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After Florida Republican Governor and GOP presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis accepted his challenge to debate, Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom belittled his wannabe opponent for making demands to cut down on the opportunity for DeSantis to make more gaffs, Politico reports.

After an earlier report on the demands for the two to debate–for which Sean Hannity will be moderator–noted that it will like happen in early November in Georgia if it happens at all, the two camps diverged:  Newsom wanted a closed debate stage to DeSantis wanting cheering sections; Newsom wanted opening statements, while DeSantis wanted videos shown.

Newsom spokesperson Nathan Click released a statement calling out some of the DeSantis demands:  “What a joke. Desantis’ counterproposal is littered with crutches to hide his insecurity and ineptitude — swapping opening statements with a hype video, cutting down the time he needs to be on stage, adding cheat notes and a cheering section.  Ron should be able to stand on his own two feet. It’s no wonder Trump is kicking his ass.”

After indicted felon Donald Trump posted a thinly-veiled threat of revenge against anyone who dare attempt to hold him accountable for his criminal acts and the Special Counsel’s office responded by asking the judge in his latest indictments to issue a protective order banning Trump from attempting to intimidate witnesses or disclosing information, Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered Trump to respond to the prosecutor’s motion by 5 p.m. ET Monday.

Trump’s lawyers have responded to that order by claiming they’ll like three more additional days to resolve the matter directly with the prosecutor’s office.  “Additionally, a brief extension would provide time for the parties to meaningfully confer—and potentially resolve—this dispute without Court intervention.  Without doubt, discovery in this case will be extensive and likely present numerous complex issues. For that reason, it is essential to structure the parties’ discussions in a methodical and, ideally, cooperative manner. Friday evening ultimatums, given by the government before even calling defense counsel, are wholly unproductive and undermine the potential for party-driven resolutions. Requiring a Monday response to a Friday evening motion likewise forecloses the possibility of agreement and would encourage such improper tactics by the government in the future.”

CBS News has a provocative report questioning whether the National Institutes of Health killed a study on how best to communicate with the public because of political pressure from conservatives promoting disinformation.

In 2021, retiring NIH Director Francis Collins recognized the ongoing problems battling mis- and disinformation during the coronavirus pandemic, and in his final year in office set up a program called Advancing Health Communication Science and Practice to research the best ways to present prevailing medical understanding about everything from routine health questions to pandemic-level events.  Upon taking over as acting director in December 2021, his successor Lawrence Tabak, put the program on hold; nothing more has been done with the program in more than a year and a half, leading people within the field to believe the program is dead.

The question is, why was a program aimed at improving the dissemination of information from the world’s premier medical research facility dropped?  In the midst of a disinformation war in the country–with Republicans in Congress perversely claiming that by censoring federal public health professionals, they’re fighting censorship–having a study on how to get the public to believe valid information from respected sources would seem logical.

In 23 days’ time there’s going to be a decision of monumental consequence made, one that will set the course of the next year and much beyond in American politics. It’s no overstatement to say that the start date of disgraced former President Trump’s Washington DC trial on charges he conspired to destroy American democracy following his humiliating defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 election is going to go a long way toward determining the fate of American democracy itself going forward, and that’s exactly what’s in DC Circuit Judge Tanya Chutkan’s hands on August 28th.

Many, if not all of the gears for a clock that will tick inexorably to a dark midnight for Trump and his fanboys in 2024 are there, waiting for one crucial piece to be added by Chutkan.

“A Texas man who suggested a ‘mass shooting of poll workers’ and threatened two Maricopa County officials and their children was sentenced yesterday to three and a half years in federal prison, announced US Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Leigha Simonton. Frederick Francis Goltz, 52, pleaded guilty in April to interstate threatening communications. According to court documents, Mr Goltz threatened several individuals in Arizona – including a Maricopa County Attorney’s Office lawyer and a Maricopa County elections official – on the far-right-wing social media platforms Patriots.win and Gab.com,” says a Justice Department press release from Thursday.

