Category: Uncategorized

Dem Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes on Tuesday informed the Board of Supervisors in rural Mohave County that he knows what they’re up to and they’re going to find out if they fuck around with ditching tabulators to start counting ballots by hand next election, VoteBeat.us reports.

“Hand counting ballots is incredibly prone to human error, which results in a time-intensive process to arrive at correct, final results. However, even assuming correct results, state law does not allow county boards to unilaterally substitute a hand count for certified and tested electronic tabulation equipment,” wrote Fontes to Mohave the board a day after they voted nearly unanimously to request a proposal plan to hand-count ballots going forward. In a statement to VoteBeat Fontes added that “any plan to initiate a full hand count of ballots for a future election would put [county election] officials in serious legal jeopardy, including possible criminal liability, for violations of state law.”

Even more stupid for Fontes is how he’s still stuck dealing with this shit after a judge last November ordered similarly MAGA, rural Cochise County to halt their planned hand count after the 2022 midterms. A letter sent last month to all 15 counties by credibly accused domestic abuser and far right state Senate Majority Leader Sonny Borrelli last month falsely claiming a non-binding resolution declaring ballot tabulation machines illegal was actually binding certainly did not help the situation.

Embattled CNN CEO Chris Licht will step down soon, just weeks after the Trump town hall probably put the nail in the coffin of his tenure, Puck News’s Dylan Byers reports.

Responding to Nazi memorabilia collector and Clarence Thomas’s sugar daddy MAGA billionaire Harlan Crow’s refusal to answer questions from Democrats, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden on Tuesday threatened to subpoena Crow, raising the question of why threaten it rather than just going ahead and fucking doing it already to show that they mean business on this.

“It comes as little surprise that Mr Crow is doubling down on bogus legal theories as he continues to stonewall basic questions about his gifts to Clarence Thomas and his family. If anything, the most recent letter from his attorney raises more questions than it answers. The letter states, ‘charter rates or reimbursements at rates prescribed by law were paid to the Crow family entities’ with zero additional detail that could help clarify these financial arrangements, such as exactly who made those payments for Justice Thomas’s extravagant luxury travel, and how many times and in what amounts those payments were made. Far too often, efforts to investigate real life tax practices of the ultra-wealthy and powerful end with this kind of vague, carefully-worded assurance that everything is on the level. That’s simply not good enough. This is exactly why the Finance Committee is pursuing this matter as part of its broader review of gift and estate tax practices of ultra-high net worth individuals. I’ve already begun productive discussions with the Finance Committee on next steps to compel answers to our questions from Mr Crow, including by subpoena, and those discussions will continue,” wrote Wyden in a statement.

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Not-Romney McDaniel on Wednesday hailed the launch of “Bank Your Vote,” an all-too insider-y named effort to talk MAGA voters out of their bone-deep distrust of early and/or mail-in balloting which cost the party dearly in 2020 and 2022.

“To beat Joe Biden and the Democrats in 2024, we must ensure that Republicans bank as many votes as possible before Election Day. Because of the efforts to Protect Your Vote in 2022, grassroots Republicans like you should feel comfortable Banking Your Vote in 2024. The Bank Your Vote initiative encourages GOP voters (like YOU!) to get your vote in and make absolutely sure that your voice is heard in the critical 2024 elections,” wrote the RNC’s marketing department in the launch announcement without actually offering any examples of how the party worked to “Protect Your Vote” last year and ignoring that assholes like Kari Lake are still carrying on with “fraud” claims.

“In all 50 states, your Republican Party will be working hard to get our voters to vote by mail or early in-person, and ballot harvest where permitted. We can’t do it without you though – so share this site with family and friends to make sure they bank their vote, too!” the announcement continued.

It’s not clear yet how this effort will be received by the few Republican voters who actually see it, but judging by the Gateway Pundit’s reaction to Ronna pitching the same last year on Steve Bannon’s show, probably not very well. The other problem here likely lies with the use of the word “Bank.” Like we said it’s already too technical and “establishment” insider jargon-y, as if Ronna assumes every Republican voter reads the Cook Political Report regularly. Then there’s also that, while it’s not quite as prevalently dirty as “harvesting” (which she also uses here) in the minds of MAGA Nation, “bank” already carries some negative connotation in this context. So best of luck to Ronna and her official “Bank Your Vote” ambassadors Byron Donalds and Bill Hagerty.

