and viewers can take note of last night and all that it revealed about the desperate candidates and a grandstanding moderator and how they failed to deliver information that advances our democracy and the safety of all Americans.”
    https://www.advocate.com/politics/glaad-denounces-republican-transphobia

  147. Note: The Atlantic is paywalled.

    Hypocrisy and racism much?

    The New Face of the ‘Great Replacement’

    Vivek Ramaswamy is both the newest proponent of the racist idea and the best example of why it’s wrong.

    Midway through last week’s Republican presidential-primary debate, the entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy started running through conspiracy theories like a frustrated child mashing buttons on Street Fighter, alleging that the Capitol riot was an “inside job” and that the so-called “Great Replacement” theory “is not some grand right-wing conspiracy theory, but a basic statement of the Democratic Party’s platform.”

    Right-wing apologism for January 6 is no longer shocking, not even from Republican presidential candidates. Trumpists often vacillate between denying it happened, justifying and valorizing those who attempted to overthrow the government to keep Donald Trump in power, or insisting that they were somehow tricked into it by undercover agents provocateurs. But the basic facts remain: January 6 was a farcical but genuine attempt to overthrow the constitutional government, which many Trump supporters think is defensible because only conservatives should be allowed to hold power.

    It was slightly more bizarre to watch Ramaswamy justify “the Great Replacement,” a white-supremacist conspiracy theory holding that, in the words of the disgraced former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, “the Democratic Party is trying to replace the current electorate, the voters now casting ballots, with new people, more obedient voters from the Third World.” This conviction has motivated slaughter in Buffalo, New York; El Paso, Texas; and as far away as New Zealand. Seeing Ramaswamy invoke it was strange because he, the practicing Hindu son of Indian immigrants, is an obvious example of why it is a dumb idea.

    https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/12/vivek-ramaswamy-great-replacement-theory/676329/

  148. Rep. Lee leads Civil Lawsuit against Trump for Violating the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act on Jan. 6

    Rep. Barbara Lee joins Jonathan Capehart to discuss how she’s holding Donald Trump accountable for Jan. 6 by suing him as the lead plaintiff in a civil suit citing the 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act, which seeks to protect lawmakers from threats or intimidation against carrying out their duties.

    https://news.yahoo.com/rep-lee-leads-civil-lawsuit-152319631.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAC1Vl1wr5-yIGEW1HHuYeSAJ1H7TVS7W-Itmcxe-M8m4zS77JrcF-0d0x_RexG_cfc0LfwxDNIgbEldov1WbXQBVnJ00XR3dCiaDRKxmR9SMKsqCtKWMNl38tnKGXU6PbAGGCylT45RnCbuK335vNvsJAlLZavZntFhSUgnqsVns

  149. I could never say this better myself. This would be the stuff of fiction if it was not in living color.

    Trump loves communist/fascist dictators. Republicans love Trump and don’t push back. Are Republicans becoming communist/fascists too? – David Hurd

    Trump Makes Another ‘Poison the Blood’ Comment Evoking Hitler Yet Again
    It followed several days of Trump and his supporters embracing his “day one dictator” rhetoric

    Donald Trump once again evoked the language of Hitler at a rally in New Hampshire Saturday, stating that migrants coming into the United States are “poisoning the blood of our country.” 
    Trump used the exact same phrase at a speech in early October, which is a near direct quote to a line in Hitler’s Mein Kampf: “All great cultures of the past perished only because the originally creative race died out from blood poisoning.”
    Trump received significant criticism after the original poison the blood statement in October. For him to repeat the line means he knows the significance of those words and is intentionally evoking Hitler.

    https://www.meidastouch.com/news/trump-makes-another-poison-the-blood-comment-evoking-hitler-yet-again

  150. What do we have here? More revelations from ultra conservative SCOTUS Associate Justice Clarence Thomas. This corrupt Republican should resign now just like he should have resigned in 2000.

    A “Delicate Matter”: Clarence Thomas’ Private Complaints About Money Sparked Fears He Would Resign

    At the time (2000), Thomas’ salary was $173,600, equivalent to over $300,000 today. But he was one of the least wealthy members of the court, and on multiple occasions in that period, he pushed for ways to make more money. In other private conversations, Thomas repeatedly talked about removing a ban on justices giving paid speeches.

    Congress never lifted the ban on speaking fees or gave the justices a major raise. But in the years that followed, as ProPublica has reported, Thomas accepted a stream of gifts from friends and acquaintances that appears to be unparalleled in the modern history of the Supreme Court. Some defrayed living expenses large and small — private school tuition, vehicle batteries, tires. Other gifts from a coterie of ultrarich men supplemented his lifestyle, such as free international vacations on the private jet and superyacht of Dallas real estate billionaire Harlan Crow.

    https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-money-complaints-sparked-resignation-fears-scotus

  151. Riley Gaines is a right wing bigot’s delight. If this isn’t right wing extremist fascism, I don’t know what is.

    Trans teen loses volleyball scholarship after Riley Gaines unleashes right-wing mob against her

    Gaines celebrated “the power of public opinion” when she learned the school had allegedly revoked the scholarship.

    A trans high school volleyball player has reportedly lost her college scholarship after being outed by anti-trans activist Riley Gaines.

    Sources say the 17-year-old had verbally committed to accept one of a handful of scholarships offered by the University of Washington (UW). It’s not clear how Gaines even got hold of the news, but on December 13, she outed the volleyball player on X, decried her achievement, misgendered her, and called on UW to revoke her scholarship.

