This guy should get life... Stewart Rhodes wrote message to Trump begging him to conduct mass arrests of Congress and Supreme Court Prosecutors on Wednesday revealed that Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes wrote a letter to former President Donald Trump after the deadly January 6th Capitol riots in which he begged the former president to conduct mass arrests of both Congress and the Supreme Court. As reported by NBC News' Ryan Reilly, Rhodes dictated the letter to Jason Alpers, who testified on Wednesday as a witness for the government. "President Trump, you can save the Republic by doing your duty as Commander in Chief," Rhodes wrote. "You must use the Insurrection Act... You must do as Lincoln did. He arrested congressmen, state legislators, and issued a warrant for SCOTUS Chief Justice Taney. Take command like Washington would... Go down in history as the savior of the Republic, not a man who surrendered it." Rhodes then warn Trump that, should he fail to act, President Joe Biden and his administration would "turn all that power on you, your family, and all of us." "You and your family will be imprisoned and killed," Rhodes warned. "You and your children will die in prison." Rhodes, has been charged with engaging in a seditious conspiracy to overthrow the United States constitutional order.
It's kinda like in middle school when you widened the margins and used a larger font to get more pages into your report, except in this case the children are GOP members of the House Judiciary Committee.
Fact check shows Trump told nearly 100 lies in two rally speeches. In speeches, Trump uses dozens of lies, exaggerations to draw contrast with Biden The former president’s rally script centers on juxtaposing conditions two years ago with now, relying on misrepresentations of both https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/11/07/trump-falsehoods-lies-speeches/ Even in a midterm marked by misinformation, conspiracy theories and false or misleading attacks, nobody does it like Donald Trump. The former president, in a burst of campaigning for Republican candidates while he readies his own third bid for the White House, is honing a stump speech based around juxtaposing current conditions with those during his presidency — a contrast he heightens by misrepresenting and exaggerating on both ends. His speech Thursday at a rally in Sioux City, Iowa, contained at least 58 false or misleading statements, and he added at least another 24 distinct falsehoods at a Saturday speech in Latrobe, Pa., according to a Washington Post analysis. (More at above url)
Look who is about to get indicted. Remember this is a clown who whined about voting fraud. Prosecutors assessing whether to charge former US Rep. Mark Meadows following probe into NC voting activity North Carolina investigators began looking into Meadows' voting activity after news reports raised questions about the former congressman's residency and voter registration. https://www.wral.com/prosecutors-as...owing-probe-into-nc-voting-activity/20626794/
It's not just Trump: A sobering new report chronicles the extensive GOP war on democracy https://www.salon.com/2023/01/12/it...report-chronicles-the-extensive-on-democracy/
The Supreme Court ruled against this "Independent State Legislature" nonsense. Supreme Court rules against giving state legislatures unchecked control over federal elections The justices rejected the “independent state legislature" theory, which would have restricted the power of state courts to review certain election laws. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/su...ns-north-carolina-elections-dispute-rcna68630 The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to impose new limits on state courts reviewing certain election-related issues by ruling against Republicans in North Carolina fighting for a congressional district map that would heavily favor their candidates. The justices ruled in a 6-3 vote that the North Carolina Supreme Court was acting within its authority in concluding that the map constituted a partisan gerrymander under the state Constitution. In doing so, the court declined to embrace a hitherto obscure legal argument called the “independent state legislature” theory, which Republicans say limits the authority of state courts to strike down certain election laws enacted by state legislatures. The independent state legislature argument hinges on language in the Elections Clause of the Constitution that says election rules “shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof.” Supporters of the theory, which has never been endorsed by the Supreme Court, say the language supports the notion that, when it comes to federal election rules, legislatures have ultimate power under state law, potentially irrespective of potential constraints imposed by state constitutions. "State courts retain the authority to apply state constitutional restraints when legislatures act on the power conferred on them by the Elections Clause," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. He added, though, that state courts do not have "free rein" when there are conflicts with federal law. In those situations, federal courts can intervene, the court concluded. "In interpreting state law in this area, state courts may not so exceed the bounds of ordinary judicial review as to unconstitutionally intrude upon the role specifically reserved to state legislatures," Roberts said. After the then-Democratic-controlled state Supreme Court in North Carolina issued the ruling last year, the court flipped to Republican control following November's midterm elections and recently overturned the decision, a move that prompted questions about whether the justices even needed to decide the case. In dissent, Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by fellow conservatives Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Neil Gorsuch, said the case was moot. Thomas complained that the decision will lead to further confusion in lower courts that could give rise to more cases like the Supreme Court's own Bush v. Gore ruling issued in 2000, which ultimately led to Republican George W. Bush taking office as president. The court, Thomas said, "opens a new field for Bush-style controversies over state election law — and a far more uncertain one." Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh made it clear in a separate opinion that the court could yet endorse a version of the theory in a later case. In Tuesday's ruling, the court "recognized and articulated a general principle for federal court review of state court review of state court decisions," he said. "In the future, the court should and presumably will distill that general principle into a more specific standard," he added. The congressional map in North Carolina will be re-drawn ahead of the 2024 election anyway because of a state law provision that says interim maps can be used for only one election cycle. As a result of the North Carolina Supreme Court’s ruling, that map is likely to tilt heavily toward Republicans. A Supreme Court ruling that embraced the theory would have affected not only redistricting disputes, but also other election-related rules about issues like mail-in voting and voter access to the polls that legislatures might seek to enact even when state courts have held that those rules violate state constitutions. The theory could also bring into question the power of governors to veto legislation. Then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist embraced a version of the theory in 2000 in Bush v. Gore. During December's oral argument, several justices cited Rehnquist’s opinion, which did not secure a majority at the time, in support of the notion that there should be some constraints on the scope of state officials, including judges, to make changes to election laws enacted by legislatures that are not anchored in law. The independent state legislature theory has subsequently been cited by supporters of former President Donald Trump in various cases during the 2020 presidential election and its aftermath. The North Carolina case was being closely watched for its potential impact on the 2024 presidential election. Republicans led by Tim Moore, the speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, invoked the theory after the state Supreme Court struck down the congressional district map in February of last year. The state court ruled then that the 14 congressional districts — which Republicans drew to maximize the influence of GOP voters in a state strongly contested by both main parties — were “unlawful partisan gerrymanders.” The court's then-liberal majority said the maps violated various state constitutional provisions, one of which requires that “all elections be free.” Voting rights advocates and Democratic voters had turned to the state court after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2019 that partisan gerrymandering claims could not be heard in federal court, but left open the possibility that state courts could address the issue. Moore and other Republicans immediately asked the Supreme Court to reinstate the maps, saying the state court had overstepped its authority. The high court agreed to take up the case, but it left in place a replacement map used for last year’s midterm elections. Democrats and Republicans each won seven seats. The Supreme Court in 2020 refused to intervene in the various election-related cases that raised the theory, but during the litigation four conservative justicesindicated some support for it, giving its supporters hope that they might be a majority willing to embrace it. There are several versions of the argument, some of which would merely limit the authority of state courts in certain circumstances and others that would go further in giving state legislatures virtually unchecked authority. Those backing the theory in briefs filed at the court included John Eastman,the lawyer involved in Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election who argued that then-Vice President Mike Pence could block the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory on Jan. 6, 2021. Various conservative groups that push for greater restrictions on voting and claim that voter fraud is a major issue have also backed the theory. Democrats and voting rights activists issued stark warnings about the potential impact of the case in light of the attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, although many high-profile GOP candidates who denied or questioned Biden’s victory lost in last year’s midterm elections.
Let's see what the MAGA Voter Suppression machine is up to in Michigan. Remember, you can only vote if you are a Republican -- all others will be suppressed. Meet “Check My Vote,” Michigan’s Conspiracy-Driven Mass Voter Suppression Operation The Michigan chapter of Cleta Mitchell’s Election Integrity Network is going door-to-door and flooding election offices with voter challenges. https://factkeepers.com/meet-check-...racy-driven-mass-voter-suppression-operation/ The Michigan chapter of Cleta Mitchell’s national network of election conspiracy theorists is working with a thinly-sourced “voter integrity” database to engage in potentially intimidating door-to-door canvassing and to flood election offices with voter challenges. Check My Vote (“CMV”) has put Michigan’s publicly-available voter file online, and conducts a conspiracy-driven “analysis” to identify alleged registration discrepancies. Drawing from that analysis, activists associated with Mitchell’s Election Integrity Network are personally going door-to-door questioning voters about their registration and history, then filing dozens of voter challenges with local elections clerks across the state, according to material obtained by Documented. As the New York Times reported, based on material provided by Documented, “activists call their project Soles to the Rolls — an apparent play on Souls to the Polls, the get-out-the-vote effort popular in Black churches.” It is part of “an all-but-unnoticed effort that could have an impact in a close or contentious election.” Like Eagle AI, the Check My Vote/Soles to the Rolls project is part of a nationwide effort by election deniers and MAGA activists to generate mass challenges to voter eligibility, which can overwhelm