Tuesday, August 13, 2024
Investigating Matthew Trewhella, the Far-Right Wisconsin Pastor — ProPublica
He argues that government officials have a divine "right and duty" to defy any laws, policies or court opinions that violate "the law of God." To him, that means outlawing abortion and same-sex marriage, or even violently resisting the government.
His teachings have popped up in legislatures and local boards as the Christian right has increasingly influenced Republican politics. Lawmakers and former Trump officials have quoted his book.
Extremism experts say they're surprised by Trewhella's newfound acceptance and concerned about what it means for women, people of color and the LGBTQ community, saying he "would fundamentally alter the U.S. in irreparable ways."…
Texas women file federal complaint against hospitals for delayed ectopic pregnancy care
Both women in the complaints recounted how they nearly died after two separate hospitals turned them away out of fear of violating the state's anti-abortion law. In Texas, a physician who provides a prohibited abortion faces up to life in prison, loss of medical license, and at least $100,000 in fines...
Trump Claims Harris Used AI For Rally Crowd. Footage Shows a Big Audience. - The New York Times
Three reporters from The New York Times who attended the Michigan rally confirmed that the crowd numbered in the thousands, contrary to Mr. Trump's assertion that "there was nobody there." …
SpaceX repeatedly polluted waters in Texas, TCEQ, EPA found
Elon Musk's SpaceX violated environmental regulations in releasing pollutants into or nearby bodies of water in Texas, a state environmental agency said in a notice last week…
Charlie Kirk badgers Christian pastors to do more to elect Donald Trump
Rightwing activist urges conference of Protestant leaders to enlist congregants into 'deployments' to swing states…
Project 2025 Private Training Video: Left-Wing Code Words and Language
ProPublica and Documented obtained more than 14 hours of never-before-published videos from Project 2025’s Presidential Administration Academy, which are intended to train the next conservative administration's political appointees “to be ready on day one.”
JD Vance’s ‘Constitutional Crisis’ in the Making - POLITICO
Vance's proposal to gut the federal workforce is likely unlawful and unworkable. But despite his bluster about defying the Supreme Court, that might not be necessary…
‘A different level than 2020’: Trump’s plan to steal election is taking shape
Trump's refusal to accept the 2020 election results serves as a preview to expected challenges in November…
Republican candidate in North Carolina called for a Trump coup on Jan. 6
Michele Morrow, the Republican nominee to run K-12 public education in North Carolina, filmed a video after attending the January 6 riot at the US Capitol urging then-President Donald Trump to put "the Constitution to the side" and use the military to stay in power. In a deleted Facebook livestream she filmed from her hotel room, Morrow called for mass arrests of anyone who helped certify the 2020 election. "And if the police won't do it and the Department of Justice won't do it, then he will have to enact the Insurrection Act," said Morrow. "In which case the Insurrection Act completely puts the Constitution to the side and says, now the military rules all."…
Monday, August 12, 2024
The war on young people: Scott Galloway – Professor, Podcast Host, Author (Al Franken podcast)
Professor Scott Galloway joins the podcast for the first time!
He has thoughts on the current political climate and how extreme most of the Republican agenda is these days.
He also speaks about how modern politics and policies have left our young people disaffected and feeling left out of the political process.
From minimum wage to college admissions, Galloway shares policies and solutions that can help ease his declared “war on young people”.
Interview:
Back to the Docket (Andrew McCabe and Allison Gill; Jack: A Special Counsel podcast, Episode #89)
Judge Chutkan is back to moving things along as swiftly as possible by ordering a status conference, denying Trump’s motions to dismiss.
Jack Smith asked for a little more time to brief the court on how the Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity will affect the indictment and future proceedings.
What would it take for the FBI to investigate Supreme Court Justices?
Plus we take some listener questions.
Interview:
Jack Smith asked for a little more time to brief the court on how the Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity will affect the indictment and future proceedings.
What would it take for the FBI to investigate Supreme Court Justices?
Plus we take some listener questions.
Interview:
The problem with pronatalism: Pushing baby booms to boost economic growth amounts to a Ponzi scheme
Governments can provide education, contraception and other health care services, not because doing so will reduce birth rates but because these are vital components of a progressive, fair-minded society. And they can provide parental leave, child tax credits and high-quality child care, not because doing so will increase birth rates but because it will help the children who are born get the best possible start in life.
Sunday, August 11, 2024
Weekly Roundup: Kamala Harris’s VP Pick and the GOP’s Response (Bradley Onishi and Daniel Miller; Straight White American Jesus podcast)
Dan is flying solo this week, discussing Kamala Harris’s choice of Tim Walz as her VP running mate, exploring the potential impacts on the Trump campaign and the GOP’s strategies against Walz, including critiques of his military service.
