Republican Assault on Democracy and March Towards Fascism

[LFC]

Sept 2, 2022 16:10:01 GMT goldenvalley said:

4. Why give it now? Was it a warning to those who seek to disrupt the November election?

If not now then when? Or should Biden stay quiet and not rock the boat to avoid causing Republican butthurt? I think a better question is, "Why the f*** did it take this long?" Democrats should have been screaming this message since January 7.

[LFC]

Oh, look. A fascist in an elementary school indoctrinating children, just like they accuse real teachers of doing.

Today’s lesson is how the Big Lie made it onto a world history study sheet handed out by a substitute teacher in the sixth grade at the R. Dan Nolan Middle School in Bradenton, Florida, on Wednesday.

It was a take-home sheet headed “How Does a Historian Work?” and it was meant to prepare students for a test on Thursday. One mother proceeded to quiz her child on its list of vocabulary words. The first six were evidence, source, primary source, secondary source, reliable source, and point of view.

“Then came No. 7,” the mother, who asked not to be named, later told The Daily Beast.

The seventh word was bias and the mother was shocked by what accompanied it.

The media is often biased and will add words that persuade you to think one way or another. Read these two statements made by reporters after the 2020 election.

President Trump made claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

President Trump made false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

The first sentence is just giving you information, while the second leads you to believe he is wrong before you have all the facts.

Never mind that the whole world has all the facts and what the second statement leads you to believe is the truth. And, in failing to acknowledge that former President Donald Trump’s claims have been proved false, the first statement might lead you to imagine that his claims might have merit.

“It’s actually the most biased example of bias I’ve seen,” the mother later said. “It seems pretty out of place for a sixth-grade class.”

She was sure there might have been any number of other examples that would not have brought politics into the classroom. She showed the study sheet to her husband.

“He read it and went, ‘What is going on?’” she recalled.

They showed it to a neighbor who is a lawyer. He had much the same reaction.

“We’re laughing, but it’s not funny,” the mother said.

[goldenvalley]

Sept 2, 2022 17:46:08 GMT LFC said:

Oh, look. A fascist in an elementary school indoctrinating children, just like they accuse real teachers of doing.

Today’s lesson is how the Big Lie made it onto a world history study sheet handed out by a substitute teacher in the sixth grade at the R. Dan Nolan Middle School in Bradenton, Florida, on Wednesday.

It was a take-home sheet headed “How Does a Historian Work?” and it was meant to prepare students for a test on Thursday. One mother proceeded to quiz her child on its list of vocabulary words. The first six were evidence, source, primary source, secondary source, reliable source, and point of view.

“Then came No. 7,” the mother, who asked not to be named, later told The Daily Beast.

The seventh word was bias and the mother was shocked by what accompanied it.

The media is often biased and will add words that persuade you to think one way or another. Read these two statements made by reporters after the 2020 election.

President Trump made claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

President Trump made false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

The first sentence is just giving you information, while the second leads you to believe he is wrong before you have all the facts.

Never mind that the whole world has all the facts and what the second statement leads you to believe is the truth. And, in failing to acknowledge that former President Donald Trump’s claims have been proved false, the first statement might lead you to imagine that his claims might have merit.

“It’s actually the most biased example of bias I’ve seen,” the mother later said. “It seems pretty out of place for a sixth-grade class.”

She was sure there might have been any number of other examples that would not have brought politics into the classroom. She showed the study sheet to her husband.

“He read it and went, ‘What is going on?’” she recalled.

They showed it to a neighbor who is a lawyer. He had much the same reaction.

“We’re laughing, but it’s not funny,” the mother said.

Ach... both sentences are true. Neither one is biased.  Of course some would argue that the first one is biased, just biased in support of Trump.  And yes, in this political climate there is no excuse for using a current political event in this way for 11 year olds.  

[LFC]

I couldn't agree with this headline more.

Now Would Be a Good Time to Investigate Ginni Thomas

It’s good to be the traitorous spouse of an extremist Supreme Court justice. You can actively participate in an ongoing right-wing coup against the United States and completely escape accountability, just so powerful institutions can uphold civility and performative bipartisanship.

That’s my cynical conclusion after news reports revealed yet another example of Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the long-time GOP activist and wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, abusing her access and privilege to actively help MAGA seditionists.

