Reality Appears To Be Catching Up With The MAGA-Republican Party
Not that reality has ever slowed down the "alternate reality" machine...
It’s hard to keep up with the various developments in the news this week. There’s now evidence that the stash of secret government documents taken by Trump to Mar-A-Lago included Top Secret info about a foreign government’s nuclear capabilities. And that’s the tip of the iceberg. Of equal, or perhaps greater, concern are the multiple empty folders market “Top Secret”, found at Trump’s Mar-A-Lago lair. Separately, it turns out that Trump’s supporters have included hundreds of law enforcement and military personnel linked to the January 6th Oath Keepers, while an Oath Keeper lawyer now faces criminal charges herself. The long arm of the law finally catches up to Steve Bannon, and much more, including a handy guide to avoid being scammed. Let’s start with what is emerging as a five-alarm national security fire…
Material on foreign nation’s nuclear capabilities among docs seized at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago
A document describing a foreign government’s military defenses, including its nuclear capabilities, was found by FBI agents who searched Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and private club last month. As reported by the Washington Post, the discovery underscores concerns among U.S. intelligence officials about classified material stashed in the Florida property. Documents about such highly classified operations “require special clearances on a need-to-know basis, not just top-secret clearance. Some special-access programs can have as few as a couple dozen government personnel authorized to know of an operation’s existence. Records that deal with such programs are kept under lock and key, almost always in a secure compartmented information facility, with a designated control officer to keep careful tabs on their location.” Regardless, these documents were among more than 11,000 that Trump moved to his private residence, co-mingling them with personal belongings, boxes, magazines and other materials easily exposed to visitors. More troubling, the search revealed many empty folders marked “Top Secret,” which begs the question: “Where did all those missing secret documents go?” While a recent ruling by a Trump-appointed Federal judge has temporarily put the brakes on the DOJ’s investigation of Mar-A-Lago (which has raised significant eyebrows nationally), the extent of the potential damage done by Trump’s handling of secret documents is just beginning to emerge…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/09/06/trump-nuclear-documents/
Steve Bannon faces fraud charges in New York over the ‘We Build the Wall’ charity
Former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon is preparing to face New York state charges that he defrauded donors to the nonprofit group We Build the Wall, supposedly to construct a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border. Bannon and others are accused of skimming money from the donors for personal use on things like travel and and credit card debt. According to reporting by NPR “the case is expected to be similar to a previous federal case in which Bannon was indicted but never tried because Trump pardoned Bannon before that could happen.” However, the current NY charges are state charges, which Trump’s pardon does not apply to. A person familiar with the New York case says Bannon will turn himself in to authorities in New York on Thursday, making him a member of “a large and growing group of former top Trump associates in trouble with the law.” The New York charges come just months after Bannon was convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol…
https://www.npr.org/2022/09/07/1121447226/steve-bannon-fraud-charges
New Surveillance Video Shows Georgia ‘Fake Elector’ Helping Trump Operatives Breach Voting Data
Several Trump-linked operatives were allowed to access a Georgia elections office with help from a local Republican official who was trying to get Trump reelected, according to new surveillance video taken the same day the county’s voting system was breached—the latest twist in the alleged breach of Coffee County’s voting data now under investigation by state and local authorities. As reported by Forbes and elsewhere, “computer experts from the forensics firm Sullivan-Strickler were sent by pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell on January 7, 2021, to the election office in Coffee County, Georgia, where they copied a wide range of data from the county’s voting systems for a reported $26,000 fee.” The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has opened a criminal investigation into the alleged breach of voting data in Coffee County…
Hundreds of law enforcement and military, part of Jan. 6-linked Oath Keepers
The names of hundreds of U.S. law enforcement officers, elected officials and military members appear on the leaked membership rolls of a far-right extremist group that’s accused of playing a key role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, according to a report just released. As reported by Huffington Post and others, the Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism pored over more than 38,000 names on leaked Oath Keepers membership lists and identified more than 370 people it believes currently work in law enforcement agencies — including as police chiefs and sheriffs — and more than 100 people who are currently members of the military. The data raises fresh concerns about the presence of extremists in law enforcement and the military who are tasked with enforcing laws and protecting the U.S. “It’s especially problematic for public servants to be associated with extremists at a time when lies about the 2020 election are fueling threats of violence against lawmakers and institutions.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/oath-keepers-law-enforcement-military-roll_n_631859a3e4b027aa405614d5
The first disqualification of a public official for participating in the January 6 attack is an historic ruling
This week, a state court ruling with huge implications was issued: A New Mexico state district court judge disqualified Otero, New Mexico, county commissioner Couy Griffin (the leader of “Cowboys for Trump”) from holding public office because Griffin participated in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. As explained by former Secretary of Labor and renown professor Robert Reich, the ruling immediately removes Griffin from his position as a county commissioner. It also permanently bars him from serving as a presidential elector and from holding or seeking any future local or federal office. It is significant because the ruling marks the first time a court has removed an elected official from office for participating in the January 6 attack on the U.S Capitol. It’s also the first time a judge has formally ruled that the events of January 6, 2021, amounted to an "insurrection." This has important implications for others involved with the attempted coup, including Donald Trump…
Yes, it’s a scam: Simple tips to help you spot online fraud
Nobody is immune to scams. Criminals are constantly changing them to fit the latest headlines, target our insecurities and slip through even the most well-honed BS detectors. That means everyone, young and old, can benefit from a refresher on how to spot a text, phone or online scam and what to do next. “Because the scams themselves change so fast, it’s also important to keep up on what the latest techniques and topics are so you aren’t caught off guard by a fake-romance text while you are on high alert for robocalls.” The Washington Post provides an excellent overview of the various ways that scammers work the system, in order to extract both money and personal information from unsuspecting targets nationwide. The article also includes a printable guide that you can keep handy. Well worth a read…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/09/06/scams-online-guide/
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