Trump
Is Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Coming For ALL Trump's Naughty Fraudy Sh*t? Maybe!
Trump's post-presidency might be fun! (For Cyrus Vance, and for America.)
August 04, 2020 04:15 PM
Something might be happening that is VERY STINKY for Donald Trump and his biological family and his extended crime family. (There is some overlap there, obviously.)
When the Supreme Court ruled a few weeks back in Trump v. Vance, it said without a shadow of a doubt that YES, the president can be investigated and subpoenaed by a state-level prosecutor. But that was the narrow question at hand. It didn't mean Trump's dumbass lawyers couldn't go back to court and argue that Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance's subpoenas weren't wrongbad for a different reason they pulled out of their ass. Everybody expected them to do so, and that's just what they did.
What was important about that Supreme Court ruling is that it established that for these purposes, the president is exactly like the rest of us, and has to argue the exact same things the rest of us plebeians have at our disposal. "Waaaaaah, this subpoena is too broad, it is too burdensome, I have a tee-off after lunch, too busy, WAAAAAAAH" is a thing they could say, for instance. He doesn't get to whine that he is president, therefore you cannot touch him.
The Manhattan DA's investigation, if you'll remember, was (as far as we know) into Trump's original PPP, which did not stand for "Paycheck Protection Program," but rather "Porn Peener Payments," and that's why Vance wants Trump's taxes and financials from his accounting firm, Mazars USA. But somethin' INNARESTIN' happened in court yesterday, after Trump's lawyers tried to say, "Waaaaah, this subpoena is too broad, it is too burdensome, I got tee-time, too busy, WAAAAAAAH."
Vance came back with a filing that said actually, our investigation might be much more broad than you think, we are just saying, so perhaps you should cough it the fuck up. The filing mentions "alleged insurance and bank fraud by the Trump Organization and its officers" — IT IS JUST SAYING — and then continues:
<blockquote>Although the Office bears no affirmative burden to justify the breadth of the Mazars Subpoena, and although Plaintiff is not entitled to know the scope and nature of the grand jury investigation, publicly available information itself establishes a satisfactory predicate for the Mazars Subpoena.</blockquote><p>GO ON.</p><blockquote>Public reporting demonstrates that the Office had a valid basis for requesting each category and timeframe of document listed in the Mazars Subpoena. As this reporting makes clear, at the time the Mazars Subpoena was issued,<strong> there were public allegations of possible criminal activity at Plaintiff's New York County-based Trump Organization dating back over a decade. </strong>[...] This possible criminal activity occurred within the applicable statutes of limitations, particularly if the transactions involved a continuing pattern of conduct.<strong> In light of these public reports of possibly extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization,</strong> there was nothing facially improper (or even particularly unusual) about the Mazars Subpoena, which issued in connection with a complex financial investigation, requesting eight years of records from an accounting firm.</blockquote><p>Wow. Cyrus Vance could be bluffin' like a common BLUFFER, but that sounds like something more than Trump's Porn Peener Payments. </p><p>It's no guarantee, but we think this might sound like something could be coming down the pike for Trump and his buddies and his pals and his Juniors and his Ivankas. But what could they be talking about? </p><p>Oh well, there was that whole thing where <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/mary-trumps-book-may-be-the-beginning-of-a-sh-tshow-donald-trump-never-saw-coming" target="_blank">Mary L. Trump was the source</a> for the massive <em>New York Times</em> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-tax-schemes-fred-trump.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage" target="_blank">investigation</a> into the Trump family and organization's longstanding FRAUD, ALLEGEDLY. Because, if you'll remember, that investigation led Donald Trump's sister Maryanne Trump to completely stop being a federal judge forever, to stop a judicial inquiry into all that shit.