Here’s a story that’ll get your endorphins pumping, courtesy of Politico, especially if you’ve been following how Democrats have gone ker-splat when it comes to protecting our elections and voting rights at the federal level:
A Democratic candidate recruiting group is pitching donors on an ambitious three-year program to find, train and support 5,000 candidates for local offices in charge of election administration, a sprawling national effort intended to fight subversion of future election results.
The program would recruit candidates in 35 states for everything from county probate judges in Alabama to county clerks in Kansas and county election board members in Pennsylvania—all offices that handle elections and will be on voters’ ballots between now and 2024. Spearheading the effort is Run for Something, a Democratic group that launched soon after Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential victory to recruit candidates for local elections.
If you’d like to help ’em with their efforts, we’ve got that info below the fold…
More from Politico:
The program will include every state where election administrators are themselves elected by voters. It represents one of the boldest organized attempts to put Democratic-backed candidates in these positions, in response to Trump’s endorsement for various election positions of followers who subscribe to conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was stolen.
“Helping Democrats build sustainable power for the long-haul.”
Win or lose—and I’m betting a lot more of them will win than we expect—these Democrats will gain valuable experience while Run for Something compiles a huge knowledge bank of expertise for future campaigns. This is the kind of local grassroots campaigning that Democrats have been clamoring for, and I have a feeling that they could succeed beyond all expectations.
If you can spare a few bucks, they’d sure appreciate the support—their Act Blue page is here. In their words: “In 2008-2016, Democrats and progressives lost over 1,000 state, local, and federal offices because we neglected our political infrastructure. We’re determined not to repeat the same mistakes.”
Follow Run for Something on evil Facebook here and soon-to-be evil Twitter here.
And now, our feature presentation…
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Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, April 26, 2022
Note: Ow! I just stabbed myself in the cheek with my pipe. Good thing I have supplemental elitist insurance. Thanks, Snobcare!
Unemployment claims last week, the lowest since 1968 and vs. 547,000 a year ago: 184,000
Amount allocated by the Biden administration for clean water projects: $55 billion
Percent of American adults who are estranged from a family member, according to a Cornell study: 27%
Percent chance that Portland, Maine just received Standard and Poor’s highest rating—AAA—that will result in millions of $$$ in savings on our debt service (and, presumably, free towing and jump-start service): 100%
CHEERS to Victory! The armed shock troops, beholden to a madman, swept in with invasion on their minds and delusions of replacing the memories of the democratic majority with far-right ideology. Everyone expected the armored column and their fanatical commanders to conduct a scorched-earth campaign with ruthless efficiency, sending women and children scattering for shelter and the political class fleeing for their lives. Happy to report they got stopped. Stopped cold. Cold and runny. By children. Children with eggs:
On Friday afternoon, the small convoy of semitrucks, pickup trucks, minivans and other cars drove to Democratic Assemblymember Buffy Wicks’ East Bay [San Francisco] home to protest her support of an abortion rights bill. As they honked and used bullhorns in the quiet residential neighborhood, neighbors gathered to heckle them right back, yelling at the truckers to get off their street.
If only all the orcs could be stopped this easily.
[The truckers drove] onto busy, one-lane College Avenue on the Berkeley-Oakland border. There, slowed down by the usual Friday afternoon traffic, they were sitting ducks outside the Safeway. A large group of kids, armed with eggs purchased atthe grocery store, began pelting the convoy. […] Furious truckers then drove out of town, heading back on the highway toward their base in Sacramento.
But anyway. Anyone hear how things are going in Ukraine?
CHEERS to liberté, égalité…andall that jazz! In an absolutely unacceptable outcome to American observers, French President Emmanuel Macron received the overwhelming share (59%-41%) of the votes in Sunday’s elections, and just like *that* the country handed him the victory. No electoral college certifications. No audits by partisan outside groups with no experience. No screaming and yelling about how the whole thing was rigged. No holding every ballot under black light to detect bamboo fibers. No threats against election workers. No storming of the French Capitol. Wow—what a sloppy and unimaginative way to run a country, huh? Low energy! But at least the “Hitler in stilettos,” who borrowed millions from Russia to fund her campaign, didn’t win.
» “Let us face it, there is no Planet B” in pushing for a stronger approach to addressing the impacts of climate change. “I am sure one day the U.S. will come back and rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement.”
» The west’s policies towards Iran “should never lead us to war in the Middle East. … We should not abandon [the Iranian nuclear deal] without having something substantial and more substantial instead.”
» “Human rights, the rights of minorities and shared liberty are the true answers to the disorders of the world.”
» We must heed the words of the great American Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
» The bust of Martin Luther King Jr. in the U.S. Capitol “reminds us of the inspiration of African American leaders, artists and writers who have become part of our common heritage.”
» The #MeToo movement is an inspiring thing, and we respect it in France as much as you do in America.
Europe dodges another bullet, denying the barbarians access through the gates. Vive le resistance.
CHEERS to Charles Richter. It’s the 119th birthday of the late seismologist who invented a scale to measure the strength of earthquakes (I forget what it’s called). Go here and pay your respects…if you feel so moved. But please don’t blame him for causing all the recent tremors. They’re not his faults.