He touches on JD Vance’s controversial comments and the GOP’s current strategy under Trump and analyzes how Harris’s campaign is actively reshaping the political landscape and causing tumult within the GOP, reflecting on the broader implications for the 2024 election.
Interview:
Jenna ”Flipper” Ellis 2024-08-07 (Allison Gill and Pete Strzok; Cleanup on Aisle 45 podcast episode #185)
This week: 
- a Super PAC set up by Elon Musk is under investigation;
- Trump tries again to get Merchan off of the Manhattan criminal case;
- Trump has replied to DA Bragg regarding immunity and “harmless error;”
- Rudy Giuliani has come to an agreement with Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss;
- Andy Ogles gets his cell phone seized when the FBI executes a search warrant;
- Jenna Ellis flips in Arizona;
- plus updates on the E. Jean Carroll appeal and
- the trial of the Mesa County, Colorado clerk who helped steal voter data,
- and more.
Interview:
Senate Democrats investigate glitch that leads to duplicate student loan balances - The Washington Post
The investigation follows a Washington Post report in May about duplicate loan balances showing up on the credit reports of some borrowers whose loans were transferred between servicing companies. Although the Education Department confirmed the existence of 1.4 million duplicate records, it never provided a breakdown of how many people have been affected.
Borrowers are mostly unaware of the problem, even as their credit score — a critical factor in determining how much you pay for car loans and mortgages — drops. And some of those who discover the error have complained of waiting months to have it resolved…
Iran hackers target US officials to influence election, Microsoft says
The report follows recent statements by senior US intelligence officials that they had seen Iran ramp up use of clandestine social media accounts with the aim to use them to try to sow political discord in the US.
The report also reveals how Russia and China are exploiting US political polarization to advance their own divisive messaging in a consequential election year...
White House condemns Israeli finance minister's remarks on cease-fire
The Biden administration unleashed a torrent of criticism against Israel's polarizing finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, on Friday after he referred to cease-fire negotiations with Hamas as a "dangerous trap." …
Advocates react to Utah ban of 13 books in schools and libraries: ‘It’s a tragedy’
Utah is first in the US to outlaw titles statewide they deem 'indecent' as free speech advocates worry about impact…
🚨 Republicans suffer SURPRISE LOSS in court
Marc Elias discusses Republicans suffering a major loss in court in Nevada.
Saturday, August 10, 2024
The News Roundup – Domestic and International (The 1A) 2024-08-09
Domestic
The candidates in the 2024 election are finally clear. On the Republican ticket, former President Donald Trump and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance. On the Democratic side? Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Both sets of candidates have been flying all over the country, campaigning in swing states that may decide the outcome of the race in November.Just like “Kleenex” and “Coke” are everyday brand-name terms for tissues and pop, many of us use the term “Google” to refer to online searches. And that dominance has legal implications. On Monday, a U.S. district judge ruled that Google “is a monopolist and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly” in a 277-page ruling.
The stock market tumbled on Monday. The S&P fell over 3 percent in a single day. There has been, however, a slight rebound as the week has continued.
International
Israel is bracing for expected retaliation from Iran and its proxies following the assassinations of a senior Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Tehran and a senior Hezbollah leader, Fuad Shukur, in Lebanon late last month.
This week, an extraordinary meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation was held in the Saudi port city of Jeddah. More than 50 members of Muslim-majority nations met to discuss the killings.
The global economy has been unstable this week. But nowhere more so than Japan, where the stock market plummeted by 12 percent on Monday. It was the worst single day since 1987.
Louisiana Can’t Defend Its Ten Commandments Law (Hemant Mehta and Jessica Bluemke, The Friendly Atheist podast #543)
— The selection of Gov. Tim Walz. (1:40) 
— Allie Beth Stuckey can’t handle a LEGO-themed Bible made by an atheist. (9:25)
— Louisiana found the worst ways to defend its Ten Commandments-in-classrooms law. (33:24)
— Anti-trans Texas pastor arrested after paying undercover cop for sex. (1:07:01)
— 98% of evangelical leaders say pastors shouldn’t endorse candidates in the pulpit. (1:16:18)
Interview:
Thousands of senior citizens are dying homeless in Los Angeles, records reveal
Death reports obtained by the Guardian show elderly people are regularly dying on the streets of LA: 'They're incredibly alone'…
‘Designed to tear families apart’: a shocking film exposes abuse and infanticide
Devastating documentary Sugarcane reveals horrifying stories from controversial Indigenous residential schools…
Supreme Court FINALLY Gets the KARMA it Deserves
Former Federal Prosecutor, Shan Wu, reacts to President Biden's proposed Supreme Court reforms and right wing attacks on the proposal.
