States in U.S. Try to Quash Democracy – Part II

Updates and new states in their democracy issues:

Florida: Gov. Ron DeSantis begged for federal assistance in disasters, but he voted against $9.7 billion in aid to New York and New Jersey after they suffered from Hurricane Sandy in 2013. Just been sworn in as a House member, he said he didn’t believe in the “put it on the credit card mentality.” No problem with credit cards if help is for Florida. DeSantis also turned down $350 million for assistance to people in climate funding.

Abby Vesoulis vividly described the hurricane’s damage from 125 mph winds, including in areas not formerly affected by hurricanes. Idalia is the first hurricane since DeSantis orchestrated the rewrites of insurance law after Hurricane Ian, creating greater difficulty for victims to sue insurers for failing to pay claims for home damage. More hurricane descriptions here.

Georgia: Gov. Brian Kemp refuses to call a special session for Republican legislators to get rid of Fulton County DA Fani Willis. A new GOP law allows lawmakers to dump DAs who annoy them by accusing them of violating the oath of office. Kemp said that “some inside and outside of this building may have forgotten that” they are “to follow the law and the Constitution.” The fight isn’t over: Republicans plan hearings to investigate Willis’ use of funds.

North Carolina: The state Judicial Standards Commission is investigating and threatening to sanction state Supreme Court justice Anita Earls, the only Black woman on the court, because she discussed “implicit bias” and called for more Blacks and more women to make arguments before the court. Earls is suing the commission, citing her First Amendment right to free speech while protecting herself from the investigation and punishment for her statements. Last March, the commission also investigated her for an anonymous complaint about her disclosing confidential information under discussion in the court.

Alabama: The GOP fury about election fraud ends when it’s a member of their own party, especially a state legislator. Republican state Rep. David Cole was arrested for fraudulently voting at an unauthorized location, using someone else’s address as a resident for his election. The GOP has backed his election; Cole’s opposing Libertarian candidate pointed out the fraud and the legislator’s ineligibility to run from district. Alabama’s Secretary of State certified Cole as a candidate, and Cole’s colleagues ignored any problems with his residency—and fraud.

Nebraska: Gov. Jim Pillen is copying Oklahoma’s anti-transgender executive order with what he calls a “Women’s Bill of Rights,” asserting that “a person’s biological sex is defined at birth,” which can’t be changed. The order uses Pillen’s personal definitions of “woman, “girl”, “man,” and “boy.” It defines a female as a “person whose biological reproductive system is designed to produce ova” and a male as a “person whose biological reproductive system is designed to fertilize the ova of a female.” Male is “defined solely through its relationship to the female reproductive system,” according to out bisexual state Sen. Megan Hunt who has a transgender child. (My question is how Pillen defines an intersex person with both “reproductive systems.”)

Oklahoma: Democrats are seeking an impeachment probe of Ryan Walters, the state’s superintendent of public instruction, after two weeks of bomb threats to Tulsa’s schools. Threats began after Walters reposted a lie from Libs on TikTok about a high school librarian’s “woke” ideology, one of his “pattern of inflammatory language” in his attempt to make all state public schools religious after he succeeded with a state Catholic charter school.

Wisconsin: A lawsuit accuses Republicans of trying to nullify the election of a liberal state Supreme Court justice by telling her to recuse herself from hearing redistricting lawsuits to avoid gerrymandering in new maps. Republicans complain that the newly-elected justice has voiced criticism about existing maps but aren’t concerned about the large number of opinions from conservative justices regarding cases they may see in the court. Republicans have sufficient numbers in the legislative bodies for impeachment and conviction.

Michigan: Sixteen Republicans have felony charges for serving as fake electors in the 2020 presidential election. They include state GOP officials, an RNC member, mayor, town clerk, and school board member. With eight felony charges, a school board member, Amy Facchinello, faces a recall.

Arizona: The state must pay $2.1 million to the federal government for damage done to federal and tribal land from former. Gov. Doug Ducey paying $95 million to install a four-mile wall of 3,000 shipping containers at the Mexico border to block migrants and another $64 million to tear them down and transport them. The remaining 2,200 containers are for sale. The settlement will be used by the U.S. Forest Service to remedy damage. Texas still has several hundreds of feet of containers on the border near El Paso and Eagle Pass.

Maricopa County (AZ) Republican Committee voted to ask the state GOP to cancel the state’s primary system and hold its own vote on one day—only in-person, no mail-in, a hand-count of the ballots, and managed by the party. And they want the state party to pay the $15 million for the process; currently the state GOP has only $144,000. State law permits political parties to opt out of state-run presidential primary elections. If the state party agrees, they are responsible for finding staffing poll locations. Republicans claim they are stopping election fraud—non-existent, according to the highly expensive audit after the last presidential election.

Texas: Judges are using temporary injunctions to knock down Gov. Greg Abbott’s new punitive laws:

Books ratings: A federal judge appointed by former Dictator Donald Trump (DDT) ruled against the law that anyone not marking books sold to schools for “sexual content” will be banned from future sales. The lawsuit stated an unconstitutional restraint on the freedom to read and an untenable burden on book vendors tasked with rating millions of books. The law also permitted the Texas Education Agency to review the vendors’ ratings, forcing the TEA’s ratings on the vendor.

Drag shows: A Reagan-appointed federal judge temporarily blocked the criminalization of public drag shows, ruling that the law likely “violated the First Amendment” and caused “irreparable harm” to the plaintiffs. The judge said his final decision would come two to four weeks after the hearing. Texas is one of six states restricting drag performances; Florida, Montana, and Tennessee have blocked these laws.  

Removal of cities’ power: A Travis County judge declared a new state law unconstitutional that prevents cities and counties from passing ordinances going further than state laws. Called the “Death Star bill,” it may still go into effect, but the ruling eases state lawsuits against challenged ordinances. The new state law blocks ordinances providing sick leave to workers, protections for tenants facing evictions, and mandatory water breaks for construction workers.   

Transgender healthcare: In one loss for democracy and human rights, the state Supreme Court ruling permits the state to ban gender-affirming care for minors, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy, starting on September 1. Exceptions are for intersex patients and some minors already receiving gender-affirming care who will be forced to “wean off” any drugs for treatment. Other a dozen other states are moving toward this restriction, and a new advisory from Canada warns LGBTQ+ citizens from traveling to the U.S. because of the record number of anti-LGBTQ legislation.  

A federal lawsuit against Texas barriers in the Rio Grande River to keep migrants from crossing the southern border is still not decided. Focusing on brutal treatment of asylum seekers, Abbott has spent $4 billion of the $10 billion granted for “Operation Lone Star.” Part of it is for wire razor fencing and four-foot-wide buoys joined with circular saws on the Rio Grande River which are anchored to the river bottom with 68 concrete blocks weighing 3,000 pounds and nets underneath the buoys to prevent swimming beneath them. They rotate so that people cannot climb over them. At least two bodies have been found. Abbott also buses migrants to blue states, most recently in the middle of California’s Tropical Storm Hillary. Eighty percent of Abbott’s buoys are on the Mexican side, violating a 1970 U.S.-Mexico treaty putting the international boundary in the middle of the Rio Grande.

Abbott has been forced to disband the intelligence wing of Texas National Guard intelligence wing doing illegal surveillance of migrants in Mexico for Operation Lone Star. Two of at least four intelligence officers facing administrative discipline blame senior leaders for setting them up. The two of them warned the leaders about the surveillance legality, but the top brass refused to stop their mission.

 Another National Guard member deployed by Abbott, fired across the Rio Grande border into Mexico, injuring a 37-year-old Mexican man.  In January, a Guard member with Operation Lone Star shot another migrant in the shoulder but claimed he was wrestling with him. The wounded man, supported by other migrants, said the shot came from the kitchen into the living room.

Not enough room now for more Texas anti-democracy moves, but one more story from the state:

The Katy Independent School District (TX) with a population of over 85,000 students, banned new library books in all schools after a board member cited a parent complaining about Itty-Bitty Kitty-Corn, a cat that wants to be a unicorn. With starred reviews, the book is one in a series about friendship and accepting oneself, called “sexually explicit” in the complaint with other falsehoods. Winner of many prestigious awards, author Shannon Hale has written over 40 books.

 

States in U.S. Try to Quash Democracy – Part I

A month after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “froze for 20 seconds in a press conference, the same “frozen” appearance, this one for 30 seconds occurred again while he took reporters’ questions at a forum. His possible neurological issues may come from ongoing problems after he suffered from polio as a child. After the last episode, Republicans started demanding his resignation, and he’s due to return to Washington in two weeks.

In many states, democracy is struggling.

Montana: The state Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen is lying about an investigation into litterboxes in schools and proof that they exist. There is no proof and no investigation. The claim of children behaving as “furries” comes from the transphobia sweeping red areas of the U.S.

Kansas: A judge has ordered authorities to destroy all electronic copies they made of the files for the Marion County Record after police raided its office this month with insufficient evidence to justify the seizure.

Georgia: A federal judge ruled Rudy Giuliani, a former personal lawyer for Deposed Donald Trump (DDT), liable for defaming two election workers in the state after he falsely accused them of tampering with the 2020 election results. It was a default judgement “as a straight-up sanction” for his failure to provide documentation ordered by the judge. Giuliani will go to trial in D.C. federal court for monetary damages, but a judge already ordered him to pay approximately $132,000 for refusing to hand over the information. Giuliani agreed not to contest his making false and defamatory claims about the two women but maintained his comments were protected by the constitution and didn’t cause damage.

About election fraud, Giuliani had claimed in texts that his statements didn’t need “to be proven, but does need to be easy to understand” and highlighted the video in which he falsely described the women removing “suitcases” of ballots. DDT referenced the video in his demands with Georgia’s Secretary of State to “find 11,780 votes.”

Giuliani is reportedly selling his condo on Manhattan’s Upper East Side for $6.5 million to pay his bills. His phone bill alone is $57,000, and the voting machines company Smartmatic is suing Giuliani for defamation. He purchased the apartment for $4.77 million about two decades ago.