On Wednesday, The Washington Post reported on emails that revealed Ginni Thomas pressured Republican lawmakers in the battleground state of Wisconsin to overturn the results of the 2020 election. In emails sent on November 9, she urged them to “please stand strong in the face of media and political pressure. Please reflect on the awesome authority granted to you by our Constitution. And then please take action to ensure that a clean slate of Electors is chosen for our state.”

In June, The Post reported Thomas had sent nearly identical emails to 29 Arizona state lawmakers urging them to replace the state’s electors with loyal Republicans who would instead vote for Trump.

In December 2020, Thomas invited right-wing attorney John Eastman—author of the infamous "coup memo" advising Trump on how he could illegally remain in office—to speak at a grassroots activists meeting to discuss “state legislative actions that can reverse the media-called election for Joe Biden.” This dangerous theory, known as the “independent state legislature doctrine,” has been rejected by a federal judge as a “coup in search of a legal theory” and referred to as “constitutional mischief” by retired federal Judge J. Michael Luttig.

Thomas has been so ambitious and indefatigable in her efforts to subvert the will of the majority that she’s left a lengthy paper trail, which leaves no doubt as to her perverse intentions and traitorous goals. In March, it was reported she sent at least 29 texts to Mark Meadows, Trump’s White House chief of staff, in the aftermath of the election and urged him to “help this great president stand firm” and resist the democratic transition of power. She also echoed the deranged conspiratorial talking points of QAnon, which the FBI now considers a domestic terror threat.

Her husband, Justice Thomas, just happened to be the sole dissenting vote in a ruling that ordered Trump to turn over his documents to the Jan. 6 Committee. In light of all these revelations, it’s now reasonable to conclude Justice Thomas knew the documents might expose his wife’s deep involvement in the coup attempt.

[jackd]

Pretty hard to claim Biden's speech wasn't partisan. If Trump announces, should the networks cover it live? If so, why?

[goldenvalley]

Sept 2, 2022 18:10:26 GMT jackd said:

Pretty hard to claim Biden's speech wasn't partisan. If Trump announces, should the networks cover it live? If so, why?

One could argue that pointing out an internal threat is not partisan speech when there seems to be a lot of underground talking about civil war and violence in the streets?  This has been a fairly extraordinary time in the history of this country. Yes, there were political assassinations in the 1960s but the country was not so interconnected by an internet as they are now and not as well armed.  

As to announcing a Trump campaign...he isn't the president no matter what he claims.  He doesn't have the status that the sitting president does in terms of addressing the nation. Who was Biden mostly talking to?  I think it was the Republicans who aren't MAGA and voters who are not firmly in either party.  Maybe we should call that bipartisan?   

Interesting thought experiments.

ETA When I say violence in the streets I'm thinking 1/6 style ready for hand to hand combat and whatever else happens after that.  Whatever the BLM protests were (and the burning was bad, throwing things at officers was bad) they weren't what we saw on that day.

[jackd]

On rethinking the matter a bit, the fact of the threats of violence against F.B.I agents and others, does make President Biden's speech one of "governmental business" instead of political argument, although it's hard to claim political argument wasn't mixed in.

[LFC]

Not incorrect but obviously not exactly unbiased either.

President Joe Biden delivered an important speech in Philadelphia on Thursday night about the threat that Donald Trump and his followers pose to the future of American democracy. It was fiery and blunt by Biden standards. And there’s probably no better proof that Biden’s speech was desperately needed than the reaction it received online. Trump’s army of whiners and assholes absolutely lost their shit.

Trump supporters were simply aghast that a president of the United States would deliver such a divisive speech. Can you even imagine if Trump had ever said anything so polarizing? Biden said he was going to bring the country together, they whined, not speak frankly about the neo-fascist ideology of Trumpism. How dare Biden be so callous and mean?

What did Biden actually say? He spoke honestly about what will happen if Trump and his acolytes are allowed to retake power.

This is followed by whining statements by the likes of Kevin McCarthy, MTG, Rod Dreher (who, as a staunch supporter of Hungary's Viktor Orban, is killing irony), JD Vance, and other right-wing dipshits. I'm going to go through the comments on Rod's tweets to see if he takes a bitch-slapping for his hypocrisy. My guess is yes.

[LFC]

Rod Dreher on Biden's anti-fascism speech:

Rod Dreher
@roddreher

The people who came to America to escape Communism have been telling us so for a few years now. #LiveNotByLies

A few responses. People didn't disappoint.

Jon 😀
@pizza_butt_

arent you in Hungary right now?