election clerks and create unnecessary hurdles for eligible voters to cast a ballot. Moreover, these mass challenge efforts may also feed litigation and lead to the development of conspiracy theories that undermine confidence in elections. Alongside other strategies such as the takeover of election offices, the passage of restrictive voting laws, and the creation of election crime departments, mass challenges are a crucial component of the MAGA movement’s plans to disrupt and undermine the credibility of the 2024 elections. Check My Vote (“CMV”) is a Michigan-based for-profit organization that runs checkmyvote.org, a database containing publicly-available voter file information as well as CMV’s own data analysis and reports. CMV’s “analysis” focuses on locations such as apartments and trailer parks with “high registrations”—that is, addresses associated with multiple voter records in the qualified voter file. The reason for this focus is CMV’s baseless contention that “illegal absentee ballot stuffing operations” like those described in the discredited conspiracy film, 2000 Mules, are using fraudulent registrations from “high registration” addresses to generate fake absentee ballots. CMV also encourages any visitor to their website to manually flag “registrations that [they] know are bad,” emphasizing that “Anyone can flag registrations anywhere that has an internet connection.” So-called “Election Patriots” who live in the relevant jurisdiction then review the flagged registrations, and submit them to the local elections clerk in the form of voter challenges. A CMV slideshow asserts that “Fraudulent registrations gives the criminals a blank check book to print the needed ballots to win elections.” CMV is also expressly partisan. “Check My Vote has also partnered with the MIGOP for the same purpose of working toward more accurate Michigan voter rolls.” Janine Iyer, CMV and MFE volunteer leader, Dec. 2023 In a slideshow presentation obtained by Documented, CMV states that it was created to “Expand the use of our data analysis skills for [then-Michigan GOP Chair] Kristina Karamo and the MIGOP,” and states that “We are prepared to expand our website’s server operations to accommodate the additional needs of the MIGOP. Our website technology will fit very nice [sic] to support MIGOP’s Election Integrity efforts.” Another slideshow presentation describes a “collaboration” between the MIGOP, CMV, and the Michigan chapter of the Election Integrity Network, called Michigan Fair Elections. During a December 2023 training webinar a CMV / Michigan Fair Elections leader also described “partner[ing]” with MIGOP on voter roll “cleanup.” MAGA Activists Using CMV to File Mass Voter Challenges The state coalition affiliated with Cleta Mitchell’s Election Integrity Network, Michigan Fair Elections (“MFE”), is working closely with CMV to generate voter challenges as part of its “Soles to the Roles” initiative. MFE activists are “us[ing] checkmyvote.org to identify potential irregularities in Michigan’s voter rolls,” conducting potentially intimidating door-to-door canvassing to collect affidavits from residents, and then filing those affidavits with clerks as voter challenges. Records obtained by Documented show that these activists have already submitted dozens of challenges, and are pressuring clerks to remove voters from the rolls. “We Are a Bipartisan Citizen Action Group” A September 2023 MFE training slideshow obtained by Documented shows that MFE is using CMV to create “walk lists” of “registrations for review.” MFE activists will then “visit addresses, interview occupants, document, & report results” to county clerks. When canvassing, activists are instructed not to disclose that they are affiliated with a far-right network of election conspiracy theorists, and only state vaguely that they are part of a “bipartisan citizen action group” or “elected precinct delegates.” (The same training materials describe the project as a collaboration with the Michigan Republican Party.) Activist are directed to ask occupants about whether voters who are registered at the address reside there, and if they would be willing to fill out and sign a “form” to document what they know. These “forms” are later notarized by MFE volunteers, and then submitted as affidavits to election clerks to support voter challenges. Records obtained by Documented show that MFE activists are putting this plan into action, using CMV records to go door-to-door and question residents about whether people registered at that address actually live there, and then collecting statements—using the template in training materials—to support voter challenges. “If You Fail to Mail a Challenge Notice, You Would Be Breaking the Law” Documented obtained records from a township in Livingston County, Michigan showing that an MFE activist and local Republican Party official named Janine Iyer filed roughly 120 voter challenges on October 10, 2023 after canvassing 67 addresses. Using the affidavit template in the CMV/MFE training materials, the activist and two associates submitted dozens of affidavits from residents declaring that individuals registered at the address no longer reside there. The activist also submitted a letter flagging registrations that appeared to have missing apartment numbers, missing lot numbers, or that appeared to be duplicates. This letter cited CheckMyVote.org as the source. A few days later, the activist sent an email to the election clerk declaring that “you are now required to send challenge notifications by registered or certified mail to these challenged registrants at the registration addresses listed.” The email further warned, “If you fail to mail a challenge notice, you would be breaking the law.” “We want to see you follow the law by changing the status of these challenged registrations from Active to Challenge or Verify by November 1 … We will be looking for that.” Oct. 13, 2023 Email from Janine Iyer to the Genoa Township Clerk The New York Times reported that the clerk, Polly Skolarus, said “that she was reluctant to take voters off the rolls in a presidential election year. But records indicate that nearly all of the voters