</p><p><span></span>Oh yeah, and remember that time Michael Cohen <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/michael-cohen-preview" target="_blank">went to Congress</a> and gave them three years of Trump financial statements, saying the had witnessed what he believed was Trump artificially inflating and deflating his own assets, depending on whether he was trying to make himself look VERY RICH or VERY POOR at the time. And yes, that included statements to banks and insurance companies. ProPublica <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/11/report-trump-business-fraud-propublica-taxes-crimes.html" target="_blank">has a lot on that.</a> </p><p>You know, just to name a couple things off the top of our heads. </p><p>So, you know, unless Cyrus Vance is totally bluffing — and DAs do that sometimes, they are very whimsical like that — Trump might have some GETTIN' FUCKED coming his way, courtesy of the DA in Manhattan. </p><p>On that note, here is a good thread from Popehat, on that very subject:</p><div id="501b8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="59e98c55597df02325e339111b551ef9"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1290360996997955584" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Here's one reason the Manhattan DA's investigation is arguably scarier to Trump than federal investigations: feder… https://t.co/GaAbTyh60i</div> — YoSemitesHat (@YoSemitesHat)<a href="https://twitter.com/Popehat/statuses/1290360996997955584">1596481010.0</a></blockquote></div><p><br></p><div id="a4851" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="b6c3532d0aff208bd1d199245a650d3b"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1290360998348562433" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">/3 That means DAs will roll the dice on questionable proof and even more questionable legal theories, meaning if th… https://t.co/OnHIbrOYeJ</div> — YoSemitesHat (@YoSemitesHat)<a href="https://twitter.com/Popehat/statuses/1290360998348562433">1596481010.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Donald Trump's post-presidency could be fun! OPEN THREAD!</p><p>[<a href="https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000173-b569-d3de-ab7b-bd795ce10000" target="_blank">filing</a>]</p><p><strong>Follow Evan Hurst on Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/evanhurst" target="_blank">RIGHT HERE, DO IT RIGHT HERE!</a></strong></p><p><strong>Wonkette is fully funded by readers like YOU. If you love Wonkette, WE NEED YOUR LOVE GIFTS TO KEEP US GOING.</strong><br></p><p></p><p><a href="https://amzn.to/33mKzZe" target="_blank">Do your Amazon shopping through this link, because reasons</a>.</p><p></p><p></p><form name="donation" method="post" class="donation-form"><p class="subheadline">How often would you like to donate?</p><div class="form-row row--plan"><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="once" class="plan-type" required="" checked> Just once
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coronavirus
Stop Trying To Make Schools Happen
They're not going to happen.
August 04, 2020 03:45 PM
Time for all the kids to get ready for school, and this year, in addition to the usual back-to-school preparations, families are wondering what kind of school the kids will be getting back to (online, in-person, or "hybrid"). Kids are looking forward to seeing their friends again, at least when they're not having anxiety attacks about the coronavirus. And teachers are updating their lesson plans, and in many places, their wills.
In Yr Dok Zoom's hometown of Boise, Idaho, the school district was supposed to hold a meeting Monday night to decide whether to open for in-person classes on August 17 as originally planned, or whether to shift some or all instruction online at first. Unfortunately, the board's streaming software kept crashing and locking out board members and the public, so after a while they gave up and rescheduled the meeting for tonight. We bet Boise won't be the only school system that has to try turning the school year off and on again this year. Let's take a look at some of the big school-reopening stories around the USA!
