LEE KRAMER'S ROOM: With Views

[jbsliverer]

Just a few noted emails from Democracy Docket this week, one can sign up for them and support Democracy Docket if desired. I support them for $120 yr, but I believe one can do a monthly or one time thing also. Membership support gets more goodies, but free gets quite a bit and one can always bookmark their webpage and follow on social media. For all the news about the egregious, anti democratic, massive and constant abusive republicans lawfare wars across the country, cheating and corruption against the rights of the American people, one can follow;

https://x.com/DemocracyDocket
https://www.democracydocket.com/

Lawfare is the use of legal systems and institutions to damage or delegitimize an opponent, or to deter an individual's usage of their legal rights. The term may refer to the use of legal systems and principles against an enemy, such as by damaging or delegitimizing them, wasting their time and money (e.g., strategic lawsuits against public participation), or winning a public relations victory. Alternatively, it may describe a tactic used by repressive regimes to label and discourage civil society or individuals from claiming their legal rights via national or international legal systems. This is especially common in situations when individuals and civil society use nonviolent methods to highlight or oppose discrimination, corruption, lack of democracy, limiting freedom of speech, violations of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawfare

By using the tax payers court system and corrupting judges, they are treating the American people as their enemies making Criminal trump and his republicans the true enemy of America and should be treated as such. I guarantee there will be a coup attempt, maybe successful, being planned and instigated now by criminal trump and his republicans for this election. That's the ONLY goal they have and the ONLY actions they are taking now. J6 was only a trial run, they have been continuously since then critiquing and improving on their plans to take over our government and have unchecked and abusive power over us and destruction of the American way and all rights that have been fought and died over to get.


Sat 7/13/24
Once again, this week was dominated by two big political stories. On the one hand, the media continued its relentless focus on President Joe Biden’s debate performance, while largely ignoring the unhinged ramblings of Donald Trump. On the other, Project 2025 took center stage as more and more people realized it as a dangerous blueprint for a future Trump regime.


Yet, for people reading deeper into the news, there were lots of warning signs that the GOP continues to build a massive voter suppression and election subversion war machine to undermine the November elections. There were also amazing signs of hope in various court victories for voters around the country.


This duality, the very bad plans Republicans have for the country and the very good work so many are doing to protect it remains the dominant, yet under reported, theme of this year.


Here are the stories you should have read this week, but probably missed in all of the other clutter.

The Very Bad

Trump allies at Heritage declare 2024 election illegitimate in advance
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/11/heritage-foundation-election-war-game/?
A “war game” presented at the right-wing foundation imagined far-fetched scenarios for election interference to justify preemptive measures.

The same people behind Project 2025 have already declared the November election results illegitimate before the first vote. Their goal is to create a permission structure to refuse to certify the results.


Washoe County Won’t Certify Primary Election Results, Nevada Secretary of State Seeks Court Order
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/washoe-county-wont-certify-primary-election-results-nevada-secretary-of-state-seeks-court-order/?
Right on cue, Republicans in Washoe County, Nevada refused to certify the results of two local elections. As Democracy Docket reports, they have already been sued.

Experts: Georgia GOP officials lay groundwork to "obstruct" and "subvert" election certification
https://www.salon.com/2024/07/12/experts-georgia-officials-lay-groundwork-to-obstruct-and-subvert-certification/?

In Georgia, Republicans are promoting a new rule that would allow election denier election officials to refuse to certify results.


The RNC’s 2024 Platform Escalates Attack on Voting Rights
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/the-rncs-2024-platform-escalates-attack-on-voting-rights/?

The Republican National Committee continues to attack voting rights; this time in the party’s bizarre platform.

The Very Good

Absentee Ballots Won’t Be Thrown Out for Witness Address Variations, Wisconsin Court of Appeals Rules
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/absentee-ballots-wont-be-thrown-out-for-witness-address-variations-wisconsin-court-of-appeals-rules/?

Pro-voting groups scored another big victory for absentee voting in Wisconsin. Two weeks ago, the state Supreme Court restored ballot drop boxes. This week, an appeals court rejected GOP efforts to toss ballots based on incomplete witness address certifications.


Utah Supreme Court Reinstates Challenge to Repeal of Anti-Gerrymandering Initiative

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/utah-supreme-court-reinstates-challenge-to-repeal-of-anti-gerrymandering-initiative/?

A very big victory in the Utah Supreme Court means a case challenging the state’s congressional map will continue.


