Crazy Stuff in Government

The Federal Reserve may be forcing a growth cool-down in the U.S. to reduce inflation, but the U.S. added 187,000 jobs in July. Unemployment falling to 3.5 percent maintains its near 50-year lows. Economists have begun to agree that a recession is unlikely with these figures plus the GDP and rising wages. The big glitch for the stock market, damaging savings and retirement funds, is the games that conservative Republicans are playing in their attempt to take over all three branches of the government and all 50 states by tearing down the country.

Thanks to the inability of far-right conservatives to compromise, Fitch Ratings downgraded the U.S. credit rating earlier this week from “AAA” to “AA+,” citing the reason as “deterioration in standards of governance … including on fiscal and debt matters.” The company added, “The repeated debt-limit political standoffs and last-minute resolutions have eroded confidence in fiscal management.” The warning included “increased political polarization and partisanship as witnessed by the contested 2020 election.” The downgrade removed the world’s impression of the U.S. government as one of the safest borrowers in global finance.

Congressional members such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) blame House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Ca) and extreme MAGA supporters “who openly rooted for default” in last spring’s debt ceiling standoff. Despite the caution that the debt ceiling crisis would result in a downgrade, the GOP proceeded with its attempts to ruin the U.S. economy—just like it did exactly 12 weeks ago this week when GOP behavior caused the first rating downgrade.  

Federal GOP legislators aren’t the only irrational people in the U.S. political world:

Aileen Cannon, the southern Florida federal judge assigned to hear one of the most important trials of the century, has again demonstrated her ignorance of the law, inexperience, carelessness, or all of the above. Appointed by former Dictator Donald Trump (DDT), Cannon will likely be presiding over his trial dealing with obstruction charges of hiding classified documents and surveillance tapes at Mar-a-Lago. In a June trial, she made two critical errors which may have violated the defendant’s constitutional rights and could have invalidated the proceedings. She closed the courtroom during jury selection, saying her courtroom was too small for an audience, and failed to swear in the prospective jury pool, forcing her to restart jury selection. The 6^th Amendment guarantees a public trial.

The defendant, an Alabama man accused of running a website distributing images of child sex abuse, pled guilty after her mistakes but kept his right to appear certain rulings by the trial judge. Thus far, Cannon has presided over only four criminal trials resulting in jury verdicts. Her demonstrated favoritism for the man who appointed her as a federal judge may not be the only reason for removing her from DDT’s complex trial on 40 counts of retaining classified records, obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and concealment in a tiny courtroom. 

Another Floridian and first runner-up to DDT for 2024 presidential candidate, Gov. Ron DeSantis, told an audience at a New Hampshire campaign barbecue that he will be “slitting throats on day one” to root out the so-called “deep state” lurking in the federal government. His statement falls in line with all his other authoritarian moves, according to Harvard professor Steven Levitsky. DeSantis used the same expression in his plans to change the hierarchy in the Department of Defense. The American Federation of Government Employers warned that this type of rhetoric promotes violence against federal workers such as the 1995 bombing of an Oklahoma City federal building in 1995.

DeSantis claims he isn’t “demeaning” LGBTQ+ people, but his handpicked state education department “effectively banned” AP Psychology in Florida schools because of lessons on sexual orientation and identity, according to the College Board. His actions deny students the ability to earn college credit. Over 28,000 Florida students took the class in 2022-2023 which has been part of the state high school curriculum for over three decades. Florida expanded its ban on classroom discussion about sexual orientation to all K-12 students from a 2022 law for children K-3. The College Board caved to Florida by changing its AP course on Black history but refuses to revise the psychology AP course at Florida’s demand. Since the state’s bad publicity, Florida superintendent of education said that the course can be taught in an age-appropriate way but didn’t explain what that would be.