<p><strong>At least the nation's greatest expert </strong>on education and public health knows what to do as the pandemic gathers new strength all across the country: Act like everything's fine! </p><div id="49371" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="fb8053c1bd23ef8d89d81bc8c6bb3ca3"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1290488364362170371" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">OPEN THE SCHOOLS!!!</div> — Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump)<a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/statuses/1290488364362170371">1596511376.0</a></blockquote></div><p><strong>Mr. Trump may or may not remember</strong> that his youngest son, Barron, attends a private school in Montgomery County, Maryland. The county's public health officer directed last week that private schools shouldn't resume in-person instruction until October 1, but Monday, Gov. Larry Hogan <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/03/politics/hogan-maryland-order-private-schools-barron-trump-coronavirus/index.html" target="_blank">overruled that directive </a>with an executive order leaving reopening decisions to school districts and parents. </p><p>Hey, for some reason we just thought of that scene in <em>Jaws </em>where the mayor insists his kids go swimming. No idea why that popped into our head. <em>Amity </em>means "friendship." A lot of people don't know that. </p><p><strong>In Georgia, </strong>the state's largest school district, Gwinnett County Public Schools in the Atlanta metro area, is set to reopen with online-only classes August 12. But that <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/03/us/gwinnett-schools-covid-employees/index.html" target="_blank">may be complicated</a> by the fact that after teachers and staff returned to campuses to prepare for the school year, "approximately 260 employees [...] had been excluded from work due to a positive case or contact with a case" of COVID-19 as of late last week, according to a GCPS spokesperson. (The infections seem to be due to spread<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/08/04/school-outbreaks-reopening-georgia/" target="_blank"> in the community,</a> not at the schools.) Despite the outbreak among school employees, and Gwinnett County's having the state's second-highest rate of COVID-19 infections, CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/03/us/gwinnett-schools-covid-employees/index.html" target="_blank">reports </a>some parents protested to demand in-person classes. <br></p><p><strong>Also in Georgia,</strong> in an unrelated incident, at least 260 children and staffers at a sleepaway camp tested positive for COVID-19 in June, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/cdc-report-on-coronavirus-outbreak-among-children-at-a-georgia-camp/1cbb117e-9e96-42c8-adcf-eb3d4d6c945f/?itid=lk_inline_manual_3&itid=lk_inline_manual_10" target="_blank">according to a report</a> from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We can see why Debbie Downers from the CDC aren't invited to Donald Trump's coronavirus briefings! But June was a long time ago and we're probably only mentioning that outbreak to scare you into thinking schools might not be so safe, when the reality is that nobody knows exactly how dangerous they are. Honestly, what could go wrong? </p><div id="9ccc4" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c0ec871de71a27b1357a35e0c1f2e455"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1290626349426671617" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">This is the first day of school in Paulding County, Georgia. https://t.co/fzdidaAABM</div> — 🇯🇲Black🇭🇹Aziz🇳🇬aNANsi🇹🇹 (@🇯🇲Black🇭🇹Aziz🇳🇬aNANsi🇹🇹)<a href="https://twitter.com/Freeyourmindkid/statuses/1290626349426671617">1596544275.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Fine, maybe <em>that</em>. </p><p><strong>In cities across the country, </strong>teachers, students, and parents <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/08/04/with-coronavirus-cases-reported-some-reopened-schools-protesters-take-streets-with-fake-coffins/" target="_blank">held protests</a> to demand that schools only reopen when it's safe to do so, and that such decisions be guided by science, not the desire to Make America Open To Infection Again. The teachers union in Milwaukee protested with fake headstones, like the one below reading <em>"RIP GRANDMA CAUGHT COVID HELPING GRANDKIDS WITH HOMEWORK."</em></p>
<div id="2a789" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2db4e4a39f2a82b645bbfdd8bc975aab"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1290259095291932672" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">TODAY IS THE DAY! Students, teachers, parents, & communities across country are rising to #DemandSafeSchools! Art T… https://t.co/k300nHKscu</div> — MTEA (@MTEA)<a href="https://twitter.com/MTEAunion/statuses/1290259095291932672">1596456714.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p><br></p><p>In San Antonio, Texas, and elsewhere, people <a href="https://twitter.com/SAALocal67/status/1290402675645874177?