Trump lashes out at Harris and falsely claims no one was killed on January 6
"Nobody was killed on January 6," the former president and Republican presidential nominee said, of the day in 2021 when he incited an attack on Congress now linked to nine deaths, including law enforcement suicides and the shooting by a police officer of Ashley Babbitt, who Trump voters widely claim as a martyr.
Speaking at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, Trump repeated his praise of rioters convicted and jailed in the hundreds, whom he has said he will pardon. Absurdly, he also said there was a "peaceful transfer" of power after he lost to Joe Biden…
Trump SCREWS HIMSELF with NEW Friend from HELL
In a desperate and pathetic attempt to stay relevant and gain new voters, Donald Trump sat down for a weird interview with the racist and misogynistic far-right streamer Adin Ross.
Friday, August 9, 2024
Special counsel seeks delay in Trump election subversion case in D.C. - The Washington Post
Prosecutors with special counsel Jack Smith on Thursday asked for a three-week delay in former president Donald Trump's 2020 election obstruction case, saying the Justice Department needed more time to analyze the Supreme Court's ruling last month that presidents have broad immunity from prosecution after leaving office...
Opinion | Trump’s news conference shows how panicked he is - The Washington Post
But rather than framing a sharp and coherent case against Harris, which his strategists so desperately want him to do, the former president on Thursday veered from grievance to grievance like a pinball. As he took questions from the media, desperation was practically oozing from his pores. And without the cheers of a rally crowd punctuating his rambling monologue, the incoherence of what he had to say was all the more apparent...
‘We’re not going back’: thousands rally for Harris and Walz in Wisconsin and Michigan
Detroit rally draws 15,000 people and high energy despite Gaza protesters and medical incidents from summer heat…
US support for Israel is collapsing. And Aipac knows it
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee may have succeeded in helping to defeat the pro-Palestinian Cori Bush. But it's a pyrrhic victory for a losing cause…
Far-right smears against Walz focus on conspiracy theory
"The predictable culture war fault lines – immigration, equity, gender fluidity, race – will be trotted out as insults and accusations: he took too long to call in the national guard against BLM protests, his state was too restrictive during Covid and so on," he said.
"When there aren't verifiable policy choices to attack, conspiracy theories will take their place – like the idea that he changed the state's flag to resemble the Somali flag due to an immigrant takeover."
‘It’s devastating’: summer in Canada’s Arctic region brings severe heatwaves
Temperatures in Canada – and especially the Arctic – are climbing faster than the global average, with highs of 33C…
Why White Supremacists Are Trying to Attack Energy Grids - The New York Times
An ideology with roots in white supremacist writings in the 20th century found renewed attention in neo-Nazi online groups in the 2010s and has inspired recent plots, say researchers...
FEEBLE TRUMP LASHES OUT AT PANICKED PRESS CONFERENCE
Adam Mockler with MeidasTouch breaks down Donald Trump's most unhinged press conference yet.
Thursday, August 8, 2024
New Georgia rules let local boards withhold election certification
The new rule essentially makes the certification of election results discretionary, said Democratic state representative Sam Park at a press conference outside of the hearing room at the Georgia capitol.
"These are Maga certification rules, and they're in direct conflict with Georgia law, which states in multiple places that local elections board officials shall perform their duties, meaning their duties are mandatory, not discretionary," Park said...
Inside Ziklag, the Christian-Right Group Trying to Sway the 2024 Election
Ziklag, a secret charity funded by wealthy conservative donors, whose members include the families behind Hobby Lobby and Jockey apparel, is spending millions to mobilize Republican-leaning voters and purge more than a million people from the voter rolls in key swing states, aiming to tilt the 2024 election in favor of former President Donald Trump. The group also has a long-term plan to steer the U.S. toward Christian nationalism — but lawyers and tax experts say it may be violating the law.
How China's opium history impacts America's fentanyl crisis
The Chinese Communist Party is obviously quite aware of how devastating drugs can be at a societal level, given its repeated invocation of the "Century of Humiliation" narrative. Some in China who have been deeply inculcated with this narrative might also view fostering drug addiction as a form of slightly misdirected vengeance.
While Britain, not America, was primarily responsible for inflicting drugs on China, the U.S. was also not blameless. Not only did it play a role in the Second Opium War and subsequent encroachments on Chinese territory, but there were also U.S. merchants involved in the opium trade, who operated in China under unequal treaties imposed by the U.S. government...
Trump took a private flight with Project 2025 leader in 2022 - The Washington Post
Trump took the flight to speak at a Heritage Foundation conference, where he said, "They're going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do."…
The Human Cost of Project 2025: A Story of Religious Discrimination in Adoption (Mini-Episode) (Bradley Onishi and Daniel Miller; Straight White American Jesus podcast)
Co-produced with Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the episode features a story narrated by Andrew Seidel about Liz and Gabe Rootenram, a Jewish couple from Tennessee who faced state-funded religious discrimination when trying to adopt a special needs child.