“In plea papers, Mr Goltz admitted that on Nov 21, 2022, he posted the lawyer’s name, purported home address, and purported telephone number on social media along with the sardonic comment, ‘It would be a shame if someone got to [sic] this children. There are some crazies out there. This kind of info shouldn’t be readily available on the internet.’ On the same date, in response to another post referring to other Maricopa County officials, Mr Goltz said, ‘Someone needs to get these people AND their children. The children are the most important message to send.’ Just two days later, according to court records, Mr Goltz responded to a post about the elections official with the comment, ‘He’s got a WIFE that is a lawyer, too. We need to find out her name and where she works. I don’t think he has kids, but I’m not 100% on that.’ When another user commented that kids should be ‘off limits,’ Mr Goltz responded by saying, ‘NOTHING is off limits. It’s people like you that are supposedly with us, who don’t have the stomach to do what it takes to get our country back.'”

“An FBI investigation into Mr Goltz’s other social media activity revealed a long history of threatening statements against a variety of targets, including government officials, law enforcement officers, and others: For example, according to court records, on Nov 13, 2022, Mr Goltz advocated for ‘a mass shooting of poll workers and election officials’ in precincts he believed had ‘suspect’ results. According to court records, Mr Goltz repeatedly emphasized that ‘children are not off limits,’ and said that going after children is important because ‘it sends a message… people will pay the price for ‘sins of the father.’ Dead children burn into the memories of people.'”

Plainly sweating after Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith’s team flagged disgraced former President Trump’s “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!” post in a request for a protective order (while leaving up to the judge whether it was any sort of violation), the Trump campaign responded with an obviously very hastily-written statement early Saturday morning.

“The Truth post cited is the definition of political speech, and was in response to the RINO, China-loving, dishonest special interest groups and Super PACs, like the ones funded by the Koch brothers and the Club for No Growth,” says the statement which, while we can easily guess what “Truth post” they were referring to, did not actually link it or otherwise specify its content. Or explain how we were supposed to get that it was just political shitposting rather than directed at prosecutors. So yeah, they’re freaking the fuck out knowing the judge just might not take very kindly to the message.

• All those people who have been arrested and jailed, all those already facing charges, and those expecting indictments for their actions to upset the peaceful transfer of power:  Admit that you did it for Donald Trump, not the country.  You don’t want the United States to exist; you want the First Trump Dynasty.  You’ve ruined your life for a politician, not the nation.
• How many people out there sincerely fear they themselves could be Individual 6?  Four?  Maybe five?
• Most important takeaway from the latest Trump indictment:  Trump and his co-conspirators planned to deploy the United States military to enforce their fraudulent plot to overturn the 2020 election.  That, ladies and gentlemen, is a coup that you would literally see in a Third World country.
• Conservatives:  I don’t want my children exposed to LGBTQ subjects anywhere at any time because even being exposed to the idea will lead to adoption.  Also conservatives:  Let’s take the kids to the Trump rally with the guy selling Nazi flags and “Hang Nancy Pelosi” t-shirts out front.
  Read More ▶ “Random thoughts Friday, Volume CXXXII”

Just hours after disgraced former President Trump posted “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!” on his shitty Twitter knockoff, Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith’s team on Friday submitted a proposed protective order specifically citing the purposely vague threat as an example of the “previously issued public statements on social media regarding witnesses, judges, attorneys, and others associated with legal matters pending against him. And in recent days, regarding this case, the defendant has issued multiple posts either specifically or by implication.”

A backer of child trafficking-themed and Trump-promoted QAnon fan film Sound of Freedom was arrested late last month on charges of child kidnapping in Missouri, Newsweek reports, while forcing National Zero to do the homework and determine that they really fucking oversold their headline.