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BRIEF SANITY BREAK
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The Green Dragontail Butterfly (Lamproptera meges), found in South and Southeast Asia. 🦋 Credit: Kazuo Unno pic.twitter.com/QSSeToSvGT
JEERS to having to address the elephant with glistening deltoids in the room. Sorry to do this, but since C&J will one day be the preeminent go-to source for recorded history among blogaeologists, I have to make note of this. Republican congressman Madison Cawthorn, who sets off the heterosexual Christian manliness alarms just by batting his titanium eyelids with a stern ka-chunk, would like you to know that this is now acceptable manly heterosexual Christian behavior:
Also: Jim Beam is now replacing wine as the blood of Christ. Please drink Him responsibly.
He cautions, however, that if your muscle bra fastens with Velcro instead of a metal clasp made from the sharpest steel shavings that cut into you like the nails did to the body of Christ, you are either a woman who doesn’t know her place or a deviant homosexual groomer who, by definition, works for Disney. Here endeth the lesson.
CHEERS to the apple of CBS’s eye. Happy 113th birthday today to CBS News legend Edward R. Murrow.
Murrow’s old news network—CBS—just hired Mick Mulvaney. Sad.
He had more journalistic integrity in his pinky than many of today’s journalistic misfits (too many of whom call CBS News home) have on their entire resumes. He was a fighter for journalistic independence free of the entertainment side of television, and his clipped and unemotional delivery only added to his gravitas. Adding: one reason I respect Rachel Maddow so much is that she, like Murrow, builds her arguments piece by piece, fact by fact, before tying them up with a damning bow. Unfortunately chain-smoking snuffed out his life prematurely at 57. Hear excerpts of his W.W. II and McCarthy hearing reports here. And, hey, don’t smoke.
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Ten years ago in C&J: April 26, 2012
CHEERS to the words we’ll never hear: “I, Newton Leroy Gingrich, do solemnly swear…” Yeah, Mr. Moon Colony is signaling the end of his campaign. (But he won South Carolina! He shoulda been the contenduh!) But I have to admit I’m feeling kinda sad this morning. I had a blast watching the triumphant return of vaudeville in the form of the Republican primary season. Now that Romney has been crowned king of the (very small, selfish and crabby) hill, I’m going through withdrawal pangs. No more 999 (Cain). No more corn dogs (Bachmann). No more Sarah Palin scene stealing. No more Mandarin proverbs (Huntsman). No more “Can’t…sorry…oops!” (Perry.) No more libertine lectures. (Santorum.) And now…no more Newt. [Sigh] Who will the penguins bite now?
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And just one more…
CHEERS to the power of brevity. One of the most memorable moments from the 2008 presidential campaign happened 15 years ago today during the April 26, 2007 Democratic debate hosted by Brian Williams. Silly question, great answer:
Williams: Senator Biden, words have in the past gotten you in trouble—words that were borrowed and words that some found hateful. An editorial in the Los Angles Times said, “In addition to his uncontrolled verbosity, Biden is a gaffe machine.”
Can you reassure voters in this country that you would have the discipline you would need on the world stage, Senator?
Sen. Joe Biden: Yes.
[Long pause]
Williams: Thank you, Senator.
You can watch the clip (this link seems to be the only one still working) here. Fifteen years later Joe is, against all odds, a virtually gaffe-free President of the United States. Are we impressed so far? “Yes.”
Have a tolerable Tuesday. Floor’s open…What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today’s Shameless C&J Testimonial
”This is not your father’s Cheers and Jeers kiddie pool.”
A right-wing racist doubling as a Michigan radio host decided last week to throw his hat in the ring for a state Senate seat—and get this: He’s running as a Democrat. Mind you, just last month he was trying to make a case that TV commercials should only feature white families. According to The Detroit News, Randy Bishop, who also goes by “Trucker Randy,” said during his podcast episode on March 31 that the media was trying to destroy the “nuclear family,” with every commercial showing a “biracial mom and dad.”
“Can’t even watch a college basketball tournament without commercials telling me I have to feel guilty because I think a family should be a White mom, a White dad and White kids,” Bishop said. “They want us to die and go away. And they’re going to try to do it through politics this year. Well, we have got to be just as smart.”
He went on to claim that Black people wield too much power in American society. “Why are we allowing such a small percentage of our population to control our society,” he asked. “Because they own the media. Because they own the politicians. Because they own the public schools.”
It’s a claim so ridiculous it’s not even worth dignifying with a rebuttal, and the Michigan Democratic Party made no such attempt. Instead, it distanced itself from Bishop with a statement posted on Facebook:
Views such as the ones Trucker Randy Bishop espouses have no place in the Democratic Party. Candidates who say or believe these things are not welcome. Randy Bishop is not a Democrat, he is a dishonest minor social media personality that enjoys getting attention from making outrageous statements. He shows nothing but disrespect to our system of government by using a run for elected office to promote his personal agenda, entirely based on lies, hate and fear.
