Credit to people like Brad Raffensberger, Rusty Bowers and Mike Pence, too. They did the right thing when they could’ve gone the other way. Can’t help but think though if they had gone along they’d be the ones in legal trouble that Trump seems to float above. They’d potentially be where Tina Peters is going to be for the next 9 years.
Hopefully she’s serving as an object lesson for anyone thinking of signing onto the Big Lie Part Deux.
For a hoot, watch the testimony of Raffenberger and Sterling before the 1/6 Committee, where Trump's outlandish claims regarding fraud are compared with the result of a full audit.
Chaos favors the conman. Donald's simple trick "The election will be rigged." is the kid's coin flip game "Heads I win, tails you lose." And the Press buys it!
"Former President Trump, will you accept the results of the election?"
"We will see."
Translated to the truth, his answer is "I win no matter what."
As long as the legit news media continues to be conned, Donald will strive to win the White House so he and his family can steal money again (Treasury payments to his companies, bribes from corporations and foreign governments) with abandon. MAGA/GOP/RNC is all a money scam.
Roy Cohn taught Donald that WINNING is grabbing all the money and power you can. Legally or not. Theft is Donald's vocation. His career. His life. The Press thinks he's a legit candidate for public office. Dupes.
Once the lamprey parasite clamps onto the host with its sharp steely fangs, it doesn't let go. Donald and family are making millions from the campaign and will make even more if they can retake the White House. By hook or by crook. The level of money and power greed is unimaginable for normal humans.
Trump & Vance can’t handle the truth threatening fact checkers, whistleblowers & truth tellers with retribution. https://wapo.st/3XXgHPt
Trump & MAGA whine about booming Bidenomics: 98% of jobs created since 1989 were created during Democratic administrations. Republicans have lost jobs while ballooning the deficit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbPBuk5QoV8
That there are Americans who do not want a fair election 🗳️ fight is a source of despair. That Fair Fight, founded by Stacey Abrams, needs more funding is bothersome yet justified. Each day, I receive at least 40 political donation requests, despite having unsubscribed at every opportunity. What seems to matter most in this election is money. Damn, or better yet, end Citizens United!
It is often important to open the links that T. Snyder provides in some of his pieces. Here are a couple of excerpts from the link to 'Democracy Docket' that appeared at the beginning of this piece:
'S.B. (Senate Bill) 189, the most impactful and controversial of the three laws, has two main components that could greatly affect elections in Georgia. In 2021, the Republican majority passed a controversial omnibus voting law that, among many other provisions, allows anyone to formally challenge as many voters’ eligibility in their county as they wish. '
'S.B. 189 makes it even easier to invalidate a voter’s eligibility by not placing any limits on which factors can be used to make a valid claim — ...'
'It also allows voters to be removed from the rolls up until 45 days before an election — a violation of the National Voter Registration Act, which bans removal of voters within 90 days of a federal election. The new law also eliminates the practice of using QR codes on ballots to count votes electronically.'
'H.B. 974 is part of a troubling trend in Republican states to conduct citizen-led audits, inspired by the chaos and disinformation spread in the 2020 election. A number of right-wing figures filed lawsuits to gain access to ballots in the aftermath of the 2020 election, and at least one state — Texas — enacted a bill similar to the one signed by Kemp that allows the public to access voters’ ballots. '
Be informed and take action when you can are crucial messages in 'A fair-fight in Georgia!
The new Congress is sworn in on January 3rd. Hopefully we’ll have Speaker Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Schumer and still Vice President Harris for electoral vote counting
Steve Bannon has been working on their Precinct Strategy of which GA is just one battleground. Here’s an entertaining way to learn about that threat: HGA: Trump 2024: https://youtu.be/KHuMjIhS6t0?si=zUwtCorlocAti1gm
The Christofascists will try to steal this election and not just POTUS. I have a friend who was involved with the Trump administration. He feels there is a real threat that red state governors will use all means available to suppress and/or not count votes in blue counties. For instance, D-TX Colin Allred is running against MAGATX Cancun Cruz; my friend believes a possible scenario is MAGATX gov Greg Abbott activates his TX Guard units and sends them into Harris, Bexar, Travis & Dallas counties to stop the vote counts and make sure Rs win House and Senate races. Even if the Rs don't take back the Senate and lose the House, if tRump is POTUS, shielded by the insane immunity granted him by the SCOTUS Trump v US decision, the US as we know it is finished.
