PORTLAND, Maine — Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday appealed a ruling by Maine’s secretary of state barring him from the state’s primary ballot over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Trump, the early front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, appealed the Maine decision by Democrat Shenna Bellows, who became the first secretary of state in history to bar someone from running for the presidency under the rarely used Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. That provision prohibits those who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office.
The former president is expected to soon appeal a similar ban by the Colorado Supreme Court. That appeal would go to the U.S. Supreme Court, while Bellows’ action is being appealed to a Maine Superior Court.
[…]
Bellows reiterated to The Associated Press on Tuesday that her ruling was on pause pending the outcome of the appeal, which had been expected.
“This is part of the process. I have confidence in my decision and confidence in the rule of law. This is Maine’s process and it’s really important that first and foremost every single one of us who serves in government uphold the Constitution and the laws of the state,” she said.
Trump’s critics have filed dozens of lawsuits seeking to disqualify him in multiple states.
None succeeded until a slim majority of Colorado’s seven justices — all of whom were appointed by Democratic governors — ruled against Trump last month. The Colorado court’s 4-3 decision was the first time in history the provision was used to bar a presidential contender from the ballot.
[…]
The Constitution’s Section 3 has been barely used since the years after the Civil War, when it kept defeated Confederates from returning to their former government positions. The two-sentence clause says that anyone who swore an oath to “support” the Constitution and then engaged in insurrection cannot hold office unless a two-thirds vote of Congress allows it.
[continues]
the key sentence to remember from the above: The two-sentence clause says that anyone who swore an oath to “support” the Constitution and then engaged in insurrection cannot hold office unless a two-thirds vote of Congress allows it.
the actual wording in constitution “But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability” pretty much says it all and clearly is the constitutionally provided way out for the loser if he can twist enough arms in critterville.
taking the easy way out, SCOTUS could wash their hands of the whole mess by citing that “cannot hold office unless a two-thirds vote of Congress allows it” part and denying cert based on improper place to petition for redress.
and even if the grievous griever further employs his 1st amendment right to petition for redress by petitioning to his congressional representatives, they in turn can avoid the matter by merely never taking it up before adjourning to campaign (standard operating procedure for this congress).
House Republicans’ already-slim majority will dwindle even further later this month when Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) resigns earlier than expected.
Johnson’s office on Tuesday confirmed the congressman’s new official resignation date of Jan. 21, after he was expected to resign to take a job as president of Youngstown State University before mid-March.
The resignation will leave the House with 219 Republicans, 213 Democrats, and three vacancies — meaning Republicans will be able to afford to lose only two votes on any party-line measure, assuming full attendance.
Currently, the Republicans have a three-vote cushion, with the resignation of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Dec. 31 and the expulsion of former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) accounting for the two other vacancies.
Trump is ramping up the Big Lie to include making up stuff about the Jan. 6 committee destroying records that exonerate him. Truth is going to have a tough time keeping up.
But the Washington Post (free link) is doing its best today: Trump says Liz Cheney deleted evidence of Jan. 6 troops. There isn’t any.
“There’s a recurring pattern to Trump’s spreading of false information. First, he repeats a false claim endlessly, no matter how often it is debunked. Then, he elevates it every so often with a dusting of new information, usually a falsehood derived from a modicum of fact.” — Glenn Kessler, Washington Post
Biden campaign amps up focus on reelection with speech on Jan. 6 anniversary
“We are running a campaign like the fate of our democracy depends on it. Because it does,” Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez told reporters.
President Bidenis scheduled to travel to Valley Forge, Pa., on Saturday to give remarks on the anniversary of theJan. 6, 2021, insurrection as his campaign attempts — at the start of the election year — to take a more aggressive posture towardDonald Trumpand center the election around a fight fordemocracy.
Biden will speak near a site where a group of militias gathered to form a coalition to fight for democracy — and where George Washington established headquarters during the Revolutionary War — as a way to invoke the core theme of his presidential campaign some 250 years later.