    …

    Meanwhile, LGBTQ+ activists have been fervently defending the teen. Ari Drennen, LGBTQ+ program director for Media Matters, posted on X that “The teenager that these obsessives freaks outed allegedly transitioned before puberty, so there’s no question of unfair advantages in sports. But the anti trans panic was never for one moment about fairness.”

    …

    Alejandra Caraballo, a queer activist and civil rights attorney, called Gaines a sociopath and accused her of using the concept of women’s rights “to bully and harass trans people with her rabid mob.”

    …

    In a separate post, Caraballo also slammed Gaines for “inciting a mob to bully a teenager” and asked if she was planning to “incite more bomb threats and death threats.”

    …

    https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2023/12/trans-teen-loses-volleyball-scholarship-after-riley-gaines-unleashes-right-wing-mob-against-her/

  152. Another Republican traitor gets arrested. This time it is a local insurrectionist.

    Citrus Heights man arrested for taking part in Jan. 6 Capitol riots
    Kyle Travis Colton faces felony and misdemeanor charges
    The U.S. Attorney’s office announced Monday the arrest of another Californian for taking part in the Jan. 6 attacks on the U.S. Capitol in 2021.
    Kyle Travis Colton, of Citrus Heights, was arrested on Dec. 15 in connection with the breach of the Capitol during Congress’ count of the electoral votes in the presidential election.

    Court documents say that witnesses on a flight from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles overheard Colton saying he was “a part of the ‘second wave’ of rioters” in the Capitol Building on Jan. 6.

    https://www.kcra.com/article/citrus-heights-man-arrested-taking-part-jan-6-attacks/46168827

  153. This is a real test to see if conservatives actually believe in the plain language interpretation of the Constitution or not. They are actually lying every time they say they do. Trump is now disqualified from ever appearing on the Colorado ballot!

    ‘A masterful decision’: Conservative scholar says Colorado decision will stand the test of time.

    https://youtu.be/_uX-BRGQoV4?si=6toU6VmaRf42ta3A

  154. More Trump election fraud has been unearthed.

    New Trump recording shows he pressured Michigan election officials not to certify 2020 election results

    Trump and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel called two Republican members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers — the body that certifies election results for Michigan’s most populous county, home to Detroit — to urge them not to sign off on the results, according to a recording of the call reviewed by the News.

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/12/22/new-trump-recording-michigan/72008324007/

    1. Walter, why is your quoted material germane to Davis?  If you don’t provide that local context it is easy to dismiss your post as little more than spam.

    1. Walter, why is your quoted material germane to Davis?  If you don’t provide that local context it is easy to dismiss your post as little more than spam.

      1. I am hearing crickets from you Matt. It looks like you have conceded my point that you failed to read the title and top paragraph of this post before commenting.

  156. Reading is fundamental Matt. You can’t stop me. ?

    Given that this is a topic of interest to some of our readers, but not the main focus of our publication, the Vanguard has decided to provide this space for the open discussion of national issues.

  157. Police have recovered second Ziegler sex video, sources say

    A  sex video involving Sarasota School Board member Bridget Ziegler and an unidentified woman has been recovered by police as part of the ongoing criminal investigation of a rape allegation made against Bridget’s husband, Christian Ziegler, sources close to the investigation have told the Florida Trident.

    https://flcga.org/police-have-recovered-second-ziegler-sex-video-sources-say/

  159. A USA TODAY review of arrests concluded Oliver Krvaric would be the first full-time employee of the Trump administration identified entering the Capitol in the insurrection. On Jan. 6, 2021, Krvaric was working for the Office of Personnel Management on a short-lived Trump executive order that sought to rid federal agencies of certain diversity and inclusion training.
    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/investigations/2023/12/28/oliver-krvaric-jan-6-capitol-riot/71971697007/

  160. The tide continues to turn slowly but surely since Trump is undoubtedly an insurrectionist. It’s crystal clear now that conservatives falsely claim to abide by the plain language interpretation of the Constitution. Instead Republicans would much rather interpret the Constitution according to their own self interests.

    Maine’s top election official removes Trump from 2024 primary ballot 

    Maine’s top election official has removed former President Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 primary ballot, in a shock decision based on the 14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist ban.”
    Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows paused her decision pending a potential appeal in state court, which Trump’s team said they intend to file.

    https://www.cnn.com/cnn/2023/12/28/politics/trump-maine-14th-amendment-ballot/index.html

    Here is evidence that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment does apply to the January 6th insurrectionists under the direction of traitor Donald Trump.

    But the history behind the 14th Amendment proves its general applicability. Conspiring, whether by violence or coercion, to overturn the outcome of an election is precisely what Confederate officers and officeholders did. They didn’t like the outcome of the 1860 election, so they tried to dismantle the United States, first by walking away, then by force.

    That was what Section 3 called “insurrection or rebellion” against the United States government. It’s hard to argue that the same thing didn’t happen in the aftermath of the 2020 election. For symbolic measure, insurrectionists carried the Confederate battle flag into the Capitol on Jan. 6, marching in lock step with an earlier generation of Americans who aspired to end our system of government. That it was a bungled attempt, and that it didn’t work, doesn’t make it different.

    https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/08/25/14th-amendment-insurrection-00112777

  161. California parents’ rights activists plan to sue AG Rob Bonta over ballot initiative title

     

    Parents’ rights activist Erin Friday, a Northern California lawyer and co-lead of Our Duty (a group that “provides support for parents with a child who thinks they are transgender”), will announce a lawsuit she plans to file against California Attorney General Rob Bonta over his title and summary of a ballot initiative put in place by Friday and other parents’ rights activists.