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1290402675645874177%7Ctwgr%5E&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Feducation%2F2020%2F08%2F04%2Fwith-coronavirus-cases-reported-some-reopened-schools-protesters-take-streets-with-fake-coffins%2F" target="_blank">held protests via car caravans,</a> to ensure nobody got too close to each other. Unlike the gun-nut protests to end lockdowns, these folks actually stayed in their cars, if you can imagine. </p><p><strong>The Indianapolis Star</strong> is <a href="https://www.indystar.com/story/news/education/2020/08/04/coronavirus-indiana-central-indiana-schools-covid-19-cases/5580861002/" target="_blank">keeping a running tally </a>of coronavirus cases in Indiana schools, which reopened last week already. Most of the cases identified so far involved athletes, because schools were allowed to open up gyms for pre-season f'ball training on July 1. But <a href="https://www.indystar.com/story/news/education/2020/07/31/greenfield-student-tests-positive-covid-19-first-day-class/5552735002/" target="_blank">one kid</a> at Greenfield Central Junior High School tested positive after the first day of school, last Thursday. </p><p><strong>Economists at Goldman Sachs </strong>worry that if schools remain closed, the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/04/economy/schools-reopening-economy-jobs/index.html" target="_blank">lack of childcare could be bad for the economy</a> as parents decide they need to stay home to watch kids. Hey, we can think of something that might help! Instead of rushing to reopen either schools or businesses, how about Congress actually does its goddamn job and extends unemployment benefits and aid to schools — both included in the Democrats' plan that <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/democratic-economic-stimulus-package-full-of-nice-things-mitch-doesnt-want-you-to-have" target="_blank">already passed the House in May</a> — so parents and kids don't have to die for the Dow?</p><p><strong>And finally, the <em>New York Times</em> </strong>offers <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/04/world/middleeast/coronavirus-israel-schools-reopen.html" target="_blank">this cautionary tale</a> on what happened when Israel rushed to open up its schools in May, because the virus appeared at the time to be under control: </p><blockquote>Within days, infections were reported at a Jerusalem high school, which quickly mushroomed into the largest outbreak in a single school in Israel, possibly the world.<br><br>The virus rippled out to the students' homes and then to other schools and neighborhoods, ultimately infecting hundreds of students, teachers and relatives.</blockquote><p>Man, it really makes you wonder: Why is Israel trying to make Donald Trump look stupid? </p><p>We'll bring you more School Reopening news, just as soon as Boise Schools figure out how to deliver school lunch mystery meat over the internet. Stay safe! </p><p>[<a href="https://www.idahoednews.org/news/virtual-chaos-technical-problems-put-boises-school-decision-on-hold/" target="_blank">Idaho Education News</a> / <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/03/politics/hogan-maryland-order-private-schools-barron-trump-coronavirus/index.html" target="_blank">CNN </a>/ <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/03/us/gwinnett-schools-covid-employees/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> / <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/08/04/school-outbreaks-reopening-georgia/" target="_blank">WaPo</a> / <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2020/08/04/with-coronavirus-cases-reported-some-reopened-schools-protesters-take-streets-with-fake-coffins/" target="_blank">WaPo</a>/ <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/04/economy/schools-reopening-economy-jobs/index.html" target="_blank">CNN </a>/ <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/04/world/middleeast/coronavirus-israel-schools-reopen.html" target="_blank">NYT</a> / School bus photo by <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/44082489@N00/3265026141" target="_blank">H. Michael Miley,</a> Creative Commons <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/" target="_blank">license 2.0</a>]</p><p>Yr Wonkette is supported entirely by reader donations! Please send us some money if you can, so we can stay online and never go out ever again until there's a vaccine. </p><p></p><p><a href="https://amzn.to/33mKzZe" target="_blank">Do your Amazon shopping through this link, because reasons</a>.</p><p></p><p></p><form name="donation" method="post" class="donation-form"><p class="subheadline">How often would you like to donate?</p><div class="form-row row--plan"><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="once" class="plan-type" required="" checked> Just once
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2020 presidential election
James O'Keefe Trying To Entice Voting Rights Onto His Dildo Lube Boat
Boy Idiot keeps failing upward.
August 04, 2020 12:19 PM
James O'Keefe, the undercover "journalist" who keeps running absolute garbage hidden-camera "sting operations," is working on a great big project to help Donald Trump win reelection this year by delegitimizing absentee voting, The New Republic reports. His "Project Veritas" (Latin for I Project Venereally) is running operations in several states this year aimed at supporting Donald Trump's bullshit contention that mail-in voting is unspeakably fraudulent. That way, if Trump somehow loses this election in which he is overwhelmingly popular and everyone loves him, there'll be an explanation, not to mention fuel for years of additional fundraising by the loony Right.