On Monday, Biden is scheduled to visit Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., where nine people were fatally shot by a white supremacist in 2015.
The two events — as well as a trip to South Carolina by Vice President Harris on Saturday — signal a reinvigorated campaign from the likely Democratic ticket just as Republicans begin their nomination process with the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15. It also comes at a moment when anxious Democrats have worried about Biden’s low approval ratings, his age and the lack of an alternative for the party.
“Our message is clear and as simple: We are running a campaign like the fate of our democracy depends on it. Because it does,” Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez told reporters on Tuesday.
More from WAPO fact checker Kessler: “Regular readers know we’ve shown, time and again, that Trump and his allies have simply invented the claim that he requested 10,000 troops before the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.”
“Federal regulations do not require emergency rooms to perform life-saving abortions if it would run afoul of state law, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.”
“When a state law prohibits abortion and does not include an exception for the life of the pregnant person — or draws the exception more narrowly than EMTALA’s emergency medical condition definition — that state law is preempted,” the guidance said.
“Texas sued, saying this was tantamount to a “nationwide mandate that every hospital and emergency-room physician perform abortions.” Several anti-abortion medical associations joined the lawsuit as well.
So, in TX and other red states, a woman can be dying in an ER, and an abortion does NOT have to be performed to save her life, especially because doctors will be afraid state laws will go after them. That’s the sound of doctors moving to blue states.
“What could happen in 2024: More municipalities could pass travel bans, which would likely draw legal challenges. More pregnant patients could sue for the right to have an abortion. And there could be more efforts to restrict access to contraception. One big fight to watch: Texas is trying to put Planned Parenthood out of business with a $1.8 billion lawsuit that’s sitting before an anti-abortion judge in Amarillo.”
*******
“Under a new law, police who suspect that a person crossed the border illegally can arrest them and charge them with a Class B misdemeanor, which carries a punishment of up to six months in jail. Repeat offenders could face a second-degree felony with a punishment of two to 20 years in prison. The law allows a judge to drop the charges if a migrant agrees to return to Mexico.”
Even if they aren’t from Mexico?
“What could happen in 2024: Some state Republican leaders have said they would welcome a legal fight with President Joe Biden’s administration that could reverse a U.S. Supreme Court landmark case: Arizona v U.S.”
“In 2012, a majority of the justices ruled that local police didn’t have the authority to arrest someone solely based on their immigration status because that responsibility falls to the federal government. That case stemmed from a 2010 Arizona law known as Senate Bill 1070, which made it a state crime for legal immigrants not to carry their immigration papers and required police officers to investigate the immigration status of any person they come into contact with.”
Anyway, these are the two issues President Biden will need to handle wisely to get a second term; reproductive freedom and immigration. It’s not the folks saying they’ll sit on their hands because of Israel/Gaza, or money for Ukraine to fight off Poo-tin. Folks will show up at the polls because of what’s happening at home.
ps – Just checked grocery store prices and they’ve doubled and even tripled since last week, and there was no mandatory wage increase in TX. Happy New Year!
The Trump Trompe-l’oei (or would that be Trump-l’oei?) continues apace. WaPo
Trump lawyers’ doozy of a filing on voter fraud
by Aaron Blake
Prosecutors have repeatedly described Donald Trump’s false claims of voter fraud in 2020 as effectively manufacturing a pretense for illegally overturning the election. Special counsel Jack Smith said in his indictment of the former president that fake electors were meant to “create a fake controversy” that could be used on Jan. 6, 2021.
In a new filing, Trump’s legal team appears bent on helping prosecutors make that case.
Tucked into Trump’s latest legal brief in his appeal for presidential immunity in his federal Jan. 6 case is a remarkable citation. His attorneys refer to a social media post from Trump the same day of the filing — Tuesday — which links to a report from an unnamed source running down various voter-fraud claims.
The filing cites the report to argue that there remain “vigorous disputes and questions about the actual outcome of the 2020 Presidential election.”
The report, to put it lightly, is a mess. And that Trump’s legal team would see fit to include it in a filing would not seem to augur well for his defense.