Ohio: Republicans failed to keep a pro-choice citizens’ measure on the election and failed to push through a law requiring 60 percent to pass the measure. So they’re trying another tactic: lying on the amendment’s summary for voters. A lawsuit states that “the prescribed ballot language—drafted and introduced by respondent Secretary of State Frank LaRose and approved by the Ohio Ballot Board in a 3-to-2 vote—fails to comport with the Ballot Board’s duty to provide ballot language that impartially, accurately, and completely describes the amendment’s effects. Instead, it is a naked attempt to prejudice voters against the amendment.”

The summary falsely states that the amendment would restrict “the citizens of the state of Ohio”—rather than the state—from interfering with Ohioans’ exercise of their right to make reproductive decisions. Instead of the “clear, simple 194-word text of the amendment itself on the ballot, … the Ballot Board refused, instead adopting a wholesale rewrite.” The “condensation” is longer than the adopted language. In addition, the new text replaces medically accurate terms such as “embryo” and “fetus” with the emotional “unborn child.” The lawsuit requests that the state either use the original language of the amendment or ask the board to reconvene “to prescribe lawful ballot language.”

Louisiana: Ranking #45 in health care and #46 in education, the state is paying $101 million to renovate the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge. The women’s basketball team’s head coach asked for funding for a private foundation.

Tennessee: GOP legislators thought they fixed their problems by expelling two Black members of the state House for protesting unlimited gun ownership in the state after the March murders of children and staff at a Nashville private Christian school. Foiled by that expulsion when both legislators were reelected in special elections, they passed a ruling against any signs of protest by observers. A judge overturned that law so they moved to pass a new rule allowing Republicans to block any legislators who addressed a different topic from the debate from speaking on floor.

On the first day of the new law, one of the Black formerly expelled lawmakers, Justin Jones, was prevented from speaking during the remainder of the special session. Republicans denied Jones’ topic addressed the issue. The question is whether there will be another ruling against legislative rules. [Note: a large majority of Tennessee voters support stronger gun restrictions.]

The special session ended with a shoving match between Justin Pearson, one other expelled Black legislators, and Cameron Sexton, the House Speaker, after Republicans forced an adjournment before Pearson could call for a vote of no confidence in Sexton. The Speaker claimed that his security detail had pushed him into Pearson in the chaos of departure.

Florida: The first of DDT’s dozen opponents for the White House seems to be leaving the race: Miami Mayor Francis Suarez announced he is suspending his bid after failing to gain momentum during his 76-day campaign. Using rewards for donors, he had met that RNC requirement but missed on the polling.

With multiple crises in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis canceled some of his presidential campaigning to return to the state. Fox host of Outnumbered, Emily Compagno, praised him for “suspending” his campaign to take care of his own state as a “servant.” Unfortunately, DeSantis was booed at a vigil for the three Blacks deliberately shot and killed by a white man at a Dollar Store in Jacksonville (FL) because of their skin color. Many of those who attended the vigil were angry because of DeSantis’ refusal to recognize racism and blocked schools from any Black history except his personal revisionist one.

People hold DeSantis personally responsible for the open racist attitudes in the state because of his policies and rhetoric specially targeting Blacks. Residents complain about his next-to-obsessive efforts to eliminate diversity and inclusion efforts in the public schools, doing away with gender studies, defunding DEI activities, and implying that Blacks benefit from slavery. He also removed many gun restrictions, including permitless concealed weapon carry. When DeSantis and other Republicans rejected the AP African History class, they ignored reviewers who objected to the state’s curriculum sanitizing slavery and the Blacks’ plight throughout history. A GOP objection to the course was the “viewpoint of an oppressor vs. oppressed” in slavery based on race or ethnicity.

Idalia, a Hurricane Category 3, started sweeping over Florida yesterday, turning into a tropical storm when it hit land. Even so, it caused a 100-year-old oak tree to fall on the governor’s mansion in Tallahassee while DeSantis’ wife and three children were in residence. The anti-Biden DeSantis, went begging to the president for an “emergency declaration.” Biden backdated the declaration to August 27 when DeSantis requested it and said he was giving the governor “full support

Before Idalia hit land, NOAA had to ground its third and only remaining data-collecting “hurricane hunter” plane because of a generator failure. The other two planes are undergoing repairs. In 2022, NOAA had asked for four C-130 planes to replace two P-3s in service and another that was decommissioned in 2018. The fourth one was to “meet the expanding airborne data requirements and objectives.” The planes are deployed only over water, not over land. An Air Force flight collected some data when the hurricane hunter failed.

Because of Republicans’ refusal to pass funding, FEMA is running short of money after the dozens of storms and wildfires thus far in 2023, 65 thus far with nine in the past week. The number is more than any full year from 1953 to 1995. This shortage will compound problems for rebuilding Florida after DeSantis collected millions from insurance companies who were allowed to restrict payments for damage in the state. In addition, the poor building regulations resulting in damage has led to major insurance companies pulling out of the state. Biden asked Congress for $12 billion for replenish the disaster fund and said that if the government is unable to provide enough disaster aid during the current hurricane season that “I’m going to point out why.”

In another “hurricane,” DDT attacked Disney and fired an elected state attorney in nearby Orlando. According to the Daily Beast, DeSantis helped a Osceola County sheriff by getting rid of Monique Worrell who was ready to “crack down on a wide-ranging cover-up by deputies who, she says, were faking documents to hide lethal and abusive behavior.” The job of the governor’s close associate Larry Keefe, who got his job through Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), is to coordinate the illegal removal of local prosecutors to embarrass Democrats. To replace Worrell, DeSantis appointed a circuit judge DeSantis put into office before putting him in the charge of the Ninth Judicial District State Attorney’s Office.

For the second time, DeSantis’ “don’t say gay” law throughout K-12 grades in public schools survived in court—with a DDT-appointed judge. Wendy Berger said that verbal abuse of LGBTQ+ students is no problem because bullying is “a fact of life.”  

More state news, hopefully tomorrow, with a big chunk on Texas, the biggest and perhaps most bigoted undemocratic state in the lower 48.

DDT’s Miserable Monday

Disasters for Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) on Monday:

DDT’s case in Washington, D.C. about his attempt to overturn the election: Judge Tanya Chutkan has scheduled DDT’s trial for March 4, 2024, 25 months earlier than he wanted and the day before Super Tuesday primary elections electing about one-third of voting nominating delegates for the parties. The judge pointed out that the trial would be starting three years, one month, and 26 days after the crime. New York’s state trial against DDT regarding business fraud is scheduled to begin three weeks later on March 25.

John Lauro, DDT’s attorney, became so furious at the hearing that the judge told him to “take the temperature down.” He adamantly refused any compromise for the judge’s date, demanding it be in April 2026, and called the judge’s date a “show trial.” Lauro is already setting the scenario for an appeal by accusing Chutkan of violating DDT’s constitutional rights. The attorney also compared Chutkan’s trial date to Powell v. Alabama (1931), the Scottsboro Boys case, when the conviction of nine Black youths for raping two white women was overturned because they lacked reasonable time to prepare their defense. Lauro seems determined to alienate Chutkan with his bullying.

DDT’s arraignment in Atlanta (GA) for his 13 RICO charges: The arraignments for 19 co-defendants is set for September 6 at 9:30 am. In her 98-page indictment, DA Fani Willis alleged that DDT sat atop a “criminal enterprise” that included his chief of staff and several of his attorneys.

DDT has said that he does better with getting supporters for every indictment, but a new Politico/Ipsos poll reveals that 61 percent of adults want the federal trial to take place before the 2024 election.  That includes 63 percent of nonaffiliated, voters that DDT counts on for a majority in the general election. Even 59 percent want the trial before the primaries. Almost one-third of respondents are less likely to support DDT in case of a conviction, and only 13 percent report a conviction would make them more likely to support him.

About half the country thinks that DDT is guilty of the indictment charges, and half the respondents thinks he should go to prison if he is found guilty in the January 6 insurrection case. The remainder want alternatives for a conviction: only probabion (16 percent); a financial penalty (12 percent), or no penalty (18 percent). Over 60 percent believe they understand the charges either very well or somewhat well.

Results show that respondents found his conduct in the January 6 trial to be more serious than in the other ones. No defense has been released although DDT said he would release a report to prove his innocence in a press conference. The details of the poll are here.

A recent ABC News/Ipsos poll shows that DDT failed to get the indictment bounce he expected after the RICO charges in Georgia. The 20 percent of Republicans who said DDT should suspend his campaign after the third indictment stayed for the fourth one. He still has a 55-percent unfavorability rating, also unchanged from earlier polls. His only advantage is that he remains far ahead of his dozen opponents.

Between trials and campaigning, DDT has a busy spring in 2024 and it’s bound to get busier.

John Eastman’s case in California about having his license revoked: DDT claims he followed Eastman’s advice in trying to overturn the 2020 election, and the California bar proceedings destroyed Eastman’s advice after Joe Biden was elected president. Eastman—facing criminal prosecution in Georgia, identified as an unindicted co-conspirator in special counsel Jack Smith’s federal case, and defending the possibility of a revoked law license in California—argued that he was acting in good faith.

The law expert selected by the California proceedings, Matthew Seligman, found Eastman’s positions to be so devoid of support that “no reasonable attorney exercising appropriate diligence in the circumstances would adopt them.” Seligman concluded that “Dr. Eastman’s decision to advance those unfounded legal positions as part of an attempt to reverse the lawful result of a presidential election violates fundamental precepts of American democracy.” A determination of engagement in a bad-faith scheme in DDT’s trials would remove lawyer-client privilege protection, allowing all their conversations admissible in court. It also removes legitimacy for all DDT’s claims of immunity. Earlier, U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter found it “more likely than not” that Eastman and DDT had engaged in criminal activity.

Findings for Eastman can also affect another Georgia defendant, Kenneth Chesebro, who uses many Eastman’s excuses. His trial is set for October 23.

