Finally, Americans see threat to democracy as the No. 1 issue
As we approach the November mid-terms, the American electorate seems to be waking up to the unprecedented, existential threats our democracy is facing...
It's taken a while, but finally, the combination of revelations from the January 6th hearings, more detailed reporting about Trump's & Maga-GOP's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and the MAGA-Republicans' coordinated attempts to gain control over state election apparatuses, have made “the threat to democracy” the number one issue now on voters’ minds, according to recent polling reported by Market Watch and others. Up until now, inflation was tops on people’s minds, but inflation numbers have been falling steadily over the past 10+ weeks, providing relief at the gas pumps and elsewhere. Concurrently, Americans seem now to be paying more attention to the alarms going off almost daily, warning of MAGA-Republicans’ somewhat well-publicized plans to take over at local and state levels. As the threat to democracy is now the #1 issue, in combination with public outcry over the Roe v. Wade decision, this helps explain the growing “blue wave” which many are hoping will grow into a “Blue Tsunami” in November, effectively stopping the authoritarian/fascists gains, before they can cause any more damage to our democracy.
Of all the legal threats Trump is facing, is this might be the one to take him down
The greatest legal danger to Trump may come from the quiet workings of a grand jury in Georgia hearing evidence of his illegal attempts to overturn the state’s 2020 presidential election result, and prevent from Joe Biden taking power. As reported by The Guardian, an analysis by the Brookings Institution, a Washington think-tank, concluded that Trump is “at substantial risk of possible state charges predicated on multiple crimes” after what it described as his “sustained assault” on the Georgia electoral process. Among other charges, prosecutors appear to be considering indictments under anti-conspiracy laws written to combat organized crime, and which potentially carry lengthy prison sentences. It could take months before any prosecution actually takes place, and the Brookings Institution said that if Trump is charged with a crime, he is likely to claim that he cannot be held criminally liable for his actions as president. But it also said that defense is likely to fail, because “immunity from liability only extends to actions taken by the president that were within the scope of his lawful duties.” Of course, this is only one of almost 15+ areas of current legal vulnerability for Trump and his allies. But it only takes one…
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/27/trump-georgia-investigation-grand-jury-election
Problems at Trump’s “Truth Social” are piling up amid concerns about his future
As reported by The Washington Post, Trump’s website hasn’t paid its web hosting service since March, had its request to trademark its name rejected, and the company that was going to buy it told the Securities and Exchange Commission this week that it “doubts it can thrive if Trump’s popularity is hurt by recent legal troubles.” Data indicates traffic to the site is “only a fraction of what it was when it launched six months ago.” If it weren’t for right-wing (and in some cases, “mainstream”) media re-publishing Trump’s “truths” from the social media platform, his misinformation might not even make it into the national dialog. In any event, it appears that Trump’s platform is being followed mostly by his die-hard supporters, who appear to be diminishing daily…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/08/27/trump-truth-social-mar-a-lago
Sean Hannity and Other Fox Stars Face Depositions in Defamation Suit
This story is not going away, much to the dismay of Fox News and their super-stars. As reported by the NY Times, “some of the biggest names at Fox News have been questioned, or are scheduled to be questioned in the coming days, by lawyers representing Dominion Voting Systems in its $1.6 billion defamation suit against the network, as the election technology company presses ahead with a case that First Amendment scholars say is extraordinary in its scope and significance.” The list includes Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Lou Dobbs, Jeanine Pirro, Steve Doocy and a number of high-level Fox producers, and may also end up including Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, whose family owns FOX. Dominion’s lawsuit alleges that Fox repeatedly aired conspiracy theories about the Dominions’s purported role in a plot to steal votes from former President Donald Trump, and argues that Dominion’s business “has suffered considerably as a result.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/25/business/media/sean-hannity-fox-dominion-defamation.html
How Fracking Billionaires, Ben Shapiro, and PragerU Built a Climate Crisis–Denial Empire
PragerU and the Daily Wire, two of the internet’s biggest spreaders of climate crisis denial, got seed money from two ultra-religious fracking brothers from Texas — Pastor Farris Wilks and his brother Dan Wilks. As reported by Vice News, the previous year the two brothers had sold their fracking company Frac Tech for $3.5 billion, and each pocketed $1.4 billion. They now intended to use their new fossil fuel fortune “to shift the moral values of the entire country—and the right-wing influencers they enlisted for the cause went on to become some of the world’s biggest purveyors of climate disinformation.” Farris Wilks remains one of the owners of the Daily Wire, which has amassed more than 27 million followers across its social media platforms and last year reported annual revenues of $100 million.
Enough about Trump Sr. — Trump Jr. posts a “dick pick”
Donald Trump Jr. on Friday came up with an innovative way to respond to the public release of the affidavit supporting the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago. As reported by Huffington Post and others, Don Jr. posted a photo of his dad, Donald Trump, in his golf duds with a long black bar over his crotch, and said: “Redact this!” Mostly he mocked all the redactions in the affidavit released on Friday, which the Justice Department had explained were necessary to protect witnesses, the names of FBI agents and other details of the investigation of his father. Meanwhile, other Internet memes have a different take on Don Jr. and his clever sense of right and wrong…
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