July at Oshkosh’s Airventure, the Wisconsin Guard put on a demo of their combined arms capabilities. https://youtu.be/raMOZhHBwg0 As I watched I didn’t know whether the WI Gov was R or D so I immediately googled to discover he is a D! Tony Evers. Dr Snyder’s Bloodbath Candidate Thinking About immediately came to mind. https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-bloodbath-candidate
What happens if Red State governors send their Army and Air Guard units to support Trump like they already have in support of Abbott’s Operation Lone Star? POTUS needs to activate, or have a plan to immediately activate, all red state governor Guard units from 1 November to 31 January to have them under his command!
Professors Ben-Ghiat, Snyder and Richardson are sounding the alarm. I sure hope POTUS is listening.
"For instance, D-TX Colin Allred is running against MAGATX Cancun Cruz; my friend believes a possible scenario is MAGATX gov Greg Abbott activates his TX Guard units and sends them into Harris, Bexar, Travis & Dallas counties to stop the vote counts and make sure Rs win House and Senate races." This wouldn't surprise me. I live in Austin, the capital of Texas, and have been mulling over such scenes as well as others since 2019, interestingly, about a year before I started reading mostly central and eastern European history. Reading the 20th-century history of this region on and off for about 4.5 years now has only confirmed my mullings over; the Republican government in Austin has been harassing us for years because they really do think we're communists. In fact, we're known as the People's Republic of Austin all over the state of Texas, and they're all convinced that we're an existential threat to them.
There's a real possibility that Colin Allred could win this time. Travis County always goes for the Democratic Party, so the suggestion that sending the Texas Guard to Travis, Harris, Bexar, and Dallas Counties doesn't seem at all far-fetched to me. And I've been wondering lately how the Biden administration might react to such dirty tricks. What are their plans? How, for instance, might they react to a SCOTUS decision that simply hands the presidency to Trump even if Harris is the clear winner in the electoral college? Will they all leave the White House on Jan. 20 and on their way out simply say, "SCOTUS has spoken, and as always, they're the last word," and then leave not just the country, but the entire world, in peril? So I agree with you that we need to think not just about Trump and his people's plans, but what the Biden administration is prepared to do stop their illegalities.
Re: "Will they all leave the White House on Jan. 20 and on their way out simply say, "SCOTUS has spoken, and as always, they're the last word," and then leave not just the country, but the entire world, in peril?"
Rose - I sure hope POTUS remembers the immunity for official acts that SCROTUS has granted. I fear that Joe is too “nice” to do what might be required.
Here’s some more food for thought for your fellow Blue Texans:
Hopefully enough people are fed up with MAGATX and we see Colin Allred win. Hopefully a bunch of Ds win up and down the ballots.
Mon dieu, Jason, thanks for those articles, especially the one from MSNBC about rape to solve the demographic problem. That article is from 2022. I'm going to see what I can do to get it to a wider audience--maybe by calling it to Joyce Vance's attention.
Texas is 98.7 men per 100 women. "The states with the lowest male to female ratios, in order, are: District of Columbia (90.8), Delaware (93.7), Mississippi (94), Alabama (94.1), Maryland (94.2), Massachusetts (94.4), South Carolina (94.4), New York (94.4), North Carolina (94.8), and Georgia (94.8)."
Women can save America by saving their freedom. I hope young people, especially young women, make the difference.
I do, too, Jason. Young people do seem to be getting more involved in politics lately. One of the main problems is that too many Americans do not know what will happen to them and the country if Trump wins.