Mark Meadows’ hearing to move his RICO indictment from Fulton County to federal court: DDT’s former chief of staff testified for almost five hours, repeating his claim of complete immunity because everything he did in the White House was in the scope of his job. Meadows asserted that “I have no bounds” as chief of staff.. He claimed that almost everything the president does has a political responsibility, but the DA’s office disagreed, citing a federal law prohibiting “employees of the executive branch from engaging in political in the course of their work.” Prosecutors added that, as a federal employee, Meadows couldn’t use his position “for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election.”

Anna Greene Cross, a lawyer for the DA’s office, asked him what federal goal he furthered in the meetings and calls to challenge Georgia’s election results. Meadows said that he was ensuring free and fair U.S. elections—to find more votes after several audits, and state claims of accuracy in the vote count. He couldn’t even say that advancing a campaign interests would be outside his responsibilities.

Testifying against Meadows, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said it was “inappropriate” for Meadows to contact him about finding more votes. An awkward revelation for Meadows comes from the lawyers’ briefs which states that all the allegations against him in the indictment “concern unquestionably political activity.”

The judge said if he hadn’t ruled by September 6 that Meadows would have to appear in Atlanta for his arraignment. 

Meadows didn’t need to testify; he could have just filed. His decision means that all his testimony can be used against him in another case, a big risk especially because he didn’t refute any charges in the indictment. He just said that part of his job was to try to overturn the election.

Although Meadows claims his position makes him immune, two conditions are necessary: federal law or the Constitution must authorize his conduct; and he must have done no “more than what was necessary and proper” for his federal duty. Eastman’s case in California has shown that Meadows likely did not meet these two qualifications.

Contempt of Congress hearing against Peter Navarro: DDT picked the anti-China Navarro after Donald Trump Jr. found him on amazon.com. On Monday, Navarro asked for exoneration when he testified to a federal judge that he refused to comply with a subpoena because DDT “directed” him to defy the House January 6 investigative committee. His trial is set for September 5, and his lawyer is Stanley Woodward, an attorney whose fees have been paid by DDT’s PAC. After the 2020 election, Navarro pushed discredited claims of election fraud.

Navarro has no documents to support his report on conversations with DDT about his promising that Navarro has executive privilege and other immunities from prosecution. The adviser also published reports making discredited allegations of widespread election fraud in 2020, one of which DDT used in a December 19, 2020 tweet urging supporters to come to Washington, D.C. for his “stop the steal” rally. During the hearing, the judge asked Woodward why he didn’t have any language from the former president invoking privilege and said, “I still don’t know what the president said.” Woodward responded, “It doesn’t matter,” but the judge disagreed.

To defend Navarro, Woodward presented grand jury testimony from Justin Clark, deputy campaign manager for DDT’s 2020 campaign and adviser for DDT after he left the White House to be admitted as evidence for Navarro’s upcoming trial. According to Woodward, Clark testified that Navarro didn’t need a written invocation of executive privilege because he had his own direct line of communication to DDT. Navarro also testified about a conversation with DDT at Mar-a-Lago in April 2022 after House members decided to hold Navarro in contempt. At that time, DDT had supposedly said he might not block Navarro from testifying. The judge called Navarro’s testimony about the conversation “pretty weak sauce.” Woodward tried to convince the judge that the invocation of privilege came from DDT’s intent, not specific language. The judge said he would give his ruling at a pre-trial conference on Wednesday. Conviction could put Navarro in prison for up to two years.

And that was just Monday.

Indictments Keep DDT Busy

Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) continues to stay busy. Last week was his 22-minute booking at the Atlanta (GA) jail for his fourth indictment, a 75-minute interview with Tucker Carlson shown in opposition to the first GOP presidential debate, and rants on Truth Social about his unfair life. He probably has some briefing about upcoming hearings although one of his lawyers said he didn’t need to do any prep for court proceedings because of his “intelligence. Crimes covered in the 91 charges for the four indictments include obstruction of justice, racketeering conspiracy, and falsifying business records. DDT’s biggest crisis, however, is that he can’t attend the seniors championship at his Aberdeen, Scotland, golf course but must stay in the U.S. to “fight off the Crazed Radical Left Lunatics, Communists, Marxists, and Fascists.” A summary of last week and projections for the coming week.

Next week’s tentative schedule:

August 28 – Hearing for former chief of staff Mark Meadows’ motion to move his case to federal court: In Fulton County (GA), DA Fani Willis will present details of the RICO case against Meadows, DDT, and 17 co-defendants. Meadows want the charges dismissed because of his federal immunity; he claims his actions to disrupt the Georgia state election were on behalf of the federal government and tied to his position. The court also needs to schedule arraignments of the 19 co-defendants and determine whether they are required to appear in person in Atlanta or appear virtually.

Ken Chesebro, one of DDT’s 18 co-defendants in the racketeering case, is asking for a trial within 70 days. The game for an early trial request is to catch prosecutors unprepared, but Willis immediately proposed the requested October 23^rd trial date for all defendants. A judge accepted the date but only for Chesebro, leaving the question of whether the cases will be separated. Chesebro helped create the fake elector scheme and played a large part in it. Georgia gives defendants the right to a trial starting within two weeks after indictment. DDT has requested his trial be severed from those who want an earlier trial.   

One co-defendant is in jail; Harrison Floyd was denied bond until a hearing. He is accused of intimidating Georgia election worker Ruby Freeman and assaulting federal officers attempting to serve him with a subpoena for his part in the January 6 insurrection. Bond amounts for the other co-defendants.

August 28 – Hearing on the trial date for Jack Smith’s obstruction indictment in Washington, D.C.: Prosecutors want the trial to begin on January 2, 2024, four days before the anniversary of the insurrection and putting the verdict in the midst of 2020 presidential primary season. DDT wants the trial to be put off until after April 2026. Judge Tanya Chutkan may set up dates for pretrial proceedings and trial.

Another issue in the case is an alleged conflict of interest in DDT’s paying Stanley Woodward, the attorney for his personal assistant, Walt Nauta, charged with obstructing federal efforts to recover classified documents from Mar-a-Lago by deleting surveillance tapes. Smith has addressed the problem in the Florida federal court of DDT’s pet judge Aileen Cannon. She earlier scheduled a hearing to discuss handling classified evidence in the case but postponed it with no rescheduling date.

DDT’s technology worker Yuscil Taveras admitted he lied to a grand jury about the deletion of this security footage, causing additional charges against DDT and Nauta as well as the indictment of Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira. Taveras dropped DDT-paid Woodward as his attorney and asked for a federal defender. The government is separately investigating DDT’s PAC, Save America, about the payment of lawyers. Since January, the PAC has paid over $21 million in legal fees for DDT and several witnesses in the case.

Two major topics surrounding DDT’s indictments and upcoming court proceedings focus on continued loyalty of his co-defendants and possibility of DDT’s removal from state ballots.

Meadows is one of eight co-defendants have already filed for their cases to be delayed, moved, or expedited. Success on their part or flipping by making a deal would be advantageous to Willis who likely doesn’t want to try 19 defendants. Meadows request to move his case to a federal court was followed by Jeffrey Clark, Shawn Still, Cathy Latham, and David Shafer who made the same request. In their motions, Meadows, Latham, Still, and Shafer stated their part in overturning election results came from DDT’s direction, hurting DDT’s defense.

Still, a GOP state senator and fake elector, may be suspended from the Senate. The state constitution requires Gov. Brian Kemp to convene a three-person panel to determine whether Still’s indictment both “relates to and adversely affects the administration” of his office and “that the rights and interests of the public are adversely affected thereby.” If Still survives that, he must decide if he will seek reelection next year.  

In Florida, the first state where DDT’s eligibility for presidential candidate has been challenged, a tax attorney in Palm Beach County filed the dispute in federal court, citing his having been “engaged in insurrection and also gave aid and comfort to other individuals who were engaging in such actions.” The lawyer said he became convinced by an analysis by a former 4th Circuit Appeals Court Judge J. Michael Luttig and Harvard legal scholar Laurence Tribe.

In New Hampshire, the Secretary of State plans to obtain legal advice about DDT’s eligibility after receiving letters asking him to block him from the ballot. The state’s primary is only five months away. The 2020 GOP nominee for the first congressional district said he is considering a lawsuit to ensure the Secretary enforce the constitution against DDT.

 Joshua Zeitz has an historical overview of the 14^th Amendment’s view about the problem of DDT’s eligibility. If DDT’s name disappears from state primary ballots, he may immediately lose electoral votes before the general election.

Republicans have complained about DDT’s “two-tiered justice,” and they’re right. To be booked, he flew into Atlanta on his private jet, drove through deserted streets with a long motorcade, spent 22 minutes at the jail where he had his mug shot taken after practicing his expression, drove back to the airport, and flew home on his private jet. DDT also got to list a flattering physical description, increasing his height by an inch and dropping his weight by ten per cent since his self-identified reporting at the Manhattan booking. In April, he said he was 6’2” and 240 pounds. No one else gets this royal treatment.

For those who enjoy trivia, Amy Gardner sites the misconceptions of not only DDT’s statistics but also those of other defendants. As she lambasts the mistakes, however, she also refers to DDT as “the president.” That’s Joe Biden, not DDT—unless she’s buying into the lie of a “stolen” election and even then she’s wrong.

Only DDT would spend time planning his expression on a mug shot. He hoped to look “defiant” but instead appeared sinister. Or, as DDT’s former security adviser John Bolton said, “thug.” Thug shot?

DDT may claim that over 240 million people watched his interview with Tucker Carlson on X, but the definition of “view” is at least two seconds. One person scrolling by a dozen times gives 12 “views.” In addition, the interview had under 800,000 “likes, perhaps closer to the number of “watchers.” This counterprogramming is unlikely to have affected viewership of the first GOP presidential debate with an estimated 12.8 million people watching—far below Fox’s inflated initial 50 million. The watchers were half those of DDT’s first presidential debate in 2015.

