The Big Lie has gone from being a cynical right-wing political strategy to being the foundation for all future elections, at least as far as the MAGA-Republican party is concerned. In other words, if a “Republican” wins an election, it’s all good. But if any member of the new GOP Authoritarian party loses, it can only be explained by wide-spread voter fraud or other subterfuge. Incredibly, this rallying cry now extends to MAGA-Republicans losing to other members of their own party in primary elections! And that’s not the worst of it. As reported recently, GOP national strategy now centers around gaining control of state-level election apparatus around the country, including Secretary of State positions, responsible for administering (or overseeing) elections within states. Only massive voter turnout has a chance of getting past this particular “semi-fascist” strategy, as President Biden called it. Let’s start with this, on a lighter note…
MAGA-Republican Laura Loomer Ready To Go To Washington After Losing Primary Election
MAGA-Republican Laura Loomer may have lost her bid to become the United States Representative for Florida’s 11th Congressional District, but that doesn't mean she won't be the United States Representative for Florida’s 11th Congressional District. At least as far as she is concerned. As reported by Wonkette and others, not only is Loomer not conceding the primary race to fellow-Republican and incumbent Daniel Webster (as she said earlier this week), but she plans to show up in Washington to work anyway. “Yes, like George Costanza after he quit his job and showed up the next day like nothing happened. She's just gonna go to Washington, walk into Congress and start trying to vote on things.”
https://www.wonkette.com/laura-loomer-not-conceding
‘The US could lose the right to vote within months’: Top official warns on threat to democracy
Colorado’s secretary of state, Jena Griswold, is warning anyone who will listen that the fate of free and fair elections in the United States hangs in the balance in this November’s midterm contests. As reported in the Guardian, Griswold, who chairs the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State (DASS) and is running for re-election, is urging Americans to pay attention to the once-sleepy down-ballot contests for secretary of state – lest they lose their democracy. “What we can expect from the extreme Republicans running across this country is to undermine free and fair elections for the American people, strip Americans of the right to vote, refuse to address security breaches and, unfortunately, be more beholden to Mar-a-Lago than the American people,” warned Griswold. As reported in the Guardian, having failed to overturn the 2020 vote, Trump and his loyalists are now strategically targeting positions that will play a critical role in supervising the next presidential election, turning many of the 27 secretary of state contests this year into expensive, partisan showdowns.
Both Washington State and Virginia will ban new gas-powered cars by 2035, following California’s lead
In an encouraging development, two states have determined that they will follow California’s lead in phasing out new gas-powered cars in the coming decade. As reported by the Virginia Mercury News and others, California’s decision to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars beginning in 2035 will also halt the sale of such vehicles in Virginia due to a 2021 law linking the commonwealth to the western state’s vehicle emissions standards, state attorneys have concluded. Assistant Attorney General Michael Jagels determined that Virginia is “bound” by the California decision because the state chose to be “statutorily and regulatorily aligned with California.” Also, in Washington state, Gov. Jay Inslee said Wednesday that Washington would follow California’s lead and ban the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035. Washington lawmakers already set a goal of phasing out sales of new internal combustion-powered cars by 2030 during the 2022 legislative session. But that was a goal, with no sticks attached, according to reporting by The Seattle Times. “This is a critical milestone in our climate fight,” Inslee said in a tweet.
The fight against drought in California has a new tool: “The restrictor”
Nearly all of California is in severe or worse drought (the highest three designations), per the latest US Drought monitor. Several severely deficient years of rain and snow have punctuated a 20-year long megadrought scientists say is being fueled by warmer and drier conditions brought on by climate change. The state has tried a number of strategies to reduce it’s overall water consumption, some more successful than others. As reported by CNN, in what officials are calling “a bit of a last resort,” the city of Las Virgenes has mandated residents cut their outdoor watering by half as required by the unprecedented order from its distributor, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. And in order to achieve that, they are implementing The Water Restrictor, “a slim circle of food grade stainless steel with a small hole in the middle, which fits right into the offending customer's water meter, which technicians can usually access right on the street since the meters are district property” The particular restrictor mentioned in the article will give customers “around one gallon a minute,” severely limiting the total amount of water that can be used. Other versions are likely to follow…
https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/28/us/california-water-restriction-enforcement-elam/index.html
Federal judge strikes down Texas handgun age restriction
A federal judge has struck down one of Texas’ few remaining firearm restrictions, finding that a law barring adults under the age of 21 from carrying a handgun was unconstitutional. According to reporting by the Associated Press, U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman in Fort Worth, who was appointed by Donald Trump, ruled that the state law prohibiting most 18- to 20-year-olds from carrying a handgun outside the home violates the Second Amendment right to bear arms and cannot be enforced. The decision follows a major expansion of gun rights by the U.S. Supreme Court. After a series of mass shootings, the high court ruled in June that Americans have a right to carry firearms in public for self-defense.
https://apnews.com/article/texas-gun-politics-fort-worth-caef23805b0b0549866ebb08a4aea9fb
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