Oh yes, I remember your gamers and breakers piece, as well as an interview of Stacy Abrams right after we learned about Trump's call to Raffensberger. Even as the press was praising Raffensberger, Ms Abrams made it quite clear that he should not be praised for refusing to give in to Trump's request. The reason he refused, she said, is because the last thing he wanted was to call the nation's attention to his and the Georgia legislature's years-long voter suppression project--that what he wanted instead was to continue the quiet business of suppressing the African-American vote, and what angered him most was not simply that Trump was getting in his and Kemp's way, but that he was doing so much too loudly.
Didn't these Georgia election board members attend a Trump rally, at which they were called something like champions? If that's right, they should have been ousted on the spot.
I'm not sure that Georgia will be the tipping point. The Rethugs are staring to panic. Both Cancun Cruz and Medicare Scott have taken out huge ad buys in Texas and Florida. Plus, the latest polls show Fla becoming tighter between Harris and Drumpf. Harris has opened up a 16-point lead with independent voters.
Credit to people like Brad Raffensberger, Rusty Bowers and Mike Pence, too. They did the right thing when they could’ve gone the other way. Can’t help but think though if they had gone along they’d be the ones in legal trouble that Trump seems to float above. They’d potentially be where Tina Peters is going to be for the next 9 years.
Hopefully she’s serving as an object lesson for anyone thinking of signing onto the Big Lie Part Deux.
For a hoot, watch the testimony of Raffenberger and Sterling before the 1/6 Committee, where Trump's outlandish claims regarding fraud are compared with the result of a full audit.
Chaos favors the conman. Donald's simple trick "The election will be rigged." is the kid's coin flip game "Heads I win, tails you lose." And the Press buys it!
"Former President Trump, will you accept the results of the election?"
"We will see."
Translated to the truth, his answer is "I win no matter what."
As long as the legit news media continues to be conned, Donald will strive to win the White House so he and his family can steal money again (Treasury payments to his companies, bribes from corporations and foreign governments) with abandon. MAGA/GOP/RNC is all a money scam.
Roy Cohn taught Donald that WINNING is grabbing all the money and power you can. Legally or not. Theft is Donald's vocation. His career. His life. The Press thinks he's a legit candidate for public office. Dupes.
See "The Longest Con" by Joe Conason.
Once the lamprey parasite clamps onto the host with its sharp steely fangs, it doesn't let go. Donald and family are making millions from the campaign and will make even more if they can retake the White House. By hook or by crook. The level of money and power greed is unimaginable for normal humans.
Trump & Vance can’t handle the truth threatening fact checkers, whistleblowers & truth tellers with retribution. https://wapo.st/3XXgHPt
Trump & MAGA whine about booming Bidenomics: 98% of jobs created since 1989 were created during Democratic administrations. Republicans have lost jobs while ballooning the deficit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbPBuk5QoV8
My head has been spinning, trying to figure out what people who love democracy can do from other state states.
I sincerely appreciate the concise and easy to understand Article- I got clear on confusion as to why Kemp has done nothing.
How can citizens help Georgia?
That there are Americans who do not want a fair election 🗳️ fight is a source of despair. That Fair Fight, founded by Stacey Abrams, needs more funding is bothersome yet justified. Each day, I receive at least 40 political donation requests, despite having unsubscribed at every opportunity. What seems to matter most in this election is money. Damn, or better yet, end Citizens United!
It is often important to open the links that T. Snyder provides in some of his pieces. Here are a couple of excerpts from the link to 'Democracy Docket' that appeared at the beginning of this piece:
'S.B. (Senate Bill) 189, the most impactful and controversial of the three laws, has two main components that could greatly affect elections in Georgia. In 2021, the Republican majority passed a controversial omnibus voting law that, among many other provisions, allows anyone to formally challenge as many voters’ eligibility in their county as they wish. '
'S.B. 189 makes it even easier to invalidate a voter’s eligibility by not placing any limits on which factors can be used to make a valid claim — ...'
'It also allows voters to be removed from the rolls up until 45 days before an election — a violation of the National Voter Registration Act, which bans removal of voters within 90 days of a federal election. The new law also eliminates the practice of using QR codes on ballots to count votes electronically.'