DDT has created such a cult that his followers view him as more reliable for “truth” than friends, families, and faith leaders. In one poll, 61 percent of GOP voters who prioritize “honest and trustworthy” candidates picked DDT, a huge liar. DeSantis was second with 17 percent. About sources for “truth”:

• 71 percent – DDT
• 63 percent – friends and families
• 56 percent – conservative media figures
• 42 percent – religious leaders

Another oddity in the polling: 29 percent of DDT voters think he lies to them—and they still support him. According to pollster Tresa Undem:

“Victimhood is embedded in every part of Trump’s campaign, personality, communications, and strategy. The only thing that shifts is the topic and the object of blame.

Undem has these findings about Republicans:  over four-fifths agree that discrimination against whites is now as big a problem as bias against minorities; three-fourths describe discrimination against Christians as a significant U.S. problem; about seven-in-ten state that society now punishes men just for acting like men; and about two-thirds call white men as the group most discriminated against in the modern US. Half of Republicans in her polling agree with all four of those assertions, seven-in-ten agreed with at least three of them. Only one-in-20 Republicans rejected all of those ideas. According to Undem, Republicans agreeing with those statements are much more likely than others in the GOP to hold strongly favorable opinions of DDT and believe he stands up for “people like me.”

DDT is so cheap he won’t even pay an annual $300 for a permit granting the clock with his name in front of Trump Tower. A dozen years ago, the Trump Organization illegally placed a 16-foot clock on Fifth Avenue with no permission. In 2015, the city ordered the clock removed, and DDT moved to the White House before the situation was settled. The city is again demanding a permit.

Republicans’ Lies

GOP Presidential Candidates’ Lies

The GOP presidential candidate debate on August 23 was rife with lies, but a really big one was Ron DeSantis’ attempt to justify his new law of no abortions after six weeks—although women might not even know they are pregnant by that time. DeSantis said:

“I know a lady in Florida named Penny. She survived multiple abortion attempts. She was left discarded in a pan. Fortunately, her grandmother saved her and brought her to another hospital.”

The Miami Herald tracked down “Penny” and discovered this:

“Penny is real and her last name is Hopper. But DeSantis failed to note key details from her remarkable story: The person who tried to end Penny’s life in the womb was not a doctor or even an illegal abortion provider—it was her father. And his effort to abort his daughter with a coat hanger took place almost two decades before the Supreme Court’s seismic Roe v. Wade decision, which established a woman’s right to an abortion.”

A family member of Hopper stated:

“She doesn’t want to be used as a political pawn…. Hopper prefers to work quietly behind the scenes to help those she sees as victims of botched abortions.”

Hopper said that her mother went to a clinic in 1955 at 23 weeks of pregnancy from bleeding and other complications. The doctor induced labor and told a nurse to discard the baby—“dead or alive” because he couldn’t hear a heartbeat. Hopper weighed one pound 11 ounces at birth. Her grandmother and aunt found her “in a bedpan on the back porch of the clinic,” and her grandmother called the police. Her mother, taken to a hospital, survived several bouts of pneumonia.

In a 2013 interview, Hopper said that her father, raised during the Great Depression, didn’t want another child, and she suspected a botched abortion. Hopper’s story has varied. Another time she has said she was placed in a basket, not a bedpan.

DeSantis has told his story at campaign events in an attempt to be personal. On August 23, he added that he had met Hopper but his campaign didn’t provide details about the meeting. DeSantis’ story seems to support legal abortion to protect women from the brutality of illegal procedures.

Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy told so many lies on August 23 that an article devoted to him politely calling them “unorthodox positions.”  

“The reality is more people are dying of bad climate change policies than they are of actual climate change.” Extreme weather events, heightened by climate change, caused almost 12,000 disasters and two million deaths between 1970 and 2021. In the U.S., extreme heat causes about 600 annual deaths, one-third of them from climate change.

The focus on protecting water rights “led to a five- to six-hour delay in the critical window of getting waters to put out those fires [and] very well could have avoided those catastrophic deaths, many of them, if water had made it to the site of the fires on time.” There is no evidence to Ramaswamy’s assertion, and the tie between Hawaii’s Commission on Water Resource Management deputy director and President Obama was highly overstated. He wasn’t an “Obama appointee.” Last year, Ramaswamy ridiculed the deputy director for saying native Hawaiians consider water something to “revere” and something that “gives us life.”

“[At the January 6 insurrection] what percentage of the people who were armed were federal law-enforcement officers? I think it was probably high, actually. Right? There’s very little evidence of people being arrested for being armed that day. Most of the people who were armed, I assume the federal officers who were out there were armed.” This statement has been judged false. Of 1,100 total defendants entering restricted areas that day, 104 were charged with a dangerous or deadly weapon, and at least 13 fact gun charges.

Ramaswamy called Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) “the best president of the 21^st century,” opposite to his 2022 book Nation of Victims in which he wrote that despite voting for DDT in 2020, “what he delivered in the end was another tale of grievance, a persecution complex that swallowed much of the Republican Party whole.”

President Joe Biden ordered AG Merrick Garland and special counsel Jack Smith to indict DDT. There is no evidence for this assertion.

More of Ramaswamy’s falsehoods are here.

House GOP Members Taking Credit for Laws They Oppose

Six months ago at his State of the Union address, Biden predicted that Republicans voting against the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act would claim credit with their constituents for the funding. Biden’s latest example is House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) who went to a Syracuse (NY) factory stumping for Rep. Brandon Williams (R-NY). In Syracuse.com, Glenn Coin covered McCarthy’s with this headline: “House Speaker McCarthy tours Syracuse factory benefiting from legislation he voted against” and a report on information about “Buy America” provision of the infrastructure law benefitting JMA Wireless. Coin wrote that “McCarthy also opposed the CHIPS and Science Act, which Micron Technology said is essential to its plan to invest up to $100 billion in a semiconductor plant in the town of Clay.”

McCarthy tried to avoid the criticism:

“I don’t want government controlling and picking the winners and losers. I actually like the private sector, exactly what JMA is doing. It’s their investment of $50 million that created something, and now government can be a partner.”

McCarthy voted against the law building ways for the government to “be a partner” in boosting U.S. manufacturing, including at the plant he visited.

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called the GOP approach “vote no and take the dough”:

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL): praised investments in broadband technology in the state, where he was elected although he is a Florida resident, although he voted against the funding.

Sens. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Tom Cotton (R-AR), and John Boozman (R-AR): praised federal money coming to their states.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX): touted a Tesla factory in his state using IRA’s clean energy tax credits to expand U.S. manufacturing after lamenting the Inflation Reduction Act offering “handouts for rich folks who want to buy electric vehicles.”

Rep. Rob Wittman (R-VA): called the IRA irresponsible and the “Green New Deal in disguise” but took credit for a $70 million expansion of Norfolk’s Port of Virginia.

Rep. Gary Palmer (R-AL): celebrated hundreds of millions in funding for a stalled highway project in Birmingham.

Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX): condemned the IRA as a “so-called infrastructure bill” but bragged about getting new funding for a flood control project.

Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA): praised new “game-changing” funding to upgrade locks along the Upper Mississippi River.

Only 13 House Republicans and 19 Senate Republicans voted with Democrats for the funding bill, leaving hundreds of other Republicans to take credit for its successes.

Reasons for Tuberville’s Boycott of Military Promotions

Tuberville, whose single-senator boycott of all promotions for military officers has gone past 300, has come up with new excuses. Moving on from objecting to travel expenses for troops needing abortions; he uses the “woke” complaint—one officer “joined a ‘Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion panel,’” and another one “celebrated Ruth Bader Ginsburg.” He ranted about the military being “overloaded” with four-star generals and the Senate not following the U.S. Constitution since DDT left the White House.  “I’m trying to keep politics out of the military,” Tuberville claims.

Thomas Hartmann reported about a growing concern that Tuberville keeps military positions open for DDT or another MAGA president to appoint them after the 2024 election—as then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) blocked a Supreme Court nominee during President Obama’s second term. MAGA military could take over the country under presidential martial law orders as DDT proposed after losing the 2020 election.

Tuberville’s boycott leaves three of eight chiefs of staff positions empty with another vacancy when Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley retires in September. Secretary of the Defense Department Lloyd Austin called empty leadership for the Navy, Army, and Marine Corps “unprecedented.” Tuberville’s recalcitrance could impact over 650 military nominations by the end of the year and affect 3,000 to 4,000 lives.  

Claiming that he has wide support, Tuberville said that he might reverse his hold if the public wanted him to drop it, until they do. Public Policy Polling found that 58 percent of Alabamans think the senator “has made his point” and should drop the hold. Only 29 percent approve of his position. Fifty-five percent think that unfilled senior positions hurt national security, and a huge majority, 72 percent to 14 percent believe military promotions should not be politicized. Tuberville’s radical tactics led 45 percent of Alabamans to view the coach-turned-politician less favorably.

Tuberville’s military experience is coaching the losing team in the 2014 Military Bowl. Trying to burnish his military cred, he lied about his father’s record during World War II.    No military supports his statement that his holds are inconsequential and he isn’t “holding up readiness.” Retired two-star Marine Gen. Arnold Punaro compared the need for leaders to perform two different jobs at the same time as “asking the Auburn quarterback to play offensive tackle and quarterback at the same time.”

Tuberville displayed his ignorance by identifying the three branches of government as the House, the Senate, and the executive branch, skipping the judicial branch and not specifying the legislative branch. Ignoring science, Tuberville joked that the the “scientific” term for the 2023 long-lasting heat wave is “summer.” Yet the Arizona heat is so severe that saguaro cactuses are dying. And the heat wave continues into September.

