Saturday, November 5, 2022
Scoop: House GOP to release 1,000-page road map for Biden FBI probe
Jordan has made clear he will use the committee to make the next two years of Biden's presidency as painful as possible for Democrats, with this document serving as a road map for how he'll navigate one of his key priorities…
Trump's gifts from foreign leaders under scrutiny from House Oversight committee - The Washington Post
"He said, 'They gave me these, these are my gifts,' " said Kelly, recounting his conversation with Trump. "But I'd say, 'No sir, they gave these to the president of the United States. You have to look at that as an official gift from a country.' He would be totally against that. He was adamant that they were his gifts and he couldn't understood why he couldn't keep these gifts."
'Hand-to-hand combat with the Left': Recordings show Trump-funded lawyer Cleta Mitchell readying for midterm elections - ABC News
Mitchell's reference to "hand-to-hand combat" also comes as officials are increasingly worried about the possibility of violence on Election Day. In Colorado, officials are so concerned about threats to election workers that some staffers have been outfitted with bulletproof vests...
FBI warns New Jersey synagogues of 'credible threat' | Reuters
The FBI warned on Thursday that there was a credible threat to synagogues in New Jersey, asking that they take security precautions to protect their communities and buildings.../cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/5MYHJW2NGBNHTNQUZ42OX7JXKU.jpg)
Senate Dems urge action on false Medicare marketing
Medicare Advantage is on track to capture more than half of the Medicare market by next year. As the program grows, misleading marketing practices undermine enrollees' trust in the program...
These actions come after the Trump administration significantly relaxed Medicare Advantage marketing requirements...
The nightmarish Supreme Court case that could gut Medicaid: Health and Hospital Corporation v. Talevski - Vox
Currently, at least some of these legal requirements can be enforced through private lawsuits — meaning that a patient who believes their rights under federal Medicaid law have been violated can sue the alleged violator. Rather than litigating whether they did or didn't violate the laws protecting nursing home patients, the defendant is asking the Supreme Court to strip Medicaid patients of their ability to bring such lawsuits entirely.:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71578983/566019461.0.jpg)
'God Forbid' Jerry Falwell Jr. actually practiced what he preached
After watching "God Forbid," you may wonder how so many evangelicals could have looked up to a man who Granda claims liked to film his wife having sex with a younger man and who, at the very least, says he knew about their sexual affair and "let it go on." What you won't wonder about, however, is why so many evangelicals continue to remain so low key about Falwell's reported transgressions or continue to send their children to Liberty.
Simply put, power is more important that morality to them. On every level…
The Power of Protest (Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor, Freethought Radio podcast)
Iranian-born Maryam Namazie, with "Ex-Muslims of Britain" and "One Law For All," describes the dire situation in Iran where protesters of the patriarchal regime are being persecuted and killed; she also tells us how we can help. Then we speak with Harvard student Aidan Scully, who writes a secular bi-weekly column for the student newspaper The Harvard Crimson called "The Free Exercise Thereof" that combats Christian Nationalism and advocates for state/church separation.
Interview:
Friday, November 4, 2022
FBI busts ‘Boogaloo Bois’ in Ohio and Michigan on weapons charges amid flood of threats, violence
The Michigan man, Timothy Teagan, 24, of Plymouth, was taken into custody after local police came to his family home the week before in response to a domestic-violence call. Taegan reportedly bit his father in the head and punched him multiple times, and when police arrived and arrested him, the father told them his son had guns in his room.
The FBI arrived a couple of days later.
When they searched Teagan's home, they found an AR-15 and multiple rounds of ammunition…
"This shit started out being a fucking way to kill feds," McKillips allegedly said in an audio recording he posted in a Signal chat room. He also talked about "burning down federal buildings and shooting federal agents."…
COVID-19 Origins: Investigating a “Complex and Grave Situation” Inside a Wuhan Lab — ProPublica
…many large-scale cases of domestic and foreign safety incidents in recent years, and from the perspective of shouldering responsibility, standardizing operations, emergency planning, and inspecting hidden dangers one-by-one, [he] laid out a deep analysis, with many layers and taken from many angles, which vividly revealed the complex and grave situation currently facing [bio]security work…
China "didn't have the background of how to run [advanced laboratories] safely," says James LeDuc. "They were trying to do their best."…
…By contrast, the interim Senate report concludes that "the hypothesis of a natural zoonotic origin no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt, or the presumption of accuracy."