DuendeonFuego
@duendeenf

dude he's a largely center-right moderate in red lighting. relax.

TobyWebs
@tobywebs

LOL. One side stormed the Capitol to stop the transfer of power and is now threatening violence if their strong man gets indicted for crimes he obviously committed. But the other side has bad lighting design so they’re the authoritarians.

Gen-X RN
@momanoms2

This you?

This one apparently hit a personal nerve from somebody who actually experienced communism.

Artus9010 G. Dorado
@artus9010

That’s exactly the case. I also came from a communist country. And you continue with your cowardice and naivety. You apparently have lost the balls of your forefathers and are ready for slavery. Maybe you deserve it.

[goldenvalley]

Looks like Dreher is ready to renounce his American citizenship.

[LFC]

Sept 2, 2022 19:26:20 GMT goldenvalley said:

Looks like Dreher is ready to renounce his American citizenship.

[LFC]

Sept 2, 2022 19:03:01 GMT jackd said:

On rethinking the matter a bit, the fact of the threats of violence against F.B.I agents and others, does make President Biden's speech one of "governmental business" instead of political argument, although it's hard to claim political argument wasn't mixed in.

When a group dedicated to overthrowing a system of government has no political party affiliation it's not partisan but if they do claim party affiliation then it is partisan. Basically it's a distinction without a difference.

Here's one opinion that makes the case it wasn't actually "partisan." She also rips into the MSM opinion writers, pointing out that "all of these outlets have otherwise done rock solid reporting showing that Biden's warning is not "partisanship," but flat-out facts." They just can't bring themselves to state the obvious conclusion. 

During Thursday night's somber warning about the threat to democracy posed by Donald Trump and his rising fascist movement, President Joe Biden repeatedly emphasized the importance of being "honest with each other and with ourselves" about the current situation. "But as I stand here tonight, equality and democracy are under assault. We do ourselves no favor to pretend otherwise."

The president reiterated that point later, noting that it is "my duty to level with you, to tell the truth no matter how difficult, no matter how painful."

Presumably, it is also the duty of the mainstream media to level with the American people, to tell these truths, no matter how painful and regardless of how much whining they get in response from Republicans. So too, it is the media's duty to set aside the cynical "horse race" coverage that can reduce existential issues to little more than political game-playing. And to admit that the typical "both sides" and "partisanship" frameworks don't apply in a situation where one party has embraced a fascist assault on democracy, while the other party is trying to stop them. It is on the media to prioritize the truth over some ill-fitting "balance" between two parties in an era when one of those parties rejects democracy itself.

But of course, what we all too often get is a bunch of media hand-wringing about "partisanship" while ignoring the seriousness of the crisis in favor of a reductive lens treating this as little more than some campaign shenanigans.

Amber Phillips of the Washington Post formatted her post-speech analysis in a listicle format. The first item? "This speech did not shy away from partisanship." Yep, Republicans are embracing authoritarian, anti-democratic politics, but the Beltway press keeps acting as if "partisanship" is the thing to worry about.

Peter Baker's equally blinkered analysis at the New York Times starts with the headline, "A Rematch of Biden v. Trump, Two Years Early" and just gets worse from there.

"Rather than a referendum on his own presidency, which has been hurt by high inflation and low public morale, Mr. Biden wants to make the election a choice between 'normal' and an 'extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic,' as he put it on Thursday," Baker writes. It's as if a literal fight over whether we'll continue to have a democracy is little more than the usual pre-election political posturing.

ABC News also approached the question of rising fascism as if it were political theater criticism with the headline "Biden seeks to reframe midterms into stark choice between democracy and Trump-led extremism."

What's frustrating is that all of these outlets have otherwise done rock solid reporting showing that Biden's warning is not "partisanship," but flat-out facts.

"We are not powerless in the face of these threats. We are not bystanders in this ongoing attack on democracy."

[goldenvalley]

Sept 2, 2022 20:02:39 GMT LFC said:

Sept 2, 2022 19:03:01 GMT jackd said:

On rethinking the matter a bit, the fact of the threats of violence against F.B.I agents and others, does make President Biden's speech one of "governmental business" instead of political argument, although it's hard to claim political argument wasn't mixed in.

When a group dedicated to overthrowing a system of government has no political party affiliation it's not partisan but if they do claim party affiliation then it is partisan. Basically it's a distinction without a difference.

