Author: Data and Research Manager

Current, former police officers charged in new Proud Boys indictment in Capitol riot

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A father and son, who are current and former Florida police officers, and a North Carolina man have been charged with joining alleged Proud Boys members in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, according to a new, five-co-defendant indictment unsealed in Washington on Friday.

Kevin “Tito” Tuck, 51, and Nathaniel A. Tuck, 29, of central Florida were arrested and released on $25,000 unsecured bond Thursday by a U.S. magistrate judge in Tampa, court records show.

Edward George Jr. was also arrested Thursday and was scheduled to appear in federal court Friday in Raleigh, according to court records. Continue reading.

The Memo: Trump is diminished but hasn’t faded

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Tuesday marks six months since former President Trump left the White House.

Back then, Trump helicoptered off the South Lawn having become the only president in history to be twice impeached. The tumult of the Jan. 6 insurrection was still reverberating.

Where he stands now is a more complicated question. Continue reading.

Fox News’s embarrassing blunder in the White House briefing room

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The White House press briefing room has been a little more boring over the past six months, which is probably a good thing. But there are occasional fireworks, mostly when Fox News’s Peter Doocy asks press secretary Jen Psaki to comment on the culture-war issue du jour on his network.

But seldom has that effort been as poorly conceived as it was Friday.

The White House announced a new effort this week to combat coronavirus misinformation on social media, particularly Facebook. It’s an effort that carries legitimate questions about what role the government should play in policing (or, in this case, helping to police) such things.

But that’s quite different from what Doocy accused the government of doing. And he did so based upon nothing but innuendo and a dumbfoundingly apparent lack of research. Continue reading.

Trump says Gen. Mark Milley should be ‘court-martialed’ if he thought the former president potentially sought a coup

Former President Donald Trump on Friday said that General Mark Milley should be “court-martialed and tried” if he believed that the former president sought to carry out a coup, referencing an excerpt from a forthcoming book by Washington Post reporters Carol D. Leonnig and Philip Rucker.

Trump has pushed back against the excerpt from “I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year,” which said that Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, discussed the possibility of a coup with friends, legislators, and colleagues.

“The writings within these third-rate books are Fake News, and ‘General’ Milley (who [former Defense Secretary James] Mattis wanted to send to Europe in order to get rid of him), if he said what was reported, perhaps should be impeached, or court-martialed and tried,” the former president said in a statement. “He tries to be a tough guy, which he is not, but he choked beyond belief as soon as a microphone was stuffed in front of his face or, at the mere sight of the Fake News Media.”

Strike 3: ‘America First’ Rally Axed in Anaheim After 2 Cancellations Elsewhere

Hometown of Disneyland was not the happiest place on Earth and nixed plans for a rally with Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene

An “America First” Rally featuring speeches by controversial GOP representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz was scheduled for Saturday night at Anaheim Event Center following cancellations at two other Southern California venues, but Anaheim also backed out on Saturday morning.

The City of Anaheim — home to Disneyland — was not the happiest place on Earth over the news, reported Saturday morning by City News Service, with the city issuing a statement Saturday saying it planned to act fast on the plans. And it did, cancelling the event with a follow-up statement, citing public safety concerns.

“The city of Anaheim shared public safety concerns with the operator, and those concerns are shared by the operator,” the statement said in part. “As a city we respect free speech but also have a duty to call out speech that does not reflect our city and its values.” Continue reading.

QAnon congresswoman complains about her and Matt Gaetz being so politically toxic

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Controversial Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) complained about “communists” on Friday after she and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) faced backlash over plans for an “America First” rally in California.

The two were disinvited from a location in legendary GOP stronghold of Orange County. After failing to find another venue in the OC that would take them, the two moved the spectacle to Riverside County.

But even after securing a second venue, the two faced protests as they were holding their event at the city-owned convention center. Continue reading.

Poverty in 2021 looks different than in 1964 – but the US hasn’t changed how it measures who’s poor since LBJ began his war

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In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson famously declared war on poverty. 

“The richest nation on Earth can afford to win it,” he told Congress in his first State of the Union address. “We cannot afford to lose it.” 

Yet as the administration was to learn on both the domestic and foreign battlefields, a country marching off to war must have a credible estimate of the enemy’s size and strength. Surprisingly, up until this point, the U.S. had no official measure of poverty and therefore no statistics on its scope, shape or changing nature. The U.S. needed to come up with a way of measuring how many people in America were poor. Continue reading.

Trump lashes out at Fox News after investigation debunks his allegations of fraud in Arizona

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President Donald Trump angrily lashed out at Fox News on Friday evening.

Trump was reacting to an Associated Press investigation that discredited his conspiracy theories about massive fraud in Arizona, a state which was won by Joe Biden.

“Arizona county election officials have identified fewer than 200 cases of potential voter fraud out of more than 3 million ballots cast in last year’s presidential election, further discrediting former President Donald Trump’s claims of a stolen election as his allies continue a disputed ballot review in the state’s most populous county,” the AP reported Friday. Continue reading.

In the Know: July 20, 2021

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Governor Tim Walz
Why the Minnesota Ban on ‘Conversion Therapy’ Matters to LGBTQIA+ Mental Health, The Mighty

Minnesota News
Minn. lawmakers push to restore year-round sales of ethanol blend, Star Tribune
Fire damages St. Paul nonprofit that helps the homeless, Pioneer Press
Heather Johnston to take over as Mpls. interim city coordinator, Star Tribune
Minnesota mayors urge support of massive infrastructure bill, Star Tribune
The diverse teachers Minnesota needs may already be working in schools—as classroom aides. New state funding promises to help them level up., Sahan Journal

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris News
 Biden administration to send 3 million vaccine doses to Guatemala, CBS News
Biden to focus on Covid-19, infrastructure, climate and cybersecurity at Cabinet meeting, CNN

Continue reading “In the Know: July 20, 2021”

‘A propaganda tool’ for Trump: A second federal judge castigates attorneys who filed a lawsuit challenging the 2020 results

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Just before Christmas, two Colorado lawyers filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of 160 million American voters, alleging a vast conspiracy to steal the 2020 presidential election by the voting equipment manufacturer Dominion Voting Systems, Facebook, its founder Mark Zuckerberg, his wife Priscilla Chan and elected officials in four states — and asking for $160 billion in damages.

The case was dismissed in April, but now a federal judge is considering disciplining the lawyers for filing a frivolous claim — sharply questioning the duo in a Friday hearing about whether they had allowed themselves to be used as “a propaganda tool” of former president Donald Trump.

“Did that ever occur to you? That, possibly, [you’re] just repeating stuff the president is lying about?” Federal Magistrate Judge N. Reid Neureiter asked the two lawyers, Gary D. Fielder and Ernest John Walker, during a hearing to consider sanctioning them. Continue reading.