The available evidence doesn't fit the patterns of previous outbreaks, it states, including outbreaks of SARS in 2003 and avian influenza in 2013. Those outbreaks saw many independent spillover events in multiple locations, and those viruses "exhibited much greater genetic diversity than early SARS-CoV-2 strains." And within six months of the first known case of SARS, the report says, Chinese health officials found evidence of the virus in palm civets and raccoon dogs.
The interim report also points out that, "almost three years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, there is still no evidence of an animal infected with SARS-CoV-2, or a closely related virus, before the first publicly reported human COVID-19 cases in Wuhan in December 2019."
Worobey said, "Our two recent papers establish that a natural zoonotic origin is the only plausible scenario for the origin of the pandemic."…
While the China CDC found no evidence of the virus in animals in the market, Pekar told Vanity Fair and ProPublica that the removal of animals from the market by the start of 2020 made it difficult to "actually sample the correct animals for SARS-CoV-2."
The Senate's interim report is no likelier than the Worobey and Pekar studies to close the book on the origins debate, nor does it attempt to. If anything, it seems destined to escalate the battle just as Republicans in Congress hope to retake the majority in the midterm elections. They aim to haul Dr. Anthony Fauci, the outgoing director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, into Benghazi-style hearings.
Texas AG Has Been Criminally Investigating Election Workers — ProPublica
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton hasn't just been pursuing supposed voter fraud. His office has also criminally investigated at least 10 election workers, in a harbinger of potential post-midterm turmoil...
Originalism on trial at the Supreme Court.
"These arguments create a perilous situation for the court and its already frayed public legitimacy. Liberals and independents in America are already upset with the conservative justices' use of originalist arguments to roll back abortion rights and gun safety measures. Imagine how they'll feel if the same justices suddenly discard originalism when the theory protects progressive causes like voting rights, affirmative action, and holding corporations accountable for wrongdoing.
An unpopular Supreme Court is one thing, but an unpopular and openly hypocritical court is another. As yet another blockbuster term unfolds, the American people will be watching—and judging—which kind of court we have."
COVID-19 Origins: Investigating a “Complex and Grave Situation” Inside a Wuhan Lab — ProPublica
China "didn't have the background of how to run [advanced laboratories] safely," says James LeDuc. "They were trying to do their best."
The ProPublica-Vanity Fair report on Covid-19’s origins is explosive. Is it reliable?
Critics say the article is flawed. But that shouldn't discredit the lab leak theory…
Trump insists the United States is 'rigged, crooked and evil'
A former American president described the United States as "evil." This generated almost no attention whatsoever. Why is that?…
Republican-led States Are Suing to Expel Legal Immigrants at the Border
The effort shows the states are not interested in solving illegal immigration, but rather, keeping immigrants out of the country entirely. Indeed, by trying to stop the legal flow of immigrants, they are explicitly requesting that the Biden administration intentionally sabotage the border in a way that would increase illegal immigration...
Cannabis holds promise for pain management, reducing the need for opioid painkillers – a neuropharmacology expert explains how
"I am a neuropharmacology scientist who studies both opioids and cannabinoids as they relate to pain treatment and substance abuse. My research focuses on the development of drug compounds that can provide chronic pain relief without the potential for overuse and without the tapering off of effectiveness that often accompanies traditional pain medications."
The Culture War Is Alive And Well In This Pennsylvania School District | HuffPost Latest News
"The board members are not interested in a democracy," Nazemi said. "What they want are either one of two things: public schools with Christian values, or public schools that fail so badly that we can then use our tax dollars to pay for private school."
Top British Pro-Democracy Broadcaster FACES OFF against far-right OAN host | The Weekend Show
Far right OAN host Addison Smith comes face to face with truths about GOP extremism and misinformation. Join Anthony Davis for a first of its kind debate on The Weekend Show.
Thursday, November 3, 2022
Trump lawyers saw Clarence Thomas as key to stop Biden electoral count, emails show - The Washington Post
"Realistically, our only chance to get a favorable judicial opinion by Jan. 6, which might hold up the Georgia count in Congress, is from Thomas — do you agree, Prof. Eastman?"
FBI arrests two alleged far-right Boogaloo Boys group members | FBI | The Guardian
"I literally handed out machine guns in Michigan," McKillips said in a recording, the complaint states.