Here's one opinion that makes the case it wasn't actually "partisan." She also rips into the MSM opinion writers, pointing out that "all of these outlets have otherwise done rock solid reporting showing that Biden's warning is not "partisanship," but flat-out facts." They just can't bring themselves to state the obvious conclusion. 

During Thursday night's somber warning about the threat to democracy posed by Donald Trump and his rising fascist movement, President Joe Biden repeatedly emphasized the importance of being "honest with each other and with ourselves" about the current situation. "But as I stand here tonight, equality and democracy are under assault. We do ourselves no favor to pretend otherwise."

The president reiterated that point later, noting that it is "my duty to level with you, to tell the truth no matter how difficult, no matter how painful."

Presumably, it is also the duty of the mainstream media to level with the American people, to tell these truths, no matter how painful and regardless of how much whining they get in response from Republicans. So too, it is the media's duty to set aside the cynical "horse race" coverage that can reduce existential issues to little more than political game-playing. And to admit that the typical "both sides" and "partisanship" frameworks don't apply in a situation where one party has embraced a fascist assault on democracy, while the other party is trying to stop them. It is on the media to prioritize the truth over some ill-fitting "balance" between two parties in an era when one of those parties rejects democracy itself.

But of course, what we all too often get is a bunch of media hand-wringing about "partisanship" while ignoring the seriousness of the crisis in favor of a reductive lens treating this as little more than some campaign shenanigans.

Amber Phillips of the Washington Post formatted her post-speech analysis in a listicle format. The first item? "This speech did not shy away from partisanship." Yep, Republicans are embracing authoritarian, anti-democratic politics, but the Beltway press keeps acting as if "partisanship" is the thing to worry about.

Peter Baker's equally blinkered analysis at the New York Times starts with the headline, "A Rematch of Biden v. Trump, Two Years Early" and just gets worse from there.

"Rather than a referendum on his own presidency, which has been hurt by high inflation and low public morale, Mr. Biden wants to make the election a choice between 'normal' and an 'extremism that threatens the very foundations of our Republic,' as he put it on Thursday," Baker writes. It's as if a literal fight over whether we'll continue to have a democracy is little more than the usual pre-election political posturing.

ABC News also approached the question of rising fascism as if it were political theater criticism with the headline "Biden seeks to reframe midterms into stark choice between democracy and Trump-led extremism."

What's frustrating is that all of these outlets have otherwise done rock solid reporting showing that Biden's warning is not "partisanship," but flat-out facts.

"We are not powerless in the face of these threats. We are not bystanders in this ongoing attack on democracy."

I expected more of Baker.  It is a choice between normal and dangerous. Ask the folks that have been hounded, threatened, and bullied because they administer elections laws in a way that is compliant with the laws how dangerous this is. Biden and Trump aren't in active campaigns and there is absolutely no reason for Baker or anyone else to frame it that way. No wonder we are in the mess we are in.

[jackd]

"Biden and Trump aren't in active campaigns.. . " Technically, that's true, technically.

[goldenvalley]

If I were McCarthy I'd fire the speechwriters of this speech.  From McCarthy's speech yesterday afternoon before Biden's.

“The American experiment and the good people who believe in it have not said their last word. The electric cord of liberty still sparks in our hearts. The spirit of the Pilgrims, the Patriots and the Pioneers still inspire our souls. Our best days are ahead of us, not behind us. Our nation can flourish again and under a new historic Republican majority,” the House minority leader intoned.

Did the alliterated groups listed have electric cords?

[AnBr]

[pnwguy]

Sept 2, 2022 21:40:39 GMT goldenvalley said:

“The American experiment oligarchy and the good white people who believe in it have not said their last word. The coal-fired electric cord of liberty still sparks in our hearts. The spirit of the Pilgrims Proud Boys, the Patriots Oath Keepers and the Pioneers Three Percenters still inspire our souls. Our best days grifts are ahead of us, not behind us. Our nation donors can flourish again and under a new historic Republican majority gerrymandered dictatorship,” the House minority leader intoned.

FIFH

[LFC]

They're more and more open about their fascism. They're clearly way past fasc-curious.

A speaker at ex-President Donald Trump’s Pennsylvania rally on Saturday painted her nephew, an alleged Nazi sympathizer named Timothy Hale-Cusanelli who was convicted over his participation in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, as a victim of political oppression.

