Category: Latest News

Georgia officials open inquiry into Trump efforts to overturn election results

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The Georgia secretary of state’s office is investigating former President Trump’s efforts to overturn the election results in the Peach State, which included a phone call he placed to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) in early January.

Walter Jones, a spokesman for the office, confirmed the probe in a Monday statement and described it as “fact-finding and administrative.”

“The Secretary of State’s office investigates complaints it receives. The investigations are fact-finding and administrative in nature,” Jones said. “Any further legal efforts will be left to the Attorney General.” Continue reading.

Ex-Republican explains she now believes her former party is filled with ‘enemies of democracy’

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In 2020, conservative columnist Mona Charen did something that would have shocked her readers back in the 1980s, 1990s or 2000s: she voted for a Democratic presidential nominee. Charen is among the veteran conservatives who — like Washington Post columnists George Will and Max Boot, MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and The Bulwark’s Bill Kristol — was a blistering critic of Donald Trump’s presidency. And in an op-ed published by Haaretz on February 8, the former Nancy Reagan speechwriter lays out some of the reasons why she is glad to see President Joe Biden in the White House and considers pro-Trump Republicans enemies of democracy.

“Like progressives, conservatives believe in reform, but are more likely to stress gradualism, small-scale experimentation and prudence,” Charen, now 63, explains in her op-ed. “From the very outset of his run for the presidency, Donald Trump smashed those understandings of what conservatism was. His lies alone were enough to signal his unfitness. Flagrant lying is a key feature of authoritarianism.”

Charen, contrary to what many Trumpistas claim, hasn’t turned into a liberal or a progressive — her views are still decidedly right-wing. But Charen views Trumpism as a radical departure from the Reagan conservatism she embraced during the 1980s and 1990s. And although Charen has some policy differences with Biden, she applauds him for believing in the rule of law. Continue reading.

New variants threaten to reverse progress against COVID-19

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The rise of more contagious variants of the coronavirus are threatening an encouraging trend of falling COVID-19 cases across the country.

New U.S. cases of COVID-19 on Sunday dropped below 100,000 for the first time since November, a hopeful sign after a brutal post-Thanksgiving period that saw cases, hospitalizations and deaths spike.

Health officials are urging the public and governors not to ease up on precautions despite the somewhat improved situation, given that measures like wearing a mask and distancing from others are even more important when the virus is more contagious.  Continue reading.

Facebook says it will crack down on COVID vaccine misinformation

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Facebook says it will take tougher action during the pandemic against claims that vaccines, including the COVID-19 vaccination, are not effective or safe.

Why it matters: It’s a partial reversal from Facebook’s previous position on vaccine misinformation. In September, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company wouldn’t target anti-vaccination posts the same way it has aggressively cracked down on COVID misinformation.

Details: Facebook is doing four things to crack down on misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccinations in general, following consultation with the World Health Organization: Continue reading.

‘Present your data’: Jen Psaki smacks down Peter Doocy’s gotcha question on Keystone Pipeline jobs

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Monday challenged Fox News correspondent to back up his question on Keystone Pipeline job losses with actual data.

During a White House press briefing, Doocy suggested that President Joe Biden had failed to keep his promise on creating green energy jobs.

“When is it that the Biden administration is going to let the thousands of fossil fuel industry workers — whether it’s pipeline workers or construction workers who are either out of work or will soon be out of work because of a Biden [executive order] — when it is and where it is that they can go for their green job?” Doocy asked. Continue reading.

The Boogaloo Bois Have Guns, Criminal Records and Military Training. Now They Want to Overthrow the Government.

Hours after the attack on the Capitol ended, a group calling itself the Last Sons of Liberty posted a brief video to Parler, the social media platform, that appeared to show members of the organization directly participating in the uprising. Footage showed someone with a shaky smartphone charging past the metal barricades surrounding the building. Other clips show rioters physically battling with baton-wielding police on the white marble steps just outside the Capitol.