The film, starring Q-pilled maniac former headliner Jim Caviezel as a fictional version of real-life anti-trafficking activist Tim Ballard, was completed in 2018 and set to be distributed by 20th Century Fox’s Latin American subsidiary, only to be shelved when Disney bought the Fox entertainment properties from the Murdochs. The filmmakers bought the movie back from Lord Mouse but needed a distribution deal to get it into theaters, a lengthy search exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In came the Christian-themed Angel Studios, who crowdfunded the $5 million from its “Angel Guild” of 100,000+ group of small investors, who overwhelmingly approved Sound of Freedom‘s message and got it released this year. Among those was 51 year-old Fabian Marta of Chesterfield, Missouri, who apparently kicked in enough get a spot in the ending credits as “Fabian Marta and family.”

Three Montana women were hospitalized Wednesday after one, possibly two, otters attacked the group as they floated by on inner tubes on the Jefferson River in Gallatin County, KCFW reports.

One of the women was so severely bitten in the face and arms during the altercation with the angry little bastard (or bastards) that she had to be airlifted to Bozeman for treatment. The other two were transported to the same facility by land. Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials told KCFW the aquatic mustelids typically give birth in spring and by later in the summer can be seen out and about with their adorable little babies, which often precipitates such contentious encounters when the otters perceive a threat, so people are urged to give them plenty of space.

The Florida Education Commission sent a letter to all superintendents in the state backing away from its previous demand that no LGBTQ subjects be taught in AP Psychology courses, USA Today reports.

To comply with the culture war started by Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, the state Education Department sent a letter to superintendents informing them that LGBTQ topics must be removed from all educational materials, including the AP Psychology courses.  That move caused the College Board to decertify those classes being taught in Florida.

However, on Friday, Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. sent a letter to those same superintendents saying, “In fact, the Department believes that AP Psychology can be taught in its entirety in a manner that is age and developmentally appropriate and the course remains listed in our course catalog.”

Donald Trump filed a formal plea of not guilty with the federal court in Florida concerning the three additional charges added in the superseding indictment to the Florida federal prosecution regarding his theft of classified documents, Politico reports.  He also waived his right to be present at the arraignment on the additional charges scheduled for August 10th.

Federal District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington, DC wants a little clarity from professionally-neutered Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, a.k.a. “Co-conspirator 1,” who filed paperwork last month effectively admitting he said defamatory statements against Fulton County election workers Shae Moss and Ruby Freeman.

It’s a curious filing in the case, given that Moss and Freeman are suing Giuliani for defamation.  Admitting both that he made that statements and that the statements were false and defamatory is an unusual defense strategy, so Howell wants Giuliani to either explicitly state that he is knowingly admitting that all the substantive claims Moss and Freeman allege are true, thereby moving to an immediate default judgment for the plaintiffs, or submit a statement explaining exactly what the fuck he meant when he stipulated to every element of proof needed to prove the case against him.

Again, although it’s unusual for a defendant to admit they committed the offense they’re accused of, it’s not unusual:  Two of Donald Trump’s lawyers did it multiple times yesterday in a federal criminal case.

Forget how cartoonishly “Mob”-by the missive is. These nine words constitute a threat to multiple prosecutors, and they encapsulate exactly why Donald Trump is running for president again: not because he wants to serve the public, but because he wants to power of the federal government to exact revenge on his perceived enemies.

A three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a new Connecticut law that would essentially abolish religious exemptions for school vaccination requirements while upholding medical exemptions, the Hartford Courant reports.

Citing Supreme Court precedents that allow states to set their own vaccination requirements for education, the federal court panel upheld the 2021 state law that required all children enrolling in school to have a slate of inoculations as necessary during the coronavirus pandemic.  While the judges unanimously agreed that Connecticut had the constitutional authority to enact the vaccine regulation, the panel sent back to the lower court a portion of the case about the requirement for special-needs students to get vaccinated that related to how the opinion defined “special needs” and “special education” student.

“Connecticut’s decision to eliminate a religious exemption while permitting a medical exemption to the vaccine requirements undervalues the role of religious belief in American life and is irrational,” Norm Pattis, attorney for one of the plaintiff groups, We the Patriots, said. “As the good book says: ‘What does it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul?’.”

