The biggest election fraud is Republican lies about elections. Joyce Vance details and debunks the latest in this morning’s post. One example: The viral claim of “ballot harvesting” that turns out to be a 25-year postal employee delivering mailed-in ballots to the election office. Which is literally 100% legal and his job.
Then there are the voter registration purges, Virginia, Texas, and Alabama among them. State officials purge from voter registration rolls anyone who has ever checked “non-citizen” or left that box blank when applying for a driver’s license or on any other official form. Except that this eliminates people who have become citizens, as well as those who erroneously fill out forms. And many who are removed through plain old human error during the purges.
One of my sisters told me she doesn’t want to hear any more about the election. She says it’s too hard to figure out who is telling the truth. She thinks this year’s election and these politicians are no different than in any other year.
A lot of people feel that way. They are wrong. This election really is different.
Please listen. This is important. Our cousins include people who are Black, people who are immigrants, people who are Asian. I have friends who are gay and trans. My husband and children are Jewish. All of them are targets of the right-wing haters led by Donald Trump. If he wins, all of them are in danger. If he wins, our entire country is in danger.
Killing the news: Sadly, the newspaper where I first wrote about 60 years ago became one of the latest victims of a vulture hedge fund. The Litchfield Independent Review will end its almost-150-year run this month, alone with the Hutchinson Leader and seven other Minnesota local newspapers. They are not alone. Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism reports on the devastating losses of small-town newspapers over the past two decades:
“Since 2005, the country has lost almost a third of its newspapers — 2,886 — and today has only 6,005 survivors, including 4,792 weeklies, or nondailies, that are often the sole source of news and information in their communities. North and South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota lost the most newspapers per capita between 2005 and 2023. All but a handful were weeklies.”
NPR reported a couple of years ago on what happens when hedge fund “investors” buy newspapers. Alden is the hedge fund that acquired and is now closing these nine Minnesota newspapers, and also owns the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
“Research shows that when local newspapers disappear or are dramatically gutted, communities tend to see lower voter turnout, increased polarization, a general erosion of civic engagement and an environment in which misinformation and conspiracy theories can spread more easily. …
“Coppins describes Alden as a specific type of firm: a “vulture hedge fund.” It has figured out how to make a profit by driving newspapers into the ground, he says, since Alden’s aim is not to make them into long-term sustainable businesses but rather maximize profits quickly to show it has made a winning investment.”
The Wizard of Oz came to Duluth last Wednesday and it wasn’t a pretty sight. Hiding behind a curtain of presidential power, he pulled all the usual levers and set his supporters roaring “Build that wall!” and “USA!”
Like the Wizard of Oz, Donald Trump is a small man with a big voice and loud lies. Lots of lies. Continue reading →
The Post takes us back to the courage of Daniel Ellsberg and the testing of Katherine Graham and the perfidy of presidents as revealed in the Pentagon Papers. i loved the movie last night, but today I’m thinking harder about what it means. Continue reading →
UPDATE 2/13: Abrams is out! Not because he’s an all-around nasty piece of work (see below) but because he didn’t support Trump in the primaries.
Elliott Abrams avoided a felony conviction for his official crimes during the Iran-Contra era by pleading guilty in 1991 to misdemeanor charges of withholding evidence from Congress. Then he returned in the State Department under Bush II. Now he may be coming back for a third act as second-in-command in the Trump State Department. According to the New York Times, Abrams “is described politely in foreign policy circles as a ‘controversial’ figure, but that deeply understates the case.” I think calling him a war criminal would not be overstating the case. Continue reading →
Yeah, I know – financial regulations make your eyes glaze over. But really, the Turmp roll-backs are important. Here’s how a Facebook friend explained it:
“You know what Obama did? He shut the fox out of the henhouse. That was just stupid, you see, because the fox is actually good for the hens. And they like the fox. Because he’s a great fox, a magnificent fox, and he does great things for those hens. But I know how to fix this. So I’ll tell you what I’m going to do: I’m going to put the fox back in the henhouse, just like that. I’m going to make you hens pay for it, but you’ll thank me, because it’s going to be great having that fox in there, believe me.”
Anne Frank – by unknown photographer, Collectie Anne Frank Stichting Amsterdam – Website Anne Frank Stichting, Amsterdam, Public Domain
January 27 was International Holocaust Remembrance Day. President Donald Trump marked it with a short statement and a long executive order. He forgot a few things: Continue reading →
Trump senior advisor Kellyanne Conway gave us a new category on Meet the Press this morning: “alternative facts.” Alternative facts look like sci-fi’s alternate realities or parallel universes, described in Wikipedia as “a hypothetical self-contained reality co-existing with one’s own…. A universe where the very laws of nature are different …” That seems like a useful description of Trumplandia. Continue reading →
Sex. Russians. Sex and Donald Trump and the Russians.
Now that I have your attention, consider this: whatever Donald Trump did in a Russian hotel is far less damaging to the United States than what the Republican Congress is doing right now in Washington, D.C. Continue reading →
Five years after the violent attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters, the attacks on democracy and on elected officials continue. Yesterday, two politicians currently under attack by the Trump administration spoke out with anger and eloquence.
The New York Times today has plenty of coverage of who, how, when, and where the United States illegally attacked Venezuela and abducted its president and first lady. But that’s far from the whole story. A few easily overlooked but essential facts: For informed insights on the consequences of Trump’s attack on Venezuela, see:
50 USC Ch. 33: WAR POWERS RESOLUTION §1541. Purpose and policy (a) Congressional declaration It is the purpose of this chapter to fulfill the intent of the framers of the Constitution of the United States and insure that the collective judgment of both the Congress and the President will apply to the introduction of United […]
Over at Law Dork, Chris Geidner has a great column on the four key lessons we can and must take from 2025. The first: pushing back is essential — and it works. I won’t try to summarize his column, but encourage you to go and read it and, if you can, support the good work […]
Jamal Khashoggi was a U.S. permanent legal resident and a columnist for the Washington Post in 2018 when Saudi operatives lured him to the Saudi consulate in Turkey, and then abducted, tortured, and murdered him. Then they cut up his body with a bone saw. U.S. intelligence agencies investigated and determined that his assassination was ordered by […]
Mary Turck is a writer, editor, and blogger. She is also the former editor of theTC Daily Planet and of the award-winning Connection to the Americas and AMERICAS.ORG and a recovering attorney.
Mary Turck