Disgraced former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro this month will face a non-criminal trial in front of a seven-judge panel in the country’s election court over his false claims of fraud in the 2022 election he lost fairly to now-President Luiz Lula, the New York Times reports, adding that Bolsonaro could be barred from running for office again for eight years if convicted.

This of course is separate and apart from any criminal charges Jair the Jerkoff is looking at for his multitude of other offenses, related to the election and otherwise. Just last month federal cops raided Bolsonaro’s home and seized his phone as part of an investigation into whether he fakes his COVID vaccination record in order to be able to enter the United States after losing the election.

I believe in the American people, and I have faith God is not done with America yet. Together, we can bring this Country back, and the best days for the Greatest Nation on Earth are yet to come! 🇺🇸 #Pence2024 pic.twitter.com/A8EkqgCDAm

— Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) June 7, 2023

A new study published in the journal Nature says the Arctic Ocean may see its first iceless summer much sooner than expected because of the impact of manmade climate change, according to the Washington Post, marking a sad benchmark in the fight to curb climate change.

Original estimates said the Arctic would have minimal ice coverage by the 2050 decade, but new studies show that the ice will disappear in summer during that decade, not simply recede, even if humankind limits temperature increases to under two degrees Celsius.  The loss of ice makes reforming the icepack more difficult as the temperature rises, and scientists fear that with increasing global temperatures, the potential for a permanently iceless Arctic is higher in the next three decades.

“Even if Chansley were ultimately successful in advancing a meritorious claim to vacate his conviction (which, the government submits, he is unable to do), the case against him would not be dismissed. Rather, Chansley’s guilty plea would be withdrawn, the charges in the indictment would be reinstated, and the case would proceed to trial – where Chansley, if convicted, could face up to 20 years’ imprisonment. Chansley therefore may wish to consider whether the ‘relief’ that he could obtain through these claims is truly preferable to preserving the benefits of the Plea Agreement, under which he was sentenced to the minimum sentence under his calculated guidelines range.”

“Additionally, Chansley has not presented any arguments regarding a known defect in the colloquy, a lack of voluntariness in the plea, or a claim of actual innocence,” write DC federal prosecutors in a footnote on page 14 of their opposition to Jacob “QAnon Shaman” Chansley’s motion to vacate his conviction, not very subtly warning the famous Capitol rioter they’ll take him to trial, win, and send him back to the Big House for much longer in the unlikely event he’s successful in getting it tossed.

MAGA Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna – already known as a basket case even before she got elected last year – seems to have seen The Departed one too many times and thinks the “Biden Crime Family” have a mole in the FBI keeping them one step ahead of the investigations into them.

The mole’s codename is “One-Eye.” It’s not clear if this is a physical attribute like “One-Eye” literally has one good eye and an eyepatch or glass eye or if it’s simply a nickname. Luna at least sort of anticipates a major loophole in her story and explains that even though entire FBI is corrupt, this “One-Eye” character is like super, extra corrupt on top of just regular FBI-level corrupt.

The movement for 11 rural MAGA counties in Oregon to break away from the state and join Idaho – something that would require approval from both states’ legislatures not to mention the United States Congress – grows closer and closer to not actually happening as voters have approved measures in each county to move forward on the “Greater Idaho” plan, NBC News reports.

In very much related news, the AP reports the Oregon state Senate remains at a complete standstill as the once again Republicans are boycotting showing up to work to deny Democrats a quorum.

Conservative gadfly Jacob Wohl and his colleague Jack Burkman, famous for holding embarrassing press conferences from the front porch of Burkman’s Arlington, Virginia townhouse, were fined more than $5 million by the FCC for robocalling urban voters with false information during the 2020 election cycle.

In an effort to dissuade voters from going to the polls, the pair along with Burkman’s company, made more than 1,100 robocalls telling recipients that if they showed up to vote in the 2020 election, their “personal information will be part of a public database that will be used by police departments to track down old warrants and be used by credit card companies to collect outstanding debts.”  None of that is true.  The recorded call helpfully stated Wohl and Burkman were two of the entities that paid for the calls.

