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 14th 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.”
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