Disgusting racist belief systems are not welcome in the Democratic Party and frankly should not be welcome in any political party or community. We will not support his efforts to run for Senate and find it deeply insulting that he would dare to put a D next to his name.
Randy Bishop, a Michigan right-wing radio host, just filed to run for state Senate. On his 3/31 show, he said: – The “LGBTQXYZ” community is “confused” about “what’s between their legs.” – VP Harris “is not Black.” – A family should be “a white mom, a white dad & white kids.” pic.twitter.com/J0APSzaICX
Bishop is running for a seat in the state’s 37th Senate district, a position currently occupied by Republican Sen. Wayne Schmidt, but he announced in January that he is instead running to fill a newly created seat on the Grand Traverse County Commission, WWTV reported.
Bishop is up against Democrats Barbara Conley and Jim Schmidt on the August primary ballot. Conley, an oncologist, had this to say about Bishop in a Facebook post on Friday:
As you know, I have two other candidates for the primary Aug 2. One of them is “Trucker Randy” Bishop, who runs a conservative radio talk show. While I don’t know him, he doesn’t seem to actually be a democrat.
He was the former chair of the Antrim Republican Party and promotes the BIG LIE and is a supporter of Garrett Soldano!
He has been convicted of felonies downstate, and runs a “conservative” radio show touting RIGHT WING ideas. He lost his facebook account for violating community standards in 2020 (see https://radio.wcmu.org/tags/randy-bishop)
Here is what Randy said at a gun rights and militia rally in 2020 in Lansing as reported by Michigan Radio: https://www.michiganradio.org/…/anti-police-brutality…: “Trucker Randy” Bishop, who has ties to the Republican Party in Michigan and two felony convictions, urged people to vote against Democrats in upcoming elections. “We have got to stop them, folks,” Bishop said. “If they get back the majority in the (Michigan) House this November … Then God help us, you know what we’ll be relying on? The Republicans and Mike Shirkey in the Senate to stop it. The same one that’s placating to Governor (Gretchen) Whitmer over the China virus (novel coronavirus).”
Please vote in the August primary for true democrats!
A California man is facing five years in prison for threatening to shoot and bomb employees of the Massachusetts-based Merriam-Webster company because he objected to the reference book publisher’s definitions of the words “girl,”“female,” and “woman.”
According to the Department of Justice, Jeremy David Hanson, 34, of Rossmoor, California, posted several threatening messages on the company website’s “Contact us” page, which resulted in the company closing its New York and Springfield offices for five business days. The messages Hanson allegedly posted were suffused with vicious anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.
Specifically, it is alleged that on Oct. 2, 2021, Hanson used the handle “@anonYmous” to post the following comment on the dictionary’s website definition of “female”: “It is absolutely sickening that Merriam-Webster now tells blatant lies and promotes anti-science propaganda. There is no such thing as ‘gender identity.’ The imbecile who wrote this entry should be hunted down and shot.”
Hanson also allegedly sent the following threatening message via the website’s “Contact Us” page: “You [sic] headquarters should be shot up and bombed. It is sickening that you have caved to the cultural Marxist, anti-science tranny [sic] agenda and altered the definition of ‘female’ as part of the Left’s efforts to corrupt and degrade the English language and deny reality. You evil Marxists should all be killed. It would be poetic justice to have someone storm your offices and shoot up the place, leaving none of you commies alive.”
It is further alleged that on Oct. 8, 2021, Hanson posted another threatening comment on the dictionary’s website and a threatening message via the “Contact Us” page that threatened to “bomb your offices for lying and creating fake…”.
As noted by the New York Times, the company, the oldest dictionary publisher in the U.S., has in recent years updated its definitions of certain words to “to be more inclusive of shifting attitudes around gender.”
The FBI tracked Hanson down through his IP address after Merriam-Webster reported the postings last October. In the course of its investigation, the agency found what it describes as “related” posts by Hanson directed to “the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, Land O’ Lakes, Hasbro, Inc., IGN Entertainment, the President of the University of North Texas, two professors at Loyola Marymount University and a New York City rabbi.”
As reported by Jonathan Edwards, writing for the Washington Post, Hanson was interviewed by the FBI shortly after the Merriam-Webster postings were made:
In an October 2021 interview with the FBI, Hanson said he knew threatening people was illegal, apologized for doing so and promised to stop. He told agents that he struggled to control his rage and used the Internet as an outlet.
His mother told agents that her son had become “fixated” on transgender issues and was prone to what she called “verbal hyperbole.” Hanson has been diagnosed with autism and depression, she said, and while they impair his ability to grasp the consequences of his actions, she believed he wouldn’t act on his threats “because he is reclusive, she supervises him, and he has no access to weapons.”
According to the Post, Hanson had been previously questioned by the FBI after he’d threatened in 2014 to “rape and kill multiple people.” He apparently expressed remorse at that time and made no further threats for five years. But after the Hasbro corporation announced it was removing the “Mr.” from its “Mr. Potato Head” toys, Hanson sent the following threat:
Hanson accused Hasbro of “pandering to tranny freaks” and threatened to “shoot up and bomb your headquarters,” according to the FBI. In a second message, Hanson allegedly added “only figuratively.”