A Few Updates, Other Non-Presidential Candidate News

Update about Kansas Newspaper: Much to the probable dismay of law officials raiding the Marion County Record, a small newspaper in rural Kansas, with what may have been an illegal warrant, the newspaper’s lawyer alleges that the sheriff’s office involved in the August 11 raid secretly copied data from one of the computers without handing it back with other seized evidence. The Marion County sheriff’s office “confirmed the fact they copied 17 Gigs of data from the newsroom computer system—and they still have it.” The lawyer plans to ask a judge to hold the sheriff in contempt of court with no resolution by Thursday. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the lead investigating agency, brought the issue to the “attention of the Marion County Record’s attorney last week.” The Marion County police department carried out the raid, but the sheriff’s office was the custodian of seized items. The USB used to store the seized data in the sheriff’s office is being used in other investigations, and authorities retention of illegal access to the newspaper’s data “is both constitutionally-protected and protected by federal and state law.” The newspaper’s lawyer said he tried to report the issue to the county counselor, but his calls are not returned.

A classic about the popular kid in the lineup of GOP presidential candidates: Not only is Vivek Ramaswamy not a registered Republican but he also didn’t vote in Ohio’s 2022 and 2023 primary elections. In Franklin County, he’s registered as “unaffiliated,” and he described himself as a “libertarian freestyler” in college, not that long ago. He did vote in Ohio’s August special election regarding a change in the state’s constitution to require 60 percent majority for approval of citizens’ measures. Ramaswamy excused himself for being a nonvoter by telling Sean Hannity that he was “a jaded person in my twenties.” But what about his 30s? 

More about the First GOP Debate: The debate started about a question regarding Oliver Anthony’s song “Rich Men North of Richmond,” and Anthony laid into the use of his lyrics. Martha MacCaullum said it spoke “of alienation … with the state of government,” but Anthony said it’s “definitely” about the people on the debate stage. He wants distance from the “aggravating” GOP embrace, “seeing people wrap politics up into this…, seeing people on conservative news try to identify with me like I’m one of them.”

Liars at the debate, according to Glenn Kessler: Sen. Tim Scott (SC), former VP Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. Ramaswamy managed Four Pinocchios. Information here. What a lineup! 

News outside the Debate and the Indictment:

Two Black Tennessee legislators were expelled from the state House last spring because they supported protesters on the floor objecting to the GOP refusal to consider protecting youth from school shootings. They were reelected in special elections soon after. The protesters returned last week to silently hold up signs during a subcommittee hearing asking for gun safety laws. One sign stated, “1 kid > all the guns.” The protesters were removed from the meeting with a new GOP rule prohibiting any signs during official proceedings. Guns are legal during legislative actions; signs are not.

A judge temporarily blocked the new rule. As one of the sign-holders stated that her First Amendment rights were violated:

“When we’ve come to a point where you can’t hold up a sign? That’s not OK. That’s not democracy,”

Guns killed a record number of children in 2021, 4,752 children, almost 42 percent more than in 2018. Nearly two-thirds of the deaths in 2021 were homicides. Starting in 2020, firearms killed more children adolescents than car accidents, formerly the leading cause of deaths for that age.

Charlie Gerow, vice chair of the Conservative Political Action Coalition for almost two decades, resigned and is calling for investigations into Chair Matt Schlapp, after he was sued for sexual assault by a former Herschel Walker Senate campaign staffer. In May, the group’s treasurer resigned from concerns about CPAC’s financial reports, and other leaders also left.

In Escambia County (FL), a federal judge ordered that a lawsuit regarding book bans be temporarily stayed while the court considers whether to dismiss the action. County lawyers assert that school boards have full authority over “the content of all instructional materials and any other materials used in a classroom, made available in a school or classroom library, or included on a reading list.” The lawsuit claims that school administrators and board violate the First Amendment and the 14^th Amendment because books removed are “disproportionately books by non-white and/or LGBTQ+ authors” and often address “themes or topics” related to race or LGBTQ+ community. The suit seeks to have the district’s actions declared unconstitutional and to have the banned books returned to library shelves.

The original complaint described how one language arts teacher at a high school initiated “a widespread—and largely successful—campaign to restrict access to books” throughout the Escambia County School District. Allegedly, 197 books were targeted for removal; authors of 42 percent of the books are nonwhite and/or identify as LGBTQ, while approximately 59% address themes relating to race or LGBTQ identity.” An amended brief states, “the restrictions and removals that commenced prior to July 1, 2023 are constitutionally impermissible.”

In Montgomery County Public Schools (MD), parents can’t pull their children out of classes with books about LGBTQ+ characters, according to a federal judge. Parents complain that these books, such as one about a dog that goes to a Pride parade, is “sex education.” The district stated it “remains committed to cultivating an inclusive and welcoming learning environment and creating opportunities where all students see themselves and their families in curriculum materials.”

In Texas, a state district court judge temporarily blocked the law banning transgender youth from accessing puberty blockers and hormone therapy. She acknowledged “parents’ rights” for their children’s medical care, enshrined in the state constitution. The law discriminates against transgender youth and their parents by singling them out in prohibiting healthcare access. It was a brief victory; the state AG office has appealed the decision, putting the law into effect on September 1. The trial for the case isn’t until May 6, 2024. Thus far, similar laws have been blocked in Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, and Tennessee although Kentucky’s and Tennessee’s injunctions against the laws were lifted.

In a return to voting rights, the California Supreme Court ruled that a state appeals court erred in a decision against Latino voters in Santa Monica by removing districts for the city council and making selection of members city wide. The case was returned to the appeals court for review because the at-large system violated voter rights.

The DOJ is suing SpaceX, accusing Elon Musk’s rocket company of practicing “routine, widespread, and longstanding” hiring discrimination against people with asylum or refugee status, a violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act. A video posted to YouTube shows Musk saying that a typical work visa was insufficient for employment at SpaceX, and a social media post states that job applicants must be permanent U.S. residents to be considered for hiring. Musk used an unspecified U.S. law regulating advanced weapons technology. In 2021, a SpaceX recruiter told an applicant with “impressive experience” that the person could not be hired because of asylum status. Although hiring no refugee migrants for four years, the company hired an asylee in late 2020.

Elon Musk can kill his SpaceX workers with impunity, thanks to a new law that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed. The Spaceflight Entity Liability Bill covers private space companies which also includes Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin—no legal responsibility for workers’ injuries or deaths “resulting from spaceflight activities.” Musk’s SpaceX lobbyist came to every committee meeting related to the new law, sometimes speaking to members during the meetings. SpaceX has spent $8 million for lobbying since 2020 and donated another $1 million to members of both parties in 2022; Blue Origin spent $6.3 million in lobbying during the time with over a half million dollars donated to candidates in 2022.

Fossil fuel companies are trying to dismiss a climate accountability lawsuit in Hawaii after deadly fires in Maui. In 2020, officials from the city and council of Honolulu sued eight large companies that allegedly knew for decades about climate dangers of burning coal, oil, and gas while actively hid that information from consumers and investors. Dozens of cases have been filed against fossil fuel companies by states and municipalities over climate deception since 2017, clarifying documentation of the companies spreading doubt about climate science. Climate-related disasters come not only from fires but also flooding, sea level rise, heatwaves, and drought which cost Honolulu billions and put residents and property at risk, according to the lawsuit. Defendants don’t argue against climate change being real or human-caused, but they still want the case dismissed. The court has already dismissed Chevron’s claim that the case violates its First Amendment rights.

Like Fani Willis in Georgia, Arizona prosecutors are “aggressively” investigating the fake electors from their state with indicted Rudy Giuliani as a focus as well as other top DDT associates, according to Rolling Stone’s journalists. Part of the state investigation concerns DDT’s level of personal involvement in” the “Arizona-focused pressure campaign” that was “part of a multi-state fake elector scheme, which along with other aspects of Trump’s crusade to overturn Joe Biden’s legitimate 2020 victory, has figured prominently into multiple federal and state-level criminal probes.”

August 23, 2023 – A Turbulent Day

August 23 was a day of violence: a plane was deliberately blown up, killing the leaders of the Russia’s Wagner mercenary fighters; Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) covertly called for a civil war to put him back into the White House; and second-in-line GOP presidential candidate to DDT, Ron DeSantis, declared he would commit an act of war against Mexico on “Day One.” DeSantis’ immediate follower Vivek Ramaswamy—or maybe ahead of the Florida governor—wants to give power to Russia. Candidates want to kill people by denying climate change and blocking abortions for health reasons. Only Haley said that laws about abortions should be cautious.

Plane Crash Kills Wagner Leader in Russia:

The plane that crashed 185 miles northwest of Moscow on its way to St. Petersburg has left questions. The manifest listed Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenaries, and Dmitry Utkin, a leading commander of the group. U.S. intelligence has ruled out a missile attack but determined it was an explosion, possibly by a bomb, another device, or adulterated fuel. The Baza outlet reported that one or two bombs may have been planted on board. Residents in a nearby village reported a “metallic bang” before the jet fell to the ground with no problems in the preceding 30 seconds. It is assumed that Prigozhin was one of seven passengers, but his death is not confirmed among the ten bodies including three crew members. Prigozhin had doubles, disguises, and fake passports found at his home in a raid after his uprising against Putin because Russia didn’t give the Wagner group ammunition and military gear for their fighting against Ukraine.

Much to the world’s surprise, Putin gave Prigozhin a slap on the wrist after Prigozhin marched against Moscow with his followers, merely sending him to exile in Belarus. Yet intelligence and military officials have predicted for weeks that Mr. Putin would retaliate, just waiting, like the old saying, “revenge is a dish best served cold.”     One Moscow businessman spoke for Russian elites about Prigozhin’s death:

“Anyone who displays disloyalty will be seen by the state as an enemy that needs to be liquidated. Everyone will believe that this was carried out on the orders of the czar. We may never know whether this is true or not. But it has frightened everyone.”

A Russian billionaire said that no one “wants to speak out against the war after this,” calling the risks “gigantic.”  In Bulwark, Russian-American journalistCathy Young gave an excellent overview of Prigozhin and his mercenaries.

