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The Latest - Tuesday, October 13

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A daily community thread to collect updates and events pertinent to the daily shock and awe, this is The Latest.


:warning: This thread has ended. The discussion continues: The Latest - Wednesday, October 14


What we’re talking about


How To Vote In The 2020 Election In Every State:

:white_check_mark: Register to vote
:white_check_mark: Check your registration
:information_source: Voter Guides: FiveThirtyEight / Washington Post / NBC News / Wall Street Journal


Calendar


Previously

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California Republicans Have Put Out “Unauthorized” Boxes To Collect Mail-In Ballots

California’s secretary of state and attorney general sent a cease-and-desist letter to Republican Party leaders on Monday following reports that GOP officials were encouraging voters to drop ballots into unofficial boxes that state officials contend are illegal[1].

The California Secretary of State has received reports in recent days about possible unauthorized ballot drop boxes in Fresno, Los Angeles and Orange counties, agency spokesman Sam Mahood said Sunday evening. Reports place such boxes at local political party offices, candidate headquarters and churches.[2]

The California Republican Party has admitted responsibility for placing more than 50 deceptively labeled “official” drop boxes for mail-in ballots in Los Angeles, Fresno and Orange Counties — an action that state officials said was illegal and could lead to voter fraud.[3]

“We are here to announce without equivocation that these drop boxes are not part of the county’s official election collection process,” state Attorney General Xavier Becerra said at a news conference Monday. “I hope the message goes out loud and clear to anyone who is trying to improperly solicit, obtain, and manage a citizen’s vote that they are subject to prosecution for engaging in activities that are against the law.” [4]


  1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/10/12/california-illegal-ballot-boxes/ ↩︎

  2. Unofficial ballot drop boxes popping up throughout the state worry elections officials – Orange County Register ↩︎

  3. California Republican Party Admits It Placed Misleading Ballot Boxes Around State - The New York Times ↩︎

  4. California Republicans Put Out "Unauthorized" Boxes To Collect Mail-In Ballots ↩︎

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Day 2 for Amy Coney Barrett with questions from the the Judiciary Committee - Sen Tillis(R-NC) and Sen Lee (R-UT) both recent having Covid and both now present at the hearing.

Lots of talk about Sen Sheldon Whitehouse’s (D-RI) questioning of ACB on how Judicial nominees are chosen, vetted and supported. He’s getting high marks for laying it all out, that this R majority want their issues taken care of and will pay for it. See Federalist Society article below. (need to find video of him talking),

There were always questions as to Kavanaugh’s debts being wiped off his financial status, ie
country club fees and large credit card bills were paid off. How did that happen? Who paid them? See @Keaton_James write up Kavanaugh’s Debts

And here’s the profile on Leonard Leo of the Federalist society which is mentioned above, written in 2019. He’s had a hand in getting all the recent T nominees - Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Barrett.

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Cook Political Report is increasing their projection that Dems could win (net gain) anywhere from two to seven Senate seats. Good odds in a lot of close races.

The Cook Political Report on Tuesday shifted Senate races in Georgia, Texas and Alaska, all with Republican incumbents, toward Democrats.

New SENATE RATINGS changes @CookPolitical #AKSen: Likely R —> Lean R #TXSen: Likely R —> Lean R#GASen special: Lean R —> Toss Uphttps://t.co/IuYAGSW8fn pic.twitter.com/t2n5sjzv0M

— Jessica Taylor (@JessicaTaylor) October 13, 2020

Cook changed its rating for Alaska’s Senate race from “likely Republican” to “lean Republican.” Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) is seeking reelection against Al Gross, an independent candidate backed by the state Democratic Party. Sullivan led by 4 points in the most recent survey, conducted Sept. 25-Oct. 4 by Alaska Survey Research, but the state has one of the least-polled Senate races.

In Texas, Cook also shifted the race from “likely Republican” to “lean Republican.” There, Sen. John Cornyn ® faces Air Force veteran and former congressional candidate M.J. Hegar. Cornyn leads the race by an average of 7.6 points, according to the RealClearPolitics (RCP) average.

Cook also shifted Georgia’s Senate special election from “lean Republican” to “toss-up.” Sen. Kelly Loeffler ® is defending her seat in a race that includes Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) and Democratic candidates Raphael Warnock and Matt Lieberman. If no one reaches more than 50 percent of the vote, the top two will face a runoff on Jan. 5.

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Another plot to kidnap a Governor was stopped by the FBI. Militias are highly activated and do not like the restraints these Governors Northam and Gov Whitmer present.