Cynthia Hughes, who founded a support group for Jan. 6 defendants known as the “Patriot Freedom Project,” lamented in her speech that Hale-Cusanelli was “languishing behind the walls of a D.C. jail” and claimed that he and his fellow Jan. 6 insurrectionists were being denied due process.

Hughes described how Hale-Cusanelli had “served his country” as a former Army reservist (he was fired after Jan. 6) and was “dressed in a suit and tie” when he went to the Capitol.

However, Hughes failed to mention that her nephew, who was found guilty of obstruction in May, openly espoused neo-Nazi views, according to evidence provided by prosecutors and accounts from Hale-Cusanelli’s own (now former) coworkers.

Instances of Hale-Cusanelli allegedly aligning himself with Nazism include telling coworkers that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler “should have finished the job,” going to work with a Hitler mustache and repeatedly making anti-Semitic comments.

[LFC]

A judge boots a convicted insurrectionist out of office using the 14th Amendment.

It’s official: A political official has been kicked out of office for getting involved in the January 6th insurrection A New Mexico judge on Tuesday ordered Couy Griffin, an Otero County Commissioner, to be removed from his elected office for participating in the attack.

The ruling is a first since the Jan. 6 attack: Judge Francis J. Mathew ruled that Griffin violated Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, the Disqualification Clause, which prohibits anyone who “hold(s) any office, civil or military, under the United States” from engaging in “insurrection or rebellion” against the country. The judge’s decision marks the first time since 1869 that a public official has been ousted under the clause.

[LFC]

Another fascist calling for violence, this over having his donations to extremist causes exposed. He's lashing out wildly at those who simply shoed people his positions on various issues like abortion and LGBTQ rights. What's the matter? Are you ashamed? Or are you simply dishonest about anything that might hurt your electoral chances?

The Republican candidate for governor in Wisconsin endorsed by Donald Trump is calling for people to take up “pitchforks and torches” in reaction to a story that detailed his giving to anti-abortion groups, churches and others — rhetoric that Democrats say amounts to threatening violence.

Tim Michels, who co-owns the state’s largest construction company, faces Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in the battleground state. If Michels wins, he will be in position to enact a host of GOP priorities passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature leading into the 2024 presidential election. Evers has vetoed more bills than any governor in modern state history and is campaigning on his ability to serve as a check on Republicans.

Michels, a multimillionaire, this week reacted strongly to a story published by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel detailing charitable giving by he and his wife’s foundation, some of which went to anti-abortion groups and churches that have taken anti-gay positions.

Since the story’s publication, Michels has gone after not just Evers and Democrats, but also the Journal Sentinel and, more broadly, all reporters.

“I believe people should just, just be ready to get out on the streets with pitchforks and torches with how low the liberal media has become,” Michels said Thursday on a conservative talk radio show. “People need to decide ‘Am I going to put up with this? Am I going to tolerate this, taking somebody that gives money to churches or cancer research and use that as a hit piece in the media?’ I’m appalled. It’s disgusting.”

That’s further than he went in a campaign website posting on Thursday when he encouraged people to “Get involved. Push back. Speak up. Volunteer. Donate. Vote.”

Evers’ spokesman, Sam Roecker, tweeted Friday that Michels had gone too far.

“Instead of explaining why he’s funding groups working to ban access to abortion and contraception, Tim Michels is encouraging violence,” Roecker wrote. “He’s too radical for Wisconsin.”

Hannah Menchhff, a Wisconsin Democratic Party spokesperson, accused Michels of threatening violence in an “extreme attempt to pander to Donald Trump and the MAGA base.”

[LFC]

Oh, great. Another fascist with money using his fortune to fight against reality and overthrow democracy. Is there no shortage of these assholes?

In the mid-2000s, Barre Seid had begun thinking about how to leave a legacy. Riding the personal computer boom, the Chicago-based electronics magnate was on his way to becoming a billionaire. Seid, who considers himself a libertarian, now had the means to pursue a bold project: “attack philanthropy.”

To Seid, that meant looking for ways to place financial bets that had the potential to make epochal change. With little public notice, Seid became one of the most important donors to conservative causes during an era that saw American politics and society shift sharply to the right.

New reporting by ProPublica and The Lever, based on emails and interviews with people who know Seid, sheds light on one of the country’s least-known megadonors, revealing how an intensely private billionaire has secretly used his wealth to try to influence the lives of millions.

Seid has funded climate denialism as well as a national network of state-level think tanks that promote business deregulation and fight Medicaid expansion. He’s also supported efforts to remake the higher education system in a conservative mold, including to turn one of the nation’s most politically influential law schools into a training ground for future generations of right-wing judges and justices.

