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    Trump earns a new title: Terrorist-in-Chief

    Terry H. Schwadron, DCReport @ RawStory
    August 07, 2020

    Thanks for your support!

    This article was paid for by reader donations to Raw Story Investigates.

    This article was paid for by Raw Story subscribers. Not a subscriber? Try us and go ad-free for $1. Prefer to give a one-time tip? Click here.

    Terry H. Schwadron, DCReport @ RawStory

    OK, we’ve managed to find ourselves in another governmental tempest in a substantial teacup. Donald Trump is working overtime to undercut the U.S. Postal Service just as he is railing on mail ballots.


    It’s a pairing that just makes no sense.

    As The Los Angeles Times editorialized this week: “Attacking the U.S. Postal Service before an election is something a terrorist would do.”

    Or, more politely, if there is something wrong with the post office that will keep it from working most efficiently in an election that will depend on mailed ballots, make it better, not worse.

    There is no precedent or apparent authority for Trump to try to curtail the use of mail-in ballots by executive order.

    Now we’re waiting to see only how much worse since it has become clear mail-in ballots is the vehicle Trump will be using to challenge the election results.

    This week, Trump claimed authority to issue an executive order to halt the use of mail-in ballots. Their increasing use, he argues, could increase election fraud and uncertainty.

    As threatened, his campaign sued Nevada, whose legislature just authorized sending out mail ballot forms to all voters to provide a safe method for voting in a pandemic. The suit claims the state is violating the Constitution by promising to count votes literally after Election Day, the postmark date for receiving mailed, completed ballots. That's a pretty weak argument.

    Of course, it is unclear what he could do to curtail the distribution of ballots, which is controlled by states, including those with Republican governors. “I have the right to do it,” Trump told reporters at the White House without explaining how.

    Nearly all election procedures are governed on a state basis, with the remainder set by Congress or enshrined in the Constitution. There is no precedent or apparent authority for Trump to try to curtail the use of mail-in ballots by executive order.

    The statement came days after Trump threatened, and then back down from, from trying to delay the November election. The concern was that Republicans will suffer more if more people vote.

    Slowing the Mail

    Actually, Trump’s campaign against mail-in voting may backfire, according to Republican political organizers who said they are concerned about losing too much of their own party vote.

    But in the meantime, perhaps Trump is unaware that the pandemic has prompted a huge switch in mail altogether. Delivery of business-oriented mail is way down, but deliveries of on-line purchases is way up. In an economy which is changing to more and more digital business, the very thing that wrongly launched Trump’s ire – fees charged for delivery of on-line purchases --- is actually increasing.

    As people are stuck at home, they are buying more online and also getting medications, checks and other necessaries through the mail.

    Trump repeatedly has attacked fees charged for delivery as inadequate. That falsehood is believed to be an expression of Trump’s anger toward Jeff Bezos, head of Amazon and owner of The Washington Post, whose news coverage Trump detests. In truth, such fees are the biggest source of revenue for the USPS.

    As a result, he named Louis DeJoy, a Republican fundraiser, to take over the top USPS job in June. DeJoy has taken several moves that actually are slowing mail delivery, including eliminating overtime for hundreds of thousands of postal workers and ordering that mail be kept until the next day if postal distribution centers are running late.

    In other words, Trump’s administration is worsening the situation just as the pandemic is prompting vast use of mailed ballots.

    Absentee Ballots, Yes; Mail, No

    Enter Trump’s railing against mail ballots, though he reversed himself about Florida, where he votes remotely and where he says procedures are fine. Trump sees a difference between absentee ballots, requested by the voter, and mailed ballots, which are reviewed upon submission to guarantee validity.  Trump has called remote voting options the “biggest risk” to his re-election. His campaign and the Republican Party have sued to combat the practice, which was once a significant advantage for the GOP.

    There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud through mail-in voting and the states that use it exclusively say they have necessary safeguards in place to ensure that a hostile foreign actor doesn’t disrupt the vote. Election security experts say voter fraud is rare in all forms of balloting, including by mail.

    Indeed, the biggest problem to date is a lack of speed in counting the ballots. Some states count as they receive ballots, others only after the designated election day. So, “fraud” as seen by Trump seems to mean “delayed results” in real life.