    Friday will speak on the lawsuit at a rally at the Capitol at noon Wednesday alongside a handful of other organizers opposed to what they call “gender ideology” and “transgenderism.”

     

    Some background: Friday is an outspoken parents’ rights activist, Democrat, mother and Executive Board Member of a committee called Protect Kids California, whose members in August announced plans for a ballot initiative that would overhaul legal protections for trans kids in the state.

    The initiative would require all school districts to adopt parental notification policies like those passed in Chino Valley and Rocklin. It would also “protect girls’ sports and sports spaces” by repealing the California education code that allows students to play on sports teams that align with their gender identity. Finally, it would effectively ban gender-affirming health care for transgender minors.

    The group submitted ballot proposals to the Attorney General’s office in late August, and on Nov. 29, Bonta gave title and summary to it — but not how the initiative’s proponents like Friday expected.

    Bonta, who has threatened legal action against parental notification policies and called them “forced outing” policies, titled it the Restricts Rights of Transgender Youth initiative.

    …

    Copied from 1/2/24 edition of the Sacramento Bee.

  162. How death threats get Republicans to fall in line behind Trump
    The insidious way violence is changing American politics — and shaping the 2024 election.

    Stephen Richer should have been safe.
    In early 2021, Richer was an Arizona Republican official who regularly attended local party events. At the time, he was the newly elected county recorder of Maricopa County. The job was a new level of prominence — he was now the most important election supervisory official in the state’s largest county — but going to Arizona Republican events was routine: the kind of thing that Richer, like any state politician, had done hundreds of times before.

    But at one event, the crowd heckled and harassed him. When he tried to leave, they dragged him back in, yanking on his arms and shoulders, to berate him about the allegedly stolen 2020 election. He started to worry: Would his own people, fellow Republican Party members, seriously hurt him?

    https://www.vox.com/23899688/2024-election-republican-primary-death-threats-trump

  163. Not surprising since Trump is the pathological liar-in-chief.

    Former Trump researcher: Voter fraud claims from 2020 are ‘false’

    Donald Trump paid Ken Block and his company to find evidence of 2020 voter fraud. As the researcher now confirms, that didn’t turn out especially well.

    …

    It’s against this backdrop that Ken Block, the owner of Simpatico Software Systems, has a new op-ed in USA Today, which was published with a striking headline: “Trump paid me to find voter fraud. Then he lied after I found 2020 election wasn’t stolen.”

    …

    https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/former-trump-researcher-voter-fraud-claims-2020-are-false-rcna131888

  164. Dark money is flowing to groups trying to limit medication abortion. Leonard Leo is again at the center.
     
    Tax filings shed light on the conservative activist’s role in the network of groups challenging FDA regulation of mifepristone in a case set to go before the Supreme Court.
    …
    Caroline Ciccone, the president of Accountable.US, a left-leaning but nonpartisan Washington-based nonprofit group that examines conflicts of interest, said that the push by Leo-linked groups to restrict medication abortion follows his “decades-long campaign to undermine constitutional protections for abortion care and overturn Roe,” the 1973 decision the Supreme Court negated with its Dobbs ruling. 
    “Key groups in Leo’s network are now funding an all-hands-on-deck effort to cut access to the widely used abortion pill, threatening access to reproductive care even in states where abortion is legal,” Ciccone added.
    …
    https://19thnews.org/2024/01/leonard-leo-center-medication-abortion-restriction-efforts/

  165. Trump must be stopped by all legal means available.

    Trump just promised an authoritarian ‘task force’ to impose Christian ideology

    The former president is still feeding the Christian right’s persecution complex

    …

    In a Dec. 19 speech in Iowa, for example, Trump pledged, “As soon as I get back in the Oval Office, I’ll also immediately end the war on Christians. I don’t know if you feel it. You have a war. There’s a war.” Speaking just after the Colorado Supreme Court disqualified him from appearing on the state’s GOP primary ballot, Trump tied this “war” to his own legal woes. “Under crooked Joe Biden, Christians and Americans of faith are being persecuted and government has been weaponized against religion like never before. And also presidents like never before,” he added. “I always say Al Capone was treated better than I was treated.”

    https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-2024-christian-right-truth-social-rcna132082

  167. As part of the same on-air interview, Tacopina added that he believes the cases brought against Trump by special counsel Jack Smith, as well as the election interference case in Georgia, represent “serious cases” that are “not to be taken lightly.”

    Asked if he believes his former client might yet be convicted in the upcoming criminal trials, Tacopina replied, “Absolutely.”

    https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/amp/shows/maddow/blog/rcna135054

  168. The Supreme Court Cooked Up Another Phony Case to Tear Down Major Precedent

    The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Wednesday in a pair of cases designed to hobble federal agencies that interpret and enforce the law, a step that will seize significant power from the executive branch. A majority of the justices appeared eager to overturn a doctrine called Chevron deference, which requires courts to defer to an agency’s reasonable interpretation of an ambiguous law. This development is high up on the wish list of Republican megadonors and activists, who have spent huge sums of money on the campaign to kill Chevron.