In 2021 Hanson also threatened the University of Wisconsin for removing a 42-ton boulder from its campus. The boulder, placed in 1925, was colloquially referred to with a nickname that included a racial slur.
Hanson emailed a local elected official, a Black woman, about her role in removing the memorial according to the FBI. In the email, Hanson allegedly called the alderwoman the n-word repeatedly, in addition to multiple slurs used to demean women. He also told her that she deserved “to be raped and lynched for tearing out that boulder,” the FBI affidavit said.
Hanson also purportedly threatened to “shoot up and bomb” the head office of DC Comics and IGN Entertainment after it was announced that their new Superman character would identify as bisexual.
All of these threats drew visits from local police and the FBI. Apparently, Hanson’s mother’s explanation that her son “couldn’t control” his behavior satisfied the authorities until last month, when he was finally charged. According to Edwards’ reporting, Hanson’s latest threat, directed to a Wisconsin school board that he characterized as pedophiles, occurred last month. In that message, he threatened to kill the entire board and their families.
As Edwards’ report illustrates, it’s abundantly clear that Hanson would select the targets of his ire through perusing right-wing media and the internet. He has been charged with a single count of interstate communication of threats to commit violence:
The charge of interstate transmission of communications to injure the person of another provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
Hanson is due to appear in federal court on April 29.
One of North Dakota’s most powerful lawmakers announced his plans to resign Monday after reportedly exchanging texts with a jailed man facing child pornography charges. According to the Associated Press, the Republican senator identified as Ray Holmberg is the state’s longest-serving senator. His career spanned more than 46 years. While his term was expected to end on Nov. 30 and he had no intentions to rerun, he said Monday he would resign effective June 1.
“Recent news stories have become a distraction for the important work of the legislative assembly during its interim meetings,” Holmberg wrote in an email announcing his resignation. “I want to do what I can, within my power, to lessen such distractions. Consequently, in respect for the institution and its other 140 members, I shall resign my Senate seat effective June 1, 2022.”
He added: “This date will give District #17 leaders enough time to go through the process and select a replacement.”
The decision comes days after a report was published about his text message exchange with an imprisoned man. Initially, Holmberg had announced that he would step down on April 20 from his role as head of the panel that oversees the legislature’s business between sessions. His decision to resign from office comes less than a week later.
The text message exchange was first reported by the Forum of Fargo on April 15. According to that investigative report, Holmberg exchanged at least 72 text messages in August with Nicholas James Morgan-Derosier. Morgan-Derosier is serving charges of possessing thousands of images and videos of sexually abused children. Prosecutors allege that Morgan-Derosier not only possessed pornographic images of children, but also took two children under the age of 10 from Minnesota to his Grand Forks home with intention of abusing them.
While Holmberg first told the Forum he was aware of a local story about the charges, in an interview later he denied this.
When asked about the text messages, he told the Forum that his text messages with Morgan-Derosier were related to “a variety of things,” including patio work Morgan-Derosier did for him. He also claimed he no longer had the messages. He said: “They’re just gone.” The Forum obtained the jail log that recorded the text message exchange through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request—the text messages themselves were not public.
But this isn’t the first time Morgan-Derosier’s text messages have made headlines. Pulling from a transcript of proceedings, the Forum of Fargo reported comments made by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Puhl during a Jan. 4 detention. In that hearing, Puhl referenced text messages from August to a “77-year-old man from Grand Forks.”
While the man was not identified in court, the text messages requested Morgan-Derosier to bring his boyfriend over for a massage. Since Holmberg was 77 at the time and represents that area, questions were raised if he could be the man in question.
Following the report, Democratic Party Chairman Patrick Hart called for Holmberg to step down from Legislative Management and release the text messages. According to the AP, Holmberg chaired the Legislative Management Committee, which decides committee assignments and chooses topics that often inspire legislation. Amid chairing this committee, he served on multiple others, making him a powerful legislative.
But while some called for his resignation, GOP state Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner defended Holmberg and told the AP that he is only guilty of bad judgment.
”He sent 72 messages to a bad, bad person,” Wardner told the AP. “That’s not illegal, and until there is more information, I think [his committee resignation] is a step in the right direction… If there is any evidence of any wrongdoing, we will act, and we will act quickly. Right now, all we have is that it looks bad.”
The situation on the ground in Ukraine continues to see only small changes, with Russian forces continuing to stage small attacks as Ukrainian defenders publicize equipment captures behind Russia’s frontlines. Russian state television continues to be apoplectic in their fury over … the rest of the world existing, for the most part.
Most concerning might be the Russian capture of Kurulka, due south of Izyum; that puts Russian troops only 5 miles from a critical Ukrainian rail line. Ukraine is likely to mount a substantive to push those attackers back. Ukraine also appears to be creeping nearer to Kherson, though the probability of a major Ukrainian offensive there seems, for the moment, small.
Russia continues to show no apparent battle plan other than the current probing attacks,
The mass of European and American artillery, tanks, and other heavy weaponry being rushed to Ukrainian forces continues to flow towards the frontlines, making every day of the current near-stalemate considerably more dangerous for Russia than for the country they are invading.