In September 2021, he said in a private chat group: "Ain't got a federal badge off a corpse yet, so my time here ain't near done yet lol."
Sentenced to life for stealing $14: ‘I needed help, but was given jail’
He was incarcerated under one of the most extreme "tough on crime" laws in the US, which aimed to indefinitely imprison "habitual offenders". He only came home last month because a judge reviewed his case and declared that his punishment "shocks the conscience and offends fundamental notions of human dignity" and that he never should have been imprisoned at all.
Coulson's release was unusual, but the extraordinarily harsh punishment he received was not. Experts say thousands like him remain behind bars in California, sentenced to life due to 1990s legislation, some who may never be freed...
Photos Show Pregnancy Tissue Before 10 Weeks
Regardless of how someone feels when they become pregnant, the images that are available to them do not usually support all of their options, Fleischman said.
"Seeing what it actually looks like when it comes out is helpful to support people to make the decision they need to make," she said.
Brandi said that a lot of her patients have asked her if they could look at their pregnancy tissue after their abortions or miscarriages. Having access to photos like these ahead of time could help them make informed decisions about their pregnancies, she said.
Outer space is not a ‘hoax’ as Instagram post claims - PolitiFact
"Astronauts train in both settings. They train in vacuum chambers to understand pressure changes in outer space, and they train in swimming pools to experience a microgravity environment.
Evidence indicates outer space is real and Earth is spherical, not flat.
We rate this claim Pants on Fire!"
‘It’s do as I say, not as I do’: the lurid fall of evangelical pariah Jerry Falwell Jr
"I hope that people will see how potentially dangerous this level of hypocrisy is. There is no consistency. There is no ideology. It's power and profit. Morality is a cudgel. Not to quote the Bible or anything, but we used to live and teach our children the golden rule: do unto others as you would have done unto you. Now it's do as I say, not as I do. That's power and privilege and those are the kinds of people that we as a country are now elevating into office. It's not going to end well."
Wednesday, November 2, 2022
Candidate Running for State House Seat Attacked in Fayette Count - Erie News Now | WICU and WSEE in Erie, PA
Democrat Richard Ringer said he was bloodied and knocked unconscious by an attacker in his back yard early Monday morning...
https://www.erienewsnow.com/story/47607719/candidate-running-for-state-house-seat-attacked-in-fayette-county-home
https://www.erienewsnow.com/story/47607719/candidate-running-for-state-house-seat-attacked-in-fayette-county-home
Analysis: Crime is a top concern for many Americans in midterm vote. How bad is it? | Reuters
Experts have pointed to several causes for the rise in violent crime during the pandemic. Social services that help prevent crime were shuttered, schools that normally keep teenagers occupied closed down and individuals faced enormous stress, including economic anxiety and the loss of loved ones.
In addition, gun sales hit record highs in 2020 and 2021. FBI data showed more than three-quarters of all 2020 murders were committed by firearms, the highest share ever reported. The number of newly purchased guns used in crimes soared during the pandemic, according to data from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.../cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/7HT7NIZTSZKQ3J3JCMI62E72V4.jpg)
'Take them all out': New details from Paul Pelosi assault emerge as suspect arraigned - POLITICO
"We've got to take them all out," DePape told 82-year-old Paul Pelosi after noting that the speaker was "number two in line for the presidency," according to a court document released Tuesday by San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins...
Chief Justice Roberts temporarily delays release of Trump tax records - The Washington Post
"While it is possible that Congress may attempt to threaten the sitting President with an invasive request after leaving office, every President takes office knowing that he will be subject to the same laws as all other citizens upon leaving office," the court's order said. "This is a feature of our democratic republic, not a bug."…
Ads targeting transgender kids flood swing states - POLITICO
A group started by Trump administration alums is spending millions of dollars on battleground mailers and radio ads...
Tucker Carlson Makes Outrageous Statement About Hate Speech | HuffPost Latest News
The Fox News host rambled on while accusing Democrats of politicizing the hammer attack on Paul Pelosi...
Justice Jackson’s Crucial Argument About Affirmative Action - The Atlantic
In a day filled with questions about the meaning of "true diversity" or the educational benefits of diversity, Jackson's questions cut through the muck. Some students had historically been denied access to some of the nation's most well-resourced institutions of higher education—feeder campuses for prominent roles throughout society—because of their race. If SFFA wins, that fact will be one of the only things a university cannot consider in its admissions process, as though that history never happened—as though the system is fair enough already...