Cases of malaria coming to Florida, led by anti-science health disinformation, are accompanied by Hansen’s disease, commonly called leprosy, especially in the central portion. With about six percent of the population, Florida provided 20 percent of 159 new cases in the U.S. in 2020, 81 percent of those in central Florida. Scientists aren’t positive about transition methods but believe it spreads through droplets in coughs and sneezes. In Florida, masks were blocked in 2020 during the pandemic. Local infection shows that leprosy has become endemic in Florida, and DeSantos’ motto is “Make Florida America.”

In DeSantis’ war on Disney, his handpicked board for the district has abolished all diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Disney World along with job duties related to them. DeSantis’ anti-LGBTQ+ rights laws came after his laws protecting white people by eliminating racial equality in a public-school curriculum about Black slaves’ benefits in job training. One of DeSantis’ five Disney board members taught a seminar in 2021 with false information about white people being slaves in America from the “Irish slave trade” beginning in 1625. The board member also spread falsehoods about Irish “slaves” being forcibly bred with enslaved Blacks. Historians said that the “research” the board member cited is based on inventions and factual errors. Although whites have been indentured servants for a specific time period, usually five to seven years, servitude was not inherited. On the other hand, Blacks were considered property for life with children inheriting the mother’s status.

Ken Paxton, Texas’ suspended AG and leader of the state’s corrupt ideas, is fighting his current impeachment trial scheduled to begin on September 5. Reelected for a third term in 2022, Paxton also faces criminal securities fraud charges. For the first time in several years, he appeared in a Houston court on August 3, the same day DDT was arraigned for the third time. The four charges in this case have been removed from the impeachment, including some related to the 2015 solicitation of investors in a tech company without revealing he was paid to do so, but they may be considered later. Other charges allege Paxton misused his office to help his donor Nate Paul, a real estate developer arrested in June on felony charges for lying to financial institutions to secure business loans, and interfered with criminal investigations into Paul.

Paxton has filed to remove 19 of 20 articles of impeachment passed in the GOP-led House, including the statements from whistleblowers in his office. In addition, he wants three Democrats to be removed from the trial in the Senate for “bias.” He also insulted the impeachment managers, avoiding a gag order by putting his statements into a court filing.

In exchange for Paxton’s interfering with criminal investigations, Paul paid to remodel Paxton’s Austin home and hired a woman with whom Paxton allegedly had an affair. The woman allegedly worked for a state senator, causing a possible conflict of interest. Another conflict of interest comes from the fact that Paxton’s wife is a state senator. Senate rules prohibit her from voting on trial-related matters in Paxton’s impeachment.

While red states ban books and outlaw “woke” information for youth, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is selling disinformation for children. Among brightly-colored guides embellished with cartoons such as The Kids Guide to Socialism and The Kids Guide to Our One Nation under God is The Kids Guide to the Truth about Climate Change. No one will be surprised to learn that it’s highly inaccurate. The purpose of the “guide” is to minimize severe climate change and delay action. Yes, the climate is warming, states the guide, but there’s no problem and humans aren’t responsible. Last year, Huckabee ridiculed a doctor for citing climate change’s connection to heat-related illness.

Kids can get a “free” gift bundle including the guide for free with only $1 shipping at keepkidscool.com although Huckabee’s company, Ever Bright Media, has received complaints about hiding fees and charges, obscuring terms, and automatically enrolling people into a magazine subscription program that costs $19.95 plus sales tax every three to four weeks, plus a monthly magazine charge of $7.95. Last year, Arkansas used $260,000 of emergency Covid funds to buy Ever Bright’s guide to coronavirus, spreading falsehoods about the effectiveness of wearing masks. The state Department of Education also bought a constitutional booklet from the company.

Fifteen months before the 2024 election, election deniers controlling county ballot counting voted to do hand counts. Georgia requires the use of voting tabulation machines so Spalding County, population 68,000, plans these hand counts, far less reliable and more expensive, to compare to the machines results. It’s as if we haven’t had a break from the GOP insanity; almost 70 percent of Republicans now believe, with no evidence, that President Joe Biden’s win was not legitimate. Buckle up!