However, the weekend’s biggest news was the continued tendency of major infrastructure inside Russia to violently and inexplicably explode. Two massive fires are burning in Bryansk, 90 miles from Ukraine, after explosions rocked two large oil depots in the city. One of those depots is next to a Russian “artillery and missile storage” site. The cause of both explosions is currently unknown; this, after fires destroyed a Russian missile research facility, a Russian space program facility, and Russia’s largest (and absolutely critical) chemical plant in recent days. It also coincides with a string of bloody murder-suicides plaguing the Russian oligarchy since Russian strongman Vladimir Putin issued his orders to invade.
We remain in the same position as before. Ukrainian defenders around Izyum are in a precarious spot, with any significant Russian advance posing a potential existential risk to the Ukrainian trenchlines that have held for eight years now. But Russia continues to suffer losses not compatible with victory, backed by supply shortages that will put a time limit on its ability to press its assault. The most recent news updates:
If you scroll down on the Daily Kos homepage, you may have noticed a list of anti-racist resources and a message of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. Well, both of those resources are the handiwork of the Daily Kos Equity Council, which aims to do exactly what the name suggests: build a better company and community by highlighting issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
I’m a co-chair of the council along with content strategist Cara Zelaya, and we’re excited to announce that Daily Kos will be devoting front page space each month to celebrate a cultural holiday or monthly observance specifically highlighting those pushed to the margins of society.
Since 2021, that space has been used to showcase Black History Month content in February, and that’s a tradition we’d like to continue. We’re also looking to cover historical celebrations from Juneteenth and Pride Month to Hispanic Heritage Month, National Disability Employment Month, and National Native American Heritage Month. We’re starting with Asian Pacific American Heritage Month in May.
Part of the reason we are prioritizing this work is because we want the issues facing these communities to be recognized and respected.
None of us should have to accept a society that only tolerates us and in some cases, threatens and harms us because we are different. Staff Writer Aysha Qamar has written at length about Asian communities targeted with attacks rooted in xenophobia and ignorance. Marissa Higgins has tracked legislative effort after legislative effort aimed at endangering trans youth and the families who protect them. We write about both blatant cases of violent racism against Black communities and more subtle microaggressions that have become unfortunate workplace and schoolyard norms for people of color in this country.
Disability rights and inclusion activist Imani Barbarin said during an Equity Council panel on ableism that even language more readily identifiable as ableist is often rooted in white supremacy. She gave as examples words like “crazy” and “tone deaf.”
”When something happens that shakes the system […] people try to tie it to disabilities to create the idea that that person is then disposable or should be gotten rid of,” Barbarin said. “We do this with mass shooters. We do this with Republicans, extremists, and it’s the idea behind it that really bothers me the most, which is that simply by tying somebody to a disability means that we can then disregard them. We can discard of them.”
We don’t discard people here. We celebrate each other. We laugh with each other, and we respect and support each other. We want that work to continue every day and to expand to the larger site community until it’s no longer work, until respecting each other and valuing each other is innate.
On Monday, Roll Call reports that Jackson seems to have spent “more than $2,300 in costs associated with membership at a private social club in Texas.” The campaign money Jackson spent was at the Amarillo Club in Texas. According to Federal Election Commission filings, Jackson seems to have broken the Federal Election Commission Act (FECA). That’s illegal, as in against the law. Here are a couple of things you aren’t allowed to spend campaign funds on:
“Country club memberships”
“Dues and fees for health clubs or recreational facilities”
You need only a third-grade reading level to understand that Jackson’s FEC filings seem to reek.
The Representative from the 13th District of Texas, best known as “Candy Man” for his willingness as a doctor to sign off prescriptions on anything and saying that Donald Trump was in amazing health, joins other fiscally irresponsible GOP candidates like North Carolina’s Madison Cawthorn in his willingness to spend other people’s money on his good time. A Jackson spokesperson told Roll Call that the membership costs to the this Texan country club “are strictly associated with campaign and fundraising events.” Of course, this is only legal if the costs were incurred during an event for fundraising. Having a year-round membership, unless all of your fundraising is done at this country club year-round, is not legal.
When charges solely listed as being for food and drink are included, the congressman’s main campaign campaign committee, Texans for Ronny Jackson, reported spending more than over $6,400 at the Amarillo Club since 2020.
Campaign funds may not be used to pay for dues to country clubs, health clubs, recreational facilities or other nonpolitical organizations unless the payments are made in connection with a specific fundraising event that takes place on the organization’s premises.
The looseness with which MAGA monsters like Jackson are willing to dip into their campaign tills to pay for their own recreation and entertainment is pretty astonishing. Even more so when you consider that such a large part of the GOP platform is stifling any and all legislation that would help their constituents by arguing for “fiscal responsibility.”
In the scheme of things, $2,300 isn’t a lot of money for a campaign powered by GOP hate and Trumpian butt-kissing, but it does show how cavalier the Republican Party’s candidates have become with run-of-the-mill corruption.