Prigozhin is a Russian oligarch who began his career by selling hot dogs on the street before a close relationship with Putin. His second in command, Dmitry Utkin, is a former special forces officer and lieutenant colonel in the Russian military’s foreign intelligence agency, the GRU.

Indictment Processing in Fulton County (GA) RICO Case Continues:

In Atlanta (GA), the 19 defendants in Fulton County’s (GA) RICO indictments are rolling in for their processing—no arraignment—at the jail, complete with mug shots appearing on the internet, with noon on August 25 the deadline. Both former chief of staff Mark Meadows and AG wanna-be Jeffrey Clark failed in their attempt to squirm out of processing by whining that they had immunity. A federal judge declined their emergency requests. Clark had also failed when he said that all arrests for these 19 defendants not turning themselves in this week should be put on hold.

One defendant, Harrison William Floyd III, has already thrown DDT under the bus by claiming that DDT had urged him to harass an election worker. Earlier this year, Floyd had allegedly attacked an FBI agent investigating the DOJ probe to overturn the 2020 election results.

(Left: a possible presidential candidate in 2024)

 

DDT arrived in Atlanta shortly after 7:00 pm, TV prime time, and drove through the city in empty streets that had been cleared for his processing. Although processing for ordinary people can take several hours, DDT’s experience, in a usual two-tiered justice system, required 20 minutes. More two-tiered justice? DDT’s weight was listed at 175 pounds. His visit to Atlanta was under two hours. Again making news, he changed members of his legal team, firing the leader Drew Findling and hiring criminal defense attorney Steven Sadlow. More two-tiered justice? DDT’s weight was listed at a self-reported 215 pounds.

Twelve of the 19 defendants had surrendered by the evening of August 24.

Eight GOP Primary Presidential Candidates Meet for Debate:

On August 23, eight GOP presidential candidates for 2024—three-fourths of them current or former governors, one U.S. senator, and one businessman who never held political office—met in Milwaukee for the first debate of the primary season. A UK publication has the best headline: “Republican Candidates Fight among Themselves in the Extremism Olympics.” This overview of the candidates’ statements, highlighting the zings, is well worth reading as it describes a “firehose of lies, Trump pandering, and a competition as to who could be the most authoritarian.”

Author Ahmed Baba pointed out the debate’s “dark depiction of America,” that “America is in decline,” according to DeSantis. Candidates’ depiction of the economic disaster omitted “the fact inflation is easing, unemployment remains historically low, and job growth remains strong.” A bizarre statement from several candidates is that Democrats want abortion “up to the point of birth,” one of their standard lies. Under 1 percent of abortions occur after the 20-week time period, and these aren’t at “birth,” illegal because of laws against infanticide.

Also ridiculous was also DeSantis’ claim that he was “proud” to sign the abortion ban after six weeks, an unannounced signing at midnight. In some of the few statistics to back up candidates’ claims, Mike Pence said that 70 percent of people support his proposal of a federal law blocking abortions after 15 weeks. The highest percentage has been in the 40s, with only 20 percent who “strongly support” the law.

Several candidates criticized Democrats for being opposed to “law and order” and wanting to “defund” the police, but three-fourths of them said they would support a convicted felon for president. Only Chris Christie and Asa Hutchinson didn’t support that vote, and some of the candidates want to eliminate the FBI. The audience booed Christie when he said conviction is below the presidency.

Vivek Ramaswamy made his name by interrupting other candidates, talking over them, making himself a mini-DDT, and stealing sound bites such as Christie trying to become an MSNBC contributor which came from DeSantis PAC. Or using Barack Obama’s words from almost two decades by calling himself “a skinny guy with a funny last name.”

The debate had no vision, no vision, no stature, no energy except for the anger that candidates expressed toward each other. All of them except Haley and Ramaswamy tried to play it safe. It appeared to be an audition for several of them. Moderators lost control of both the audience and candidates as they yelled, interrupted, and refused to quit at the timing bell.

Only Haley had substance to her statements. About the national debt:    

“The truth is that Biden didn’t do this to us. Our Republicans did this to us when they passed that $2.2 trillion covid stimulus bill. Donald Trump added $8 trillion to our debt, and our kids are never going to forgive us for this.” 

About Ramaswamy’s foreign policy, providing no assistance for Ukraine, Haley said:

“You are choosing a murderer over a pro-American country.   

 “The problem that Vivek doesn’t understand is that he wants to hand Ukraine to Russia. He wants to let China eat Taiwan. He wants to go and stop funding Israel. You don’t do that to friends. What you do instead is you have the backs of your friends.”

“You have no foreign policy experience, and it shows,” she said to Ramaswamy. While wanting to defund Israel, he said he loved the country, that stole land from Palestine, for its “border policy.” Haley’s zings which brought loud applause but won’t get her elected in the primaries.

Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) was the most invisible person there. Some people didn’t even bother to consider him in the ratings. He stuck to safe topics about deaths from fentanyl, building the southern border wall for $15 billion and his intention to “break the backs of the teacher unions.” Drug deaths appeared among other candidates, but they didn’t mention that last year saw 244,000 Covid deaths while they opposed vaccines, masks, and other preventions.

Charlie Sykes was at his best with writing about “the Vivek and Nikki Show.”

The Washington Post reported that Republicans, “including those who watched the debate,” picked DeSantis and Ramaswamy for winners of the debate, followed by Haley. Debate-watchers picked DeSantis for their vote by 67 percent, over 61 percent for DDT and 46 percent for Ramaswamy, up from his pre-debate 40 percent. DDT was down five points. The media picked Haley and Pence as winners and Fox as one of the losers. Pence, however, claims that “consensus is the opposite of leadership,” negating democracy and the constitution. 

Despite the Fox debate audience reaction, the majority of voters oppose GOP policies: cutting Social Security and Medicare funding (86 percent); concealed gun carry without a permit (66 percent); mandate for Ukraine to give up its land (59 percent); restriction to abortion medication (59 percent); and deadly force against migrants at the southern border (55 percent). Even restriction to transgender medical care has only 39 percent approval.

 

Biden Visits Maui, GOP Heats Up

Wildfires razed parts of Maui on August 8 and 9, but President Joe Biden waited until August 21 to visit the devastated area. Republicans used his wait to slam Biden for his lack of compassion, and some of the media followed their message, preferring to follow an indicted blowhard who constantly blusters about his personal problems instead of covering the tireless, behind-the-scenes work to make people’s lives better. Pundits demand the excitement of braggadocio while making hay out of a photo to Biden on the beach during his annual vacation. Overlooked is the chaos that a Biden visit would have caused in the already shattered island, reeling from the deadliest fire in recent U.S. history.

After notice of a brush fire on the first day, Biden started monitoring events through frequent briefings. The next day he sent his “deepest condolences to the families of those who lost loved ones in the wildfires in Maui” sending them prayers from himself and his wife, Jill Biden. He added that he had ordered federal assets to the island, including the Navy’s 3^rd Fleet and the U.S. Coast Guard, and directed the Transportation Department to coordinate evacuation on commercial airlines. On August 10, he opened a speech in Salt Lake City about the PACT Act by reporting he had “approved a major disaster declaration” for aid to Hawaii. Biden also provided information about what he had already done and promised to make every possible “available to them.” He also signed a disaster declaration and ordered federal aid, including assistance for temporary housing, home repairs, property losses, debris removal, and hazard mitigation.

Within the next five days, Biden had deployed almost 1,000 federal personnel to Maui along with meals, water, cots, blankets, and shelter supplies. FEMA’s approval of $700 per household without housing provides funds for essential items such as medication. Affected businesses and non-profits could receive low-interest federal disaster loans, and the Agriculture Department and HHS provided SNAP (food stamp) and healthcare benefits. On the island, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cleared roads and worked on the electrical grid and removal of hazardous waste. The U.S. Forest Service coordinated with state officials to put out fire and stop outbreaks. The Department of Defense moved supplies.

During Biden’s meeting with Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida and South Korea president Yoon Suk Yeol at Camp David beginning on August 17, he targeted his announcements to that important summit while he continued to work behind the scenes. Pro-Russian people in the U.S. grabbed that shift to claim that Biden was ignoring the U.S. to help Ukraine. Elon Musk’s X, formerly Twitter, spread that myth to support Russia and China, as Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) wants. Congressional members from Hawaii, however, understand the work that Biden and the federal government has done. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) said:

“We in Hawaii have been through hurricanes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions—but we have never seen such a robust federal response. Thank you.” 

On Monday, when the Bidens visited, Maui County Council Chair Alice Lee said:

“The thousands of people who were in our emergency shelters are no longer there. I think there’s nine people left as of today. Thousands have been moved to transitional quarters like the hotels, who are taking very good care of the people, as well as individual homes and short-term rentals.

“So, I’m sure, as you’re talking to various people, you will hear stories of disappointment, of course, because they have lost a lot. You can’t blame them for being disappointed. But there are many success stories as well.”

Biden assured officials that the recovery effort would respect local traditions.

In an attempt to smear Biden, Fox network began the rumor, based on a low resolution video, that the president of fell asleep at the Maui fire memorial. A higher resolution video from C-SPAN shows Biden sitting at a table where he watches a speaker and coughs. He then looks downward for about ten seconds and then nods in agreement with the speaker.

White House spokesperson Andrew Bates wrote:

“It’s unfortunate they feel the need to lie. Instead, they should join him in supporting the people of Maui.”

The conservative media also blasted Biden for petting a dog, saying it “distracted” him. The dog is a cadaver dog with the job of searching for bodies.

David Ingram wrote that unchecked posts spreading on the country’s largest social media platforms—including Elon Musk’s X—use low-quality videos to publish misinformation that researchers call “cheap fakes misleading people with simple techniques.

Back on the U.S. mainland, almost half the people hit the third day of an unprecedented heat wave throughout the Midwest and the South, shattering records for both daytime and nighttime highs. Sixteen states from Minnesota to Louisiana face excessive heat warnings where heat indexes, the air temperature combined with relative humidity, goes as high as 120 degrees, even 130 degrees by Wednesday.