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2022/11/affirmative-action-supreme-court-ketanji-brown-jackson/671954/
Trump joins conspiracists stoking doubts about Pelosi attack - POLITICO
The former president suggested on Tuesday that it wasn't a break in. Authorities have been clear it was...
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/01/trump-paul-pelosi-attack-conspiracy-theory-00064417
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/01/trump-paul-pelosi-attack-conspiracy-theory-00064417
US school criticizes Republican Senate candidate for repeating false litter box claim | US midterm elections 2022 | The Guardian
Don Bolduc, who is running in New Hampshire against Democrat Maggie Hassan, spreads anti-trans rightwing trope…
Tycoon Oleg Tinkov renounces Russian citizenship over Ukraine war
"I have taken the decision to exit my Russian citizenship," wrote Tinkov, who's a citizen of Cyprus, Monday in an Instagram post. "I can't and won't be associated with a fascist country, that started a war with their peaceful neighbor."…
'Leave them alone': Tennessee mom slams homophobic attacks in viral video
"I've never been sexually assaulted at a drag show, but I have been in church, twice," Graham, 33, said. "The men at the church told me it was my fault."
"They haven't done anything to anyone," she went on, nodding to LGBTQ onlookers. "I am so sick of listening to this weird, fake pious crap about Christianity being the reason behind, 'We have to protect the kids.' Jesus didn't go anywhere and condemn people! He did not ever walk into any place and spew hatred and lies and completely annihilate a group of human beings who just want to exist."
Arizona GOP Attorney General Calls Out Kari Lake, Election-Denying 'Clowns' | HuffPost Latest News
Brnovich spoke to "60 Minutes" correspondent Scott Pelley about what he called "horseshit" claims about the 2020 presidential election in an interview that aired on Sunday...
True the Vote leaders sent to jail after contempt ruling by federal judge - The Washington Post
The organization, which has pushed false claims about the 2020 election, had been sued by a software company that has alleged defamation...
The Ballot Boogeymen (Reveal podcast)
Extreme new laws built on Trump’s Big Lie crack down on a phantom problem: widespread voter fraud.
- In August 2020, Guillermina Fuentes was trying to get out the vote in her small Arizona community. Outside a polling place, she handed a few absentee ballots to another volunteer to drop off. A conservative activist secretly filmed her and reported her to local authorities. In the eyes of the law, she’d just committed a felony.
- Dropping off someone else’s mail-in ballot, known as ballot collecting, became a crime in Arizona in 2016, and Fuentes would become the first person prosecuted for it. Reveal reporter Ese Olumhense travels to San Luis to report on Fuentes’ case and finds she has gone from being a well-known local politician in her community to the face of right-wing campaigns against voter fraud.
- Fuentes’ arrest and prosecution show the beginnings of an alarming trend shaping the future of how elections are surveilled and policed. Olumhense and Reveal’s Melissa Lewis built a database to track all election-crimes-related bills introduced in the country since the 2020 election. They found a national push to punish what is considered in many states to be typical voting practices. Fueled in part by politicians who falsely claim voter fraud stole the 2020 election from Donald Trump, bills are being introduced that create new election crime investigation agencies, establish criminal penalties for election offenses or empower law enforcement officials to investigate such crimes.
- While there was no proof of anything resembling widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, there is one way in which elections are shaped: gerrymandering. Mother Jones senior reporter Ari Berman delves into how Republicans redrew voting maps in Wisconsin, helping them cement control of the state Legislature. Republicans’ strong hold on power has allowed them to keep in place deeply unpopular laws like an abortion ban that dates back to 1849. But this isn’t about just state politics: It’s also about the next election for president in 2024.
Tuesday, November 1, 2022
‘Sorry for what I did’: Oath Keeper who pleaded guilty for Jan. 6 breach breaks down on the stand - POLITICO
Graydon Young of Florida choked back sobs as he testified against his former allies in their seditious conspiracy trial...
Senate Democrat wants national security investigation of Saudi Arabia's role in Elon Musk-Twitter deal | CNN Business
Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal helped Musk finance the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter (TWTR) by rolling over his existing $1.9 billion stake in the social media company. The move makes Saudi entities the second-largest shareholder in Twitter -- behind only Musk himself.