'H.B. 974 is part of a troubling trend in Republican states to conduct citizen-led audits, inspired by the chaos and disinformation spread in the 2020 election. A number of right-wing figures filed lawsuits to gain access to ballots in the aftermath of the 2020 election, and at least one state — Texas — enacted a bill similar to the one signed by Kemp that allows the public to access voters’ ballots. '
Be informed and take action when you can are crucial messages in 'A fair-fight in Georgia!
Tim, It would not be a lame duck congress. New Congress sworn in on January 3rd. Electoral vote count on January 6th.
The new Congress is sworn in on January 3rd. Hopefully we’ll have Speaker Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Schumer and still Vice President Harris for electoral vote counting
Steve Bannon has been working on their Precinct Strategy of which GA is just one battleground. Here’s an entertaining way to learn about that threat: HGA: Trump 2024: https://youtu.be/KHuMjIhS6t0?si=zUwtCorlocAti1gm
Leader of the pro-Trump Project 2025 suggests there will be a new American Revolution; Kevin Roberts said the revolution will be bloodless “if the left allows it to be.” https://www.politico.com/news/2024/07/04/leader-of-the-pro-trump-project-2025-suggests-there-will-be-a-new-american-revolution-00166583
The Christofascists will try to steal this election and not just POTUS. I have a friend who was involved with the Trump administration. He feels there is a real threat that red state governors will use all means available to suppress and/or not count votes in blue counties. For instance, D-TX Colin Allred is running against MAGATX Cancun Cruz; my friend believes a possible scenario is MAGATX gov Greg Abbott activates his TX Guard units and sends them into Harris, Bexar, Travis & Dallas counties to stop the vote counts and make sure Rs win House and Senate races. Even if the Rs don't take back the Senate and lose the House, if tRump is POTUS, shielded by the insane immunity granted him by the SCOTUS Trump v US decision, the US as we know it is finished.
July at Oshkosh’s Airventure, the Wisconsin Guard put on a demo of their combined arms capabilities. https://youtu.be/raMOZhHBwg0 As I watched I didn’t know whether the WI Gov was R or D so I immediately googled to discover he is a D! Tony Evers. Dr Snyder’s Bloodbath Candidate Thinking About immediately came to mind. https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-bloodbath-candidate
What happens if Red State governors send their Army and Air Guard units to support Trump like they already have in support of Abbott’s Operation Lone Star? POTUS needs to activate, or have a plan to immediately activate, all red state governor Guard units from 1 November to 31 January to have them under his command!
Professors Ben-Ghiat, Snyder and Richardson are sounding the alarm. I sure hope POTUS is listening.
"For instance, D-TX Colin Allred is running against MAGATX Cancun Cruz; my friend believes a possible scenario is MAGATX gov Greg Abbott activates his TX Guard units and sends them into Harris, Bexar, Travis & Dallas counties to stop the vote counts and make sure Rs win House and Senate races." This wouldn't surprise me. I live in Austin, the capital of Texas, and have been mulling over such scenes as well as others since 2019, interestingly, about a year before I started reading mostly central and eastern European history. Reading the 20th-century history of this region on and off for about 4.5 years now has only confirmed my mullings over; the Republican government in Austin has been harassing us for years because they really do think we're communists. In fact, we're known as the People's Republic of Austin all over the state of Texas, and they're all convinced that we're an existential threat to them.
There's a real possibility that Colin Allred could win this time. Travis County always goes for the Democratic Party, so the suggestion that sending the Texas Guard to Travis, Harris, Bexar, and Dallas Counties doesn't seem at all far-fetched to me. And I've been wondering lately how the Biden administration might react to such dirty tricks. What are their plans? How, for instance, might they react to a SCOTUS decision that simply hands the presidency to Trump even if Harris is the clear winner in the electoral college? Will they all leave the White House on Jan. 20 and on their way out simply say, "SCOTUS has spoken, and as always, they're the last word," and then leave not just the country, but the entire world, in peril? So I agree with you that we need to think not just about Trump and his people's plans, but what the Biden administration is prepared to do stop their illegalities.
