Herschel Walker Insists His Big Boi Badge Is Legit

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.

100 Percent!

Georgia GOP Senate nominee/abortion funder Herschel Walker will have you know that the “not a prop” police badge that he whipped out during his debate with incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) on Friday is a real “honorary” badge and absolutely not a prop, okay?  

• The badge came from, uhhh, “all over Georgia,” Walker told NBC News correspondent Kristen Welker when she asked in a pre-taped interview who gave him the not-a-prop badge.
• To be clear, Walker has never once worked in law enforcement, despite the claims he’s made.
• Here’s the badge moment, in case you missed it:

• Walker ditched the Atlanta Press Club’s debate last night that he was supposed to have with Warnock and Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver.

Kari Lake Refuses To Say If She’ll Accept Defeat

Far-right Arizona gubernatorial nominee and hardcore 2020 election denier Kari Lake made it crystal clear during a CNN appearance on Sunday that the election denialism that fuels her entire campaign very much extends to her own race.

• Lake repeatedly refused to say whether she’d accept the results of her election if she lost, even though CNN anchor Dana Bash repeatedly pressed her on it.
• Lake and Democratic rival/Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs are neck-and-neck in the polls right now.

Russia Hits Central Kyiv With Drone Strikes

Russia struck the central area of Ukraine’s capital with kamikaze drone strikes on Monday, according to Ukrainian officials.

• At least one person has died and multiple have been injured from the attack, the mayor of Kyiv reported.
• Iran provided the drones, and U.S. security officials have warned that the country is planning on sending more.

DOJ Asks Appeals Court To Toss Out Cannon’s Trumpy Ruling

The Justice Department requested on Friday that the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals overturn U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon’s mind-bogglingly MAGA order that granted Trump’s request for a special master to sift through the government records the FBI had seized from Mar-a-Lago, an order that also barred federal investigators from accessing those records.

• Cannon had admitted in her order that the government hadn’t shown a “callous disregard” for Trump’s rights, the DOJ pointed out, a key standard for court intervention at this stage of a criminal investigation.
• The DOJ had already notched a victory against Cannon’s order in the same appeals court over the issue of her order blocking investigators from accessing the classified documents that were found at Mar-a-Lago.

Leahy Released From Hospital

The office of Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) announced on Friday evening that the senator had been discharged from the hospital that day after an “uneventful night” of observation. He had been admitted the day before due to feeling “unwell,” according to his office.

Must Read

“On the Alex Jones Verdict: The Very, Very Lucrative World of Lying” – Insight writer Zeynep Tufekci

But we should recognize that a constant barrage of lies and dehumanizing propaganda are often part and parcel of the road to mayhem and even large-scale violence, and each societal transition renews the challenge of finding better, updated ways to face this reality. 

This is one big reason why every new communication milieu brought about by technological and political changes has to be grappled with, but without nostalgia — as the past is rarely perfect, but in any case it’s not coming back — or without sloganeering. Oft-repeated formulations like “let more speech counter bad speech” or “technology can be good or bad” don’t even begin to get at the current problems partly because they don’t even describe the current problems.

Michigan GOP Guv Nominee Attacks Single Working Women

Tudor Dixon (R), the anti-abortion extremist challenging Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), told her supporters during a campaign event on Friday that “last time I checked,” a working woman who’s single has a “​​lonely life.”

What Happened To The Men Of #MeToo?

For a lot of them, not much!

Food For Thought

Guess Who?

(Seriously, you’re not gonna guess who it is.)

Do you like Morning Memo? Let us know!