Utah state Senate President Stuart Adams (R) tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, then proceeded to tell everyone he tested negative and work without a mask anyway, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
Continue reading “Utah GOP Leader Claimed He Tested Negative For COVID After Reportedly Testing Positive Twice”Oath Keeper Charged In Sedition Conspiracy Had A Weapons Cache Ready, Feds Say
One of the Oath Keepers charged in a seditious conspiracy for allegedly planning to disrupt the transfer of power on Jan. 6 had a cache of supplies and weapons with him in a hotel in Virginia, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Continue reading “Oath Keeper Charged In Sedition Conspiracy Had A Weapons Cache Ready, Feds Say”GOP Guv Says He Turned Down Senate Bid Because GOP Sens. Admitted They Don’t Do Anything
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R), who was one of the GOP’s top recruitment targets for the 2022 Senate midterms, was “pretty close” to throwing his hat into the race — until he found out his only purpose in the Senate would be to help Republicans keep the whole chamber dysfunctional.
Continue reading “GOP Guv Says He Turned Down Senate Bid Because GOP Sens. Admitted They Don’t Do Anything”Texas Secretary Of State Claims There’s Not Enough Paper For Voter Registration Forms
A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things.
Behold: Veep-Style Voter Suppression
The Texas Secretary of State’s office will be sending out fewer voter registration forms this year because of a “paper shortage” and “the cost constraints due to the price of paper and the supply of paper,” according to the office’s spokesperson.
- The spokesperson pointed to Texas’ new restrictive voting law as the reason why the office had to change its registration forms, which advocacy groups are now struggling to obtain.
- The president of the League of Women Voters of Texas, a voting rights group, says the Secretary of State’s office told her to look for donations instead of relying on the government for the forms, according to Austin’s NPR affiliate. Yes, really.
- Texas is one of the few states that still require voters to use paper forms to register. There’s no website for Texans to do the whole process online.
- Democrats’ sweeping voting rights legislation would require all states to offer online registration.
- We’re seeing other early signs of problems stemming from the law, too: Clerks sounded the alarm over the last few days about a massive spike in the rejection of absentee-ballot request forms, TPM’s Matt Shuham reports.
- “This is what voter suppression looks like,” Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir said at a press conference.
Today’s Plan For Voting Rights
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) plans to have the chamber vote to end the Republicans’ filibuster of the voting rights package at around 6:30 ET tonight. It’ll obviously fail, so the Democratic leader has a “talking filibuster” plan to change the filibuster rules — which’ll also fail unless Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) change their minds about keeping the filibuster as is.
New York AG Alleges Potential Fraud At Trump Organization
New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil investigation has found that the ex-president’s company inflated the value of Trump’s property assets and engaged in “fraudulent or misleading” activity, James’ office alleged in court documents filed last night.
- There is “significant evidence” that the Trump Organization falsely valued its assets to lenders and the IRS “for economic benefit,” according to the attorney general.
- James also argued that Trump’s testimony is necessary to her investigation, along with that of his adult children, Donald Trump, Jr. and Ivanka Trump.
Government’s Site For Free COVID-19 Tests Now Up
The Biden administration’s launched a site where people can order free at-home COVID-19 tests (each household can order four tests), and not a moment too soon: Here’s what happened when a reporter tried to use Google to find tests, as Biden suggested earlier this month.
Crenshaw Loses It When Young Woman Reads His Own Quote
Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) freaked out during a Montgomery County Tea Party meeting on Monday night when someone confronted him over a comparison he made of Jesus as a “hero archetype” like Superman, as opposed to “real characters” like Rosa Parks.
- “Don’t question my faith,” Crenshaw snapped and then repeated several times before accusing her of “twisting” his words, which was “not very Christian” of her.
- The crowd booed the GOP lawmaker as he was ranting. Some hecklers even chanted MAGAland’s anti-Biden “Let’s Go Brandon” battle cry at him for whatever reason.
