Fake Audit Update: The Blight On Beautiful Arizona May Be Coming To An End

             Arizona is a beautiful state.

Anyone who has ever visited the majestic Grand Canyon National Park will attest to that. The state's geography features a fantastic diversity of landscapes and areas of geological interest.

I use to go to the annual Gem and Mineral Show in Quartzsite where exhibits for rocks and gems, mineral specimens and fossils could be found.

Lately, I've been embarrassed for Arizonians who have had to stand by and watch a fake election audit (more like a fundraiser) while the rest of the world laughs.

It's an unearned blight on the scenic state.

You may have heard about some of the conspiracy stories spurred on by members in the Arizona State Senate. The audit was getting so bad that stories were leaking out about Trump acolytes examining ballots to see if they were made out of bamboo... why?

Are you sitting? Because there might have been fake Chinese ballots printed on - what else? - bamboo paper.

State Republicans are are rightly mortified by the whole embarrassing fiasco and want it to stop.

They may be in luck. Turns out Cyber Ninja's (a woefully unqualified Florida outfit run by a fringe conspiracy theorist) hired by the Arizona state Senators, hired a contractor - Wake TSI who was running the day-to-day audit.

The company recently announced it no longer wants anything to do with the partisan debacle. 

That's going to create a problem for the die-hard conspirators doing their best to perpetuate the Big Lie for Trump.  

TSI told reporters it's original contract ended May 14th, and the last thing they wanted to do was to stay involved with the farce.

Last week, the Republican-dominated Maricopa County Board of Supervisors urged the GOP-led state Senate to put a stop to the madness, calling the outlandish process a "spectacle that is harming all of us," adding "Our state has become a laughingstock."

No Arizona, your beautiful state has not become a laughingstock - it's only the idiots in it putting on a partisan charade to raise money - who are worth laughing at.

California Recall: Cox Incorporates Art of Circus Campaigning With Drugged Grizzly

The Republican minority in California was able to cobble up enough voters to qualify for a recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom recently.

One of the Republican candidates running against Newsom is John Cox, a circus performer politician whose been dragging around a drugged 1,000 pound grizzly bear on the campaign trail.

Pause.

Californians of a certain age may remember a famous used car huckster named Cal Worthington  who used to feature exotic animals in his TV commercials. It worked for Cal and he ran a very profitable business while becoming a California icon.

It's not clear who inspired Cox to feature a grizzly bear in his campaign, as he's never mentioned Cal.

I suspect Cox is trying to combine symbolism and a meme that will carry him to victory. Consider the following:

Cox has said he's "roaring through California gaining BEASTLY momentum" as "Newsom's top challenger."

The grizzly bear is a sideshow with the motto; "Big Beastly Changes to Save California." From what, is not clear.

Cox's three-ring circus includes a bear-themed bus with ringmaster Cox casting himself as a "Beast" to Newsom's "Beauty."

Apparently Cox's circus tour hit a snag and went to far while campaigning in Shelter Island and San Diego. 

Animal rights group Animal Protection and Rescue League, Inc. has filed a lawsuit against Cox and others, claiming they illegally "held events "with a captive, 1,000-pound bear who has been drugged and abused for the purpose."

Specifically, the lawsuit cites a San Diego Municipal Code provision which prohibits individuals from bringing "any lion, tiger, or bear" into the jurisdiction, "irrespective of their actual or asserted state of docility, tameness, or domesticity." 

Cox ran against Newsom once before, losing by three million votes. Perhaps he figured a more robust and entertaining campaign will carry him to a win this time.

It looks like he's is going to have to get rid of his star performer. That's all right. There's still plenty of clowns left in his campaign to run a two-ring circus.

America's Political Twilight Zone: 'You Are Now Entering Another Dimension'

"Your travelling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wonderous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead - your next stop, the Twilight Zone." The Twilight Zone

Some Americans have descended into a Twilight Zone where up is down, where lies are bountiful, and nothing is as it seems.

We're witnessing a tear in reality, suspicion of truth, and an all out assault on democracy daily.

One plus one no longer equals two in the Trump Zone, aka the Republican Party. Rationality is a causality of extreme partisanship that has seeped into Congress and across the land.

Politics has always been a dirty profession where truth can fall victim to conspiracies' and populists with no scruples.

But after four year's of Trump's depredations against our freedoms and the law of the land, we've entered into a regular series of Twilight Zone moments.

Trumpies in the zone have no shame and no concern for America's welfare. It's all about absolute power for one man seeking to become America's first king.

This new dimension under Trump is a reflection of racism, white supremacy, and the Big Lie. There are no limits or laws in the Political Twilight Zone.

Unfortunately Americans can't just change the channel and ignore the extremists trying to dismantle our Constitution. They are very real and a threat to democracy.

No rational American wants to enter this dimension where reality gives way to an authoritarian existence.

It's time we cancel this show and move on to the real world where there are consequences for lying and subverting justice.

Handbook on 'New' Republicans Released

After careful research, and encouragement in journalistic circles, I've agreed to share the "New Republican" Handbook.

First

You Know Your A New Republican If:

1. You believe Trump is still president.

2. The 2020 election was stolen

3. You don't believe in Climate Change

4. You don't believe woman should have control over their own bodies

5. You think Josh Hawley and Marjorie Taylor Greene are rising stars in the party

6. You think the EPA is your enemy

The Handbook (Condensed version)

A. Members must all agree on living in an alternate reality where Trump is the King of America

B. Never compromise with the libs or anyone else.

C. Never agree with scientists and proven science

D. All members must genuflect every time they see Trump, or a photo of him

E. Blatant lies are encouraged as long as they benefit the party

F. Members must hate the mainstream media

G. Conspiracy theories are encouraged

H. Party policy permits members to work with America's enemies in disinformation campaigns

I. Goals of the party run from continued racism to dividing the country using fear

-------------------------------------

The new handbook comes with lots of pictures because party members strive to be illiterate like their leader Trump.