All of this comes just a few days after revelations that Oath Keeper insurrectionists were exchanging private texts about Jackson’s need for militia protections during the Jan. 6 invasion of the Capitol building by people like the Oath Keepers. Jackson denies knowing any of the faktriots who were burning up their text threads worrying about him on Jan. 6, 2021.
Given the ongoing Republican effort to dismantle human rights and, as of late, especially LGBTQ+ rights, it can feel exhausting to figure out where to begin when it comes to combatting such hate. As Daily Kos continues to cover, for example, conservatives have made critical race theory (CRT), the existence of trans youth (and their accessing gender-affirming health care), and youth reading books by and about LGBTQ+ people and people of color into their latest rallying cries. Anything to distract from the Republican Party’s failure to lead during a literal global pandemic, after all.
In addition to organizing and voting, what can people do to push back? Well, as reported by The Texas Tribune, people are getting creative when it comes to book bans, at least. Seven residents of Llano County recently filed a federal lawsuit against the county judge, commissioners, library systems director, and library board members for banning and restricting books in its public library system. According to the lawsuit, this includes both suspending access to digital books, removing several books from shelves, and stopping new library book orders.
The suit also alleges that the library board violated the First and 14th Amendments by closing meetings to the public.
Plaintiffs in the suit include Jeanne Puryear, Leila Green Little, Kathy Kennedy, Richard Day, Rebecca Jones, Diane Moster, and Cynthia Waring. According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs tried to check out several books that had been removed from the system and were denied access to those texts. They believe their constitutional rights have been violated because public officials censored the books based on their content. They also believe the public officials did not give proper notice or opportunity for the community to comment on the decision.
“When government actors target public library books because they disagree with and intend to suppress the ideas contained therein,” the lawsuit states in part. “It jeopardizes the freedoms of everyone.”
Rather brilliantly, the suit also points out public libraries are not places of government “indoctrination” where people in power can “spoon-feed one-sided information” and dictate what people are allowed to read and discover.
Defendants listed in the lawsuit include Llano County Commissioners Jerry Don Moss, Peter Jones, Mike Sandoval, Linda Raschke, Milum, library board members Gay Baskin, Rhonda Schneider, and Rochelle Wells, along with Llano County Judge Ron Cunningham and library system director Amber Milum.
According to the suit, the infamous list of more than 800 titles that the Texas Education Agency took issue with came into play here, with some of the titles being removed from the county’s libraries after the list circulated. The suit does allege that the defendants removed a few children’s books even prior to the list.
The suit alleges Milum was directed to remove “all books” that depict “any type” of sexual activity or “questionable” nudity. According to the plaintiffs, there are still books that include nudity and sex on the shelves but the ones removed were part of a “censorship campaign” that targeted books that “conflicted” with the defendants’ political and religious beliefs.
At the end of the day, it’s never just about one book or another. It’s about what these books represent and teach us: empathy, compassion, and the lived experiences, thoughts, and perspectives of people who aren’t like us. Reading is a fundamental tool for teaching people more about the wider world and diversity, and of course, conservatives are eager to write these texts off as radical or inappropriate.
Why? Because they don’t want to risk young people widening their worldview and realizing that conservative beliefs are not the objective, moral truth they want them to be. After all, it’s a lot more difficult to vote against someone’s basic rights when you actually view them as a fellow human, huh?
There were weeks of discussions drumming up support for so-called election fraud claims. There was strategy and gaming-out of unconstitutional theory in support of a president who was willing to usurp the will of over 80 million voters in order to remain in the White House. And when the mob finally arrived—as incited—there was fear. Then, long after they left, there was talk of invoking martial law.
These are just shades of what was exposed Monday when CNN exclusively obtained and published a portion of some 2,319 text messages that former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows turned over to the Jan. 6 committee before abruptly ending his cooperation last year.
The messages stretch from Election Day through the inauguration of President Joe Biden and come from a wide cast of high-ranking White House officials as well as Trump’s closest family members, attorneys, and allies in and outside Washington.
There are heaps of messages from sitting Congress members and Trump’s reelection campaign staffers, too, as well as organizers who planned rallies for Jan. 6. in D.C.
Meadows is presently battling the committee to keep any further testimony and records hidden. And while the Justice Department idles on an indictment for Meadows following his criminal contempt of Congress referral from the House, the committee is aggressively pursuing access to key information through the courts—and airing out damning witness testimony it has received in the process.
Before Monday’s dump of text messages, it was already established by the committee that Meadows was effectively ground zero for grievances about Trump’s defeat in 2020. Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., just 48 hours after the election and as votes were still being counted, messaged Meadows: “We have operational control Total leverage. Moral High Ground POTUS must start 2nd term now.”
And it was already revealed that in the days right after the election others, like Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, flooded Meadows with texts. Though they privately sought guidance from the White House on how to promote Trump’s conspiracy theories and effectively overturn the election results, in public they acknowledged Biden as the rightful victor.
According to the new messages made public Monday, from Nov. 3 to Nov. 22, Meadows was fielding texts from people like Fox News personality Sean Hannity and American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp, husband to former Trump White House aide Mercedes Schlapp.