7/12/2024

Wisconsin’s highest court reverses statewide prohibition on secure drop boxes. Republicans’ official party agenda spells trouble for voting rights. And, former President Donald Trump tries to distance himself from Project 2025 as the extreme right-wing agenda hits the mainstream.


Wisconsin’s highest court reinstates drop boxes after 2022 ban
In one of Wisconsin’s most closely-watched election cases, the state’s highest court reversed a broad prohibition on secure ballot drop boxes ahead of the 2024 election.


The decision from the majority-liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned a 2022 decision from the court’s then-conservative majority that banned the use of secure drop boxes statewide. The case stems from a lawsuit filed by Priorities USA, the Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans and an individual voter who challenged the state’s drop box ban.


It remains to be seen whether Wisconsin Republicans will capitalize on the decision. In March, Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Brian Schimming told NBC News it would be “malpractice” to not educate GOP voters on drop boxes if they want to use them. “It doesn’t mean we have to like them,” he said.


The response may become clearer next week, when Republicans in Wisconsin and beyond gather in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention (RNC).


Speaking to Democracy Docket last month, Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) Chair Ann Jacobs said the prohibition had the biggest impact on rural areas, “which in Wisconsin also coincides with the redder areas.” WEC convened Thursday to discuss how to best advise clerks on using drop boxes. Read more about the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision and what a top Wisconsin elections official said about drop boxes.


In another win for Wisconsin voters, the state appeals court mostly affirmed a lower court ruling that will likely reduce the rejection rate of absentee ballots in the state’s primary and general elections. Read more on that decision here.

Republicans’ national agenda takes aim at voting rights

As the RNC approaches, the party’s official agenda became public this week. Democracy Docket’s Matt Cohen details what the plan unsurprisingly entails for voting rights and elections.

The GOP plans to “implement measures to secure our Elections,” according to Republicans’ official platform, which also mentions voter ID laws, a return to paper ballots, proof of citizenship and same-day voting as a number of key voting issues for the party.

It’s almost identical, Cohen notes, to the language on election integrity in the party’s 2016 platform — the same platform Trump ran and lost on in 2020.

“Trump, the RNC and other various right-wing entities and organizations have amplified their assault on voting in the current election cycle,” Cohen writes, “with dozens of lawsuits filed in the past couple of years targeting various aspects of voting in America.” Read more about the RNC’s agenda. https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/the-rncs-2024-platform-escalates-attack-on-voting-rights/?

What is Project 2025 and why is everyone talking about it?

“Google Project 2025,” said President Joe Biden’s X account this week. The far-right policy agenda has featured prominently in the news lately as more people are made aware. While hosting the annual BET Awards last week, actress Taraji P. Henson warned viewers that voting for former President Donald Trump is tantamount to voting for Project 2025.

But what is Project 2025? Cohen explains that it’s a “collection of policy transition proposals that outline how, should Trump win the November election, he can vastly remake the federal government most effectively to carry out an extremist far-right agenda.”

Despite trying to distance himself from the plan, Trump is arguably the centerpiece. “Numerous former Trump administration officials contributed to the nearly 1,000-page mandate, including former Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, former Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli and Peter Navarro, a former top trade advisor to Trump.”

“Trump also has deep ties to The Heritage Foundation, the group behind Project 2025, and the dozens of conservative organizations who contributed to the plan.” Read more about it here. https://www.democracydocket.com/analysis/what-is-project-2025-and-why-is-it-alarming/?

OPINION: How the Supreme Court Bolstered Project 2025

While we’re on the topic of Project 2025, Marc Elias details how multiple decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court, such as the presidential immunity ruling, could help bring Project 2025 to pass.

“Project 2025 advances an extreme MAGA agenda that is fiercely isolationist, xenophobic and disdainful of democratic norms,” Elias writes. “It demonizes intellectuals, dismisses experts and idolizes charismatic strongmen.” Read more here. https://www.democracydocket.com/opinion/how-the-supreme-court-bolstered-project-2025/?

What We’re Doing

As Republicans mount a nationwide campaign against noncitizen voting, which is already illegal in federal elections, Democracy Docket writer Courtney Cohn unpacks some troubling myths about the issue, such as the baseless claim that large numbers of noncitizens are voting.