    Politico reports that private polling showed Republican voters have become overwhelmingly concerned about mail balloting. A potentially decisive slice of Trump’s battleground-state base — 15% of Trump voters in Florida, 12% in Pennsylvania and 10% in Michigan — said that getting a ballot in the mail would make them less likely to vote in November. The same is not true for Democrats polled. Politico said the poll was part of a flurry of research trying to gauge swing-state voter attitudes as the coronavirus pandemic accelerates use of mail ballots.

    Meanwhile the House Oversight Committee has asked the new postmaster general to appear at a September hearing to examine operational changes causing delays in mail deliveries across the country.

    USPS officials have warned they will run out of money by the end of September. The House voted more money for the postal service, as part of the overall coronavirus stimulus aid bill, which the Senate and Republicans have yet to embrace. Congress has approved a $10 billion line of credit for USPS, but it remains unused amid restrictions imposed by the Trump administration. The bipartisan leadership met with DeJoy yesterday to see if any of this makes sense.

    If you wanted to screw up this election, this seems a pretty good plan.

    This article was paid for by Raw Story subscribers. Not a subscriber? Try us and go ad-free for $1. Prefer to give a one-time tip? Click here.

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    Survey: Will Melania leave Trump now that he's out of office?

    Trump pardoned Steve Bannon -- Arizona should prosecute him anyway: columnist

    Bob Brigham
    January 23, 2021

    Steve Bannon's pardon by Donald Trump was blasted by an Arizona newspaper columnist -- who is urging local prosecutors to correct the wrong.

    "This wasn't about correcting an injustice, which is the reason presidents have pardon power. Like so many of Trump's pardons, this one intended to excuse a friend or ally from responsibility for his actions," Arizona Daily Star's Tim Steller wrote. "Further, it could potentially protect Trump himself. Without pending criminal charges against Bannon, federal prosecutors have no leverage to convince him to supply any incriminating evidence he might have against Trump."

    "All in all, it was another abuse of the pardon power, which the founders intended to be corrected through impeachment of the president. Of course it is too late for that," he explained. "But justice for Bannon remains plausible, because the acts he is accused of are also considered state crimes, and state prosecutions aren't covered by the pardon. It only excuses him from prosecution under federal law."

    He urged the Arizona Attorney General's Office or the Pima County Attorney's Office to "step in."

    "You see, the conspiracy that federal prosecutors alleged has strong links to Arizona. You could almost say it started in Pima County. On Feb. 8, 2019, Bannon, Kolfage and others hosted an event at Quail Creek in Sahuarita that kicked off a new fundraising effort for We Build the Wall. About 300 members and guests of the Quail Creek Republican Club attended, applauding and donating enthusiastically," he explained.

    "That night, Bannon told Star reporter Curt Prendergast "100% of this money is going to build the wall and the legal fight" to get the wall built. It was a pledge that the project repeated in online posts and in emailed appeals for donations," Steller continued. "But, if the indictment is correct, Bannon appears to have known that same night in Quail Creek that he and the others planned to siphon off money, through a nonprofit that Bannon controlled, to pay Kolfage and others."

    Read his full case for prosecution.


    Capitol rioter charged with threat to assassinate AOC does not seem too smart

    Ray Hartmann
    January 23, 2021

    A Dallas man who brilliantly posted a Facebook selfie from the Capitol riot -- fully five days after the fact and while bantering, "just wanted to incriminate myself a little lol" -- has been arrested on a list of federal charges that somehow don't seem to include mention of "abject stupidity."

    But the feds' complaint against Garret Miller, 34, of Richardson, Texas does include a count for threatening to assassinate Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a Capitol police officer. It also includes charges related to obstructing an official proceeding, interfering with law enforcement, illegal entry and the like.

    Here's the original filing.

    The criminal complaint hasn't been fully aired in the media, which is too bad: It's one entertaining read. In it, Miller leaves a robust trail of breadcrumbs for authorities. Here's some of its text:

    "In examining Miller's Facebook account, there are many posts relating to his involvement in criminal activities at the Capitol. For example, on January 2, 2021, Miller posted to Facebook, "I am about to drive across the country for this trump shit. On Monday . . . Some crazy shit going to happen this week. Dollar might collapse. . . . civil war could start . . . not sure what to do in DC." He also stated on January 3, 2021, that he was bring with him "a grappling hook and rope and a level 3 vest. Helmets mouth guard and bump cap," but last time he came to D.C. for a pro-Trump rally he "had a lot of guns" with him."

