“Donald Trump on Thursday blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for helping start that nation’s war with Russia, a comment that further suggests Trump is likely to radically shift U.S. policy toward Russia if he wins the Nov. 5 election.”
How did the war start? By Russia invading? Yup! That’s Ukraine’s fault, that Russia insists on stealing the land around it!
Just imagine how our international relationships would change, not just with Ukraine, but across the world, if he were to be reelected!
“GOP lawmakers have signaled their intention to elevate the issue ahead of the November election, despite scant evidence that it has ever been a problem before.”
“While the bills echo a favorite claim from Republicans regarding election fraud, several years of research and data suggest that the problem they attempt to solve up to now has been so rare as to be insignificant.”
“In the broadest terms, a person can vote in federal, state and local elections if they are a U.S. citizen, meet the residency requirements of the state they reside in, are 18 years old on or before the day of the election and are registered to vote by the state’s voter registration deadline.
“Federal law also requires all voter registration forms to advise those signing up that they must swear they are a citizen under penalty of perjury. And in 1996, Congress passed a broad immigration law that explicitly banned noncitizen voting in federal elections, making it punishable by up to a year in prison.
“However, states and localities have latitude to set their own election requirements. And in some places, those lawmakers have adopted differing postures on issues like whether to allow convicted felons or minors to vote.”
Two lawsuits have been filed in Wisconsin challenging the eligibility of over 100,000 voters, claiming that they ‘appear to be invalid’. And almost half are in Milwaukee County. Overall, clearly targeting cities that tend to vote Democrat. This is happening in all the “battleground states” and the purpose is actually to sow distrust and undermine confidence in the elections. Presumably so if their candidate loses, they think they’ll have a basis for challenging the results.
TO BE CLEAR, the state’s elections commission is constantly vetting voter registration statuses via multiple sources, including U.S. Postal Service records, and they are already effectively removing ineligible voters from the rolls (usually because the people have moved).
These lawsuits were brought by attorney Daniel Eastman, who also was one of the lawyers involved in a 2020 lawsuit seeking to overturn Trump’s loss to Biden.
There has been talk lately about the Alien Enemies Act. Specifically by Trump and in regard to immigrants.
The Brennan Center has a high rating for factual reporting and they break down the history and use of this Alien Enemies Act in the article linked below this excerpt from the Brennan Center’s “The Briefing” email.
In 1798, Congress passed the Alien and Sedition Acts. These laws criminalized dissent, abused civil liberties, and violated the Constitution. They are among the most notorious laws in history. One is still on the books, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
The law has only been used three times: During the War of 1812. During World War I. And most notoriously, to imprison tens of thousands of innocent noncitizens of Japanese, German, and Italian descent in internment camps during World War II.
Thomas Jefferson decried the Alien and Sedition Acts as part of a “reign of witches.” Recently, Donald Trump called the last of these laws something else. Let’s call it Project 1798.
This past weekend, Trump pledged to launch “Operation Aurora,” a plan to deploy the military on U.S. soil to seize, detain, and deport immigrants he deems dangerous. “Can you imagine? Those were the old days when they had tough politicians, have to go back that long,” he told a rally on Saturday. “Think of that, 1798. Oh, it’s a powerful act. You couldn’t pass something like that today.”
In the first year after Roe v Wade was overturned (June 2022-June 2023), over 200 women have faced criminal charges for conduct associated with their pregnancy, pregnancy loss, or birth. The majority of these charges are in just six states: Alabama, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas. All run by Republicans and operating under abortion bans.
Trump said in an interview that “there has to be some sort of punishment” for the woman. And it’s already happening.
Researchers have found that pregnancies and pregnancy loss are more highly scrutinized in these states. And it’s more about the ramifications of giving full legal personhood rights to a fetus than it is about actual abortions. Read below:
“Almost none of the prosecutions documented by researchers were brought under state abortion laws. Instead, researchers found that law enforcement most often charged pregnant women with crimes such as child neglect or endangerment, interpreting the definition of “child” to include a fetus. In doing so, authorities relied on a legal concept called fetal personhood — the idea that a fetus, embryo or fertilized egg has the same legal rights as a person who has been born.