After indicted conservative multi-shirt aficionado Steve Bannon started calling for a Republican primary challenger to take out firebrand GOP Georgia Congresswoman and conservative missing link Marjorie Taylor Greene, indicted former president Donald Trump and accused sex trafficker Matt Gaetz intervened to put an end to the effort, the Daily Beast reports.

Bannon expressed frustration and exasperation with Marge during the disastrous Speaker vote in which she came out in support of milquetoast Kevin McCarthy.  Both Gaetz and Trump contacted Bannon to instruct him to lay off the QAnon-supporting Georgian, pointing to the seemingly insurmountable support she has in her district, where she got 65% of the vote in the midterms after winning the primary with 70%.

Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opponent to President Vladimir Putin who was sentenced to nearly a decade in prison for challenging Putin in the last election after surviving an assassination attempt by the Kremlin, was sentenced to an additional 19 years of incarceration and moved to a harsher penal colony, Politico reports.

Navalny was tried in what he described as a “sham trial” for supporting extremists movements in Russia–essentially, anything that challenges Putin’s absolute power–and given a “Stalinist” sentence for voicing opposition to Putin and continuing to hail demonstrations against the Kremlin.   Per the prosecution’s instructions, Navalny will be transferred to a prison colony, where he will be further isolated from leaders of his now-banned political party.  Human rights advocates fear Navalny may face violence at the hands of prison gangs loyal to Putin.

Already frail after surviving being poisoned by polonium in 2020 and seeking treatment in Germany, Navalny continued his political advocacy when he returned to Russia in January 2021 and was promptly jailed for just voicing his opinions against the Putin regime.

The Chinese city of Zhouzhou, with a population over 700,000 and located about fifty miles south of Beijing, flooded following heavy downpours and the failure of multiple nearby levees, but the event that put parts of the city 23 feet underwater was the opening of floodgates on dams to save the Chinese capital, the New York Times reports.

Zhouzhou was one of scores of cities, towns and villages around Beijing that was intentionally flooded by officials to spare Beijing from damage.  Officials forced one million people to evacuate with just hours of notice before opening up floodgates and spillways to alleviate the pressure after nearly two-and-a-half feet of rain fell on parts of Beijing over the previous week.  Social media chatter on Chinese sites shows people searching for hundreds, if not thousands, of friends and relatives still missing, with many fearing their loved ones did not make it out of the flood zone before officials opened the gates.

A key goal of the plan was to reopen the Beijing Daxing Airport, a massive complex with five runways.  By Monday, planes at the airport had to transit through water that covered their landing gear tires, making some of the airport inoperable.  “Ensure the absolute safety of key defense targets such as Xiong’an New Area and Beijing Daxing Airport,” Li Guoying, China’s minister of water resources, ordered on Tuesday.

President Biden will designate approximately one million acres of land around the Grand Canyon in Arizona as a national monument as a way to protect revered Native American lands and hold off uranium mining in the area, the Washington Post reports.

The area, to be designated the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument, sits north of Arizona’s Grand Canyon National Park approaching the Utah border to the north and the Colorado River to the east.  The Havasupai, Hopi and other tribes in the region have lobbied for the protection of the lands, saying the territory was part of the land their tribes would travel during nomadic periods.

The Obama Administration has put a 20-year moratorium on mining for uranium on the land in 2012, but the Trump cabal ignored that order and attempted to selling uranium mining rights on the land in 2020, a move that was blocked by internal administration officials as well as outside groups threatening lawsuits.  Advocates called on Biden to strengthen protections for the land, providing permanent blocks on mining.

Footage purportedly shows a Ukrainian naval drone overnight attack on the Russian amphibious attack vessel Olenegorsky Gornyak, damaging it so severely it caused a breach in one of its compartments, causing the ship to list to port severely. Ukrainian forces say the attack by the unmanned drone in Novorossiysk, a Russia port on the Black Sea.