The report begins with a series of astonishing and false claims. “In actuality, there is no evidence Joe Biden won,” its first paragraph concludes. It then recounts how Trump led in key battleground states on election night and maintains that, as of that point, before millions of votes were counted, “the election was over.” But even Trump allies had acknowledged before the election that the expected late arrival of ballots from populous and heavily Democratic areas, as well as mail-in ballots, would create an illusion of an early Trump lead — a “red mirage.” There is nothing suspicious about how those states flipped as time went on.
The introductory paragraph also includes a footnote that says Arizona “was fraudulently called for Joe Biden by Fox News” on election night. A network’s calls on any given race do not determine the election, and Biden won Arizona.
The report goes on to cite multiple accounts of alleged fraud that don’t appear to be publicly available.
It cites seven chapters from an apparently voluminous “Report on Widespread Fraud in the Georgia 2020 Presidential Election.” No author or link is provided, nor does a report with such a title appear in a Google search. It also cites claims in 2023 from a woman named Kim P. Brooks, featuring titles that Google doesn’t recognize. Ditto a report from a man named Joseph Rossi called “Risk Limiting Audit Spreadsheet Analysis.”
No links are provided to the claims or documents. A Trump campaign spokesman didn’t respond to a request for the documentation.
CONTINUES – PREDICTABLY
Some legal legerdemaine going on there. Seems to me his lawyers may be flirting with Rule 11, F.R.C.P.
RFK Jr. is a problem, but will tRUMPsky try to get him to be his VP? Would he do it? He’s very buddy-buddy with the GQP.
My fear is that younger voters who care about the climate will be swayed. On the other hand, he said he’d sign a federal, 15-week abortion ban. So much for Bobby’s my-body-my-choice stance on vaccines. I guess he’s just another misogynist.
more on the same subject
Attribution: Disinformation Booth by Dave Whamond, Canada, PoliticalCartoons.com
meanwhile wheels of justice are turning ever so slowly due to wrenches for delay thrown in gears.
ABCnews:
the key sentence to remember from the above: The two-sentence clause says that anyone who swore an oath to “support” the Constitution and then engaged in insurrection cannot hold office unless a two-thirds vote of Congress allows it.
the actual wording in constitution “But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability” pretty much says it all and clearly is the constitutionally provided way out for the loser if he can twist enough arms in critterville.
taking the easy way out, SCOTUS could wash their hands of the whole mess by citing that “cannot hold office unless a two-thirds vote of Congress allows it” part and denying cert based on improper place to petition for redress.
and even if the grievous griever further employs his 1st amendment right to petition for redress by petitioning to his congressional representatives, they in turn can avoid the matter by merely never taking it up before adjourning to campaign (standard operating procedure for this congress).
House GOP majority to shrink to 2 with Ohio lawmaker’s early resignation | The Hill
Trump is ramping up the Big Lie to include making up stuff about the Jan. 6 committee destroying records that exonerate him. Truth is going to have a tough time keeping up.
But the Washington Post (free link) is doing its best today:
Trump says Liz Cheney deleted evidence of Jan. 6 troops. There isn’t any.
“A lie can travel around the world and back again while the truth is lacing up its boots.”—Mark Twain. Ol’ Sam knew his shit.
Joe is starting his run. ‘ bout time. WaPo
Go, Joe.
More from WAPO fact checker Kessler: “Regular readers know we’ve shown, time and again, that Trump and his allies have simply invented the claim that he requested 10,000 troops before the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.”
Only Republicans are buying his crap
today’s meme…
“It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.” -Attributed to Twain, but Snopes says no.
“Fool me once, shame on…shame on you. Fool me—you can’t get fooled again.” -W
“What fools these mortals be.” -Puck/Bill
“Won’t get fooled, again.” -The Who
No info on any ad buys for the Lincoln Project at Super Bowl next month.
“Hain’t we got all the fools in town on our side? And ain’t that a big enough majority in any town?”