“If we focus only on abortion laws, we miss a crucial part of the picture in the fact that pregnant individuals are being criminalized for allegedly endangering their own pregnancies, for pregnancy loss and, in some cases, for conduct related to abortion. What’s driving pregnancy criminalization is the expansion of fetal personhood.’
“Charges of child abuse or endangerment carry stiffer penalties — higher fines and lengthier prison sentences — than the low-level drug charges the women likely would have faced had they not been pregnant.
“‘Pregnancy-related prosecutions don’t generally charge crimes that, on the face of the criminal statute, have anything whatsoever to do with pregnancy,’ said Wendy Bach, a professor at the University of Tennessee College of Law and the report’s principal investigator. ‘Instead, using the idea of fetal personhood, or more specifically the idea that the fetus can be the victim of a crime perpetrated by the pregnant person, they use that theory to charge general crimes.'”
Oklahoma is requiring Bibles in every public school classroom. But the requirements are so narrow and specific that only Trump’s Bibles qualify!
“Oklahoma Education Superintendent Ryan Walters’s (R) office is defending the process for how the state will be selecting newly mandated Bibles in classrooms after a report was released that the criteria is so narrow that essentially no Bibles qualify — besides ones endorsed by former President Trump.
“The Oklahoman reported on Friday that vanishingly view editions match the specific parameters the superintendent calls for in his request for proposal (RFP): a Bible that is bound by leather or material like leather, has the Pledge of Allegiance, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and is the New King James version of the Old and New Testament.
“‘The RFP on its face seems fair, but with additional scrutiny, we can see there are very few Bibles on the market that would meet these criteria, and all of them have been endorsed by former President Donald Trump,’ Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice Executive Director Colleen McCarty told the news outlet.
“A spokesperson for Walters office told The Hill that “it would be inappropriate to comment while bids are being placed” for who will supply the bibles for Oklahoma classrooms.”
He “found a salesperson at Mardel Christian & Education who said none of the 2,900 Bibles they sell fit the criteria Oklahoma has proposed.
“The two Bibles that Trump has endorsed, We The People Bible and God Bless the U.S.A. Bible, both meet the criteria and are sold for $90 and $60, respectively.
“Walters has asked for $3 million to buy 55,000 copies of the Bible for Oklahoma classrooms.”
Trump clearly sides with Russia. Not like that’s any surprise, but he described Ukraine in bleak and mournful terms Wednesday, referring to its people as “dead” and the country itself as “demolished.”
“Trump laid blame for the conflict on President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. He said Biden ‘egged it all on’ by pledging to help Ukraine defend itself rather than pushing it to cede territory to Russia.”
He wouldn’t question the motives or methods of Putin, he just said that if HE were president, Putin would never have invaded Ukraine. As if Trump could control Putin in ANY way. That probably means that he would have threatened Ukraine until Ukraine agreed to cede the land to Russia. Can’t have a war if it doesn’t start, right? Trump clearly, CLEARLY, doesn’t care about the Ukrainian people, but about pleasing his idol, Putin.
Not that it really matters, because it’s more about their policies and their protecting the rights and lives of everyday Americans.
“Few Americans see the presidential candidates as particularly Christian, according to a new survey conducted Sept. 12-16 by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs. Only 14% of U.S. adults say the word “Christian” describes Harris or Trump ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ well.”
“‘The survey results represent the shift in how white evangelicals now talk about morality and religion in politics,’ said Griffith. She pointed to a white evangelical culture that takes care of its own, but sees liberal outsiders as evil, and therefore, support for a Democrat is unimaginable to many.
“Evangelical leaders, she said, are pushing this idea that, ‘this is God’s man, and we can’t ask why. We don’t have to ask why. It doesn’t matter if he’s moral, it doesn’t matter if he’s religious. It doesn’t matter if he lies compulsively. It’s for the greater good that we get him re-elected.'”