Last month, The Lever and ProPublica as well as The New York Times detailed how Seid secretly handed a $1.6 billion fortune to a key architect of the Supreme Court’s conservative supermajority that recently eliminated federal protections for abortion rights.

Steven Baer, a longtime friend and former adviser to Seid, said the businessman has long been “the major patron” for the Heartland Institute, a small Chicago-area think tank which for decades has attacked mainstream climate science. A top executive at Seid’s former company, Tripp Lite, served as the chairman of the group. Among the recentclaims on the institute’s website: “US Temperature Readings Are Junk, Negating Climate Science” and “96% of U.S. Climate Data Is Corrupted.”

“Barre did not need the quick win,” explained Baer in a recent interview. “He believes that if you take the long-odds shot and it pays off, it’s huge.” Baer said that Seid summed up his approach as “attack philanthropy.”

Seid, who turned 90 in April, is exceedingly secretive. In one email obtained by ProPublica and The Lever, he described himself as prone to “anonymity paranoia.”

Seid was so insistent on remaining in the shadows that he sometimes went by a pseudonym, variously given as Ebert or Elbert Howell. He and his staff at Tripp Lite would give the Howell name as the CEO of the company to outside salesmen and in business information registries, according to testimony Seid gave in a federal lawsuit.

“I get harassed a lot by telephone calls from security salesmen and the like and the source of it is mailing lists,” Seid said in the testimony, adding: “It’s a way of deflecting salesmen.” Seid did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

It’s impossible to know the full extent and details of Seid’s giving over the years because the law allows many nonprofits to keep their sponsors secret. But tax records previously obtained by ProPublica show that between 1996 and 2018, he made at least $775 million in donations to nonprofit groups. Almost all of that money was given anonymously.

As Seid got older, he knew that he needed a plan for what to do with his vast wealth, according to Baer. Seid, who has no children, knew that donating his billion-plus fortune could have a generational impact if put in the right hands.

“The question was,” Baer said, “how does he try to steer history?”

This guy sounds a b it like Howard Hughes in the 21st Century.

[LFC]

FINALLY! It only took one year and 8 months. I doubt most (all?) cases will get to court before Jan 20, 2025. If a Republican takes the White House this will all be wasted effort. So much for "time is of the essence." I really wonder if this would even be happening at all without the Jan 6 Committee doing an enormous amount of legwork and publicizing the treason that happened that day.

DOJ Sends 40 Subpoenas, Seizes Several Phones

The Justice Department’s Jan. 6 investigators have been busy this past week, sending more than three dozen subpoenas to people in Trump’s orbit, according to the New York Times. CNN similarly reports that the Justice Department issued more than 30 subpoenas to Trumpland in recent days.

• Ex-Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien and ex-Trump campaign chief financial officer Sean Dollman were among those who got subpoenaed, according to CNN.

• Ex-White House social media director Dan Scavino reportedly got one too. He still works as one of Trump’s advisers.

• Federal agents also reportedly seized phones from Trump campaign advisers Boris Epshteyn and Mike Roman, who were both involved in the fake elector scheme.

• Ex-White House senior adviser Stephen Miller was subpoenaed last week too, as the Times and CNN previously reported.

[LFC]

An 18-yr old in Boise just defeated an incumbent to gain a spot on the school board. The incumbent refused to speak up against a group that had actually intimidated students. If you can't stand up for students in this case then there's no good reason to have you on a school board. 

The nationwide campaign to stifle discussions of race and gender in public schools through misinformation and bullying suffered a reversal in Idaho on Monday, when a high school senior vocally opposed to book bans and smears against LGBTQ+ youth took a seat on the Boise school board.

The student, Shiva Rajbhandari, was elected to the position by voters in Idaho’s capital last week, defeating an incumbent board member who had refused to reject an endorsement from a local extremist group that has harassed students and pushed to censor local libraries.

In an interview, Rajbhandari told The Intercept that although he had hoped people would vote for him rather than against his opponent — “My campaign was not against Steve Schmidt,” he said — he was nonetheless shocked that Schmidt did not immediately reject the far-right group’s endorsement. “I think that’s what the majority of voters took issue with,” Rajbhandari said.