The episode highlights how Project 2025 could institutionalize discrimination against non-Christian and LGBTQ+ parents, affecting countless families across the nation.
Listeners are urged to watch and share a three-minute video to raise awareness about Project 2025’s potential impact.
Interview:
Wednesday, August 7, 2024
What’s behind the stock meltdown and will there be a recession?
Even after the losses, the benchmark S&P 500 index is still up more than 9% since January, as is the Nasdaq…
Revealed: US neo-Nazi terror group aims to revive activities ahead of election
"Neo-Nazi accelerationist groups are mainly keeping a low profile," he said. "Their focus on promoting chaos raises the possibility that they will encourage violence or commit acts of intimidation before the election."…
Targeting Tim Walz, Team Trump flunks a test of self-awareness
Trump's press secretary complained about Tim Walz restoring voting rights for formerly incarcerated people — seemingly unaware of Trump's criminal record...
Louisiana unveils Ten Commandments posters for public schools | CNN
One of the posters, titled "The House of Representatives and the Lawgivers," features the text of the Ten Commandments in between an image of a stone carving of "Moses the Lawgiver" and a photo of House Speaker Mike Johnson, who represents Louisiana.
Another poster features a photo of Ginsburg, the liberal Supreme Court justice who died in 2020, as well as her quote praising the world's "four great documents," including the Ten Commandments, the Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. The quote comes from an editorial she wrote for her school paper when she was 13 years old lauding the United Nations Charter...
Trump Campaign Criticizes Walz for State Law Providing Tampons in Schools - The New York Times
The law, which was passed in Minnesota last year, includes language requiring menstrual products to be available in bathrooms of all schools for grades 4 to 12 as a way to accommodate transgender students...
Trump’s fusillade of falsehoods on debt and taxes - The Washington Post
Even before covid, the deficit had worsened under Trump. But such rhetoric is in keeping with his effort to suggest the economy was booming before the pandemic — when in fact it was beginning to stumble. In all of 2019, manufacturing was in a mild recession, with some large manufacturers blaming Trump's trade wars for slumping sales...
Arizona Grand Jury Wanted to Indict Trump in Fake Electors Case - The New York Times
Newly released court papers show that grand jurors signaled their interest in charging the former president, only to have state prosecutors advise against it because of similarities to the federal case against him...
EPA takes emergency action to stop use of dangerous pesticide - The Washington Post
Economos said she hopes that the EPA will ban more widely used, harmful pesticides and that the industry will move away from toxic agrochemicals.
"We cannot keep going this way because we're hurting farmworkers, wildlife, the planet and ourselves," she said...
Election poll: Kamala Harris jumps to a small national lead over Trump : NPR
Vice President Harris has upended the presidential race and has now built a 51%-48% lead over former President Trump, according to the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll…
5 Key Reasons That Kamala Harris Picked Tim Walz - The New York Times
"You know there's something wrong with people when they talk about freedom: freedom to be in your bedroom, freedom to be in your exam room, freedom to tell your kids what they can read. That stuff is weird," Mr. Walz said during an MSNBC appearance on July 25…
The United States is not facing an imminent recession. This is nonsense
Everyone who makes economic predictions will one day be proven correct if they stick to their guns...
“No Stake in the Country”; It's in the Code episode #108 (Bradley Onishi and Daniel Miller; Straight White American Jesus podcast)
In the run-up to the 2024 election, Republican Vice President nominee JD Vance made waves for claiming that people without biological children have “no stake” in America’s future. What does that mean?
What is the religious and political rationale behind such a statement?
Decoding this idea further, what does it tell us about American Christian nationalist’s and their vision for America? Dan hit all these issues in this week’s episode.
Interview:
Tuesday, August 6, 2024
Google is an illegal monopoly, federal judge rules in antitrust lawsuit - The Washington Post
Judgment delivers a victory to the Justice Department as it takes on a string of federal antitrust lawsuits against Big Tech...
Blindfolded and beaten: Palestinians tell of Israeli jail abuse
"All of them again and again, told us the same thing," says Yuli Novak, B'tselem's executive director.
"Ongoing abuse, daily violence, physical violence and mental violence, humiliation, sleep deprivation, people are starved."…
Missouri Attorney General Fights to Keep Exonerated Prisoners Behind Bars - The New York Times
In Austin, Texas, Areli Escobar was convicted in the rape and fatal stabbing of a teenager in 2009, based on forensic evidence from a scandal-plagued crime lab that has since been shut down. After a judge recommended a new trial, the Austin district attorney, José Garza, a Democrat, agreed, saying that the state had used "false, misleading and unreliable DNA evidence" to convict Mr. Escobar. But the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, made up of nine elected judges, all Republicans, declined to overturn the conviction...
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