Based on a trove of internal Project Vanitas documents and chats with several past and present insiders at O'Keefe's little ratfucking mill, the article, by Wonkette alumnus Matthew Phelan and Wonkette not-alumnus Jesse Hicks, gets the obvious out of the way: James O'Keefe has no fucking credibility and Project Verminshit seldom turns up anything more incriminating than liberals saying liberal opinions out loud. (See?! BIAS!) Nonetheless, the dipshit and his crew of fellow dipshits keep attracting big donations from big GOP donors, and that puts O'Keefe
at the vanguard of a larger underhanded approach that Republicans, starting at the very top, are taking to the 2020 cycle. If they want to win, they really have no other choice but to undermine the vote: Trump's poll numbers are in the basement, and he appears constitutionally incapable of making appeals beyond his hardcore supporters on the right.
Project Vomitus may be inept peddlers of dishonest bullshit, but it sure makes lots of noise. And in that, it's no different from what has become the GOP mainstream and the US government.
<p>The piece starts with the sad news that O'Keefe was fixing to get married this year, because we guess somebody finally wanted to get on his <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/james-okeefe-tries-to-get-cnn-reporter-onto-his-dildo-lube-boat" target="_blank">Dildo Lube Boat.</a> Everybody was gonna go! Or at least everybody was invited! Donald Trump Jr., Clarence Thomas, Sean Hannity, Michelle Malkin — you know, all the wedding guests you want to see get drunk on your dance floor and go home with each other. But then the pandemic happened and the wedding was put off and we guess she didn't get in the Dildo Lube Boat after all :( sadface. Phelan and Hicks note that</p><blockquote>Although O'Keefe himself declined to comment on this and many other details for this story, a well-placed frenemy is "90 percent sure they broke up."</blockquote><p>O'Keefe, you'll recall, has managed exactly one significant undercover "sting," in which he <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/opinion/21pubed.html" target="_blank">destroyed the community organizing outfit ACORN</a> through the magic of a deceptively edited video that purported to show workers for the group giving advice on how to cover up prostitution and avoid taxes. (Formal investigations by state authorities in New York and California later <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2010/US/09/29/okeefe.cnn.prank/index.html" target="_blank">cleared the organization</a> of wrongdoing, but it had gone belly-up by then.) It was Phelan, writing for Wonkette, who broke the news that <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/wonket-sexclusive-totally-blameless-crime-stopper-james-okeefe-to-pay-100000-to-acorn-criminal" target="_blank">O'Keefe had paid $100,000 to settle with an ACORN worker</a> he had defamed. </p><p> Since then, O'Keefe has managed to become a big player in rightwing media by hyping big "investigations" that never really expose much of anything but his own incompetence, like the time he <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/james-okeefes-shoddy-george-soros-spywork-even-lamer-than-wed-imagined" target="_blank">blew his own George Soros sting by forgetting to hang up</a> after leaving a fake message on an answering machine, or his bizarre attempt to l<a href="https://www.wonkette.com/james-okeefe-tries-to-get-cnn-reporter-onto-his-dildo-lube-boat" target="_blank">ure a CNN reporter onto his dildo lube boat.</a> </p><p>To help prove that voting by mail is fraudulent and bad, we learn, </p><blockquote>For well over a year, Project Veritas has been secretly producing undercover stings designed to undermine the integrity of absentee and mail-in ballot counts—an endeavor codenamed "Diamond Dog," according to documents we have obtained. Diamond Dog began as only one facet of Project Veritas's 2020 rat-fucking strategy, but with the onset of the pandemic, which has made in-person voting a dicey proposition, it has since become one of the group's top-line action items.