Thanks for your interesting comment, Jason.
Re: "Will they all leave the White House on Jan. 20 and on their way out simply say, "SCOTUS has spoken, and as always, they're the last word," and then leave not just the country, but the entire world, in peril?"
Rose - I sure hope POTUS remembers the immunity for official acts that SCROTUS has granted. I fear that Joe is too “nice” to do what might be required.
Here’s some more food for thought for your fellow Blue Texans:
Hopefully enough people are fed up with MAGATX and we see Colin Allred win. Hopefully a bunch of Ds win up and down the ballots.
Consider: “How the loss of Roe directly serves white supremacists' horrifying plot “Some white supremacist groups see rape of white women as an “extremely effective” way to increase white births. After the death of Roe, the ideology is all the more horrifying.” https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/how-anti-abortion-rights-white-supremacist-extremism-overlap-n1297896
Couple this with the insanity of Greg Abbott:
“Greg Abbott Said He’d “Eliminate Rape” to Justify an Abortion Ban. He’s Failed Horribly. “Thanks to his ban, Texas leads the nation: 26,300 estimated pregnancies as a result of rape.” https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/01/abbott-texas-abortion-ban-rape-record-pregnancies-failure/
And you realize that we must follow Professor Joyce Vance’s advice and Roe, Roe, Roe the Vote!
If these Christofascists steal this election and implement Project 2025 the US might end up with a white only version of Gilead. The threat is real.
Mon dieu, Jason, thanks for those articles, especially the one from MSNBC about rape to solve the demographic problem. That article is from 2022. I'm going to see what I can do to get it to a wider audience--maybe by calling it to Joyce Vance's attention.
Rose - So much is riding on this election. Woman make up a majority in this country. There are only ten states that have more men than women. https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/male-to-female-ratio-by-state
Texas is 98.7 men per 100 women. "The states with the lowest male to female ratios, in order, are: District of Columbia (90.8), Delaware (93.7), Mississippi (94), Alabama (94.1), Maryland (94.2), Massachusetts (94.4), South Carolina (94.4), New York (94.4), North Carolina (94.8), and Georgia (94.8)."
Women can save America by saving their freedom. I hope young people, especially young women, make the difference.
I do, too, Jason. Young people do seem to be getting more involved in politics lately. One of the main problems is that too many Americans do not know what will happen to them and the country if Trump wins.
PS One of my favorite pics ever was Handmaids protesting in Austin three years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V5koLoUmGE
"If you were really pro-life you'd wear a mask because masks save lives." Good for her!
Gee, sounds eerily reminiscent of the 2000 tactics in Florida, and they got away with it then.
Thank you Tim.
Fair Fight! Check them out.
I find your distinction between gamers and breakers a very useful analytical tool. Simple, illuminating.
Who would be the modern US equivalent of the French Vichy of WWII?
Donated!
Oh yes, I remember your gamers and breakers piece, as well as an interview of Stacy Abrams right after we learned about Trump's call to Raffensberger. Even as the press was praising Raffensberger, Ms Abrams made it quite clear that he should not be praised for refusing to give in to Trump's request. The reason he refused, she said, is because the last thing he wanted was to call the nation's attention to his and the Georgia legislature's years-long voter suppression project--that what he wanted instead was to continue the quiet business of suppressing the African-American vote, and what angered him most was not simply that Trump was getting in his and Kemp's way, but that he was doing so much too loudly.
Didn't these Georgia election board members attend a Trump rally, at which they were called something like champions? If that's right, they should have been ousted on the spot.
I'm not sure that Georgia will be the tipping point. The Rethugs are staring to panic. Both Cancun Cruz and Medicare Scott have taken out huge ad buys in Texas and Florida. Plus, the latest polls show Fla becoming tighter between Harris and Drumpf. Harris has opened up a 16-point lead with independent voters.