Perhaps most importantly, she explains that the proof-of-citizenship requirements Republicans are pushing can end up stopping eligible voters who don’t have easy access to citizenship documents — like passports and birth certificates — from voting. “That’s the most dangerous part for democracy.” Learn more about what’s true and false about noncitizen voting and how the issue is playing out locally.
https://www.democracydocket.com/analysis/debunking-the-myths-surrounding-noncitizen-voting/?
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/tennessee-proof-of-citizenship-letters-spark-alarm-confusion-among-naturalized-citizens/?

Everything is bigger in Texas — including voter suppression. Former Congressman Beto O'Rourke discusses the fight for voting rights in the Lone Star State and how people can help. Watch on YouTube here.



On Tuesday, July 23 at 7 p.m. ET, join Marc and the Democracy Docket team for a virtual Q&A and ask Marc your burning questions about the state of voting rights in real time.


Deep dive into the anti-democracy agenda of Project 2025

It’s no secret that Project 2025 would fundamentally alter just about every aspect of American life. Among the 900+ pages of the conservative playbook are frightening proposals that would transform the state of elections, voting rights and democracy.

Under Project 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice will be used as a tool of the president “as an enforcer of an anti-democracy, anti-freedom, anti-people agenda,” according to Skye Perryman, the president and CEO of Democracy Forward. Read more here.


Georgia secretary of state seeks to scrub noncitizens from voter rolls

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) announced that he is auditing the state's voter rolls for “potential” noncitizens who are registered using a combination of data from state and federal agencies.


He’s conducting this audit despite finding zero noncitizens registered to vote in Georgia in a similar audit in 2022.


Kari Lake still won’t accept that she lost in 2022

Failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake (R) asked the Arizona Supreme Court, once again, for a do-over of her 2022 race. Lake’s request for a new election has previously been rejected six times.

Trial begins next week in Colorado voter intimidation case

The trial starts Monday in Colorado against a right-wing group that went door-to-door, sometimes armed, questioning voters. Civil rights organizations claim the group illegally intimidated voters, violating the Voting Rights Act and Ku Klux Klan Act.


New Defending Democracy podcast episode out now

Everything is bigger in Texas — including voter suppression. In a new episode of Defending Democracy, former Congressman Beto O'Rourke discusses the fight for voting rights in the Lone Star State and how people can help.


“That is the playbook today from the Republican Party in the state of Texas. They’re no longer trying to win over significant parts of the state. They’re literally trying to shut the door on them to prevent them from participating in our elections,” O’Rourke said.


Tuesday, July 9

Republicans push false narratives about noncitizen voting ahead of 2024 election

The GOP wants proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections. They claim it's to prevent noncitizens from voting — which is already illegal and rare — but the proposal would suppress eligible voters who don't have access to citizenship documents, like passports and birth certificates. Read more here.
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/house-gop-advances-nationwide-proof-of-citizenship-and-d-c-noncitizen-voting-bills/?

The U.S. House is expected to vote on a bill this week that requires proof of U.S. citizenship in order to register to vote in federal elections. Learn more about the SAVE Act here.

RNC continues to attack Arizona’s election procedures

The Republican National Committee (RNC) appealed the dismissal of its lawsuit that sought to block part of Arizona's Election Procedures Manual relating to proof of citizenship for mail-in voting and more.

Michigan and New Hampshire governors deliver wins for voters

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed bills into law to prohibit election recounts from being conducted for races with a wide-margin victory where a recount will not affect the results or due to allegations of voter fraud.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) signed a bill into law to require accessible voting machines for voters with disabilities during local elections, expanding a state law mandating accessible voting systems for state and federal elections.


Updates on election cases in Mississippi and New Jersey

A Mississippi court held a hearing today in a lawsuit challenging the state's mail-in ballot receipt deadline. The RNC and Mississippi GOP want to shorten the window the state can receive and accept mail-in ballots.

A hearing was held in New Jersey today in a challenge to Loch Arbour's May municipal election results. The plaintiffs allege there was fraudulent voter registration in the election and ask for a new election to be conducted.




Again, these are only a few email notices from the past week, republicans are in an unprecedented nationwide and constant traitorous attack against the United States and conspiring against it's people. Criminal demented trump and his republicans have partnered with Putin and other dictators, controlled the media, wage abusive and costly lawfare, corrupt and disinformation (outright lying) tactics, and positively planning and working towards a coup for their power takeover. Very real, factually they show their corruption and anti democracy every day of every week of every month in their actions and words.


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