Good News (Mostly) – July 29, 2023

Starting out with the good news, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to change the military’s dealings with sexual assault cases. The order:

• Amends the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) by transferring key decision-making powers from commanders to specialized, independent military prosecutors in cases of sexual assault, domestic violence, murder, child abuse, and other serious offenses.
• Sets up rules to govern the new Offices of Special Trial Counsel, the independent military prosecutors who will now decide, in place of commanders, whether to prosecute such offenses.
• Establishes prosecutorial decisions from the special trial counsel that are binding and independent from the military chain of command.
• Better protects victims.
• Promote uniformity and fairness for rape and sexual assault sentencing.
• Guarantees consistency within the military services with a uniform evidence standard for non-judicial punishment actions.
• Advances the core accountability recommendations outlined in a 2021 report by the Independent Review Commission on Sexual Assault in the Military, building on progress that has been already made by the U.S. Department of Defense.

According to last year’s survey by the U.S. Department of Defense, the number of sexual assaults on service members reported in 2021 spiked to a new high of 7,249, a 13 percent increase from the previous year. Despite major efforts to address the issue of sexual assault in the military, including reforms instituted in 2021, women in the military services have significantly lost trust in the military to follow through on their cases or treat them with respect.

A federal judge in Arkansas has temporarily blocked the state from enforcing a new law, due to take effect on August 1, permitting criminal charges against providing “harmful” materials to minors. The preliminary injunction creates a new process challenging library materials and relocate them to areas not accessible by youth. The judge also stopped state prosecuting attorneys from trying to dismiss the case. Booksellers and publishers are also suing to block a new Texas book censorship law, a ratings law that could ban Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men” from schools’ classrooms and libraries. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott stated that his signing the law “gets that trash out of our schools.”

Tennessee teachers are fighting back against GOP state laws blocking them from talking about race and forcing them to push “biased” views of history on students. Their lawsuit opposes the deliberately vague law with no definition and making teachers afraid that even neutral mentions of race could cause them to lose their jobs and even go to prison. They claim the law violates the 14th Amendment, requiring laws to be specific.

Republicans claim that the law allows “impartial” discussion but doesn’t define the term although it prohibits any reference to racial superiority such as the violent nature of slavery. The state says any mention of this could make students—meaning white ones—feel guilt. To solve the “problem,” for example, Tipton County replaced an annual field trip to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis with a trip to a baseball game. A choir director in Shelby County fears that his decades-long teaching about the history of spirituals will be “divisive.” State Rep. John Ragan (R) explained that teaching “balance” in teaching about the Holocaust of 9/11 could be done by saying the perpetrators of those events were created “in the image and likeness of God,” just like everybody else.

Another federal judge in Montana put a temporary hold on a new law banning minors “from attending ‘sexually oriented shows,’ including “so-called drag story hours, which the law defines as events hosted ‘by a drag queen or drag king who reads children’s books and engages in other learning activities with minor children present.'” The bill “also bans public ‘sexually oriented performances’—including any involving ‘removal or simulated removal of clothing in a sexual manner’—seen by people under the age of 18.”

The extremist right-wing Florida group Moms for Liberty who partnered with the right-wing violent Proud Boys to elect Republicans, including DeSantis, and organized a book banning movement across the nation is now facing an IRS complaint about being a political educational organization. A Michigan attorney alleges that Moms for Liberty violated its 501(c)4 non-profit status. He also questioned the group’s participation in political campaigns and active recruitment of school board candidates. In 2021, the husband of the organization’s co-founder, chair of the Florida GOP, said:

“I have been trying for a dozen years to get 20- and 30-year old females involved with the Republican Party. But now Moms for Liberty has done it for me.”

