US Politics Thread 2021-24

[August]

Ballot Cleansing: Democrats are Moving to Bar Republicans from Ballots Nationwide


As the decisions disqualifying former President Donald Trump from the 2024 election work their way through the courts, a new filing in Pennsylvania seeks the same “ballot cleansing” by barring Repubfenablican Rep. Scott Perry.
It’s only the latest effort targeting congressional candidates as Democrats seek to bar opponents as “insurrectionists” for questioning the election of President Biden.
We have become a nation of Madame Defarges — eagerly knitting names of those to be subject to arbitrary justice.
Former congressional candidate Gene Stilp, who’s previously made headlines by burning MAGA flags with swastikas outside courthouses, filed the challenge.
Using the 14th Amendment to disqualify candidates like Perry is consistent with Stilp’s signature flag-burning stunts.
But what’s chilling is how many support such efforts, including Democratic officeholders from Maine’s Secretary of State to dozens of members of Congress.
Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) sought to bar 126 members of Congress under the same theory for challenging the election before Jan. 6, 2021.
Similar legislation from Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) to disqualify members got 63 co-sponsors, all Democrats, including New York Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jamaal Bowman and Ritchie Torres and “Squad” members Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.
When Maine’s secretary of state disqualified Trump, three in the state’s congressional delegation — Sens. Angus King (I) and Susan Collins (R) and Rep. Jared Golden (D) — condemned the decision. But others supported the antidemocratic action.
The grounds were virtually identical to those of Stilp. He accuses Perry of supporting challenges to Biden’s election and opposing its certification.
Of course, he ignores Democratic members who sought to block certification of Republican presidents under the very same law with no factual or legal basis.

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) praised the effort then-Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) organized to challenge the certification of President George W. Bush’s 2004 re-election.
Jan. 6 committee head Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) voted to challenge it in the House.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) sought to block certification of the 2016 election result — particularly ironic since he’s a leading voice calling for Trump to be disqualified.
He insisted last week on CNN that the effort to prevent citizens from voting for Trump is the very embodiment of democracy: “If you think about it, of all of the forms of disqualification that we have, the one that disqualifies people for engaging in insurrection is the most democratic because it’s the one where people choose themselves to be disqualified.”
That is akin to treating every criminal charge as a consensual act of incarceration because the accused chose his path in life.
This is also being played out in state races.
The filing against Perry came the same day Pennsylvania Democratic state Sen. Art Haywood made public a complaint to the Senate Ethics Committee against his Republican colleague Doug Mastriano accusing him of playing a role in the plot to overturn the election.
Notably, in his effort to “hold insurrectionists accountable,” Haywood admitted he relied on the same evidence from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington that was used in the Colorado case.
“Insurrectionist” is the newest label to excuse any abuse.
During the McCarthy period, individuals were accused of being Communists or “fellow travelers.”
Now you have Stilp accusing Perry of being “supportive of insurrectionists.”
Democrats and pundits have claimed civil libertarians and journalists who have testified against the government’s growing censorship efforts are enablers of insurrectionists and even “Putin lovers.”
These Democratic members and activists vividly demonstrated the dangerous implications of this unfounded theory.
Figures like Stilp are wrong on the law but right about one thing: There are few real limits once you embrace this theory.
If the challenges work, there is no reason they can’t be used unilaterally against any candidate (and without any criminal charges, let alone convictions).
It is instantly both self-executing and self-satisfying. It would put the world’s most successful democracy on a slippery slope to political chaos.
That is why the Supreme Court needs to take up this issue and put this pernicious theory to bed once and for all.
Until the court rejects this antidemocratic ploy, activists eager to win elections through the courts will keep using it, and it will metastasize throughout our body politic.
With the support of elected officials across the country, they can then join Stilp in moving from burning flags to torching the Constitution in a fit of exhilarating rage.

https://jonathanturley.org/2024/01/0...ts-nationwide/

[mapuc]

I didn't expect this avalanche to start so quickly I would have expected it to start after your Supreme Court has given green light or red light.