Hannity wanted Meadows to give him guidance about which states to discuss on air. Schlapp told Meadows to get “4 or 5 killers” to make the case in remaining battleground counties and states.
“Need outsiders who will torch the place. Local folks won’t do it. Lawyers and operators. Get us in these states. Worried that ronna not in mi,” Schlapp wrote, appearing to refer to Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. [Text message punctuation and abbreviation original]
Meadows replied: “I may need you and Mercy to go to PA.”
Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona also pitched Meadows right after the election, suggesting to Trump’s chief of staff that states’ legislatures should step in and appoint new electors.
“If I understand right most of those states have Republican Legislature’s. It seems to be comport with glorified Bush as well as the Constitution. And, well highly controversial, it can’t be much more controversial than the lunacy that were sitting out there now. And It would be pretty difficult because he would take governors and legislators with collective will and backbone to do that. Is anybody on the team researching and considering lobbying for that? [Spelling, grammar original]
Meadows was thrilled.
“I love it,” he wrote.
Before Thanksgiving, others like Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Trump spokesman Jason Miller shared their strategies and conspiracy theories. Perry, according to one text sent less than one week after the election, told Meadows that he had the “silver bullet” to prove fraud.
“Pam Bondi has seen and agrees,” Perry said.
Perry has denied sending the texts but CNN says they route back to his number and name.
As for Jason Miller, he, like many others in Trump’s orbit, pumped Meadows with Soros-based conspiracies. Ginni Thomas, the Republican activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, was also lighting up Meadows’s phone.
On Nov. 22, Thomas asked Meadows why it seemed that distance was being created between the Trump administration and Sidney Powell.
“She doesn’t have anything or at least she won’t share it if she does,” Meadows said of Powell.
By December, Trump was enduring defeat repeatedly in the courts and, in reality, the doors to his pathway to victory had long slammed shut.
Meanwhile, meetings at the Willard Hotel with administration officials and attorneys like Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and Jenna Ellis were rolling, according to records and depositions already obtained by the committee.
One of the self-professed coordinators of those meetings, former New York Police Department Commissioner Bernie Kerik, told Meadows he was on the way from the battleground state of Michigan to Arizona on Dec. 1.
“We’re going to need a hotel for the team and two vehicles to pick us up,” Kerik said.
It is unclear if Meadows responded.
That same day, Trump’s spokesman Schlapp sent a text saying he was prepared to walk the attorney general through the evidence.
Attorney General Bill Barr would resign two weeks later after a blowout with Trump over their divergent views on election fraud; Barr found none.
Interestingly, Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, texted Meadows four days later with a link to a site fact-checking a presentation by Giuliani in Georgia suggesting, falsely, that suitcases were stuffed with bogus ballots at a Georgia polling center.
Kelli Ward, the Arizona GOP chairwoman, also sent Meadows semi-regular texts through December and purported to have the goods and sources of election fraud in her state. Ward told Meadows she reached out to Trump’s executive assistant with the proposals and a person in her state that could help advance their agenda.
“I will call him,” Meadows wrote on Dec. 9.
Mere days before Christmas, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell also reached out in a rambling message, writing to Meadows that he heard talk of plans to seize voting machines.
“Everything Sidney has said is true!” Lindell wrote of attorney Sidney Powell’s voting machine conspiracy theory. “We have to get the machines and everything we already have proves the President won by millions of votes! I have read and not validated yet that you and others talked him out of seizing them… If true .. I pray it is part of a bigger plan... I am grateful that on the night of the election the algorithms of the corrupt machines broke and they realized our president would win in spite of the historical fraud!” Lindell wrote. [Emphasis original] “I look for deviations every day in my business … when I find one I investigate relentlessly until I know why it happened and how it happened… ( this is my gift from God that has made my business so successful) From 11:15 pm on the night of the election I have spent all my time running impossible deviations and numbers from this election… I also was blessed to be able to get info and help Sidney Lin General Flynn and everyone else out there gathering all the massive evidence! I have been sickened by politicians ( especially republicans ) judges, the media not wanting to see the truth ( no matter what the truth would be!) This is the biggest cover up of one of the worst crimes in history! I have spent over a million$ to help uncover this fraud and used my platform so people can get the word not to give up! The people on both sides have to see the truth and when they do …. there will not be no civil war , people ( including politicians!) are fearing! The only thing any of us should fear is fear of the Lord! Every person on this planet needs to know the truth and see the evidence!!! Mark .. God has his hand in all of this and has put you on the front line… I will continue praying for you to have great wisdom and discernment! Blessings Mike”
“Thanks brother. Pray for a miracle,” Meadows responded.
Powell was sued for defamation by Dominion Voting Systems after claiming that the company used rigged machines manipulated by foreign entities. When pressed in court and facing high fines, Powell chalked up her own statements to opinion and said “reasonable people” would not accept what she said as fact. She lost the suit and was ordered to pay damages.
As for members of Congress, in December, Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama called on Meadows for advice on how to handle press calling his office about the GOP’s strategy for Jan. 6.