    On Saturday’s Slate Plus segment of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern discussed the Supreme Court’s aggressive, arguably unlawful efforts to transform these cases into a weapon against the administrative state—even though they challenge a program that no longer exists. Their conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

    …

    https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/01/supreme-court-phony-fish-case-chevron.html

  169. The Supreme Court Cooked Up Another Phony Case to Tear Down Major Precedent

    The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Wednesday in a pair of cases designed to hobble federal agencies that interpret and enforce the law, a step that will seize significant power from the executive branch. A majority of the justices appeared eager to overturn a doctrine called Chevron deference, which requires courts to defer to an agency’s reasonable interpretation of an ambiguous law. This development is high up on the wish list of Republican megadonors and activists, who have spent huge sums of money on the campaign to kill Chevron.

    On Saturday’s Slate Plus segment of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern discussed the Supreme Court’s aggressive, arguably unlawful efforts to transform these cases into a weapon against the administrative state—even though they challenge a program that no longer exists. Their conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

    …

    https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/01/supreme-court-phony-fish-case-chevron.html

  170. How Big Pharma Is Fueling a Radical MAGA Agenda

    Republicans’ Project 2025 blueprint is an assault on women’s health care. It would also end Biden’s Medicare drug-pricing plan

    Big Pharma has invested big money in the organizations planning what a MAGA policy agenda will look like in a new Trump administration. Not surprisingly, that policy playbook contains a major gift for the drug industry: a swift end to the Biden administration’s landmark program to allow Medicare to negotiate lower drug prices.

    For two decades, Congress barred Medicare from negotiating prescription drug prices, which is a major reason why Americans pay higher prices for drugs than anyone else in the world. In 2022, Democrats finally passed legislation creating a price negotiation pilot program.

    The same year, Washington’s top drug lobby — Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA — donated $530,000 to groups involved with the far-right Project 2025 agenda. The agenda, which is meant to serve as a policy roadmap for the early days of a new Donald Trump presidency, includes a call to repeal the new provisions allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices.

    …

    https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/big-pharma-fueling-maga-agenda-1234953950/

  171. Justice for another Republican traitor!

    Trump adviser Peter Navarro sentenced to 4 months in prison for defying Jan. 6 committee subpoena

    Federal prosecutors sought six months in prison for Navarro for criminal contempt of Congress, which carries a mandatory minimum of one month behind bars.

    WASHINGTON — Former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro was sentenced to four months in prison Thursday for criminal contempt of Congress, with federal prosecutors saying he “thumbed his nose” at the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

    Navarro was convicted in September on two counts for refusing to testify and provide documents to the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, which issued its report and dissolved in late 2022 after Republicans won control of the House.

    …

    https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/trump-adviser-peter-navarro-sentenced-defying-jan-6-committee-subpoena-rcna135457

  172. GOP senators seethe as Trump blows up delicate immigration compromise

    Senior Senate Republicans are furious that Donald Trump may have killed an emerging bipartisan deal over the southern border, depriving them of a key legislative achievement on a pressing national priority and offering a preview of what’s to come with Trump as their likely presidential nominee.

    In recent weeks, Trump has been lobbying Republicans both in private conversations and in public statements on social media to oppose the border compromise being delicately hashed out in the Senate, according to GOP sources familiar with the conversations – in part because he wants to campaign on the issue this November.

    …

    https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/25/politics/gop-senators-angry-trump-immigration-deal/index.html

  174. Proposed funding deal will be deadly for LGBTQ+ asylum seekers

    Congress is on a path to enacting the most radical changes to U.S. immigration law in decades. If passed, LGBTQ people escaping persecution will be denied safe haven at our very doorstep, and left to fight for their lives abroad—a fight many will lose. 

    The proposals would give Homeland Security the authority to rapidly expel migrants, and make the screening standard for asylum claims nearly impossible to reach.As the legal director of Immigration Equality, an organization that represents LGBTQ and HIV positive asylum seekers, I can tell you that the legislation would result in the preventable deaths of thousands of queer and trans refugees.

    https://www.advocate.com/voices/lgbtq-asylum-seekers-deadly-deal

  176. Trump does not have presidential immunity in January 6 case, federal appeals court rules

    Donald Trump is not immune from prosecution for alleged crimes he committed during his presidency to reverse the 2020 election results, a federal appeals court said Tuesday.

    The ruling is a major blow to Trump’s key defense thus far in the federal election subversion case brought against him by special counsel Jack Smith. The former president had argued that the conduct Smith charged him over was part of his official duties as president and therefore shield him from criminal liability.

    “For the purpose of this criminal case, former President Trump has become citizen Trump, with all of the defenses of any other criminal defendant. But any executive immunity that may have protected him while he served as President no longer protects him against this prosecution,” the court wrote.

    https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/06/politics/trump-immunity-court-of-appeals/index.html

  177. A famous climate scientist is in court, with big stakes for attacks on science

    In a D.C. courtroom, a trial is wrapping up this week with big stakes for climate science. One of the world’s most prominent climate scientists is suing a right wing author and a policy analyst for defamation.

    …

    The climate scientist at the center of this trial is Michael Mann. The Professor of Earth and Environmental Science at University of Pennsylvania gained prominence for helping make one of the most accessible, consequential graphs in the history of climate science.

    First published in the late 1990s, the graph shows thousands of years of relatively stable global temperatures. Then, when humans start burning lots of coal and oil, it shows a spike upward. Mann’s graph looks like a hockey stick lying on its side, with the blade sticking straight up.

    The so-called “hockey stick graph” was successful in helping the public understand the urgency of global warming, and that made it a target, says Kert Davies, director of special investigations at the Center for Climate Integrity, a climate accountability nonprofit. “Because it became such a powerful image, it was under attack from the beginning,” he says.