</blockquote><p>That project fits smoothly with <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/trump-let-minorities-eat-coronavirus-if-they-want-to-vote-so-bad" target="_blank">Trump's lies</a> about <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/trump-let-minorities-eat-coronavirus-if-they-want-to-vote-so-bad" target="_blank">mail-in voting</a> and<a href="https://www.wonkette.com/bill-barr-got-dirty-yesterday" target="_blank"> Bill Barr's lies</a> about mail-in voting, along with Trump <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/breaking-sh-tmouthed-authoritarian-wannabe-does-sh-tmouthed-authoritarian-wannabe-thing" target="_blank">#JustAsking if we should maybe delay the election.</a> Add in the fact that Trump put a man with <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/tabs-fri-july-31-2020" target="_blank">seventy million conflicts of interest in as the head of the US Postal Service,</a> which is already<a href="https://www.wonkette.com/postal-service-suddenly-delaying-deliveries-months-before-election-what-could-it-mean" target="_blank"> creating MASSIVE mail backlogs, </a>and you have a recipe for Trump to whine from now until Inauguration Day that the election was #RIGGED.</p><p>A sourced that's "close to" Project VeinousSocks <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/158622/inside-project-veritas-plan-steal-election" target="_blank">said </a>the entire point of Diamond Dog is "literally to get Trump reelected." One pitch from the group, to a donor codenamed "Dr. Bob," teased efforts to uncover nefarious practices such as "illegal aliens voting," mail-in ballot tampering at "nursing homes," and "the sale of absentee ballots and voter profiles on the 'Dark Web.'" Not that any such things are actually going on, but those are definitely things O'Keefe and his ham-handed operatives would like to look for, and maybe even find a low-level campaign volunteer agreeing might be neat to do if they weren't illegal. Even better, some college student volunteer might not even know it's illegal, and agree they'd be up to help.<br></p><p>And of course, there's the classic O'Keefian method of trying to make legal stuff <em>look </em>shady: </p><blockquote>In California and Texas, Project Veritas has tasked its operatives with unearthing supposed evidence of widespread mail-in ballot forgery. In both states, Project Veritas has worked to infiltrate the groups of volunteers and paid canvassers who collect absentee and mail-in voter applications from low-income, elderly, and minority groups—a perfectly legal practice in most states that conservatives have tried to label as nefarious "ballot harvesting."</blockquote><blockquote></blockquote><p>While the allegations of "voter fraud" pursued by Project Weenus haven't turned up any massive schemes, the penny-ante irregularities they <em>do </em>find really whip up true believers' certainty that voter fraud is everywhere, like the case of Rosa Maria Ortega, a Mexican citizen who Attorney General Ken Paxton sent to prison for eight years because she wrongly thought her Green Card enabled her to vote in Texas. She voted in several elections, supporting Mitt Romney in 2012 and some asshole named Ken Paxton for Texas attorney general in 2014. </p><p>Anything that helps make it look like there's rampant "voter fraud" gets The Base excited, like a recent <a href="https://apnews.com/fbcec393dc652a9ccdb2cc8aacb15895" target="_blank">AP story</a> about a Georgia family that received an application to register to vote for their pet cat, which has been dead for over a decade. The family didn't try to register the cat to vote, and it looks like some third-party group probably sent the application after getting a bad mailing list, but you can see troll accounts all over Twitter saying a dead cat <a href="https://twitter.com/_FatAdvice/status/1290622941336567808" target="_blank">received a "ballot,"</a> or that the cat actually <a href="https://twitter.com/LazyyReader/status/1289393018584182786" target="_blank">registered to vote.