Chief Justice John Roberts’ majority opinion for U.S. v. Rahami could help Hunter Biden’s appeal for his gun possession charge after Roberts emphasized that the ruling was only for people first judged in court to be a danger to others. Hunter owned the gun for only 11 days with no evidence he fired it and faces no allegations of violence. This case was his first criminal conviction.
Two far-right candidates faced off for an election in Virginia’s 5th congressional district, and one, incumbent Rep. Bob Good, is accusing his opponent of violating “election integrity,” after losing by 322 votes out of 62,556. That’s ten votes short of the under 0.5 percent difference requiring the state to pay for a recount. He can still get a recount with under one percent. Good’s complaint cited “fires” in three precincts on the primary election day requiring evacuations for 20 minutes and a county registrar’s office starting a meeting for ballot processes two hours early with his opponent present and not notifying Good’s team. State and local election officials denied any fires. Opponent John McGuire’s campaign criticized the complaints about a stolen election, but McGuire attended the “Stop the Steal” rally at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. He said he didn’t go inside the building.
In more GOP chaos, Arizona delegates met and discussed a secret plan to challenge DDT’s nomination and release delegates from a pledge to support him at the convention starting July 15. Co-conspirators would show support by wearing matching black jackets but need support from other state delegations. The challengers aren’t “Never Trumpers” but may object to an undesirable vice-presidential candidate. They may want to substitute former national security adviser Michael Flynn for DDT if he is sentenced to prison time. (Flynn lasted 24 days in the job and was later convicted for lying to the FBI. Some on the far-right suspect DDT is surrounded by too many advisers promised to the “deep state.” DDT’s campaign is working to replace the delegates. About 5,000 delegates and alternates will participate in the convention’s decision-making.
Eight years ago, the GOP convention devolved into a shouting match when DDT’s Republican opponents tried to block his nomination. To stave off a repeat of 2016, DDT’s campaign has worked to select only committed loyal DDT fans for delegates, but the concern about covert saboteurs remains. Arizona dissidents We the People AZ Alliance has raised almost $1 million. In a resignation letter, Illinois GOP Chair Don Tracy said he “had to spend far too much time dealing with intra party power struggles, and local intra party animosities.”
Only Republicans could vote in the GOP presidential nominee choice; DDT received under 80 percent while Nikki Haley, already withdrawn from the race, received almost 18 percent.
Many Republicans think rules don’t apply to them, but opposing the military doesn’t appeal to veterans. They keep calling on Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) to stop wearing the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB) after the Pentagon revoked it in March 2023. Nehls doesn’t meet the requirements of being an infantryman or Green Beret at the time of the award and engaging the enemy in direct ground combat. Instead he was a civil affairs officer in 2008. Nehls asserted that the revocation was politically motivated and disagrees with the Pentagon’s decision, but multiple GOP elected officials maintain his wearing a revoked badge is “stolen valor.”
A new study found that the burning of toxic chemicals from the February 2023 Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine (OH) spread to 16 states and probably Canada. Dozens of train derailed train cars included at least 11 carrying hazardous materials. The controlled burn was against EPA rules and unnecessary, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Norfolk Southern annually makes billions in profits and gave its CEO a 37 percent pay hike last year. Last year, the company spent $2.3 million on federal lobbying.
After Missouri, even with no standing for being affected, succeeded in overturning one of President Joe Biden’s student debt forgiveness, recently appointed state AG Andrew Bailey has decided to erase DDT’s state convictions in New York through a lawsuit. He calls the appropriate selection of a jury, judicial facilitating, and unanimous verdicts of guilt for all 34 charges a “direct attack on our democratic process through unconstitutional lawfare against President Trump.” Bailey claimed standing by declaring the conviction “sabotages Missourians’ right to a free and fair election” and will likely attack New York AG Letitia James and Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg. Bailey assumes any lawsuit by one state against another would perhaps go directly to the Supreme Court and added the evidence-free assertion that investigations and subsequent prosecutions of Trump “appear to have been conducted in coordination with the United States Department of Justice.”
As soon as DDT announced at a Nevada campaign rally he wanted to erase taxes on tips, Republicans proposed a new bill, hoping for more votes. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) left a server the message, “Vote Trump! No tax on tips.” Unfortunately, employers have stolen these tips or forced the recipient to share them with all the workers. The union representing tipped workers are fully aware of the idea’s downside:
It won’t give many tipped workers more money. With a median annual wage for wait staff of $32,000, they may make too little to owe much or any federal taxes.
It can harm workers and create a new benefit for corporations employing them. Reclassifying ordinary income as tip income can be an incentive for more workers to be moved from a full hourly wage to the lower tipped minimum wage, a lower base pay. Income for the workers will then be uncertain.
If Republicans want to help tipped workers, they can end the tipped minimum wage of $2.13, a norm beginning after the end of Civil War. They could also raise the minimum wage of $7.25 which DDT promised to veto when Congress considered it. He also tried to effect a change by the Labor Department allowing employers to keep the tips if they want, giving them $5.8 billion. Meanwhile DDT and the idea’s supporters are getting headlines from a gullible media.
Six fake electors in Nevada facing charges for lying that DDT won the state in 2020 don’t have to pay for their own legal representation; the nonprofit Personnel Policy Operations (PPO) tied to DDT has shelled out $100,000 of legal fees for them. Its president, Troup Hemenway, is also a senior adviser of Project 2025, the conservatives’ recommendations for DDT to destroy democracy if he moves back to the White House. The case was dismissed this past week with the justification that it was filed in the wrong jurisdiction.
The IRS plans to stop wealthy people and businesses from secretly manipulating assets’ values, using them over and over to lower their taxes, shielding tens of billions of dollars from taxation. Through basis shifting, complex business partnerships can be used to move assets from one entity to another on paper to avoid taxes. In a partnership, a “pass-through” business structure of linked entities passes income and losses directly to investors instead of taxing them at a corporate level. After a partnership sells assets like land or equipment, their original cost is subtracted to determine taxes. Tax code rules allow them to move in and out of the business, which may repeatedly depreciate the same asset. The IRS will publish guidance for accountants and lawyers explaining that shifting these assets will be subject to audits and create legal teams to focus on these partnerships using the hundreds of audits hired this year with funding from a new law.
Biden plans to ban U.S. sale of antivirus software made by Russia’s Kaspersky Lab because Russia’s influence over the company is a significant security risk allowing the theft of sensitive information, installation of malware, and withholding of critical updates. His ability to do this comes from a rule while DDT was in the White House.
An example of how candidates can use artificial intelligence for political ads from Anthony Hudson, a white GOP congressional candidate in Michigan. A video on TikTok uses an AI-enhanced voice sounding like Martin Luther King Jr.:
“I have another dream. Yes, it is me, Martin Luther King. I came back from the dead to say something. As I was saying, I have another dream that Anthony Hudson will be Michigan 8th District’s next congressman. Yes, I have a dream again. OK, now I am going back to where I came from. Goodbye.”
Hudson’s voice said he “approves this message.” Highly criticized, the video was removed, and DDT loyalist Hudson initially slammed the clip, blaming a volunteer for giving his “social media credentials to one of his friends who then posted an AI video without my knowledge.” Hudson he would never have approved such a “disrespectful video.” A few hours later, he reversed the apology, saying that MLK would have approved “me and my vision for a better Michigan.”
This month the beauty pageant Miss AI skips over humans to AI images. They walk, they talk, and they share “thoughts” and their “lives” on accompanying social media posts. The winner gets $5,000, public relations, and mentorship perks. Beauty pageants of humans have been fading because their harmful stereotypes; AI will make the situation worse.
Nel's New Day 
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