WTFery.

Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia was discussed as a possible target by members of an anti-government group charged last week with plotting to kidnap the Michigan governor, the F.B.I. said on Tuesday.

During a hearing in Federal District Court in Grand Rapids, Mich., Special Agent Richard J. Trask II of the F.B.I. said that Mr. Northam and other officials were targeted because of their aggressive lockdown orders to restrict the spread of the coronavirus.

Last week, 13 men accused of involvement in the alleged plot against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan were charged with a variety of state and federal crimes including terrorism, conspiracy and weapons possession. They also talked of planning to storm the Michigan State Capitol and start a civil war, the authorities said.

During Tuesday’s hearing, the authorities said the suspects also spoke about “taking” the Virginia governor because of coronavirus lockdown orders that restricted businesses.
>
Mr. Trask said that some of the suspects held a meeting in Dublin, Ohio, several months ago where they “discussed possible targets” for “taking a sitting governor.”

The F.B.I. alerted members of Mr. Northam’s security team throughout their investigation, Alena Yarmosky, Mr. Northam’s press secretary, said in a statement. The governor was not informed, “per security protocols,” Ms. Yarmosky said, but added that “at no time was the governor or his family in imminent danger.”

Last spring, critics lambasted Governor Whitmer, a Democrat, for her March 24 lockdown, particularly since the stay-at-home orders for rural Michigan, with relatively few cases of Covid-19, were the same as those for Detroit and other cities. Conservative and anti-government groups in Michigan were the among the first in the country to organize protests against the restrictions.

In Virginia, Mr. Northam, also a Democrat, issued a similar order on March 30, instructing residents to leave their homes only for work, medical attention, family care, shopping for essentials and “outdoor activity with strict social distancing requirements.” Mr. Northam started reopening much of Virginia on May 15, but as cases rose again over the summer, he implemented restrictions on bars, restaurants and public gatherings.

President Trump had openly encouraged right-wing protests of social distancing restrictions in Virginia, Michigan and other states with stay-at-home orders, right after his administration had announced guidelines for governors to set their own timetables for reopening their communities. Among his tweets were calls to both “Liberate Michigan!” and “Liberate Virginia.”

Ms. Yarmosky referenced the president’s tweets in the statement from Mr. Northam’s office and said that the “rhetoric coming out of this White House has serious and potentially deadly consequences.” She added: “It must stop.”

Earlier this month, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that the law Ms. Whitmer had been using to issue her emergency orders was unconstitutional and invalidated them. Most of the orders had been lifted on June 1, but after the ruling, emergency orders were issued through the health department, which kept in place mask requirements as well as limits on gathering sizes and business capacities.

On Tuesday, Mr. Trask also provided additional details about the alleged plans to kidnap Ms. Whitmer. One of the suspects, Adam Fox — identified by Mr. Trask as one of the leaders of the plot — spoke about a plan to take Ms. Whitmer out on a boat in the middle of Lake Michigan, and leave her stranded with the engine disabled so that someone would have to “come rescue” her, Mr. Trask said.

The other alternative had been to take Ms. Whitmer to Wisconsin or another unspecified state and to put her on trial. The accused had referred to her as “a tyrant.”

Last week, the authorities said the men were affiliated with an extremist group called the Wolverine Watchmen, which court documents called “an anti-government, anti-law enforcement militia group.”

The group met many times for tactical and firearms training and practiced building explosives, the F.B.I. said, and spoke about attacking law enforcement officers.

Mr. Trask and the prosecutor mentioned several other men who they said were involved in the surveillance and the discussion of the plot, including one from Wisconsin, but who were not among those arrested.

The testimony also indicated that the participants were suspicious that government informants were monitoring or had infiltrated their group, changing encrypted messaging platforms and giving each other code names in hopes of escaping such surveillance.

At one point after a planning trip to case the governor’s vacation home and the surrounding area, Mr. Fox asked that all the participants be scanned with a device that is supposed to identify if anyone was wearing a transmission wire or a recording device.

The effort apparently failed, Mr. Trask said, with the group eventually infiltrated by four informants or undercover agents who continued to document what the group was planning. The F.B.I. has more than 100 hours of secretly recorded audio acquired throughout the investigation, Mr. Trask said.

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Another Covid case - wife of Labor Secretary Tish Scalia, who was at the Rose Garden ACB event.

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Proud Boys Supporter Warns of ‘Civil War’ if Donald Trump Loses Election

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