This US Marine bragged about planning white supremacist terror attacks: FBI

AlterNet Logo

Involvement in white supremacist and white nationalist terrorist groups is especially dangerous when someone has been enlisted in the U.S. military, as that person has been trained in the use of weapons. An article by reporter Chris Joyner, published by the Atlanta Journal Constitution on June 26, takes a look at a former U.S. Marine and sheriff’s deputy from Wilkinson County, Georgia who was, according to the FBI, plotting racist terrorist attacks.

“When FBI agents in San Diego seized the cell phone of a suspected white supremacist last year,” Joyner reports, “they discovered text messages with a Georgia sheriff’s deputy boasting of racial violence and preparations for a civil war. The text message chain, called ‘Shadow Moses, between San Diego plumber Grey Zamudio, 33, and 28-year-old Cody Griggers, a former Marine and sheriff’s deputy in Wilkinson County, revealed plans to steal explosives, dry runs with illegal silencers and boasts of racial violence. In one text, Griggers said he hoped law enforcement and the military would join their side in the coming conflict.”

Griggers and Zamudio, Joyner notes, have both pled guilty to federal weapons charges. Both of them are due to be sentenced this summer — first Zamudio in July, then Griggers in August. Continue reading.

Gov. Walz signs bipartisan Housing budget

House DFL logo

SAINT PAUL, MINNESOTA – Today, Governor Tim Walz signed the compromise Housing Finance and Policy bill into law. The measure funds a variety of programs aimed at helping create more affordable housing, and provisions to ensure Minnesotans are safely and stably housed.

“This measure will immediately begin making an impact across the state,” said Rep. Alice Hausman (DFL-Saint Paul), chair of the Minnesota House Housing Finance and Policy Committee. “Investments in closing home ownership racial disparity, among other provisions, will result in greater stability for more Minnesotans. We still have work to do, but this is a good start to help those affected by COVID-19 emerge stronger and safer.” 

A notable inclusion in the budget bill is the orderly off-ramp to the current eviction moratorium. Championed by DFLers, the bill provides renters and landlords with the time to take advantage of federal housing assistance funds, with the off-ramp concluding 105 days after enactment. Landlords will be required to send a notice to renters with outstanding rent 15 days prior to eviction. In addition, renters with an outstanding rental assistance claim cannot be evicted and will have that protection until June 1, 2022.

“Governor Walz’s eviction moratorium has saved lives, and now this new law will as well by ensuring an eviction crisis doesn’t replace our health crisis.” said Rep. Michael Howard (DFL – Richfield) vice chair of the House Housing Finance and Policy Committee. “As we bounce back from the pandemic, the bipartisan consensus we reached on housing will deliver access to a safe and secure place to call home for more Minnesotans and lays the foundation for our future work in addressing our state’s housing crisis.” ​ 

The bill also provides Minnesota Housing with $10 million in one-time funds for FY22-23, along with $12 million in the tails to cover the debt service for $100 million in Housing Infrastructure Bonds (HIBs).

Other provisions of the bill:

  • Authorizes $100 million in Housing Infrastructure Bonds, contingent on there being no funding in an upcoming federal infrastructure bill for the same purposes.
  • Funds the Manufactured Home Park Infrastructure Grant Program to address the needs of manufactured home parks whose infrastructure has reached the end of its expected lifespan by providing funds for improvements in eligible permanent year-round parks.
  • Establishes a 24-member shelter provider task force consisting of members from state agencies and advocates to make recommendations to the legislature regarding how to strengthen the shelter system to provide safe and appropriate services.

Video of the House Floor session will be available on House Public Information Services’ YouTube channel.

Bombshell Barr interview reveals Trump had ‘criminal intent’ in election lies: ex-prosecutor

Raw Story Logo

On his YouTube channel, where he generally explains legal things for the layperson, former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner walked through the recently posted interview with former Attorney General Bill Barr in The Atlantic. 

The report revealed one thing that could ultimately work against Trump in the investigation over whether he committed voter fraud in Georgia. After the state was called for Joe Biden, Trump called the governor and secretary of state to urge them to “find” him votes to overthrow the election. 