    The attacks came from groups that reject climate science, some funded by the fossil fuel industry. In the midst of these types of attacks – including the hacking of Mann’s and other scientists’ emails by unknown hackers – Penn State, where Mann was then working, opened an investigation into his research. Penn State, as well as the National Science Foundation, found no evidence of scientific misconduct. But a policy analyst and an author wrote that they were not convinced.

    https://www.npr.org/2024/02/06/1228720142/michael-mann-climate-scientist-in-court-suing-for-defamation#:~:text=Hourly%20News-,Climate%20scientist%20Michael%20Mann%20is%20suing%20for%20defamation%20in%20court,stakes%20for%20attacks%20on%20scientists.

  179. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court just issued a crushing rebuttal of Justice Alito

    A new ruling signals a possible path for reasserting abortion rights.

    On Monday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered a lower court to reconsider a challenge to the state’s decades-old ban on using Medicaid funds for abortions, except in cases of rape or incest. While the case goes back down to the trial court for now, the writing is on the wall for what the lower court must do, and the state Supreme Court’s reasoning has far wider implications. The majority opinion not only thoroughly rebutted the U.S. Supreme Court’s error-filled Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, it signaled a possible new path for reasserting abortion rights.

    In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded that the right to an abortion was protected by the 14th Amendment’s due process clause, which the seven-justice majority read to include the right to privacy, which itself includes personal autonomy and the right to an abortion. But there was a road not taken by the court, perhaps a more obvious route to protecting abortion rights. Instead of finding that the right to an abortion is a “liberty” entitled to constitutional protection, the court could have concluded that abortion restrictions are tantamount to discrimination on the basis of sex. In this way, many restrictions on abortions would still violate the U.S. Constitution, but that violation would be based upon the equal protection clause instead of the due process clause.

    As I previously wrote, one case where the Supreme Court could have chosen this path involved an Air Force servicewoman represented by an attorney named Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The future justice believed that shielding abortion under the equal protection clause was the better path for protecting abortion rights. But though that case was initially accepted by the Supreme Court, the justices  never heard arguments, and they ended up eschewing the equality theory in favor of the freedom theory of abortion rights. Until, of course, they didn’t.

    https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/pennsylvania-supreme-court-abortion-ruling-alito-roe-rcna136756

  182. Walter, it appears the factual record on what the Republican Party has become is so hideous that nobody who is still registered R has the heart to post.  Maybe we should shift gears to the questionable tactics of the Schiff campaign in devoting resources to keep Katie Porter off the ballot.  What would that campaign have looked like?  Much more interesting than following the implosion of the party of ‘prison for all’.

  185. Why Trump’s big Wall Street payday won’t bail him out of financial trouble

    The approval from investors would come as Trump faces a severe financial crunch: He’s been hit with more than $500 million in civil penalties, not to mention ongoing legal fees as he appeals verdicts against him.

    But Trump’s stake will be tied up for much of the year under a so-called lock-up agreement, a normal arrangement for such deals to ensure that insiders don’t bail as soon as a company goes public and push down the stock price.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/22/trump-truth-social-money-financial-troubles-00148456#:~:text=Why%20Trump's%20big%20Wall%20Street,he%20appeals%20verdicts%20against%20him.

  186. What happens when an AG dares to investigate Leonard Leo’s network

    Brian Schwalb’s probe followed a complaint that nonprofit groups associated with the judicial activist violated their tax status.

    Leo is the Federalist Society co-chair who has been called former President Donald Trump’s “court whisperer” for helping to choose and advocate for his Supreme Court nominees. His aligned network of tax-exempt nonprofits is also a major contributor to Project 2025, an initiative seeking to create a “government in waiting” for another Trump term.

    The white-hot pressure campaign targeting Schwalb attests to the growing range of Leo’s influence. Beyond its work in promoting the conservative legal movement, his billion-dollar network of nonprofits has funded conservative media, Republican attorneys general and the campaign funds of leading congressional figures.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/23/brian-schwalb-leonard-leo-investigation-00148385

  187. Trump gag order expanded after he attacks judge’s daughter on social media

    Move bars Trump from lashing out at family members of attorneys and court personnel in case tied to hush-money payments

    The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s forthcoming criminal trial in New York expanded an existing gag order on Monday, preventing the former president from making inflammatory comments about the judge’s family members, after they became the target of Trump’s personal attacks.

    The new protective order continues to allow Trump to rail against the judge and the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, who charged Trump last year with falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal before the 2016 election.

    But Trump is now expressly prohibited from assailing the family members of any lawyers or court staff involved in the case, as well as family members of the judge and the district attorney, the New York supreme court justice Juan Merchan wrote in the revised order.

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/01/trump-gag-order-expanded-after-attacks-on-new-york-judges-daughter

  188. RFK Jr. is a right wing Trump surrogate.

    RFK Jr. Fundraisers Tied to J6ers, QAnoners, Christian Nationalists, and Far-Right Extremists

    Steve and Tracy Slepcevic have been hanging out with radical Trumpers.