The Idaho Liberty Dogs, which attacked Rajbhandari on Facebook for being “Pro Masks/Vaccines” and leading protests “which created traffic jams and costed [sic] tax payers money,” spent the summer agitating to have books removed from public libraries in Nampa and Meridian, two cities in the Boise metro area.

But, Rajbhandari said, “that’s the least of what they’ve done. Last year, there was a kid who brought a gun to Boise High, which is my school, and he got suspended and they organized an armed protest outside our school.”

Rajbhandari, who started leading Extinction Rebellion climate protests in Boise when he was 15, is familiar with the group’s tactics. “We used to have climate strikes, like back in ninth grade, and they would come with AR-15s,” he said, bringing rifles to intimidate “a bunch of kids protesting for a livable future.”

So when the Idaho Liberty Dogs called on Boise voters to support Schmidt — and a slate of other candidates for the school board who, ultimately, all lost — Rajbhandari told me he texted his rival to say, “You need to immediately disavow this.”

“This is a hate group,” Rajbhandari says he told Schmidt. “They intimidate teachers, they are a stain on our schools, and their involvement in this election is a stain on your candidacy.” Schmidt, however, refused to clearly reject the group, even after the Idaho Liberty Dogs lashed out at a local rabbi who criticized the endorsement by comparing the rabbi to Hitler and claiming that he harbored “an unrelenting hatred for white Christians.”

This is one smart, politically aware young man.

While the school board election was a hyperlocal one, Rajbhandari is aware that the forces he is battling operate at the state and national level. “Idaho is at the center of this out-of-state-funded far-right attack to try to undermine schools, with the end goal of actually abolishing public education,” Rajbhandari told me. “There’s a group, they’re called the Idaho Freedom Foundation, and they actually control a lot of the political discourse in our legislature. Their primary goal is to get rid of public education and disburse the money to charter schools or get rid of that funding entirely.”

“And the way they’ve done that, is with this very well-thought-out attack on teachers,” he added, promoting “baseless claims of ‘indoctrination’” in schools as well as “attacks on LGBTQ youth, with claims of ‘grooming.’”

Last year, when he was 16, Rajbhandari publicly confronted Idaho’s far-right lieutenant governor, Janice McGeachin, telling her that the task force she had set up to “Examine Indoctrination in Idaho Education” was investigating an entirely imaginary threat.

[LFC]

Durham's bogus "investigation" sounds like it's finally going to end ... with a whimper.

A three-year investigation requested by the Trump administration into the origins of the Mueller report seems to be winding down with little fanfare. John Durham was asked in 2019 to probe the origins of the investigation into Trump’s campaign ties to Russia, which the administration hoped would lead to prosecutions of former FBI officials tied to the investigation, but not much seems to have come out of it. Instead, the investigation has attempted to build cases against a cybersecurity lawyer and an analyst with ties to Christopher Steele, but no charges have been drawn and indictments appear “remote,” The New York Times reported. To add to it, Durham’s grand jury expired recently, and although he could request another one, it’s not in the plans, according to the newspaper. Durham is expected to wrap up his report by the end of the year, but there’s no guarantee that it will be made public. That will be up to Attorney General Merrick Garland to decide. “The public is waiting ‘with bated breath’ for the Durham Report, which should reveal corruption at a level never seen before in our country,” Trump wrote on his social media network, Truth Social, in late August.

I'm sure Durham's report will be just like every other steaming pile produced by a MAGAt. It will be full of hyperbole, accusations of nefariousness, alarm, and so on and will contain exactly nothing of substance.

I predict it will be dropped shortly before Election Day because, you know, that's what a real investigator would do.

[LFC]

Pure fascism, as well a complete 180 on reality. This guy is clearly a good German Republican.

Mark Finchem, the Republican nominee for secretary of state in Arizona, has enthusiastically championed a number of conspiracy theories—none more so than the conspiracy of a stolen 2020 election, which is the animating force behind his campaign to run Arizona’s elections.

But in a recent campaign speech, Finchem pushed the envelope, even by his own standards.

Just days before he won the August primary, Finchem was caught on tape blaming former Vice President Mike Pence for everything from orchestrating a “coup” to unseat Donald Trump after Jan. 6, to allegedly spying on the Trump campaign in 2016, to scheming to “steal” the presidency in 2024.

Finchem delivered the incendiary remarks on July 27 during a meeting of the far-right group United Patriots in Mesa. Video showing a portion of Finchem’s speech was quietly posted on YouTube on Monday and had racked up just 16 views as of Wednesday morning.