Before Parler went offline — its operations halted at least temporarily when Amazon refused to continue to host the network — the Last Sons posted numerous statements indicating that group members had joined the mob that swarmed the Capitol and had no regrets about the chaos and violence that unfolded on Jan. 6. The Last Sons also did some quick math: The government had suffered only one fatality, U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, 42, who was reportedly bludgeoned in the head with a fire extinguisher. But the rioters had lost four people, including Ashli Babbitt, the 35-year-old Air Force veteran who was shot by an officer as she tried to storm the building.

In a series of posts, the Last Sons said her death should be “avenged” and appeared to call for the murder of three more cops. Continue reading.

On cusp of impeachment trial, court documents point to how Trump’s rhetoric fueled rioters who attacked Capitol

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Storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was no spur-of-the-
moment decision for Jessica Marie Watkins, an Ohio bartender and founder of a small, self-styled militia, federal prosecutors allege.

In documents charging her with conspiracy and other crimes for her role in the insurrection, they say she began planning such an operation shortly after President Donald Trump lost the November election, ultimately helping recruit and allegedly helping lead dozens of people who took violent action to try to stop congressional certification of the electoral college vote last month. 

In text messages cited in court documents, Watkins was clear about why she was heading to Washington. “Trump wants all able bodied patriots to come,” she wrote to one of her alleged co-conspirators on Dec. 29, eight days before prosecutors say they invaded the building. Continue reading.

Arizona Republicans threaten to arrest fellow GOPers if they don’t turn over ballots for another recount: report

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According to a report from USA Today, the Republican majority in the State Senate is threatening to arrest members of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors if they don’t turn over copies of mail-in ballots and voting machines so they can conduct another vote count of the 2020 presidential election results that led to Doinald Trump losing.

The report notes that the Maricopa board is also predominately Republican but that hasn’t stopped state senators from going after them.

“The Arizona Senate, controlled by Republicans, has threatened to hold the supervisors, nearly all Republicans, in contempt for not responding to subpoenas asking for copies of all the county’s mail-in ballots and access to voting machines. The Senate wants to perform its own audit,” the report states. “Some senators have even threatened to arrest the supervisors over the matter, and the body could vote on the contempt resolution as early as Monday.” Continue reading.

Majority of Americans approve of Biden’s coronavirus response, poll finds

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Two in 3 Americans approve of President Biden’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a poll by ABC News-Ipsos, with widespread support for his efforts to pass a relief bill.

The survey was conducted Feb. 5 and 6 among 508 adults using the probability-based KnowledgePanel. Biden’s 67 percent approval on handling the coronavirus contrasts sharply with how Americans felt President Donald Trump handled the pandemic. In October, 61 percent said they disapproved of Trump’s response to the coronavirus.

Biden earned high marks among Democrats and political independents in the new poll, with 96 percent of Democrats and 67 percent of independents approving. Just a third of Republicans, 33 percent, voiced approval. Continue reading.

Trump’s DC Hotel Is Jacking Up Rates For QAnon’s Next Special Date

For some QAnon conspiracy theorists, March 4, 2021 is a date circled in red Sharpie on the calendar. The truly devoted believe that, on this special date, Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 19th president of the United States.

The theory borrows from the sovereign citizens movement, which espouses that a law enacted in 1871 secretly turned the U.S. into a corporation and ended the American government put in place by the founding fathers. Accordingly, the true inauguration date was not January 20, as the rest of the world believes. The conspiracy theorists contend that the real inauguration will happen on March 4, the date on which presidents were sworn in prior to the 1933 passage of the 20th amendment. Still following? QAnon followers believe that Trump will return to power on March 4 as the 19th president of the United States. The last true president, the theory goes, was Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th president, who was in office in 1871 when the United States turned into a corporation. Got it?

“Some QAnon followers are borrowing discredited arguments from sovereign citizens in order to yet again move the goalposts,” Travis Week, co-host of the conspiracy-debunking podcast QAnon Anonymous, explained via tweet, “They’re absurdly claiming Trump will be inaugurated on March 4, because the U.S. was ‘incorporated’ in 1871 and all Amendments passed after that are invalid.” Continue reading.