What are they afraid of ?? Since they remove these Rep(Trump) from the ballot

Markus

[August]

Originally Posted by mapuc

I didn't expect this avalanche to start so quickly I would have expected it to start after your Supreme Court has given green light or red light.

What are they afraid of ?? Since they remove these Rep(Trump) from the ballot

Markus

It's not about just Trump anymore Markus. The Democrats are pushing for complete one party rule.

[mapuc]

Originally Posted by August

It's not about just Trump anymore Markus. The Democrats are pushing for complete one party rule.

Relax Dave, if not the State court in Colorado put an end to this charade then your Supreme Court will.

Why are they, the Dems, so afraid for some competition ?

Sorry! Do not dare to think what would happen in the political arena if Supreme Court gives the green light(Using the 14th Amendment, sect. 3)

Edit
Through a Danish article I found this English article

Of note: The Colorado Republican Party urged the Supreme Court in a December petition to overturn the Colorado ruling and allow Trump's name to appear on the ballot, arguing that the Colorado Supreme Court's decision had "irreparably harmed" the Republican party.

https://www.axios.com/2024/01/05/tru...14th-amendment
End edit

Markus

[em2nought]

Happy Insurrection Day! https://babylonbee.com/news/10-great...ry-6-this-year

[Otto Harkaman]

[Skybird]

[Frankfurter Rundschau] According to the survey, just under eleven percent of respondents believe that there is "solid evidence" that FBI agents organized and sponsored the attack on 6 January. A further 13 percent of respondents would only "suspect" FBI involvement in the storming of the Capitol. Overall, almost a quarter of respondents believe that the FBI was involved.
This narrative is particularly widespread among supporters of the Republican Party. 34 percent of Republicans stated that such claims were "definitely" or "probably" true. 44 percent of people who voted for Trump in the last election said that the FBI helped instigate the attack. Among Democratic supporters, the figure was only 13 percent.

[em2nought]

Looks like George Soros has had a little plastic surgery.

[Buddahaid]

New congressional report about Trumps record of foreign money accepted while in office.

https://oversightdemocrats.house.gov...s%20Report.pdf

[Buddahaid]

Here’s a letter from Congress urging Justice Thomas to recuse himself from any decisions involving Trump due to his wife’s financial involvement with Trump.
https://www.documentcloud.org/docume...e-thomas-final

[August]

Originally Posted by Buddahaid

Here’s a letter from Congress urging Justice Thomas to recuse himself from any decisions involving Trump due to his wife’s financial involvement with Trump.
https://www.documentcloud.org/docume...e-thomas-final

"Congress" as in just eight partisan Democrats led by Hank Johnson who thinks the island of Guam will capsize if they put too many troops on it.

[mapuc]

There is only two things which are on my mind when it comes to US-Politics

1. 9th Jan
and
2. 8th Feb.

Markus

[Buddahaid]

Originally Posted by August

"Congress" as in just eight partisan Democrats led by Hank Johnson who thinks the island of Guam will capsize if they put too many troops on it.

Which means very little since it's what's stated in the letter that counts.

Here's the Government's opposition to Trump's motion for cause in the DC case.
https://www.documentcloud.org/docume...ntemptresponse

[August]

Originally Posted by Buddahaid

Which means very little since it's what's stated in the letter that counts.

Here's the Government's opposition to Trump's motion for cause in the DC case.
https://www.documentcloud.org/docume...ntemptresponse

The letter means very little coming from just a handful of partisan Democrats who don't have any constitutional authority to demand what they are demanding.

[Buddahaid]

Originally Posted by August

The letter means very little coming from just a handful of partisan Democrats who don't have any constitutional authority to demand what they are demanding.

Correct, so it wouldn't matter if the entire Congress signed it. The content remains as valid as ever.