A draft Trump-era executive order directed the Defense Secretary to seize voting machines and authorized the appointment of a special counsel to investigate them weeks after the 2020 elections, Politico reported Friday.
Continue reading “Jan. 6 Committee Obtains Draft Trump-Era Order Laying Out Plan To Seize Voting Machines”DOJ Task Force On Election Worker Threats Makes First Arrest
The Justice Department charged a man from Texas on Friday with threatening three government officials, the first criminal case brought forward by the department’s task force on combating violent threats against election workers.
Continue reading “DOJ Task Force On Election Worker Threats Makes First Arrest”Rejoice—Kyrsten Sinema’s Political Career is Already Over
Amidst all the disappointment and tribulation of recent days please join me in taking a moment to step back, in a posture of mindful gratitude, to contemplate the fact that Kyrsten Sinema’s career in electoral politics is already over. Yes, the damage she’s already done will be difficult to remedy. She still has three solid years to do yet more damage. And she probably will. But none of that damage, none of the hijinks and characteristic game-playing to come, will or can change her electoral fate. In political terms, she’s already dead senator walking. And the most perplexing but paradoxically delightful part of it is that she doesn’t even seem to realize it yet.
How can I be so sure she’s a goner in such an uncertain time and in a reelection campaign almost three years away? It’s not just the increasingly likely primary challenge, which could end her Senate career on its own. Her problem runs much deeper. She has already made herself essentially unelectable, whether her quest for reelection ends in a primary or the general election.
Continue reading “Rejoice—Kyrsten Sinema’s Political Career is Already Over”The Mystery Of Thousands Of Potentially Fraudulent Signatures For Florida Casino Expansion
Thousands of signatures in support of expanding casino gaming in Florida are suspected of being fraudulent.
Continue reading “The Mystery Of Thousands Of Potentially Fraudulent Signatures For Florida Casino Expansion”Gohmert Didn’t Get Anywhere Near $1M Goal For Texas AG Bid. Yet He Proudly Claimed He Did Anyway
You may recall when Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) promised on Nov. 9 that he’d challenge Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton if he raised $1 million in 10 days, then followed up on Nov. 23 and victoriously announced that he did that?
Yeah, newly released campaign finance reports reveal he didn’t do that.
Continue reading “Gohmert Didn’t Get Anywhere Near $1M Goal For Texas AG Bid. Yet He Proudly Claimed He Did Anyway”Arizona Democrats Have Just About Had It Up To Here With Sinema
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things.
The Breaking Point
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (D-AZ) bold mavericking with the filibuster and voting rights legislation this week has landed her in hot water back home: Arizona Democratic Party Chair Raquel Terán announced on Thursday that the committee’s executive board will be meeting on Saturday to “address previously passed resolutions concerning” the senator.
- Sinema has “fallen short” on voting rights, Terán said.
- Terán highlighted the contrast between Sinema with her fellow Arizona senator, Mark Kelly, who “courageously voted to defend the voting rights of millions of Arizonans.”
- Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) told CNN on Thursday that several unnamed senators have privately urged him to primary Sinema in recent days – and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who’s already said he could support a primary challenger against her, wasn’t one of them.
- It’s been far more than just senators who’ve lobbied Gallego for a primary challenge, he said. Everyone “you can imagine under the sun,” including unions and big donors, have reached out to him.
Giuliani’s Fake Elector Scheme
The Washington Post and CNN have new details of how then-Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani spearheaded the Trump campaign’s scheme to gather fake Trump electors in seven states that Biden won in 2020. The plan was central to the bigger scheme to get then-Vice President Mike Pence to swap Biden electors in those states for Trump ones.
- The states in the fake elector plot were: Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Arizona, Wisconsin, Nevada and New Mexico.
- One of the fake electors even bragged about her participation in the plot as recently as last week, CNN found.
- Some Republican electors refused to go along with it, so Giuliani and his team had to find replacements, according to the Washington Post.
- OAN Trump propagandist Christina Bobb, who is a lawyer, was reportedly involved in the plan.
Dem Rep. Arrested At Voting Rights Protest
During the non-violent protest, which was held near the Capitol on Thursday, U.S. Capitol Police arrested Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) with at least 20 other participants, according to the lawmaker’s spokesperson.
