Garland Makes an Example of J6 Protesters to Shut Up Anyone Else Who Might Question Elections

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Attorney General Merrick Garland boasted on Friday how his office has prosecuted nearly 1,500 Americans for protesting the 2020 election, warning others they may face similar lawfare should they raise any concerns about the administration of the upcoming November election.

Speaking at a press briefing, Garland essentially said the Jan. 6 prosecutions should serve to remind Americans what happens if they raise questions about an election.

“I think our prosecutions have made clear what we think about people who try to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power, which is [an] essential and fundamental element of our democracy. A quibble about whether we have 1,500 or slightly less than 1,500 — but we have way more than 1400 now — prosecutions. We have a substantial number of convictions,” Garland boasted.

“I think that’s shown to everybody how seriously we take an effort to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power the last January 6, the coming January 6, and every January 6 after that,” he continued. “I want to make clear to anybody who is thinking about interfering with that: They can see what we’ve done with respect to the January 6 prosecutions, and [the] Justice Department will continue to protect our democracy.” (Read more from “Garland Makes an Example of J6 Protesters to Shut Up Anyone Else Who Might Question Elections” HERE)

A Single Rapey Dolphin May Be Terrorizing Japan

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A spike in beachgoer injuries in Japan’s Wasaka Bay has reportedly been linked to a single, particularly aggressive dolphin, with experts suggesting sexual frustration might be driving erratic behavior.

No less than 47 people have sustained injuries from dolphin attacks in this region from 2022 to the present, prompting marine researchers to investigate the cause of these unusual encounters, according to The New York Times (NYT). A maritime expert told the outlet that one Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin — a male — may be responsible for the alarming rise in incidents.

This conclusion reportedly came after a thorough review of photos and videos capturing the incidents, according to Director Ryoichi Matsubara of Fukui’s Echizen Matsushima Aquarium. He told the outlet that the aggressive behavior may be attributed to mating urges.

Matsubara told the NYT this particular dolphin was sighted attempting “to press his genitals against people.” However, he reportedly added that the dolphin bit some individuals following them approaching it or even making physical contact. (Read more from “A Single Rapey Dolphin May Be Terrorizing Japan” HERE)

Key Battleground State Denies RFK Jr’s Request to Be Removed From the Ballot

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Michigan denied former 2024 independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s request for his name to be removed from the state’s ballot despite the suspension of his campaign.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s senior press secretary, Cheri Hardmon, said Tuesday that Kennedy, who is on the state’s ballot as the presidential nominee for the Natural Law Party, could not withdraw from the election.

Hardmon said Kennedy’s status as a minor party candidate and the fact that Kennedy’s party could not select new electors were the reasons he must remain on the ballot.

“Minor party candidates cannot withdraw, so his name will remain on the ballot in the November election. Michigan Election Law requires presidential electors be selected at the fall state convention. The fall state convention must be held no later than the date of the primary. The Natural Law Party held their convention to select electors for Robert Kennedy Jr. They cannot meet at this point to select new electors since it’s past the primary,” Hardmon told the Daily Caller.

Kennedy suspended his campaign Friday and endorsed 2024 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who he joined at a rally in Glendale, Arizona. (Read more from “Key Battleground State Denies RFK Jr’s Request to Be Removed From the Ballot” HERE)

Former Bush, Romney, and McCain Aides Endorse Harris

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Hundreds of former aides who served under Republican lawmakers endorsed Democrat presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, stating that “another four years” of a Trump administration would “hurt real, everyday” Americans.

In a letter that USA Today obtained, a group of more than 200 former aides for former President George W. Bush, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), and former Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) write that they are reuniting and joining with former staffers for former President George H.W. Bush to endorse Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D).

“We reunite today, joined by new George H.W. Bush alumni, to reinforce our 2020 statements and, for the first time, jointly declare that we’re voting for Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz this November,” the letter states.

The letter from the former aides comes years after hundreds of aides to Bush and McCain endorsed President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

Among the people who signed the letter were David Bentley, who served as the legislative staff assistant to McCain; Tomas Bilbao, who served as the deputy director of operations at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under former President George W. Bush; and Vicki Blanton, who served as the director of scheduling for Romney’s presidential campaign in 2012. (Read more from “Former Bush, Romney, and McCain Aides Endorse Harris” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Zuckerberg Admits Facebook Killed Hunter Biden Laptop Story After FBI ‘Warned’ of ‘Russian Disinformation’, Biden Admin ‘Pressured’ Platform to Censor Americans; Billionaire Says He Regrets Caving to White House Pressure on Content

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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that Facebook killed the Hunter Biden laptop story after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) “warned” of a “potential Russian disinformation operation,” and acknowledged that it “shouldn’t have demoted the story.”