– Mark Twain
No fool like an old fool.
—?
https://www.texastribune.org/2024/01/02/texas-abortion-fifth-circuit/
“Federal regulations do not require emergency rooms to perform life-saving abortions if it would run afoul of state law, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.”
“When a state law prohibits abortion and does not include an exception for the life of the pregnant person — or draws the exception more narrowly than EMTALA’s emergency medical condition definition — that state law is preempted,” the guidance said.
“Texas sued, saying this was tantamount to a “nationwide mandate that every hospital and emergency-room physician perform abortions.” Several anti-abortion medical associations joined the lawsuit as well.
So, in TX and other red states, a woman can be dying in an ER, and an abortion does NOT have to be performed to save her life, especially because doctors will be afraid state laws will go after them. That’s the sound of doctors moving to blue states.
https://www.texastribune.org/2024/01/01/texas-political-issues-2024/
“What could happen in 2024: More municipalities could pass travel bans, which would likely draw legal challenges. More pregnant patients could sue for the right to have an abortion. And there could be more efforts to restrict access to contraception. One big fight to watch: Texas is trying to put Planned Parenthood out of business with a $1.8 billion lawsuit that’s sitting before an anti-abortion judge in Amarillo.”
*******
“Under a new law, police who suspect that a person crossed the border illegally can arrest them and charge them with a Class B misdemeanor, which carries a punishment of up to six months in jail. Repeat offenders could face a second-degree felony with a punishment of two to 20 years in prison. The law allows a judge to drop the charges if a migrant agrees to return to Mexico.”
Even if they aren’t from Mexico?
“What could happen in 2024: Some state Republican leaders have said they would welcome a legal fight with President Joe Biden’s administration that could reverse a U.S. Supreme Court landmark case: Arizona v U.S.”
“In 2012, a majority of the justices ruled that local police didn’t have the authority to arrest someone solely based on their immigration status because that responsibility falls to the federal government. That case stemmed from a 2010 Arizona law known as Senate Bill 1070, which made it a state crime for legal immigrants not to carry their immigration papers and required police officers to investigate the immigration status of any person they come into contact with.”
Anyway, these are the two issues President Biden will need to handle wisely to get a second term; reproductive freedom and immigration. It’s not the folks saying they’ll sit on their hands because of Israel/Gaza, or money for Ukraine to fight off Poo-tin. Folks will show up at the polls because of what’s happening at home.
ps – Just checked grocery store prices and they’ve doubled and even tripled since last week, and there was no mandatory wage increase in TX. Happy New Year!
(in my studies of French, I always thought the translation was fool the eye. Either way fits.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trompe-l%27œil
The Trump Trompe-l’oei (or would that be Trump-l’oei?) continues apace. WaPo
Some legal legerdemaine going on there. Seems to me his lawyers may be flirting with Rule 11, F.R.C.P.
Floodgates are open. RFK Jr. collected 1,000 signatures and got on his very first state ballot — UTAH!
https://apnews.com/article/robert-kennedy-president-election-utah-ballot-863513ec2bf75d1efc9b202cb8ddcc4a
By the way, there’s a concert film at some IMAX theaters, from January 18-21, if you’re interested. Queen Rock Montreal was filmed in 1981.
I hope they’ve done a good job making it as IMAX-ready, as A24 did with Stop Making Sense.
RFK Jr. is a problem, but will tRUMPsky try to get him to be his VP? Would he do it? He’s very buddy-buddy with the GQP.
My fear is that younger voters who care about the climate will be swayed. On the other hand, he said he’d sign a federal, 15-week abortion ban. So much for Bobby’s my-body-my-choice stance on vaccines. I guess he’s just another misogynist.
Give a good run-down or two of RFK’s many “negatives” and he’s outa here. Link him to the chump.
What a collection! Thanks, Sturge.
Sturg – RFK Jr. has already been linked to Epstein. ~Yeah, just catching a ride on his plane.~
He looks ‘roided up, too.
Doobies – What a Fool Believes.
NEW THREAD