The much heralded bipartisan effort to craft election reform legislation is going nowhere fast.
Continue reading “Don’t Expect Those Electoral Count Act Reforms Anytime Soon”Trump In Winter
We remain in a period of intense flux and uncertainty. Part of making sense of these periods is having an eye out for shifts that seem to be happening even if we don’t know precisely why they’re happening or what they’re building towards. For example, we keep getting hints that Donald Trump’s power within the GOP is waning. Not collapsing, certainly — nothing dramatic. The GOP is not moving in a Never Trump direction. But he has just a bit less sway and dominance day by day.
Continue reading “Trump In Winter”Students Sue Missouri School District For Recent Book Bans
Two students in Missouri’s Wentzville School District on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the district over the banning of multiple books in the district’s libraries.
Continue reading “Students Sue Missouri School District For Recent Book Bans”Trump Must Testify In NY State’s Investigation Into His Business Practices, Judge Rules
Former President Trump on Thursday was ordered to testify under oath in New York state’s civil investigation into his business practices.
Continue reading “Trump Must Testify In NY State’s Investigation Into His Business Practices, Judge Rules”SCOTUS Could Hamstring Federal Agencies’ Regulatory Power In A High-Profile Air Pollution Case
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It was originally published on The Conversation.
On Feb. 28, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in West Virginia v. EPA, a case that centers on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change. How the court decides the case could have broad ramifications, not just for climate change but for federal regulation in many areas.
This case stems from actions over the past decade to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, a centerpiece of U.S. climate change policy. In 2016, the Supreme Court blocked the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, which was designed to reduce these emissions. The Trump administration repealed the Clean Power Plan and replaced it with the far less stringent Affordable Clean Energy Rule. Various parties challenged that measure, and a federal court invalidated it a day before Trump left office.
Continue reading “SCOTUS Could Hamstring Federal Agencies’ Regulatory Power In A High-Profile Air Pollution Case”Trump Mushes Inaccurate Durham Reporting Together With Big Lie Conspiracy Theories To Spawn Horrible Mess
DC Police Lieutenant Suspended During Investigation Of Potential Proud Boy Ties
A Washington, D.C. police lieutenant has been suspended with pay during an investigation into potential ties to the Proud Boys, the right-wing street gang.
Continue reading “DC Police Lieutenant Suspended During Investigation Of Potential Proud Boy Ties”The 3 GOP Lawmakers Subpoenaed By The Jan. 6 Panel Have Worked Hard To Keep The Big Lie Alive And Well
The Jan. 6 Select Committee issued a series of subpoenas to current and former Republican state lawmakers and Trump campaign officials on Tuesday, all of whom were allegedly involved in a scheme to send fake slates of electors to Congress following the 2020 election.
Continue reading “The 3 GOP Lawmakers Subpoenaed By The Jan. 6 Panel Have Worked Hard To Keep The Big Lie Alive And Well”Time For Plan B: MyPillow Guy To Airdrop Pillows To Canadian Truckers From The Sky With Parachutes
MyPillow CEO and 2020 election denier Mike Lindell is bound and determined to give HisPillows to the protesting Canadian truckers. And he’s not letting some pesky international border entry requirements get in his way.
Continue reading “Time For Plan B: MyPillow Guy To Airdrop Pillows To Canadian Truckers From The Sky With Parachutes”Miami Cops Handed Out Fliers With Links To Trump Merch During Traffic Stops
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
Why Hyphens Matter
The Miami Herald discovered that Miami Beach police officers were giving city police fliers to drivers they’d pulled over that had a website link to an online Trump 2024 store. The fliers contained instructions on how to resolve traffic tickets online at the Clerk of Court’s website (miami-dadeclerk.com).
- But the information sheets also gave a link with the address misspelled as “miamidadeclerk.com” without the hyphen–and that link redirected to a store with Trump 2024 flags, hats, sweaters and other merchandise.
- After the Miami Herald reported on the Trump retail link on Tuesday, miamidadeclerk.com was changed to redirect to the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission’s website instead. It’s unknown who switched it.
- A Miami Beach police spokesperson said the department wasn’t aware of the wrong link until the Miami Herald asked about it, nor does the agency know how it happened. He said officers have since been instructed to stop handing out those fliers and provided newly corrected ones.
Oath Keepers Leader Says He Still Thinks Biden’s Win Was Fake, According To Lawyer
Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes’ defense lawyer said during a hearing on Wednesday that Rhodes, who’s been charged with seditious conspiracy, had told the House Jan. 6 Committee in an interview that he still believes the 2020 election was “illegitimate.”
- But that’s totally fine, the lawyer argued, because Republican lawmakers are saying the same thing.
- Anyway, Rhodes’ and the other Oath Keepers’ plan to deploy armed “Quick Reaction Forces” to the Capitol would’ve been legal if Trump had invoked the Insurrection Act, Rhodes’ attorney told the judge. But Trump didn’t do that, so off to Olive Garden they went.
More Meadows Jan. 6 Text Deets
The Washington Post reported on details of the texts former White House chief of Staff Mark Meadows had received from various Trump allies before, during and after the Capitol insurrection. The texts were obtained by the House Jan. 6 Committee.
New Dem SuperPAC Targets MAGA Election Deniers
American Bridge, a Democratic opposition group, is going on the offensive with a campaign against pro-Trump Republicans’ push to take over state and local government offices that oversee elections.
- American Bridge is launching a $10 million superPAC to take down GOP candidates in those races who promote Trump’s lies about the 2020 election. The group is called Bridge to Democracy.
- The campaign, which has already hired 22 researchers, won’t just focus on big races like secretary of state, the New York Times reports. It’s also targeting more under-the-radar election administration roles like county boards of supervisors or boards of canvassers.
- The campaign is targeting elections in 12 states: Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin.
CDC To Loosen Masking Guidelines Soon
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is expected to update its guidance on mask requirements as early as next week to relax the recommendations, according to NBC News.
Must Read
“Lawyers and Lobbyists Fight for Their Slice of $3.5 Billion in Afghan Money Seized by the Biden Administration” – The Intercept
Pro-Trump Tennessee Preacher Threatens To Expose Witches In His Tent Church
Greg Locke, a pastor of a Tennessee non-denominational church who says people who think Biden won the 2020 election are “crack-smoking, demon-possessed leftists,” warned his congregation on Sunday that six witches had infiltrated the church–and that three of them were sitting in that very room (well, tent. The service was being held in a tent on the church’s property)!!
- A demon had given him the first and last names of the alleged witches during an exorcism, Locke said. This helpful demon even provided an address for one of them, according to the pastor.
- Locke screamed that he would expose the alleged witches right then and there under the tent if they “so much as cough wrong.”
- Speaking of coughing, Locke (who’s told churchgoers not to get vaccinated) also claimed that some of the congregants had gotten sick because they “befriended” one of the witches.
? Morning Memo Radio ?
Missouri GOP Candidate Has A Sad About Hawley’s Endorsement Snub
After Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) endorsed Rep. Vicky Hartzler in the Missouri Senate race for outgoing Sen. Roy Blunt’s (R-MO) seat, Senate candidate Rep. Billy Long (R-MO) posted a Twitter rant on Wednesday accusing Hawley of lying to him about his endorsement plans:
Trump Hogging GOP Fundraising Efforts, Strategists Complain
Axios reports that top Republican officials have been privately grousing over Trump bombarding GOP donors with emails and texts asking for cash for himself, which could cause problems for the party’s efforts to boost other candidates.
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