According to Kirschner, the interview with Barr proved that Trump was well aware that there was no voter fraud, no election problems and that he lost the 2020 election. Barr told him and Trump acknowledged it, speaking about himself in the third person saying, “you must hate Trump.” Continue reading.

House DFL Lawmakers urge resignation of Minn. Board of Animal Health President

House DFL logo

SAINT PAUL, Minn. – Rep. Rob Ecklund (DFL – International Falls), Rep. Rick Hansen (DFL – South St. Paul), House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler (DFL – Golden Valley), Rep. Sydney Jordan (DFL – Minneapolis), Rep. Patty Acomb (DFL – Minnetonka), Rep. Ami Wazlawik (DFL – White Bear Township), Rep. Kelly Morrison (DFL – Deephaven), Rep. Todd Lippert (DFL – Northfield), Rep. Ginny Klevorn (DFL – Plymouth), Rep. Jay Xiong (DFL – Saint Paul), Rep. Heather Keeler (DFL – Moorhead), Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn (DFL – Roseville), Rep. Samantha Vang (DFL – Brooklyn Center), Rep. Fue Lee (DFL – Minneapolis), Rep. Peter Fischer (DFL – Maplewood), Rep. Steve Sandell (DFL – Woodbury), Rep. Zack Stephenson (DFL – Coon Rapids), Rep. Liz Reyer (DFL – Eagan), Rep. Erin Koegel (DFL – Spring Lake Park), Rep. Jamie Long (DFL – Minneapolis), Rep. Michael Howard (DFL – Richfield), and Rep. Emma Greenman (DFL – Minneapolis) issued the following statement calling for the resignation of Minnesota Board of Animal Health (BAH) President Dean Compart: 

“Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) poses a critical threat to Minnesota’s wild white-tail deer population, and the Board of Animal Health has the responsibility to hold cervid farms in our state accountable for their role in its spread. Unfortunately, by failing to act, the BAH and its leadership have continued to let down those who enjoy deer hunting. Worse, future generations potentially won’t be able to enjoy these cherished traditions if CWD is allowed to spread, and based on the frequency at which the disease is identified in new areas of the state, unless urgent action is taken, it almost certainly will.

“All Minnesotans deserve a healthy deer herd and comprehensive solutions to protect it. If the deer farms won’t be accountable to the BAH, and the BAH won’t be accountable to Minnesotans, it’s time for BAH President Dean Compart to do the honorable thing and resign.”

Continue reading “House DFL Lawmakers urge resignation of Minn. Board of Animal Health President”

Wisconsin GOP leaders call Trump ‘misinformed’ after the he claims they’re hiding election corruption

AlterNet Logo

Almost eight months after now-President Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in Wisconsin in the 2020 presidential election, the former president continues to falsely claim that he was the real winner in Wisconsin — and he is bashing the Wisconsin Republicans who refuse to join him in the Big Lie. In an article published by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on June 26, journalist Molly Beck takes a look at “divisions” among “Wisconsin Republicans over whether and how far to litigate the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.”

Those divisions, according to Beck, were evident during the Wisconsin GOP’s annual convention on June 26. A small group of delegates, Beck reports, want to oust Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, a Republican over the 2020 election. At the convention, Beck reports, Vos announced that he “was hiring, at taxpayer expense, a former conservative Supreme Court justice to oversee an investigation by retired police detectives into the election — the third such review Vos has called for.”

However, Trump has been railing against Vos for not doing more to promote the Big Lie. Continue reading.

U.S. Carries Out Airstrikes in Iraq and Syria

New York Times logo

The attacks were against weapons storage facilities used by Iranian-backed militias that the Pentagon said had conducted drone strikes against places in Iraq where American troops, spies and diplomats were located.

WASHINGTON — The United States carried out airstrikes early Monday morning in Iraq and Syria against two Iranian-backed militias that the Pentagon said had conducted drone strikes against American personnel in Iraq in recent weeks, the Defense Department said.

“At President Biden’s direction, U.S. military forces earlier this evening conducted defensive precision airstrikes against facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups in the Iraq-Syria border region,” the Pentagon spokesman, John F. Kirby, said in a statement.