Defendants in the Fulton County (GA) RICO case are also heating up. Former chief of staff Mark Meadows asked for an intension to the August 25^th noon self-surrender for processing at the Atlanta jail; DA Fani Willis replied to Meadows’ attorney:

“Good Morning Mr. Moran, I am not granting any extensions. I gave 2 weeks for people to surrender themselves to the court. Your client is no different than any other criminal defendant in this jurisdiction. The two weeks was a tremendous courtesy. At 12:30 p.m. on Friday I shall file warrants in the system. My team has availability to meet to discuss reasonable consent bonds Wednesday and Thursday.”

The first of the 19 indicted defendants have started surrendering. Bail bondsman Scott Hall arrived on August 21, followed by DDT’s lawyer John Eastman. His disciplinary trial before California’s state bar was delayed by two days to allow for his trip to Atlanta and return to Los Angeles. The process reportedly takes several hours. DDT has repeatedly said he plans to appear on Thursday for his processing.

Meadows and Jeffrey Clark think they’re so special that their parts in the RICO case should be moved to federal court. Clark, shortly DDT’s acting director of the DOJ’s Civil Division, filed an “emergency” request to assert he has immunity from state prosecution and gave the judge a 5:00 pm deadline to rule on it.  When DDT considered making Clark acting AG in after the 2020 election, the goal being the election’s change to DDT’s favor, DOJ officials had threatened to resign en mass. According to the request, Clark explained he needed an immediate decision to avoid “the choice of making rushed travel arrangements to fly into Atlanta or instead risking being labeled a fugitive.” The legal world is amused by Clark’s demand for entitlement and delay of a week to make an appeal.

Another defendant, former Georgia GOP chair David Shafer, provided documents showing that DDT’s attorneys, his campaign, and the local GOP urged him to organize the fake electors in the midst of the RICO case. Shafer is charged with racketeering, “impersonating a public officer, forgery, false statements and writings, filing false documents, and violation of oath by a public officer.

If you lose government services in October, blame the House far-right “Freedom” Caucus. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) wants a short-term funding measure to avoid a shutdown, but ultraconservative Republicans say they won’t vote for one if he doesn’t satisfy their demands of right-wing immigration policies, further curtailment of federal law enforcement “weaponization, and blocks unidentified “cancerous woke policies” in the Pentagon. And no “blank check” for Ukraine. No matter what happens, the House will make McCarthy’s life miserable.  

In an effort to satisfy his far-right members, McCarthy told Larry Kudlow that the House could start impeaching Biden as soon as September—evidently forgetting that the House has only 12 days to pass 11 appropriations bill that the Senate will find acceptable. For a reason, he talked about Biden not giving him documents for evidence that prove Biden and his son Hunter accepted bribes form Ukrainian officials, proof that they haven’t been able to find for years.

McCarthy is complaining about the White House not providing documents that Republicans haven’t requested, but he has been vague about what documents he wants. The GOP is still pursuing an assertion about a bribe coming from an unverified tip to the FBI now denied by Burisma owner Mykola Zlochevsky. McCarthy’s complaint contradicts a statement from House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) who said in late June that the committee had received “100 percent” of documents requested through subpoenas “whether it’s with the FBI or with banks or with Treasury.”

In Texas, “RuPublicans” are fighting Gov. Greg Abbott’s drag ban, which the GOP calls “sexually oriented performances.” Having hit over their crowd-funding $10,000 goal, the group is using AI reimagining anti-LGBTQ+ Republicans as drag queens on billboards, earning over $16,000.  Here’s one sample of their visuals using former VP Mike Pence.

Wednesday night is the first GOP primary presidential candidate debate among eight candidates who promised to support the primary winner—even if he’s indicted. Fox will broadcast it from 9:00 pm to 11:00 pm EST. DDT may be watching it: he’s already taped his interview with Tucker Carlson to be broadcast at the same time.

Hope for the Future – August 21, 2023

Is there a stupidity test for someone to host a Fox show? On The Big Weekend Show Sunday evening, host “Kennedy,” Lisa Kennedy Montgomery, began by talking about Tropical Storm Hilary hitting California. She stated that “the storm which made landfall in Mexico several hours ago.” The reason? “They let it right into the country because it’s Biden’s America.” Hopefully, Kennedy thought she was being funny, but the Qanon followers will suck it up.

Otherwise, the past few days have experienced some positive news for the U.S.:

A federal judge appointed by former Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) has overturned part of a Georgia election law banning the giving out of food and water to voters in line to cast ballots and the requirement that voters put their birth dates on the outside envelopes of their ballots. Judge J.P. Boulee let stand a ban on distributing food and water within 150 feet of the building with the polls but paused the ban in additional areas within 25 feet of a voter in line.  

Lt. Gen. Dan Patrick wants legal help while presiding over the impeachment of former AG Ken Paxton at the beginning of September, but his first choice turned him down. Marc Brown, former GOP justice on the 14^th Court of Appeals from Harris County, said he declined because he and his wife donated $250 to Eva Guzman’s campaign when she ran against Paxton in the GOP primary. (Take note, Supreme Court justices taking bribes millions of dollars!) In June, a month after Paxton was impeached, Patrick took $3 million from Defend Texas Liberty, a group campaigning against Paxton’s impeachment. $1 million donation and $2 million loan. Patrick is up for reelection in 2026.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia overturned federal approval of the Uinta Basin Railway, at least temporarily, that would have connected Utah’s oil fields to the national railway network. The project cuts through tribal land and a national forest. Violations of the National Environmental Policy Act include failures to examine impacts on vegetation and special-status species in the Uinta Basis, increased oil train traffic on the Union Pacific Line, effects of oil refining, wildfire risk, impact on water resources, and accident risk. Another extreme danger of the proposed railway is the possibility of an oil train derailment in the Colorado River headwaters. Forty million people rely on the river for its drinking water and livelihoods. The court ordered the Surface Transportation Board to redo its three-year environmental review in the northeast corner of Utah.

Two-thirds of likely U.S. voters support the current writers’ and actors’ union strikes; even 48 percent of those who don’t like labor unions support the strikes. Only 18 percent of respondents oppose the actions of the two unions. Over 80 percent approves demands of appropriate compensation. After a three months’ strike, unions have been negotiating for the past week.

Walt Disney Company has filed a countersuit against Florida, claiming Gov. Ron DeSantis’ newly-appointed district members for Disney violates the state constitution and accuses the state of Breach of Contract. The new law strips Disney of the ability to operate as its own form of government and makes the state in control, able to completely rework the district’s operation.

The lawsuit comes on top of DeSantis’ assigned Disney chief being forced to resign or risk breaking Florida state law. Glen Gilzean is the state’s ethics commission chair while being paid $400,000 to serve on the district board. State law prevents public employees from serving on the panel. DeSantis has made these and many other moves to retaliate against Disney since Iger tweeted a criticism of DeSantis’ “don’t say gay” law.

DeSantis has been found using perks to obtain donations for his PAC. In 2019, DeSantis’ political team included the state’s top 40 lobbyists and 100 “suggested clients to target” for political contributions. As presidential candidate, DeSantis said about Florida, “We’ve drained the swamp in here” while lambasting DDT for not doing the same. When individuals and groups didn’t meet the amount of donations that DeSantis wanted, he retaliated against them by creating unfriendly policies. In contrast, he rewarded those who complied with his demands. A home builder furnished the governor’s mansion with a golf simulator before getting fast-track treatment for a highway interchange benefiting one of his projects. Florida does not ban asking for exchanges of donations for official favors if the money is not made explicit.

Arkansas won’t give students credit for taking AP African American History, but some teachers are teaching it anyway. Every public high school in the state previously offering the course announced it remains on the schedule for the coming year. A letter to students and parents in the Little Rock School District stated the class “will be weighted the same as all other AP courses” and that the district will cover the cost of taking the exam, also violating the order from the state department of education. Teachers risk dismissal but are committed to educating students. In 1957, Little Rock Central High School was the first in the nation to racially integrate over objections by racist white people. In late July, a federal judge temporarily blocked an Arkansas law criminalizing librarians who distribute materials—even leaving books on the shelves—considered “harmful to minors.”

In Michigan, a federal judge appointed by George W. Bush denied a right-wing attempt to stop President Joe Biden’s student debt relief for 804,000 borrowers. Judge Thomas L. Ludington ruled that two conservative think tanks lacked standing to challenge the move erasing $40 billion of the $1.6 trillion in outstanding federal student loan debt. Mike Pierce, executive director of the Student Borrower Protection Center, wrote that “borrowers were cheated by predatory companies.” Biden said:

“Because of errors and administrative failures of the student loan system that started long before I took office, over 804,000 borrowers never got the credit they earned, and never saw the forgiveness they were promised—even after making payments for decades.”

Despite Biden’s efforts, student loan payments recommence in October after the pandemic hiatus, but 62 percent of those with loans say they will not make the payments. Despite a shoddy lawsuit with falsehoods from plaintiffs who had no standing, the Supreme Court struck down Biden’s plan to cancel up to $20,000 in federal students loan debt for tens of millions of borrowers.

James O’Keefe, founder of Project Veritas, is being investigated for spending “an excessive amount of donor funds” on personal luxuries. Also allegedly mistreating workers, he was suspended in February and then fired as chairman and CEO. O’Keefe’s name hit the media when his doctored videos first destroyed Acorn, a community-based organization advocating for low and moderate income families, and later smeared Planned Parenthood.

O’Keefe tried to blame the group’s CFO Tom O’Hara for the expenditures, and O’Hara is providing the Westchester County DA with O’Keefe’s misdeeds for the officials’ probe. Last week, the new CEO, Hannah Giles, fired the entire Veritas staff leaving “only a skeleton crew of HR and a few fundraisers,” according to right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. O’Keefe participated in spreading the falsehood of commonplace and easy-to-commit voter fraud.