had their registrations canceled, while others were flagged as ‘challenged’ — meaning they would have to give additional information or verify their address before they could vote.” Documented also obtained records from a city in Kalamazoo County, Michigan showing that dozens of voter challenges were filed in that jurisdiction by three canvassers using the same template affidavit from the MFE/CMV training materials. The cover page includes a link to the CheckMyVote.org website. “Affidavit” Voter Challenges May Not Comply With the Law MFE activists are seeking to utilize a provision of Michigan law, MCL § 168.512, which provides that a voter may be challenged by “a written affidavit that such elector is not qualified to vote,” and outlines specific, time-bound procedures for clerks to respond the challenge. Training materials instruct activists to submit challenges with a cover letter asking the clerk to “Please assign these registrations as challenged and follow up per MCL 168.512.” Despite MFE’s efforts to utilize Michigan’s challenge-by-affidavit procedures, many of their challenges do not appear to be legally sufficient. An “affidavit” is a sworn statement witnessed by a notary, but a notary is not actually witnessing any statements from residents regarding voter eligibility. When canvassing, activists are collecting signed statements from residents on a document titled “Occupant or Volunteer Affidavit,” but the document is not notarized at the time. It is only later, after the canvass is complete, that the activist appears before a notary. The notary witnesses the activist signing an affirmation that they took a statement from a resident about another voter’s eligibility, but the notary does not witness the resident’s statement. As a result, clerks may not be obligated to treat MFE’s submissions as challenges-by-affidavit, since the actionable, first-hand information was not properly witnessed by a notary. If the submissions are not affidavits, then clerks are not obligated to follow the strict challenge procedures of 168.512. In February of 2024, Michigan’s Secretary of State issued guidance to clerks advising them to not to cancel voter registrations based on “third-hand information” challenges like those generated by MFE. “f a challenge is based on the claim that the challenger conducted a house-to-house ‘canvass’ or purports to have been told by a resident of a household that the voter is a former resident who no longer lives in the house,” the guidance states, then a clerk is required to process the challenge under other, more relaxed procedures in federal and state law. CMV Tactics Suggest Election Denial Movement Is Maturing The challenge-by-affidavit tactic appears to be an effort to recalibrate. In the 2022 election cycle, some of the same activists had sought to file thousands of voter challenges in bulk, but the Michigan Secretary of State advised clerks to only accept challenges made on an individualized level, and to reject challenges made in batches via a spreadsheet. Eagle AI had a similar origin story: it was created in Georgia as a tool to help activists generate individualized voter challenges, after officials in that state largely rejected non-individualized voter challenges in the 2022 cycle. The development of Eagle AI and Check My Vote hint at how the election denial movement is maturing, evolving, and learning from some of its past mistakes. MAGA activists associated with Cleta Mitchell’s Election Integrity Network are now using these well-funded tools and recalibrated tactics to overwhelm election offices with conspiracy-driven voter challenges. Check My Vote Elevating Election Misinformation In addition to working with MFE to generate mass voter challenges, CMV is also working to channel election conspiracy theories into the right-wing media ecosphere. As noted above, a CMV priority is to review the voter file for “high registration” addresses, based on a 2000 Mules-inspired belief that “illegal absentee ballot stuffing operations” are fraudulently requesting absentee ballots from those addresses. By targeting “high registration” addresses, CMV tends to focus on college campuses and university housing, where students live in multi-tenant units and move regularly. This intersects with the recent fixation on college voting by election deniers like Cleta Mitchell, founder of the Election Integrity Network. For example, the Gateway Pundit has amplified CMV’s allegations about registrations at a large student housing facility in Ann Arbor called the Landmark. CMV has highlighted that each Landmark apartment averages 3.4 registrations each—which is not surprising for a 608-person complex that offers up to six bedroom apartments —and where the group also claimed a small number of registrations were “non-standard” because they listed a letter alongside an apartment number, or where the apartment number was blank. Washtenaw County, where the University of Michigan is located, has been a top target for CMV. In November 2023, CMV created a presentation on Washtenaw, and claimed that it is the “#1 worst county in Michigan for voter roll integrity.” The presentation includes slides with Google Street View photographs of several “high registration” addresses near the University of Michigan campus. One slide zooms in on the “Michigan Students for Biden-Harris” sign on an apartment’s front porch. CMV additionally focuses on minor discrepancies and typos in the voter rolls, such as a missing apartment number. CMV has claimed that Michigan’s voter rolls “contain over 48,000 NON-LEGAL voter registrations at trailer park and apartment housing addresses that are missing apartment or lot numbers,” a claim echoed by outlets like Gateway Pundit. CMV has been lauded by prominent election fraud conspiracists and right-wing media outlets. The group’s co-founders, Tim Vetter and Phani Mantravadi, were featured panelists during a session on Michigan at Mike Lindell’s “Election Crime Bureau Summit” in August 2023. CMV has also received favorable coverage from sites like Gateway Pundit and The Federalist, and was cited in the Trump campaign’s discredited “Election Fraud Report” from January 2024.