</a></p><p><em>The New Republic</em> notes multiple examples of O'Keefe's bullshit being cited by Republicans who have pushed through voting restrictions, and even when there's no real evidence of fraud, that's all Trump needs to find support for his bullshit, like his effort to slow down the mail (see what a mess the Post Office is?), his threat to sue Nevada over<a href="https://www.wonkette.com/nevada-legalizes-safe-voting-so-trump-ragetweets-gop-into-another-pointless-lawsuit" target="_blank"> sending absentee ballots to all active voters,</a> and the administration's active lawsuit to <a href="https://www.pennlive.com/news/2020/06/trump-campaign-sues-pa-over-mail-in-drop-off-sites-for-ballots.html" target="_blank">prevent Pennsylvania officials from using curbside drop boxes </a>to collect absentee ballots, because somehow that's illegal "ballot harvesting" (it isn't). </p><p>There's a lot of money going into all this, from all sorts of big donors, and it's doing active harm. The piece reminds us that</p><blockquote>If you strain to look beyond the lonely partisan kitsch of James O'Keefe's bungled scams and harebrained hoaxes, it's plain to see the march of a whole battalion of Diamond Dog operatives and lawyers turned loose on the integrity of the ballot in key battleground states.</blockquote><p>Ninety days to the election, and this shit is going to be everywhere. And for some reason, I have Bowie's "Blue Jean" stuck in my head, not that other one. </p><p><strong>Update: </strong>Matthew Phelan DM'd me to note that the story was also helped along by invaluable research by Wonkette Alumna <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/u/matthew_phelan_and_liz_farkas" target="_blank">Liz Farkas,</a> and that there will be more Project Venality ratfucking stories to come. <em></em></p><p><em>[Author's Note: Thanks to Evan for notes and help! The funniest parts are his — Dok]</em></p><p><em><br></em></p><p> [<a href="https://slack-redir.net/link?url=https%3A%2F%2Fnewrepublic.com%2Farticle%2F158622%2Finside-project-veritas-plan-steal-election" target="_blank">TNR </a>/ <a href="https://slack-redir.net/link?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2010%2F03%2F21%2Fopinion%2F21pubed.html" target="_blank">NYT </a>/ <a href="https://slack-redir.net/link?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2010%2FUS%2F09%2F29%2Fokeefe.cnn.prank%2Findex.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> / <a href="https://slack-redir.net/link?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapnews.com%2Ffbcec393dc652a9ccdb2cc8aacb15895" target="_blank">AP</a> /<a href="https://www.pennlive.com/news/2020/06/trump-campaign-sues-pa-over-mail-in-drop-off-sites-for-ballots.html" target="_blank">PennLive</a>] </p><p><strong>Wonkette is fully funded by readers like YOU. If you love Wonkette, WE NEED YOUR LOVE GIFTS TO KEEP US GOING.</strong><br></p><p></p><p><a href="https://amzn.to/33mKzZe" target="_blank">Do your Amazon shopping through this link, because reasons</a>.</p><p></p><p></p><form name="donation" method="post" class="donation-form"><p class="subheadline">How often would you like to donate?</p><div class="form-row row--plan"><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="once" class="plan-type" required="" checked> Just once
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Elections
Nevada Legalizes Safe Voting, So Trump Ragetweets GOP Into Another Pointless Lawsuit
It's a bold strategy, Cotton!
August 03, 2020 11:23 AM
He's saying the quiet part out loud again.
President Donald Trump has once again taken to Twitter to admit that his entire reelection strategy rests on making sure Americans can't vote.
In an illegal late night coup, Nevada’s clubhouse Governor made it impossible for Republicans to win the state. Pos… https://t.co/5R3OTc5hZq— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump)1596454645.0
And by "in force," the RNC Chair means a whole 19 people showed up to protest when the legislature met to pass a law making it safe to vote during a pandemic. And while we're on the subject, WTF is a "clubhouse governor?"