"We should be concerned that the Saudis, who have a clear interest in repressing political speech and impacting US politics, are now the second-largest owner of a major social media platform," Murphy said in a tweet on Monday...
U.S. Justice Dept backs voter intimidation lawsuit in Arizona | Reuters
The Justice Department, in its "statement of interest," said it believed it would be possible to issue a narrowly tailored injunction without violating First Amendment guarantees.../cloudfront-us-east-2.images.arcpublishing.com/reuters/Y2I7XGVBLNKKPD7E2M5HNYNRDA.jpg)
Yes, Trump and the Republican Party Own the Attack on Paul and Nancy Pelosi – Mother Jones
Wherever DePape may fall on the continuum of deeply aggrieved to mentally ill, his case is Exhibit A for the escalating dangers of stochastic terrorism—a method of rhetorical incitement that Trump brazenly ushered into the American presidency and successfully spread throughout the GOP. By continually vilifying alleged political enemies while in office, Trump emboldened far-right extremists, giving rise to white-supremacist violence and the January 6 insurrection.
There is no both sides-ing this problem, despite assertions to that effect by Fox News pundits and Republican officials in the days since the harrowing assault at the Pelosi's home...
Oath Keeper Graydon Young said Jan. 6 attack was like 'Bastille-type’ moment - The Washington Post
Graydon P. Young testifies in Rhodes seditious conspiracy trial that he thought Capitol breach at time could start a revolution: "I was acting like a traitor, someone acting against my own government"…
Prominent conservatives share online disinformation about Paul Pelosi assault - POLITICO
The posts by Donald Trump Jr. and Rep. Clay Higgins, among others, come as GOP leaders try to strike a different tone on the attack...
‘This is a blueprint’: abortion rights ballot proposal takes off in Michigan
Democrats in Michigan joke that the signage of the no campaign – "Vote no. Too confusing. Too extreme" – makes them look silly: absent a real critique of the ballot initiative, instead they focus on making voters feel they can't understand for themselves. But a lot of emotive misinformation is circulating, including materials from the Catholic church that suggest a number of policies could arise from voting yes including child sterilisation and abortion without parental consent – none of which has been proposed...
The Michigan race testing the limits of a GOP wave - POLITICO
Several weeks after Gibbs beat Meijer, the scion of a Midwest grocery dynasty, in an August primary, CNN revealed revealed Gibbs founded a "think tank" while at Stanford that suggested women did not "posess (sic) the characteristics necessary to govern" and that the United States had "suffered" after the 19th Amendment. A Democratic super PAC seized on it, airing a TV ad featuring young women reading Gibbs' direct quotes...
Like Trump, Elon Musk reveals a vapid mind super-charged by wealth and ego | Siva Vaidhyanathan | The Guardian
Musk, despite his wealth, good fortune and global influence, is not a serious person – but he is toying with dangerous ideas…
How Many Houses Did Jesus Have? (Hemant Mehta and Jessica Bluemke, The Friendly Atheist podast #450)
— 45% of Americans say we should live in a “Christian nation.” Yikes…? (0:50)
— Even Christianity Today admits public schools aren’t godless. (16:50)
— Christian “prophet” Robin Bullock says that Jesus was a wealthy man who owned five houses. (26:18)
-– Sumner County, TN has adopted new rules acknowledging the supposed “Judeo-Christian” founding of the country. (34:23)
— Christian hate-preacher Greg Locke is so loud that his county may institute a noise ordinance. (40:36)
— Leaders in the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo (NY) have agreed to government oversight because they’re utterly incapable of protecting kids on their own. (48:15)
— A Hasidic school in New York City will have to pay back millions for defrauding the state. (55:50)
Interview:
— Even Christianity Today admits public schools aren’t godless. (16:50)
— Christian “prophet” Robin Bullock says that Jesus was a wealthy man who owned five houses. (26:18)
-– Sumner County, TN has adopted new rules acknowledging the supposed “Judeo-Christian” founding of the country. (34:23)
— Christian hate-preacher Greg Locke is so loud that his county may institute a noise ordinance. (40:36)
— Leaders in the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo (NY) have agreed to government oversight because they’re utterly incapable of protecting kids on their own. (48:15)
— A Hasidic school in New York City will have to pay back millions for defrauding the state. (55:50)
Interview:
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