    So there was that. Also, to support the Facebook activity in which Miller joked about incriminating himself, there was this activity on Miller's Twitter account:

    "On January 6, 2021, Miller repeatedly posted comments on Twitter using his Twitter account (@garretamiller). In one tweet, an individual posted, "The people storming The Capitol are not Patriots. They are PAID INFILTRATORS," to which Miller responded, "Nah we stormed it. We where [sic] gentle. We where [sic] unarmed. We knew what had to be done. A beautiful soul was lost today. We must know her name. She will not be forgotten." That's a reference to the protester killed by a Capitol police officer.

    Also noted in the complaint was this tweet: "They are right next time we bring the guns."

    Miller's now-deleted tweets to AOC were captured as well: "In a string of tweets (to Ocasio-Cortez), Miller first claims, "We acted with honor and we where [sic] not armed. We where [sic] gentle with the police. They murdered a child." He then further directed, "Assassinate AOC."

    Here's some more of Miller's Facebook prose that was captured by the feds:

    "On January 15, 2021, Miller admitted in a Facebook chat that he is "happy to make death threats so I been just off the rails tonight lol," and is "happy to be banned now [from Twitter]." When asked whether the police know his name, he responded, "[I]t might be time for me to .... Be hard to locate."

    And this from the next day: "On January 16, 2021, Miller again got into a discussion on Facebook, about the USCP officer and said that the officer is "not going to survive long." Miller claimed that "millions" of people agree with him that the officer "deserve[s] to die" "so its [sic] huntin season." He then says that the woman who was killed "was a sister in battle were bravery achieve victory and she paid the ultimate price. . . . Dead serious she fought fir [sic] me, now I fight fir [sic] her[.]" He later claimed, "Well we got the traitor cop as a target and as long as we don't shoot him we don't get accused of firing the first shot. He shot first. His death prevents civil war by liberal history teller arguments."

    As one might imagine, Miller's lawyer doesn't have the easiest task ahead of him, as suggested by this reporting in the New York Times:

    "Mr. Miller's lawyer, F. Clinton Broden, said his client's "social media comments reflect very ill-considered political hyperbole in very divided times and will certainly not be repeated in the future. He accepts responsibility for his actions," he said.

    "He said that Mr. Miller had not been asked to enter a plea yet and that his detention hearing was set for Monday.

    "Mr. Miller regrets the acts he took in a misguided effort to show his support for former President Trump,' Mr. Broden said. "He has the full support of his family and has always been a law-abiding citizen."

    "A spokeswoman for Ms. Ocasio-Cortez did not immediately respond to a message on Saturday night," the Times reported. "Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has said previously that she often receives death threats."

    AOC did tweet about Miller:

    “Just wanted to incriminate myself a little” Well, you did! https://t.co/Y0MbtHwsUr
    — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez)1611359933.0









    Cindy McCain belittles the Arizona GOP after receiving official censure

    Bob Brigham
    January 23, 2021

    The infighting among members of the Arizona Republican Party boiled over on Saturday during a contentious meeting.

    "Kelli Ward, the fractious leader of the Arizona Republican Party, narrowly beat back significant competition on Saturday to win another two-year term as the organization's chairwoman despite the endorsement of former President Donald Trump," the Arizona Republic reported Saturday. "The closely watched result offers an early, state-level indication that Trump retains sway over the activist base of the GOP, though it is more tenuous. The election also suggests the longstanding divisions in the state party in the Trump era have not abated."

    "The party members later passed three resolutions censuring high-profile Republicans: Gov. Doug Ducey, former Sen. Jeff Flake and Cindy McCain. It was another sign of the party's move to the right," the newspaper noted.

    McCain, for her part, shrugged off the vote.

    "It is a high honor to be included in a group of Arizonans who have served our state and our nation so well...and who, like my late husband John, have been censured by the AZGOP. I'll wear this as a badge of honor," McCain posted to Twitter.

    It is a high honor to be included in a group of Arizonans who have served our state and our nation so well...and wh… https://t.co/U1TSSrEDSJ
    — Cindy McCain (@Cindy McCain)1611455872.0


     
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