Sununu Explains Why He’s Staying Away From Senate
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) told the Washington Examiner that he was turned off by the idea of a 2022 Senate bid when he discovered through conversations with Republican senators that their whole thing is about doing nothing.
- The senators explained their plan was to make sure nothing gets done until 2024, Sununu said. “That’s not what I do,” the governor told the Examiner.
- The senators also apparently didn’t have an answer when Sununu asked them why they didn’t do anything in 2017 and 2018, when the GOP had the White House.
House Dems See Two More Departures
Reps. Jim Langevin (D-RI) and Jerry McNerney (D-CA) both announced on Tuesday that they aren’t running for reelection, ticking the number of House Democratic retirements up to 28.
Biden To Mark First Year In Office
The President is giving a solo presser today at 4:00 p.m. ET to review the past 12 months since he was sworn in.
Ex-Trump Admin Goons Meet Up To Wring Hands Over Trump
This hilarious CNN report reveals that several of Trump’s ex-cronies had a conference call last Monday to discuss what to do about the mad king, and came away from the call realizing they can’t do anything about the mad king. Ex-White House chief of staff John Kelly participated in the discussion.
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This is Must Read
I hope you’ll take a moment to read this amazing piece by Josh Kovensky. In short, the Oath Keepers – the group at the center of the insurrection whose leaders were just charged with seditious conspiracy – got the idea for storming the Capitol from a Serbian scientist living in Europe who said that Trumpers could use the model of the ouster of Slobodan Milosevic to overturn the election of Joe Biden. It came in the form of a viral video and the Oath Keepers went from there.
Certainly the Oath Keepers didn’t need a lot of encouragement to get violent on behalf of Trump. But the viral video encouraging Trumpers to drive Biden from power like Milosevic seemed to coalesce their thinking into a plan of action and gave them a historical antecedent that showed the good guys winning. The Serbian scientist, Aleksandar Savic, relocated to Texas not long after Joe Biden’s inauguration and Josh Kovensky tracked him down for a conversation. Read it here.
Senate Democrats Prepare To Force Manchin And Sinema On The Record
The Senate is regrouping Tuesday, initially slated to be a holiday recess, to complete a seemingly ill-fated push to reform the filibuster and pass voting rights legislation.
The Democrats will have one last caucus meeting this evening, and the first roll call votes on the voting rights bills are expected Wednesday. When the Republicans filibuster the bills, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will likely try to change the filibuster rules. Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) and Joe Manchin (D-WV), at least, will almost certainly join with the Republicans in opposing those changes.
Report: Jan. 6 Committee Subpoenaed Eric Trump And Kimberly Guilfoyle’s Phone Records
The Jan. 6 committee has reportedly subpoenaed and obtained phone records from Eric Trump, one of former President Trump’s adult children, and Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is engaged to Donald Trump Jr., according to CNN.
Continue reading “Report: Jan. 6 Committee Subpoenaed Eric Trump And Kimberly Guilfoyle’s Phone Records”Where Things Stand: Hundreds Of Schools Defy Virginia’s New GOP Guv
School district officials who oversee hundreds of schools in Virginia are actively defying their new Republican governor’s efforts to tamp down COVID-19 mitigation measures in the state.
The backlash is similar to what we saw play out in Texas and Florida when Republican Govs. Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis enacted similar executive orders late last year, attempting to block individual schools and municipalities from creating their own policies for combatting the pandemic.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: Hundreds Of Schools Defy Virginia’s New GOP Guv”How A Serbian Scientist Helped Inspire The Oath Keepers To March On The Capitol
Days after the November 2020 election, the Oath Keepers were preparing.
Continue reading “How A Serbian Scientist Helped Inspire The Oath Keepers To March On The Capitol”Jan. 6 Committee Subpoenas Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Others In Trump Circle
The congressional Jan. 6 Committee on Tuesday issued subpoenas to Rudy Giuliani and other key players in Donald Trump’s orbit.
Continue reading “Jan. 6 Committee Subpoenas Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Others In Trump Circle”