Mr. Kirby said the facilities were used by Iranian-backed militias, including Kata’ib Hezbollah and Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, to store arms and ammunition for carrying out attacks against places where Americans were located in Iraq. There were no immediate reports of casualties but a military after-action review is ongoing, Pentagon officials said. Continue reading.

Wisconsin Republican used leftover funds from his failed campaign to attend Trump’s ‘Stop the Steal’ rally

AlterNet Logo

After losing to incumbent Democratic Rep. Ron Kind in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District in the 2020 election, far-right Republican Derrick Van Orden had some campaign funds left over — and according to the Daily Beast reporter Roger Sollenberger, he used some of that money to attend then-President Donald Trump’s Stop the Steal rally in Washington, D.C. on January 6. 

Van Orden is running for Congress again in 2022, and he has been endorsed by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy despite the fact that he openly promoted Trump’s false claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.

In an article published by the Beast on June 27, Sollenberger explains, “Van Orden, a former Navy SEAL and small-time actor, has previously acknowledged attending the January 6 rally, but has repeatedly claimed he never entered the Capitol grounds. However, social media posts from the riot suggest that isn’t true. A Facebook image from January 6 shows Van Orden standing on a wall on the Capitol grounds that was inside a restricted area. The Daily Beast recreated the photo on Friday and confirmed that Van Orden would have had to cross police barricades to reach that area.” Continue reading.

Trump’s big lie about 2020 results suffers legal and political blows in key swing states

CNN Logo

It was a bad week for the Big Lie — former President Donald Trump and his allies’ false claims that widespread fraud is to blame for his 2020 election loss.

In one battleground state, Republican senators issued a report that eviscerated Trump’s lies about voter fraud. In another, a judge undercut Trump’s supporters’ hopes to examine nearly 150,000 mail-in ballots. And one of Trump’s closest allies, Rudy Giuliani, was suspended from practicing law in New York. 

Trump and his conspiracy-minded supporters have eagerly been anticipating the conclusion of the problem-plagued audit of Maricopa County’s results in Arizona, but regardless of its final report, it will have no impact on the 2020 election results, as the election was already certified. Trump repeated his election lies at a rally in Ohio Saturday night, but last week’s blows underscored the reality that their options to continue contesting the 2020 election are narrowing. Continue reading.

Conservative pundit slams Tucker Carlson as a ‘pampered man-child trust fund baby’

AlterNet Logo

Far-right Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson had a major hissyfit on Thursday night, June 24 in response to Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley’s comments during a hearing on Capitol Hill. Gen. Milley told Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida that the history of racism is something that should be studied, inspiring Carlson to say that Milley is “not just a pig — he’s stupid.” And the following night, when Never Trump conservative Charlie Sykes appeared on MSNBC’s “The 11th Hour,” he slammed Carlson’s anti-Milley diatribe without hesitation.

Sykes told “11th Hour” host Brian Williams and fellow guest Bill Kristol (another Never Trump conservative), “Think about this: You have this pampered man-child trust fund baby calling a decorated veteran a pig and stupid. And you would think that people would step back and say, ‘OK, I’m sorry. You can disagree with the man, but we are a party and a movement that has always prided ourselves on respect for the military, respect for what he’s accomplished.’ Those stripes on his sleeve are not, you know, Venmo accounts. Those stripes on the sleeve are, you know, places that he has served his country.'”

Carlson definitely comes from a background of privilege. His full name is Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson, and his stepmother is an heiress to Swanson Foods. Carlson’s father is a former U.S. ambassador. Continue reading.

Bill Barr on Trump’s election fraud claims: “It was all bullsh*t”

Axios Logo

Former Attorney General Bill Barr said the Justice Department always knew Trump’s claims of election fraud were “bullsh*t,” according to an excerpt from journalist Jonathan Karl’s upcoming book published in the The Atlantic.

Why it matters: Barr’s new comments come as Trump continues to propagate the lie that the 2020 election was “rigged.” Republicans in swing states now are conducting“audits” of election ballots based on false conspiracies about the election. 

Flashback: Last December, Barr told the AP: “To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election.” Continue reading.