Another red state is fighting for abortion rights with a citizens’ measure. A Nebraska coalition called Protect Our Rights filed organizational papers on August 4 and updated their ballot initiative registration the next day. The target is the 2024 general election. Arizona reproductive rights advocates have also announced an initiative to be placed on 2024 ballots for a constitutional amendment affirming the right to abortion care.

GOP legislators want to impeach the new progressive on the state Supreme court, Justice Janet Protasiewicz, but conservative justice, Rebecca Bradley, would be a better subject for impeachment. Bradley, who has attacked Protasiewica for opposing gerrymandering, clearly shows how she will rule on cases, GOP grounds for impeachment:

• Attacked all the recent court decisions as partisan and biased;
• Called other justices “political hacks” and “politicians wearing robes,” not “jurists”;
• Wrote during the height of AIDS that “lives of degenerate drug addicts and queers are valued more than the innocent victims of more prevalent ailments” such as cancer;
• Referred to abortion as a “holocaust of our children”’
• Compared the governor’s lockdown orders at the height of the pandemic to World War II’s Japanese-American internment;
• Dissented in a routine appeal of a criminal conviction for homicide by criticizing the trial judge for mentioning the defendant’s gun ownership’
• Linked the use of drop boxes for ballots to democracy manipulation by Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong-un, Raul Castro, and Bashar al-Assad.
• Told conservative Justice Brian Hagedorn he should resign if he wasn’t willing “to fulfill” the judicial oath after he ruled that a parent’s anti-transgender lawsuit against the Madison School District’s policies should follow the state’s normal appeals process;
• Used Ben Shapiro’s 2014 book, How to Debate Leftists and Destroy Them in a ruling to oppose “woke corporate nonsense;
• Tried to conceal personal edits of her Wikipedia page, violating its guidelines.

 In a preliminary injunction, a federal judge temporarily blocked Georgia from enforcing a new law banning doctors from starting hormone therapy for transgender people under the age of 18. The ban lasts until a further court order or trial.

A Ukrainian drone strike destroyed a flagship Russian long-range bomber which can fly at twice the speed of sound and attacks Ukrainian cities. In January, a similar plane launched a missile killing 30 people in Dnipro apartments.

More DDT Disasters, Possible Ineligibility

Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) has announced that he will be interviewed by Tucker Carlson on August 23 instead of appearing with other GOP presidential candidates in the first debate for 2024, this one shown on the Fox network. His attack on Fox may be part of retaliation against the network that supported him in the past.

On Truth Social, DDT wrote that Fox & Friends “purposely show the absolutely worst pictures” of him. He added, “Especially the big ‘orange’ one with my chin pulled way back. They think they are getting away with something, they’re not.” He didn’t specify what they were getting away with. More examples of photos DDT will hate.

For the 2024 election, Fox’s owner Rupert Murdoch leans toward Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who hasn’t yet entered the race. Murdoch pivoted from his former favorite, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, expressing “doubts and frustrations.” As Youngkin bides his time, he faces logistical issues problems such as missing state filing deadlines if he keeps to his plan of not declaring until after Virginia’s November 7 General Assembly races. Virginia law prevents him from running for another term when his current one expires in 2026.

Social media influencers try to build up DDT and tear down President Joe Biden by claiming a photo of DDT with his wife, Melania Trump, talking with people in a building filled with supplies and clothes. The text reads, “THE PEOPLE’S PRESIDENT. Thank you Mr. Trump for checking on the people of Maui!” The picture was taken during the couple’s visit to Alabama in 2019 following a tornado. DDT has not visited the Maui disaster. Biden and his wife, Jill, waited to visit Maui until their visit would be less disruptive; it is scheduled for Monday.

A judge refused DDT’s request to delay the trial of E. Jean Carroll scheduled for January 15, 2024, and called the appeal to the 2^nd Circuit Court for dismissal “frivolous.” Carroll added another $10 million to her civil defamation lawsuit to the $5 million she was already awarded after DDT continued to defame her. The judge said that he is not required to stay the case while the appeal is being considered.

A recent Ohio racketeering and conspiracy case provides insight into Fulton County (GA) DA Fani Willis’ strategy in her RICO indictment against DDT and 18 other defendants. A RICO case against ex-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and his allies in the chamber’s largest corruption scandal concerned a $60 million pay-to-play scheme involving a Fortune 500 company. Householder got the maximum 20 years in prison; his co-defendant, former leader of the state GOP, five years.

No matter how many close associates DDT dumps, he always finds more to replace them, people sucked into believing that they are different from the ones he abandons. His two recent dumpees are Jenna Ellis and Rudy Giuliani, faithful lawyers who pushed every crackpot theory from DDT. They now want help paying millions in legal bills from DDT who brags about being worth “TEN BILLION DOLLARS.”

Ellis got in trouble by supporting Ron DeSantis for president, an unforgiveable sin in DDT’s eyes. Thus far, her crowd-funding site has brought in about 35,000. New DDT sycophant, Laura Loomer, calls Ellis “vile” as well as other pejoratives.

Rudy Giuliani went to Mar-a-Lago—twice—to beg for legal fees that DDT owes him—over a million dollars. DDT, however, always avoids payment to his employees—lawyers, contractors, plumbers, undocumented migrants, etc. He made vague comments about paying some of Giuliani’s bills but wasn’t specific about how much or when. Although DDT paid $340,000, that’s a drop in the bucket. In the Smartmatic’s defamation case against Giuliani, his attorneys said he didn’t money to produce records for the case.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who wants DDT to appoint him attorney general, announced he is calling on the House to investigate Judge Tanya Chutkan, presiding over special counsel Jack Smith’s case regarding DDT’s allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election. Gaetz plans to file a resolution to “censure and condemn” her for “showing open bias and partisanship in her official duties on the bench.” He also accused her of “blatant political bias from the bench” for his accusation of “extreme sentencing of January 6th defendants, while openly supporting the violent Black Lives Matter riots of 2020.” Another reason to condemn her, according to Gaetz, is that she “donated thousands of dollars to elect Barack Obama.” Chutkan donated $1,500 from 2008 to 2009 to the Obama campaign. Last weekend, Gaetz declared at the Iowa State Fair that “we know that only through force can we make any change in a corrupt town like Washington, D.C.”

Former chief of staff Mark Meadows’ plea to have his cased moved from state to federal court in Georgia will be heard on August 28. Reasons for his wish proposed by media and political commentors: (1) jury-shopping from a Georgia district, not just Fulton County; (2) a state court prosecutor in an unfamiliar federal courtroom; (3) a more friendly judge although the federal district judge was appointed by President Obama; and (4) the hope that a federal judge would be more likely to dismiss Meadows’ part in the RICO case.

The statute permitting removal is only if he was acting as U.S. officer. Neither Meadows nor DDT, however, have any constitutional duties related to state certification of Georgia’s election, duties left to the states, the electoral college, and Congress, but not to the president. Meadows would also have to prove that he has “colorable” defense such as immunity to overturn the 2020 election.

Presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson is arguing that people should not support DDT because he is likely ineligible to be president after his part in trying to overturn an election. Notable legal scholars, both conservative and liberal, agree that the 14^th Amendment blocks DDT from holding any office. Former federal judge J. Michael Luttig and professor of constitutional law Laurence H. Tribe cite the amendment’s Section 3 barring anyone from holding office who took an oath to support the Constitution in an official capacity but later “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution. Demanding the Georgia Secretary of State “find” the votes to win DDT the election, filing bogus lawsuits intended to overturn the results, attempting to obstruct Congress from certifying election results, and repeatedly and knowingly lying to the public should block DDT from another term in the White House, according to the legal scholars. The ban can be removed only with two-thirds vote of the House and of the Senate.

Scholars William Baude and Michael Stokes Paulsen make the same argument in “The Sweep and Force of Section Three,” an upcoming article in a University of Pennsylvania Bay Review. Lettig and Tribe explain that the authors are two of the most prominent conservative constitutional scholars in America, and both are affiliated with the Federalist Society.” Both originalists, Baude and Paulsen state that disqualification is automatic, in legalese “self-executing,” requiring no legislation, criminal conviction, nor other judicial action. Section 3 was widely used after the Civil War to prevent former Confederate leaders from serving in the federal government without being tried or convicted of any crime. Lettig and Tribe quote Baude and Paulsen:

“The bottom line is that Donald Trump both ‘engaged in’ ‘insurrection or rebellion’ and gave ‘aid or comfort’ to others engaging in such conduct, within the original meaning of those terms as employed in Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment. If the public record is accurate, the case is not even close. He is no longer eligible to the office of Presidency, or any other state or federal office covered by the Constitution.”

Judges also argue that the Amnesty Act of 1872, reinstating Confederate leaders’ rights in the federal government, overturns Section 3, but the 4^th Circuit Court ruled that former Rep. Madison Cawthorne (R-NC) would have been disqualified for election if he had received the majority vote in the GOP primary. The appeals court determined that the Amnesty Act focused only on Confederates seeking forgiveness, not future offenses. Cawthorne allegedly fueled the violence at the January 6 insurrection, sympathized with those carrying it out, and encouraged conservatives to gather in Washington and protest the Electoral Vote count.

Lettig and Tribe summarize DDT’s ineligibility:

“[Section 3] of our Constitution continues to protect the republic from those bent on its dissolution. Every official who takes an oath to uphold the Constitution, as Article VI provides every public official must, is obligated to enforce this very provision… If donald trump were to be reelected, how could any citizen trust that he would uphold the oath of office he would take upon his inauguration? As recently as last December, the former president posted on Truth Social his persistent view that the last presidential election was a ‘Massive Fraud,’ one that “allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.

“No person who sought to overthrow our Constitution and thereafter declared that it should be ‘terminated’ and that he be immediately returned to the presidency can in good faith take the oath that Article II, Section 1 demands of any president-elect ‘before he enter on the Execution of his Office.’”

And DDT has until Friday to report to the jail in Atlanta (GA) for arraignment in the RICO case.