In November 2022, the pair were each sentenced to two years of probation, six months of monitoring with a GPS ankle bracelet, $2,500 each in fines and 500 hours of registering voters in Washington, DC by an Ohio court in a plea to criminal charges related to the scheme.  Felony cases in Michigan and New York appear to still be outstanding.

Ep. 1 pic.twitter.com/O7CdPjF830

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) June 6, 2023

The, uh, production values in this are something. As is the brevity. You could say it’s more “authentic” than what he had going on Fox. Authenticity is important these days. It’s like a currency.

Disgraced former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has testified one or both of the the grand juries impaneled by Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith to investigate the Orange God Emperor’s post-2020 election coup attempt and Donald’s theft of classified documents from the White House after the coup attempt failed, the New York Times reports.

“It is not clear precisely when Mr Meadows testified or if investigators questioned him about one or both of the cases,” the Times writes. Of course if it had to be one of them it would be the January 6th investigation, as in March a federal judge ordered Meadows to testify along with a host of other Trump White House minions considered key witnesses in the coup attempt and less so on the classified documents side. DC Circuit Judge Beryl Howell had presided over sealed hearings of testimony and evidence in both so it’s possible there was a two-for-one deal with Meadows.

There has been some speculation that Meadows may have “flipped” but just like with the alien spacecraft whistleblower guy from this morning we’ll believe it when we see it.

Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith has impaneled a second grand jury to investigate fat former President Trump’s theft of classified documents from the White House, with this new panel hearing testimony from new witnesses this week, CNN reports, saying sources don’t know why Smith needs a second grand jury to look into this after one’s already been sitting in DC for months.

Canadian air pollution is making New York City and other, less important, regions of the East Coast as smoky as Rudy Giuliani’s podcasting room, as the out-of-control wildfires in Maple Land send the ashen clouds southeast, National Zero reports with an assist from the Washington Post.

Air quality alerts have been in effect for days here in fair Gotham with no end in sight. When this happened two years ago at least it was American made fire ruining our air, but now we’ve got a foreign country not doing getting their shit together. Don’t they have Smokey the Bear in Canada?

Voters in Maine should double-check their Party registration after Maine elections officials warned the No Labels Party has been duping voters to change their political affiliation under the guise of signing a petition to get the Party on the November ballot, NBC News reports.

In what they hope to be the strongest third party showing in three decades, No Labels has gotten the endorsement of self-declared centrists like former Republican Maryland Governor Larry Hogan and ersatz Democrat former Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman.  It hopes to put candidates on the ballot in all 50 states, including for the presidency, but Democrats fear the third party challenge may siphon enough votes away to give Donald Trump or another Republican a pathway to victory.

Maine election officials say they’ve received numerous complaints from voters who signed what they were told was a petition to get an as-yet-unnamed No Labels candidate on the ballot in the November 2024 election, but in fact, had signed a form changing their Party affiliation, making them ineligible to vote in closed Democratic or Republican primaries.  Maine Secretary of State’s office has sent letters to newly-registered No Labels voters advising them to review their listed affiliation.

Fat former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on Tuesday formally filed the paperwork with the FEC to run for president in 2024, the New York Times reports on the beginning of a kamikaze mission to take down fat former President Trump and get revenge for nearly killing him with COVID.

A debate rules vote in the House covering four bills including one to protect gas stoves failed 206 to 220 including 12 Republican nays on Tuesday, putting a major GOP priority on the back burner.

What actually happened, according to those chodes at The Hill, was that 12 of the Freedom Caucasians wanted to stick it to McCarthy over last week’s debt ceiling/spending bill, and voted against the rules in protest, with the gas stoves being hilarious collateral damage.

Following a recommendation from the sheriff, Bexar County, Texas District Attorney Joe Gonzales on Tuesday said he’s opened a criminal investigation into short little bastard Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s role in trafficking migrants to Martha’s Vineyard last August, the Messenger reports.

“The process of determining whether enough evidence exists to charge anyone with a crime and convince a jury of Bexar County citizens ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ that a crime has been committed may be lengthy and labor-intensive under the best of circumstances. If a review of the facts reveal that a felony offense has been committed, we will present that case to a grand jury for their deliberation,” said Gonzales in a statement, which comes as California Governor Gavin Newsom threatened DeSantis with the same over a number of recent flights into the Golden State.