In a letter to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Zuckerberg wrote that after being warned by the FBI about a possible “Russian disinformation operation” regarding President Joe Biden’s family, Facebook went on to kill an article from the New York Post.

In response to the article about “corruption allegations” about the Biden family, Facebook “sent that story to fact-checkers” and had it “temporarily demoted.”

“It’s since been made clear that the reporting was not Russian disinformation, and in retrospect, we shouldn’t have demoted the story,” Zuckerberg added. “We’ve changed our policies and processes to make sure this doesn’t happen again — for instance, we no longer temporarily demote things in the U.S. while waiting for fact-checkers.”

Zuckerberg’s admission comes after Breitbart News Political Editor Emma-Jo Morris has previously testified before the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government that the FBI had knowledge that the Hunter Biden laptop was real prior to December 2019, long before she had published a story about it in October 2020.

(Read more from “Zuckerberg Admits Facebook Killed Hunter Biden Laptop Story After FBI ‘Warned’ of ‘Russian Disinformation’, ‘Pressured’ FB to Censor Americans” HERE)

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Zuckerberg Says He Regrets Caving to White House Pressure on Content

By Politico. Mark Zuckerberg says he regrets that Meta bowed to Biden administration pressure to censor content, saying in a letter that the interference was “wrong” and he plans to push back if it happens again.

Meta’s CEO aired his grievances in a letter Monday to the House Judiciary Committee in response to its investigation into content moderation on online platforms. Zuckerberg detailed how senior administration officials leaned on the company to censor certain posts about Covid-19, including humor and satire, and “expressed a lot of frustration” when the social media platform resisted.

“I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it,” Zuckerberg wrote. “I feel strongly that we should not compromise our content standards due to pressure from any Administration in either direction — and we’re ready to push back if something like this happens again.” (Read more from “Zuckerberg Says He Regrets Caving to White House Pressure on Content” HERE)

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Trump Shooter Thomas Crooks’ Parents Retain High-Powered Lawyers as Feds Probe What They Knew and When: Report

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The family of Thomas Matthew Crooks has retained a top law firm as the FBI continues its investigation into last month’s deadly rally shooting in which former President Donald Trump was nearly assassinated.

Nearly six weeks on, federal authorities have struggled to piece together an explanation for why Crooks opened fire on the crowd in Butler, Pennsylvania, and little more is known about the 20-year-old today than at the time of the shooting.

The Crooks family is being represented by Quinn Logue — a top Pittsburgh law firm, according to Daily Mail. . .

Its team of attorneys has garnered widespread recognition by organizations like Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers in America and the National Trial Lawyers Association.

Neighbors of the Crooks family in Bethel Park, Pa., told The Post that things have gone mostly back to normal on their quiet street after being swarmed with reporters and cops for much of the last month. (Read more from “Trump Shooter Thomas Crooks’ Parents Retain High-Powered Lawyers as Feds Probe What They Knew and When: Report” HERE)

Arizona Governor Hobbs ‘Unlawfully’ Changed Election Rules: Lawsuit

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The Republican Party of Arizona filed a lawsuit against Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs (D) on Thursday, claiming that two of her executive orders “unlawfully” and “unilaterally” altered the state’s existing election laws.

Arizona GOP chair Gina Swoboda sued Hobbs over Executive Order 23, Authorizing the Use of State Facilities as Voting Locations, and Executive Order 25, Facilitating Voter Registration.

Hobbs issued the orders in November 2023. Executive Order 23 designated the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections and the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry, as well as other state-run agencies, as ballot drop-off locations. Executive Order 25 designated those state departments as “Voter Registration Assistance Agencies” that are to “distribute voter registration forms, assist applicants in completing voter registration forms, and accept completed voter registration forms.”

According to the lawsuit, Hobbs “exceeded, and is therefore unlawfully exercising, her authority as Governor, in issuing EO 23 and EO 25.” It argued that both executive actions are “unconstitutional and void.”