    On March 23, Steve and Tracy Slepcevic hosted a fundraiser for independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the San Diego area. Tickets started at $575, and those who paid $2,750 were to be treated to a “private sunset reception” before RFK Jr. would chat with the assembled and pose for photos. It was hardly surprising that the Slepcevics were supporting Kennedy, given that Tracy is a long-time anti-vaxxer prominent within the autism community. But the personal politics of the Slepcevics illuminate the weird currents propelling Kennedy’s White House bid, for the pair have hobnobbed with QAnoners, Christian nationalists, election deniers, and other pro-Trump extremists. Steve, who has a checkered past as a businessmen that includes an arrest (but not a conviction) for allegedly defrauding victims of Hurricane Katrina, was in the crowd of Trump devotees outside the Capitol on January 6.

    https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/04/rfk-jr-steve-tracy-slepcevic-fundraisers-trump-qanon-january-6-extermists/

  189. This a truly momentous day in American history and specifically American criminal history.

    Why you should take Trump’s hush money trial seriously

    The deception practically leaps off the pages of the documents at the core of the Trump hush money trial.

    Based on my years of experience prosecuting complex fraud cases, the New York County District Attorney’s Office case against former President Donald Trump has all the hallmarks of a major fraud case, with tremendous jury appeal. For starters, the alleged cover-up of a presidential candidate’s hush money payments to a porn star to try to win an election is captivating and easily comprehensible — in stark contrast, for example, to the financial statements and property valuations from Trump’s civil fraud trial.

    https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-hush-money-trial-charges-make-serious-case-election-interference-rcna147779

  191. I present to you the latest batch of alleged Republican criminals including the COO of Turning Point USA.

    Arizona grand jury indicts 2020 Trump electors

    Each of the 11 Arizona fake electors — Tyler Bowyer, Nancy Cottle, Jake Hoffman, Anthony Kern, Jim Lamon, Robert Montgomery, Samuel Moorhead, Loraine Pellegrino, Greg Safsten, Kelli Ward and Michael Ward — face nine felony counts for conspiracy, fraudulent schemes and artifices and forgery. ?

    https://www.axios.com/2024/04/24/arizona-trump-fake-elector-indictment

  193. Right wing federal judge has now been caught being a racist twice. Obvious racism is anything but a rabbit hole.

    Bail possible for accused white supremacist leader after ruling by O.C. federal judge

    In the latest twist in a legal saga that’s dragged on for nearly six years, a federal judge in Orange County granted bail Tuesday to the accused founder of a violent white supremacist group — but the order will not take effect for at least four days pending a review by a higher court.
    During a hearing that lasted more than an hour, U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney questioned the government’s use of resources on the case before granting bail to Robert Rundo, who spent nearly a year as a fugitive until he was extradited from Romania last year to face conspiracy and rioting charges.
    Carney has twice dismissed the government’s case against Rundo and other members of a now-defunct white supremacist group known as the Rise Above Movement, or RAM. The judge has stated that Rundo and others were being selectively prosecuted, while “far-left extremist groups” were not.

    https://ca.news.yahoo.com/bail-possible-accused-white-supremacist-215812268.html

    Federal Chief Judge Steps Down After Racially Insensitive Remarks

    “I have apologized to Ms. Gray, but I have concluded that a simple apology will not put this matter to rest,” U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney said.

    The chief judge of the Central District of California, which includes Los Angeles and neighboring counties, will step down from that post after making racially insensitive comments about the court’s top administrative official, a Black woman, according to a report.

    https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/federal-chief-judge-steps-down-after-racially-insensitive-remarks/2387676/?amp=1

  194. Conservatives can be violent and dangerous individuals. The right obsesses on the relatively insignificant number of Antifa, but they fail to root out their own bad apples.

    School board member who once championed book bans now faces death threats for changing her mind

    When Courtney Gore found no evidence LGBTQ+ indoctrination in local schools, Republicans turned against her.

    A former far-right Texas school board member who promised to stop pro-LGBTQ+ “indoctrination” in her local school district is now speaking out against “extremist” members of her own Republican Party who are hellbent on banning books, defunding schools, and electing ultra-right members to school boards. She has received death threats for opposing the party’s efforts.

    Courtney Gore — a self-described “small town, conservative Christian values,” Republican patriot and activist who co-hosts a right-wing online talk show — ran a successful far-right campaign to get elected to the board of Granbury Independent School District (GISD) in Texas. Right-wing media had repeatedly told her about “inappropriate” teachings in public schools, and she wanted to help end it.

    https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2024/05/school-board-member-who-once-championed-book-bans-now-faces-death-threats-for-changing-her-mind/

  195. Why is the U.S. more lax on gun laws than on peaceful protests?

    If students were openly carrying during their campus protests, the NRA would have likely petitioned university officials to stay away.

    The majority of U.S. states (45) allow residents to openly carry firearms in public with the stipulation that they are legally obtained and licensed. Open carry laws in most states require that a firearm remains unloaded and displayed in plain view, rather than concealed or hidden. Some states ask that people acquire a special carry permit, while others demand no such thing.

    Many states restrict the open carry of semi-automatic and automatic weapons, while others do not. The states with the most lenient gun laws are Mississippi, Louisiana, New Mexico, Alabama, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Arkansas, Missouri, and Tennessee.

    And yet, when people set up tents on college and university campuses, police invade their encampments, throw people to the ground, tie their hands, and toss them into police vans or buses, which transport them for arrest.

    https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2024/05/why-is-the-u-s-more-lax-on-gun-laws-than-on-peaceful-protests/

  196. This is why Trump has to repeatedly be placed under gag orders. Even then his supporters are able to evade said orders.

    Trump blasts his trial judges. Then his fans call for violence.

    On a recent Tuesday morning, a visibly frustrated Donald Trump sat through a tense hearing in the first-ever criminal trial of a former American president. During a break, he let rip on his social media platform.