<p>On Friday, the Nevada Assembly <a href="https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/bill-expanding-mail-in-voting-during-times-of-emergencies-passes-assembly-on-party-lines?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=rop" target="_blank">passed</a> a bill on party lines, 29-12, to send mail-in ballots to every registered voter in the state and keep polling places open for early and in-person voting this November. The legislation also allows for non-family members to collect and deliver completed ballots to county elections supervisors, which the GOP has labeled <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/05/26/what-is-ballot-harvesting-why-is-trump-so-against-it/" target="_blank">"ballot harvesting"</a> and is working overtime to convince Americans is rife with fraud. <a href="https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/may/29/what-ballot-harvesting-and-why-trump-tweeting-abou/" target="_blank">It isn't</a> — the Heritage Foundation found a whopping <a href="https://www.heritage.org/voterfraud/search?combine=&state=All&year=&case_type=24487&fraud_type=24489&page=9" target="_blank">107 cases</a> of misuse of third-party ballot collection dating back to 1988. </p><p>Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah and Washington routinely send every registered voter a mail-in ballot, but Republicans have convinced themselves they can't win if people actually vote. This <a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/there-is-no-evidence-that-voting-by-mail-gives-one-party-an-advantage/" target="_blank">may or may not</a> be the case, but the GOP certainly accepts it as true and has been shouting from the rooftops about the dangers of mailing ballots to all voters.</p><p>In March, <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/breaking-sh-tmouthed-authoritarian-wannabe-does-sh-tmouthed-authoritarian-wannabe-thing" target="_blank">Trump objected</a> to Nancy Pelosi's ballot access proposals, telling his pals on Fox's "Wake Up, Grandpa, It's Time To Be Very Afraid!" morning show, "They had levels of voting, that if you ever agreed to it you'd never have a Republican elected in this country again." And just last week he was blarping out nonsense about it again, while suggesting the election would have to be delayed.</p><div id="57628" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7bdb07540878ba6ee4b867f68c385674"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1288818160389558273" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT E… https://t.co/VcSCg7IPwj</div> — Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump)<a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/statuses/1288818160389558273">1596113169.0</a></blockquote></div><p>Hmmmm, needs citation. Also, fuck off, we're not postponing the election.</p><p>On Sunday, the Nevada Senate passed the bill 13-8, again on party lines. Democratic Governor Steve Sisolak has indicated he plans to sign it shortly. You don't need "Schoolhouse Rock" to tell you that's not a "late night coup." It's how a bill becomes a law. <br></p><p>Nevertheless, Sisolak's 2018 GOP opponent, former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, <a href="https://twitter.com/AdamLaxalt/status/1289416556171034628?s=20" target="_blank">tweeted</a> late Friday night that "Gov. Sisolak and the NV Dems called a special session with no public present and inside 24 hours are ramming through mail-in balloting and ballot harvesting. They are massively altering our election 97 days out entirely without the SecState. They are working to steal our election." </p><p>Forget the lie about ramming through legislation in 24 hours — yes, the bill was brought to the floor at the last minute, but it passed in three days during a special session in which several bills were under consideration. And forget that multiple reporters <a href="https://twitter.com/MichelleRindels" target="_blank">live-tweeted</a> the hearing, so it obviously wasn't a secret. </p><p>Literally the only person who has ever <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/russia-if-youre-listening" target="_blank">suggested</a> Nevada was seriously in play this cycle is that dipshit Brad Parscale, which is why <a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/nevada/" target="_blank">no one even bothers</a> to poll the state. Nevada was always purple, but in the past five years, it has elected two Democratic senators, a Democratic governor, flipped both houses of the legislature blue, and voted for Hillary Clinton by a five-point margin. And that was before the coronavirus pandemic.</p><p>Democrats don't have to "steal" this election in Nevada, because they were going to win it anyway. The only thing this law accomplishes is to allow Nevada voters to cast their ballots safely, and the GOP can't allow that. Particularly since Laxalt managed to spin the old man up, and now the RNC has to take time away from trying to cobble together a convention, after the old man got spun up and burned their plans to the ground, to file some bullshit lawsuit against the state of Nevada. On what grounds will said lawsuit be filed? Not clear! They'll probably have to come up with something better than "Post Office could never handle the Traffic of Mail-In Votes without preparation," but it's the GOP, so who the hell even knows.</p><p>[<a href="https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/nevada-senate-votes-on-party-lines-for-bill-expanding-mail-in-voting-during-times-of-emergency?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=rop" target="_blank">NV Independent</a>]</p><p><strong>Follow Liz Dye on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/5DollarFeminist" target="_blank">RIGHT HERE!</a></strong><br></p><p><strong>Please click here to support your Wonkette. And if you're ordering your quarantine goods on Amazon, <a href="https://amzn.to/2wbH77j" target="_blank">this is the link to do it.</a></strong></p><p></p><form name="donation" method="post" class="donation-form"><p class="subheadline">How often would you like to donate?</p><div class="form-row row--plan"><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="once" class="plan-type" required="" checked> Just once
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