“Petitioners seek to enjoin Governor Hobbs from enforcing EO 23 and EO 25 on the grounds they exceed the powers granted her by the Arizona Constitution and Arizona statutes, violate the separation of powers regarding the Legislature’s authority to enact election laws; and usurp the powers lawfully granted to the Secretary of State regarding the designation of Voter Registration Agencies and county recorders regarding ballot drop-off locations,” the complaint read. “EO 23 and EO 25 are contrary to law because, in issuing these executive orders, the Governor usurped the authority of the Legislature by unilaterally changed duly-enacted election laws.” (Read more from “Arizona Governor Hobbs ‘Unlawfully’ Changed Election Rules: Lawsuit” HERE)

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Georgia’s Secretary of State May Be Prosecuting Voter Crimes He Helped Create

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In September 2020, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger held a press conference to announce that 1,000 Georgia voters in “about a hundred counties” would be investigated for double voting during the June 9 combined presidential and state primary election. He pledged to prosecute the offenders. Yet this is an issue, and a scandal, he arguably caused.

The issues he described in that press conference first came to light in Long County, Georgia, a small South Georgia county with a little more than 12,500 voters, where Probate Judge Bobby Smith lost his 2020 primary race by only nine votes. Because of the irregularities Smith saw in the race, he retained Atlanta election lawyer Jake Evans to assist him in challenging that election. (I was brought in to serve as an expert witness in the case.)

When Evans heard a voter in the county had claimed he voted twice in the election, he called to interview him, and I was a witness to the call. Hamilton Evans (no relation to Jake Evans) candidly admitted he had voted twice “just to see if they’d let me.” He then reported his double vote to the county sheriff to warn him of the issue.

After the call, I found Evans on the “numbered list of voters,” a list of the voters in the order they entered each precinct. He and 13 other voters appeared again in the early and absentee voter data, bringing the total number to 14 matches. That was the first time in nearly 40 years of working with voter data that I had ever seen hard evidence of double voting. If such problems arose in sleepy little Long County, it’s easy to imagine the potential chaos in big counties like Fulton. . .

To understand what happened, we need to revisit the events that transpired during Covid lockdowns. Raffensperger announced on March 24, 2020, that he would be “mailing absentee ballot request forms to every Georgia voter,” putting the number of those applications at 6.9 million. (Read more from “Georgia’s Secretary of State May Be Prosecuting Voter Crimes He Helped Create” HERE)

Record Number of Americans Rip Up Their Home Deals With Two Issues to Blame

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A record 60,000 Americans have ripped up their home deals in July, citing high prices and fears about the upcoming U.S. presidential election.

While existing home sales rose slightly last month, they were still the lowest July level on record, according to a new report from real estate brokerage Redfin.

“Sales of existing homes rose 0.6% month over month in July but fell 2% year over year—to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4,094,991. That’s the lowest July level in records dating back to 2012,” Redfin’s Lily Katz wrote.

The technology-powered real estate firm noted pending sales also fell to the lowest level of any month on record aside from April 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic first impeded transactions and the supply chain.

While the average interest rate on a 30-year mortgage has dropped to 6.49%, down from its 7.22% peak in May, many homebuyers are waiting to see if rates drop further. Homebuyers are also concerned about home prices, which still sit near their record high. (Read more from “Record Number of Americans Rip Up Their Home Deals With Two Issues to Blame” HERE)

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RFK Jr.’s Speech Wasn’t Republican or Democrat but American

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. excoriated the Democrat Party, U.S. government, and our supposedly free press during his Friday press conference. Kennedy’s announcement that he will remove his name as a candidate for president in swing states and endorses Donald Trump brought cheers from Trump supporters and derision from Democrat die-hards.

But what does the alliance between Trump and Kennedy mean to the future of the Republican platform? Properly understood, nothing.

Friday’s speech was not about the policies of the Grand Old Party any more than it was about whether Kennedy’s old-school Democrat belief system remained intact. As Kennedy acknowledged, he had been “a ferocious critic of many of the policies during [Trump’s] first administration,” and the two will “continue to have very serious differences” about “issues and approaches.”

Yet an alliance will allow him and Trump to “work[] together on the existential issues upon which we are in concordance,” Kennedy explained during his press conference last week. The key “existential issues” Kennedy identified, and the hopes he professed for our country, transcend partisan politics and harken to the days of our founding.

Kennedy identified institutional corruption of both the government and the press, manifesting itself in “government propaganda,” a “resort to censorship and media control, and the weaponization of the federal agencies” as foundational threats to the country. Lawfare at the voting booth, against both Trump and Kennedy, further built the former Democrat’s case for exiting the race. (Read more from “RFK Jr.’s Speech Wasn’t Republican or Democrat but American” HERE)