    New York Justice Juan Merchan, Trump declared on Truth Social, is a “highly conflicted” overseer of a “kangaroo court.” Trump supporters swiftly replied to his post with a blitz of attacks on Merchan. The comments soon turned ugly. Some called for Merchan and other judges hearing cases against Trump to be killed.

    “Treason is a hangable offense,” one wrote.

    “They should all be executed,” added another.

    https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-election-threats-courts/

  197. Trump was under the clearly mistaken impression that Libertarians would actually nominate him as their candidate for President. Instead Libertarians overwhelmingly showed him how they actually felt about Trump. He was reportedly subjected to 30 minutes of almost continuous booing. I couldn’t be happier.

    ‘Swamp Creature!’: Trump Gets Shouted Down as He Begs for Libertarian Nomination

    It was clear from the start that this year’s Libertarian convention would not be a staid affair.
    Going into the weekend, the Washington Hilton was stocked with shrink-wrapped packs of Blood of Tyrants’ Liquid Freedom Energy Tea. More than one attendee appeared to be smoking indoors. The drinks were flowing and the crowd was chanting, booing, and hollering through speeches left and right. Punches even flew. And that was all before former President Donald Trump took the stage in front of hundreds on Saturday.

    When that moment came, the former president was met with a sound he was not accustomed to: boos. They broke out as soon as he appeared, and never died down, marking one of the most negative receptions Trump has ever received.

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/swamp-creature-trump-gets-shouted-down-as-he-begs-for-libertarian-nomination

    1. Donald Trump has been rejected by Libertarians, receiving only 0.65 percent of the vote for the party’s presidential nominee.
      Trump, the presumptive Republican Party presidential candidate, who was a write-in for the Libertarians, received just six votes from party members.

      https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-rejected-libertarians-less-one-percent-vote-presidential-election-1904870#:~:text=Donald%20Trump%20has%20been%20rejected,six%20votes%20from%20party%20members.

  200. US Senate Candidate Steve Garvey is a fraud. Let’s count the ways.

    I Tried to Fact-Check the Résumé of This MLB Star Turned Senate Candidate

    In February, the Los Angeles Times published a heart-wrenching feature about how Garvey has ostracized at least three of his seven children, including two he had during those extramarital affairs of the late ’80s. Politico recently broke the news that over four decades, the IRS and state of California have filed at least 40 liens against Garvey totaling roughly $3.85 million. And according to the Sacramento Bee, Garvey still owes hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid federal and state taxes that were incurred in 2011.

    The Bee got its scoops from dissecting Garvey’s Senate financial disclosure report, a document required of candidates and incumbents alike. The point of the report is transparency: to inform the public of a politician’s financial situation, their potential conflicts of interest, their personal and professional dealings.

    I looked over Garvey’s report too; it’s supposed to cover the year 2023. What I found was a glaring absence of required information about paid speeches and meet-and-greet appearances that Garvey—a self-described motivational speaker and prolific autograph signer—didn’t disclose. That led me to sleuth through Garvey’s social media, then I got sucked into the vortex of the internet archive website the Wayback Machine, through which I uncovered some unexpected, bizarre biographical claims that Garvey isn’t keen on discussing.

    https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/05/steve-garvey-senate-california-schiff-baseball-porter-lee.html

  201. Anti-Trans bigoted hatemongers lose again!

    Proposed gender identity measure fails to qualify for California ballot

    A proposed measure in California that would have required schools in California to notify parents if their child asks to change their gender identification at school has failed to qualify for the November ballot

    https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Health/wireStory/proposed-gender-identity-measure-fails-qualify-california-ballot-110628023

  202. Accountability continues for conservatives that parroted lies and false conspiracy theories.

    Alex Jones agrees to liquidate his assets to pay Sandy Hook families, in move that would end his ownership of Infowars

    Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on Thursday moved to liquidate his personal assets, agreeing to demands from the families of Sandy Hook victims whom he owes more than $1.5 billion in damages over his lies about the 2012 school massacre.

    The seismic move paves the way for a future in which Jones no longer owns Infowars, the influential conspiracy empire he founded in the late 1990s. Over the years, Jones has not only used the media company to poison the public discourse with vile lies and conspiracy theories, but also to enrich himself to the tune of millions of dollars.

    https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/06/media/alex-jones-assets-sandy-hook/index.html

  203. Really Republican Royce White? I don’t how you could conflate drinking fountains with crime data unless your intention was to lie.

    Royce White, the GOP-endorsed Senate candidate for Minnesota, appears to be a little sensitive to reports about his string of missteps.

    After The Daily Beast reported on Wednesday that White had confused a map of Minneapolis’ drinking fountains for a map of crime stats, he argued that one of his testicles garners more “media attention” than The Daily Beast.

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/gop-senate-hopeful-royce-white-seems-a-little-mad-at-the-daily-beasts-reporting

  204. Phoenix police violated civil rights, used illegal excessive force, Justice Department says

    The Phoenix Police Department has routinely engaged in “a pattern or practice” of using unlawful force, disproportionately targeted people of color and routinely violated the rights of protesters, people experiencing behavioral health issues and unhoused people, according to U.S. Justice Department investigators.

    The behavior showed violations of the First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments, according to Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and a 126-page report issued Thursday after a nearly three-year investigation.

    Those amendments protect free speech, prohibit unreasonable searches and seizures and guarantee equal protection under the law.