Reactions to Florida’s curriculum that students see slavery as a help toward better jobs haven’t calmed down. Gov. Ron DeSantis has failed to avoid controversy although he claims that he didn’t have anything to do with the decision. He handpicked all the people who prepared the materials and led the anti-history movement throughout the U.S. Some Black Republicans are supporting DeSantis’ support of the curriculum, but Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), presidential candidate, and Rep. Ryan MacDonald (R-FL), a leader in putting Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) into the House Speaker position, criticized the curriculum and agree that DeSantis has gone too far.

Scott said that “slavery was really about separating families, about mutilating humans and even raping their wives.” DeSantis responded that they had joined the liberals like VP Kamala Harris, mispronouncing her first name, who said, “They want to replace history with lies.” The two who spoke out are 40 percent of Black Republicans in the Congress.  

DeSantis’ feud against Disney started after the company’s CEO criticized DeSantis’ “don’t say gay” law; the governor has moved on to defunding the police for Disney’s property. The governor’s handpicked Disney board has removed $8 million from the security budget to lower property taxes. Disney pays $1 billion a year in taxes and has 75,000 employees. Defunding the police is not a good look for DeSantis campaign who also faces other possible legal problems.

DeSantis is taking a campaign tour as a “guest” of the super PAC Never Back Down, which is bound by law to be separate from any candidates. In addition, DeSantis is upsetting Republicans and incurring complaints by the Federal Elections Commission. He is using $100 million from his DDT-backed governor reelection campaign to run against Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) and moved $82.5 million from his state political committee to the federal super PAC. Never Back Down used this transfer to claim it raised $150 million. In March, two months before the transfer, the Florida GOP-led election officials reversed the ruling that blocked the transfer of money from state to federal committees.

The purpose of the Supreme Court, one of government’s three branches, is to enforce checks and balances in the U.S. government, but one justice said that those same checks and balances don’t apply to him or the other Supreme Court justices. In a defensive statement to Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal, Justice Samuel Alito stated:

“No provision in the Constitution gives them the authority to regulate the Supreme Court—period.”

For the current time, this assertion caps a series of WSJ op-ed pieces defending Alito’s position and justifying his taking financial favors organized by Federalist Society leader Leonard Leo. Alito purports that the Supreme Court controls the other two branches of the government. Those refuting his position cite the Constitution, specifically Article III, Section 2:

“In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a state shall be party, the Supreme Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations as the Congress shall make.”

Attorney and former judge Bob Vance used other parts of the Constitution to point out that “Congress has the power of the purse, controlling funds allocated to the federal judiciary. It can also alter the size of the Supreme Court, which it has done in the past.” Rep Ted Lieu (D-CA) directly wrote Alito:

“You’re on the Supreme Court in part because Congress expanded the court to nine justices. Congress can impeach justices and can in many cases strip the court of jurisdiction. Congress has always regulated you and will continue to do so. You are not above the law.”

Vox senior correspondent Ian Millhiser wrote:

“For the record, Article III judges are not supposed to issue advisory opinions on constitutional questions that are not presented to them in case or controversy that their court properly has jurisdiction over.”

Alito may have the chance to oppose voting rights again after supporting Alabama’s gerrymandered congressional districts to keep Blacks from voting. The state is refusing to following the directive of the 11^th Circuit Court per the high court’s ruling with a GOP plan to overturn the 1965 Voting Rights Act, according to anonymous sources. If the case returns to SCOTUS, Alabama may find a majority of conservatives to support the state’s gerrymandering as it did in Alabama’s Shelby County v. Holder ruling. Alabama AG Steve Marshall is leading the noncompliance charge.

In Georgia, whites are so opposed to Black officials that the Augusta judicial circuit, home to a three-county criminal justice system for over 150 years, lost its whitest county after a Black was elected district attorney in 2020. The state Supreme Court dismissed the Black Lives Matter Fund’s lawsuit, contending that the old circuit’s Black voters were disenfranchised.