“Neither candidate fared particularly well when Americans were asked if they’d use the words “honest” or “moral” to describe them. Around one-third say those words describe Harris extremely or very well, and about 15% say the same for Trump. Adding in those who say the words “somewhat” describe the candidates raises the levels to more than half for Harris and about one-third for Trump.”
The claims being made by Trump and Vance are not only completely bogus, they are directly hurting innocent people.
“Over the weekend, two hospitals in Springfield were locked down after bomb threats, police said. Other threats received by Springfield officials have forced government buildings to close, two elementary schools to be evacuated and the students moved to a different location, and a middle school to shut down altogether.”
“After JD Vance first began spreading baseless rumors about Haitians in Springfield, members of the neo-Nazi group “Blood Tribe” marched into the city carrying guns, wearing body armor, and carrying Neo-Nazi flags. At an August 27 town hall meeting, one claimed that the city had been taken over by “degenerate third worlders,” blamed Jews for the influx, and warned that “crime and savagery will only increase with every Haitian you allow in.”
“Springfield’s Haitian immigrants say they are afraid. Some have kept their children home from school, fearing violence. Others have reported harassment on the street, in their cars, and at stores. A Springfield family whose son died last year when the bus in which he was riding accidentally collided with a car driven by a Haitian immigrant has pleaded for Trump and Vance to stop using their deceased son for political purposes.”
“Trump is now talking about holding a rally in Springfield. ‘We’re going to get these people out,’ Trump said in a Friday news conference. Although Springfield’s Haitian immigrants are in the United States legally, he promised to stage ‘the largest deportation in the history of our country’ if reelected.”
“Ohio’s Republican governor, Mike DeWine, told CBS News on Wednesday that “these Haitians came in here to work because there were jobs, and they filled a lot of jobs. And if you talk to employers, they’ve done a very, very good job and they work very, very hard.”
“Another of Trump’s bogus claims is now threatening legal immigrants in Aurora, Colorado, a Denver suburb that Trump has repeatedly asserted is being “taken over” by Venezuelan criminals. “Simply not true,” Aurora’s Republican mayor and city council member wrote in a joint statement.
“As in Springfield, Trump’s baseless claims are harming innocent people in Aurora. Immigrants there say they have been told their nationality makes them ineligible for jobs or housing. Trump’s claims have led to threats and drawn armed groups to the city, claiming to offer vigilante-style protection.
“Trump and Vance are using the oldest of tyrannical ploys — fueling deep-seated fears by creating an “other” — depicted as subhuman — who “take over” towns and “devour” loved ones.”
Talk about a waste of public money and rather direct voter intimidation! Voter fraud is rare, generally individual cases, and is usually caught, but DeSantis created a state police force to “investigate voter fraud.” But it ends up being used to intimidate non-Republican voters in the spurious guise of looking for fraud.
“State police are showing up at Florida voters’ homes to question them about signing a petition to get an abortion rights amendment on the ballot in November, and a state health care agency has launched a website targeting the ballot initiative with politically charged language.
“Critics say they’re the latest efforts by Florida’s Republican elected officials to leverage state resources to try to block the abortion rights measure, moves which some Democratic officials argue could violate state laws against voter intimidation.”
“Critics say the investigation is a brazen attempt to intimidate voters in the country’s third-largest state from protecting access to abortion — and the latest in a series of efforts by the governor’s administration to target Amendment 4.”
“DeSantis signed a law in 2022 creating a state police force dedicated to investigating voter fraud and elections crimes. Voter fraud is rare, typically occurs in isolated instances and is generally detected.
“He said elections police are going to the homes of people who signed the petitions that got Amendment 4 on the ballot not to intimidate them, but because questions have been raised about the legitimacy of the signatures. He said the police have found evidence that some of the supposed signatures were from dead people.”