    Clarke said the Justice Department’s probe of Phoenix policing marks the first time the agency has ever found a violation of the civil and constitutional rights of homeless people. About 37% of the department’s misdemeanor offenses were against unhoused individuals, she said.

    https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2024/06/13/phoenix-police-slammed-in-126-page-justice-department-report/74080698007/

  205. ‘Arrogance’ & ‘Bullshit:’ Top Insiders on Netanyahu’s Catastrophic Oct. 7 and Gaza War

    Ex-PM and former Mossad chief among security officials telling The Daily Beast how Netanyahu’s struggle rule led to the greatest disaster in Israel’s history—and carnage in Gaza.

    Wherever they go, Israeli attacks follow in a war where Israel has destroyed or damaged the majority of Gazans’ homes, decimated the public infrastructure and forced people back into the rubble they previously fled.

    Disease and hunger are rampant because Israel has choked off supplies of food, fuel, and medicine, leading a UN Commission of Inquiry into the war to accuse America’s staunch ally of using starvation as a weapon of war. For Palestinians, this is the worst existential crisis since the 1948 war, when Israel dispossessed an estimated 750,000 Palestinians who were driven from their homes and lands, in an event Palestinians call the Nakba, or the catastrophe.

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/arrogance-and-bullsht-top-insiders-turn-on-benjamin-netanyahu

  206. Rightwing mom was so outraged by this book about book banning that she got it banned from school

    A Moms for Liberty school board cabal is responsible for this sad irony.

    In a decision dripping with irony, a Florida school board has banned a book about book banning from the district’s libraries.

    Ban This Book, a children’s title by Alan Gratz, was removed from shelves in Indian River County school libraries after the county’s school board voted 3-2 to ban it.

    https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2024/06/rightwing-mom-was-so-outraged-by-this-book-about-book-banning-that-she-got-it-banned-from-school/

  207. White Crowds Fill the Pews for Trump’s Visit to Black Church

    Donald Trump visited Detroit on Saturday, a city he once called a “living hell,” and staged a surprise “roundtable” at 180 Church, a predominately Black congregation on the city’s outskirts. While the event was ostensibly about issues facing Black voters, and some Black pro-Trump personalities like Peezy and Icewear Vezzo showed up, social media lit up at footage showing the pews packed with white crowds. “It’s all lies, smoke, and mirrors,” Jeff Timmer, a senior adviser for the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, wrote on X.

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/white-crowds-fill-the-pews-for-trumps-visit-to-black-church-in-detroit

  210. BTW convicted felon MAGA Steve Bannon reported to federal prison the other day.

    Conservative Heritage leader: ‘Second American Revolution’ will be bloodless ‘if the left allows it to be’

    The leader of conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation argued the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity will reinforce a “second American Revolution,” which he said would “remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”

    https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4753439-heritage-leader-second-american-revolution/mlite/

  211. ROEvember here we come!

    Abortion measures could be on the ballot in Arizona, Nebraska after organizers submit signatures

    A measure guaranteeing abortion rights in Arizona could be on the ballot in November after supporters said Wednesday they submitted more than double the number of signatures required for a ballot initiative.

    Meanwhile in Nebraska, two competing measures could also make it on the ballot after abortion opponents and abortion rights supporters both said they submitted enough signatures.

    https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/4754409-abortion-rights-ballot-initiative-arizona/

  212. Denial and lying are the Republican way.

    Donald Trump Claims Republicans’ Project 2025 has Nothing to Do With Him: ‘Abysmal’

    The 900-page conservative wish-list includes a massive abortion crackdown. It calls for the banning of contraception among scores of hypocritical dictates. Now Trump claims he knows nothing about it.

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-claims-republicans-project-2025-has-nothing-to-do-with-him-abysmal

  213. There’s a Reason Trump Is Suddenly Lying About Project 2025

    With all the focus in recent weeks on President Joe Biden’s age-related limitations, it’s worth remembering that Donald Trump’s incessant falsehoods and self-proclaimed desire to be a dictator on Day 1 make him far more unfit for the presidency. The latest Trump lie that should be garnering more attention is his attempt to distance himself from Project 2025: “I know nothing about Project 2025,” he posted on Truth Social last week. “I have no idea who is behind it.” That statement is demonstrably false. It reflects an attempt to deceive American voters about the dictatorship a second Trump term would bring.

    But with Donald Trump, you get a self-proclaimed dictator who, taking a page from the book of strongmen everywhere, now wants to fool you about his autocratic proclivities to secure office.

    https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/07/why-donald-trump-lying-project-2025.html

  217. Karma comes for a right wing Russian propagandist!

    Right-Wing Influencer Accused of Taking Kremlin Cash Fired

    The conservative creator Lauren Chen had her contract terminated by Blaze Media on Thursday, a day after she was implicated in a bombshell DOJ indictment alleging a Russian influence campaign.

    Chen, a co-founder of Tenet Media, had been collecting checks from the right-wing Blaze Media for creating YouTube content and appearing on BlazeTV, which was founded by the former Fox News host Glenn Beck.

    That relationship is no more, however, Blaze Media CEO Tyler Cardon confirmed in a statement shared with Semafor.

    The conservative creator Lauren Chen had her contract terminated by Blaze Media on Thursday, a day after she was implicated in a bombshell DOJ indictment alleging a Russian influence campaign.

    Chen, a co-founder of Tenet Media, had been collecting checks from the right-wing Blaze Media for creating YouTube content and appearing on BlazeTV, which was founded by the former Fox News host Glenn Beck.

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/lauren-chen-fired-blaze-media-axes-creator-caught-up-in-russian-influence-scandal

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