“Does the White House want me to reply or be mum? Also, it is one thing to discuss (in general terms) our meeting beforehand. It is another to discuss afterwards. If you believe discussion is a positive, I suggest message should be: 1. Progress is being made. 2. More are joining our fight. 3. We can’t allow voter fraud & election theft occur if we are going to be a republic. Your choice. Let me know,” Brooks wrote.
Energy Secretary Perry followed up on his texts to Meadows a few days after Brooks reached out, noting that time was running out until Jan. 6. There were just 25 days until inauguration, he noted.
“We gotta get going,” Perry wrote on Dec. 26.
Then, he urged Meadows to call “Clark” multiple times over the next two days, making a reference to Jeffrey Clark, Trump’s pick at the Department of Justice. Clark, according to testimony already provided to the committee, was preparing a scheme to oust the current leadership at the Justice Department at Trump’s behest.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia buzzed Meadows on New Year’s Eve.
“Good morning Mark, I’m here in DC. We have to get organized for the 6th. I would like to meet with Rudy Giuliani again. We didn’t get to speak with him long. Also anyone who can help. We are getting a lot of members on board. And we need to lay out the best case for each state. I’ll be over at CPI this afternoon,” she wrote.
January
As the nation careened toward the day Congress would meet to certify electors, Meadows was also at the fore of messages around the planning of the Jan. 6 rally at the Ellipse.
In one message, Trump adviser Katrina Pierson appeared exasperated and worried about the event ahead.
On Jan. 2, she texted Meadows: “Good afternoon, would you mind giving me a call re: this Jan 6th event. Things have gotten crazy and I desperately need some direction. Please.”
Tension was dogging the ranks of rally organizers at the time. ProPublica reported last summer that text messages it obtained indicated organizers knew threats of violence were possible on Jan. 6 and that local law enforcement would be taxed if things got out of hand. There was also the growing issue of more extreme right-wing allies and conspiracy theory peddlers who wanted in on Trump’s event at the Ellipse.
To keep the optics clean, Pierson reportedly led a plan to have certain speakers deemed “too extreme” to instead speak at events scheduled for Jan. 5. Alex Jones and ‘Stop the Steal’ rally organizer Ali Alexander would end up speaking to Trump’s supporters that night. Ali Alexander led a group of protesters that night in a chant of “Victory or death!”
Pierson and Women for America First chair Amy Kremer were in agreement over the decision but on Jan. 3, Pierson texted Meadows again and told him to “scratch” her earlier request for help.
“Caroline Wren has decided to move forward with the original psycho list. Apparently Dan Scavino approved??” Pierson wrote.
She added: “So I’m done. I can’t be part of embarrassing POTUS any further.”
A few days later, Jim Jordan texted Meadows.
It was 24 hours before certification and Jordan sent a message saying Pence, as president of the Senate, should object to votes he believed were unconstitutional.
Jordan has chalked up that message to a forward he sent from the inspector general at the Pentagon, Joseph Schmitz.
The message read:
”On January 6, 2021, Vice President Mike Pence, as President of the Senate, should call out all electoral votes that he believes are unconstitutional as no electoral votes at all — in accordance with guidance from founding father Alexander Hamilton and judicial precedence. ‘No legislative act,’ wrote Alexander Hamilton in Federalist No. 78, ‘contrary to the Constitution, can be valid.’ ‘The court in Hubbard v. Lowe reinforced this truth: ”That an unconstitutional statute is not a law at all is a proposition no longer open to discussion.’ ‘226 F. 135, 137 (SDNY 1915), appeal dismissed, 242 U.S. 654 (1916). ‘ Following this rationale, an unconstitutionally appointed elector, like an unconstitutionally enacted statute, is no elector at all.
Meadows appeared to reply to Jordan on Jan. 6.
”I have pushed for this not sure it is going to happen,” he wrote.
As the mob breached the Capitol, according to the record published by CNN, a series of rapid-fire texts from lawmakers, officials, and media personalities alike flew into Meadows’s phone.
Rep. Greene of Georgia texted Meadows: “Mark I was just told there is an active shooter on the first floor of the Capitol Please tell the President to calm people This isn’t the way to solve anything.”
A few weeks later, on Jan. 17, Greene would text Meadows again, this time telling him that after a “private chat with only Members,” the predominant belief they shared was that martial law should be invoked to stop Biden’s inauguration.
”In our private chat with only Members, several are saying the only way to save our Republic is for Trump to call for Marshall law. I don’t know on those things. I just wanted you to tell him. They stole this election. We all know. They will destroy our country next. Please tell him to declassify as much as possible so we can go after Biden and anyone else!” Greene wrote.
Two days later, on Jan. 19, Hannity was in despair. Biden would be inaugurated. And Mitch McConnell, then the Senate Majority Leader, was on the floor of the Senate saying the attack was “provoked by the president and other powerful people.”
“Well, this is as bad as this can get,” Hannity wrote.
Hundreds of police officers were brutalized during the Capitol assault and five people died.
According to The Washington Post, McConnell told Jonathan Martin, author of the book This Will Not Pass, that he was partially relieved about what Trump had wrought on the nation.