- The police said 27 protesters were arrested for “crowding, obstructing or incommoding,” plus one for breaking a “crowd control” law. The department didn’t say whether Bowman was one of the arrestees.
- Some of the people arrested with the Democrat included faith leaders and people on hunger strikes, Bowman’s spokesperson said.
A Grim Gohmert Tale
On Nov. 9 2021, Gohmert declared that if he could raise $1 million in 10 days, he’d run for Texas attorney general. On Nov. 23, Gohmert had a happy announcement: He was able to raise that amount of money in that time frame and would therefore be throwing his hat in the race as promised. On Thursday, the Texas Tribune reported that the Republican didn’t get anywhere near $1 million in those 10 days, according to new campaign finance filings.
- It was only about $27,000, according to the Tribune.
- Gohmert didn’t reach $1 million until Dec. 31, in fact.
- The GOP lawmaker insisted on Thursday that he definitely did raise $1 million in 10 days, during which he got “both contributions and commitments” from donors. Also, “getting all of the money in-house took more time,” he claimed.
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Must Reads
“A Dam in Syria Was on a ‘No-Strike’ List. The U.S. Bombed It Anyway.” – The New York Times
Amanda Gorman: “Why I Almost Didn’t Read My Poem at the Inauguration” – The New York Times
GOP Rep. Needs Instructions On How To Wear Mask
Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI) tried to make some kind of point about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) sending masks to House offices and gifted us a nice lil self-own instead:
Boebert Asks Jewish Capitol Visitors If They Were On Reconnaissance Mission
Upon seeing Capitol visitors who were wearing yarmulkes at an elevator on Thursday, far-right Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) asked if they were doing “reconnaissance,” Buzzfeed News reported. The Colorado Republican claimed later that she was just making a joke in reference to some Democrats’ allegation that she had given a tour to a big group of people in a tunnel connected to the Capitol several days before the Jan. 6 insurrection.
(Maybe it’d be best if Boebert just stay away from the elevators.)
Suggestions For New Name For BBB
On Thursday, Pelosi said Democrats might have to “rename” the Build Back Better plan that’s been essentially torpedoed by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV). Let’s see what ideas are out there:
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Report: A Glimpse At What Jan 6 Committee Has Gotten So Far From National Archives
Days after the Jan. 6 committee began receiving records from the National Archives following the Supreme Court’s rejection of former President Trump’s effort to bar the release of documents, some details have reportedly started to emerge regarding documents from Trump’s White House that the panel has received thus far.
Continue reading “Report: A Glimpse At What Jan 6 Committee Has Gotten So Far From National Archives”Where Things Stand: DeSantis Campaigns On Ensuring White Floridians Don’t Feel ‘Discomfort’ About Systemic Racism
It is hard to accept when you might actually be the real snowflake.
But that’s the bitter pill Florida Republicans find themselves having to swallow.
The latest news: Florida state Republicans just passed a bill — pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) — that piles on an already-cemented state policy that bans the teaching of Critical Race Theory, and systemic racism-related issues, in Florida public schools.
This latest bill goes even further. It passed out of the Florida state legislature’s Republican-controlled Senate Education Committee this week by a 6-3 vote, per Orlando Weekly.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: DeSantis Campaigns On Ensuring White Floridians Don’t Feel ‘Discomfort’ About Systemic Racism”Podcaster Who Chatted With Alleged Jan. 6 Seditionist Says FBI Now Wants To Talk To Him
Soon after a federal grand jury indicted several members of the Oath Keepers on charges of seditious conspiracy, accusing them of plotting to disrupt Congress, prosecutors introduced a surprising piece of evidence: Quotes from episodes of a podcast that had one of the alleged seditionists on as a guest.
Notably, the accused appeared on the show on both Jan. 6 and 7 — immediately before and immediately after the insurrection.
Continue reading “Podcaster Who Chatted With Alleged Jan. 6 Seditionist Says FBI Now Wants To Talk To Him”The Sausage Making: Manchin Takes His Revenge
Your intermittent update on how Build Back Better negotiations are going (quite poorly, at the moment).
A buoyant Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) is back in the Senate Thursday after collaborating with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Senate Republicans to uphold the filibuster and block voting rights legislation.
Continue reading “The Sausage Making: Manchin Takes His Revenge”