Keep your eyes peeled as the right-wing media ramps up hate rallies with Trump pursuing the demise of democracy.

'Lost' White Evangelicals Adopting QAnon Conspiracy Theories

"Something disturbing has happened to white Evangelicals," Pastor David Rice told his congregation at Markey Church in Roscommon County one Sunday morning.

His parishioners in the rural region of 25,000 residents voted 2 to 1 for Trump.

But Pastor Rice wasn't worried about who his people voted for in politics. No. He was worried about something so sinister that it was perverting religions.

He was referring to QAnon theories that were infecting small churches across America.

Details emerging from investigations into hundreds of Capitol rioters have cast an unsettling light on the toxic roles that fringe religious beliefs and QAnon conspiracy theories are playing in this nation.

Pastor Rice's fears are matched by recent data.

The American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, reported in February that more than a quarter of white evangelicals believe in QAnon lies.

Apparently white evangelicals are the highest of any religious group to adopt QAnon as their new gospel.

Another poll from Nashville-based Lifeway Research, an arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, indicated that 49 percent of Protestant pastors often hear congregants repeating conspiracies' about national events.

The disturbing trends led a group of more than 500 influential evangelical pastors, thinkers and faith leaders to publish an open letter recently condemning "radicalized Christian nationalism" and "the rise of violent acts by radicalized extremists using the name of Christ."

It's important to note that the spread of disinformation isn't exclusive to religious groups and is widely seen as a scourge of the internet.

The damage that QAnon and other extremist voices from the pews is testing the power of the preacher against conspiracy theories and outright lies.

This battle for souls will continue to challenge rational people with the devil's advocates as long as they're given a voice.

The Republican Inquisition: Arizona AG On Crusade To 'Fix' Voting Laws

From 1478 to 1834 the Spanish Inquisition was established to combat heresy in Spain.

It was really just a method to consolidate power for the monarchy and church.

Inquisitor's traveled the country seeking out anyone who didn't support the Catholic Church and the monarchy.

Flash forward to the 21st Century in America.

Republican inquisitors are doing their best to destroy democracy and usher in an age that allows them to have complete control of state and federal government.

Like the Spanish inquisitor's, Republican operatives are going around to swing states to discredit their voting systems despite the fact that there was no fraud in any of them.

One of the leading inquisitors, Arizona Attorney general Mark Brnovich, is now on a crusade to discredit the 2020 election.

Brnovich took one case of ballot harvesting to the Supreme Court on his own. He admits no other state official joined him in his dubious effort to disrupt voting laws in Arizona.

Joining the Arizona State Senators who called for another audit of the 2020 election - a blatant scheme to sow discord among voters - Brnovich wrote an amicus brief supporting the Senate's attempt at creating chaos in the electoral system.

Like any good Trump zealot, Brnovich believes he's been divinely selected to carry Trump's message throughout the country.

"I really, honestly feel like I'm the right person at the right time to really push back against the results of the 2020 election. I've been preparing for this moment throughout my career," he gushed during a recent interview.

Inquisitor. Zealot. Trump minion. Brnovich is the man of the hour seeking to discredit democracy for a lower purpose - to create a fascist state.

Today's Not So Supreme Court Is Broken

Don't expect justice from the highest court in the land anymore. 

The once highly respected institution has become a weapon for right-wing Republicans.

It's no secret that six of the justices are conservative advocates opposing the other three liberal judges.

The court reeks of partisanship after three Trump judges were appointed during his corrupt administration.

We no longer hear how the justices respect each other's opinions, regardless of the case. There's a push from the right-wing side of the bench to question all past precedents that don't align with the current conservative court majority.

Justices are increasingly impugning their colleagues' motive and sincerity in a way that matches the current political climate.

The Supreme Court has officially entered an era where finger-pointing and personal accusations has become the new normal.

Despite that reality, the justices try to project a unified court where they all get along and believe each operates in good faith.

Alarmed by the current right-wing trend in her fellow jurists, Justice Sonia Sotomayor declared that a recent majority opinion authored by Justice Brett Kavanaugh was "fooling no one."

The pattern reveals more than internal squabbling. 

The public knows the court through its written opinions, and individual justices appear to be warning that some among them cannot be trusted to tell the truth or that they hold ulterior motives.

A survey, from the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center, found that more than half of Americans (57 percent) say that the Supreme Court can get too "mixed up in politics."

Needless to say the finding that half of Americans do not believe that Supreme Court justices set aside their personal beliefs in deciding cases is worrisome.

It also shows that justice is being perverted for political reasons, and our once proud institution is breaking away from its original mandate of "Justice for all."

The 'Big Lie' Is a Cash Cow For Extreme Republicans

Lying has never been so profitable in politics before.

(Photo of Christina Bobb - OAN reporter and co-founder of Voices and Votes)

By adopting the Big Lie, radical Republicans find themselves on a roll, filling their coffers with small money donations from Trumpies far and wide.

Perhaps the most blatant of these fundraisers is the so-called Arizona Audit conducted by the state senate.

To set the table here's what's happening:

**One American News, a far-right TV station has exclusive access to the shambolic audit because two of it's reporters are fundraising for the audit.

**One of those reporters Christina Bobb is the network's most visible correspondent covering the "audit." 

**The other reporter, Chanel Rion, OAN's White House correspondent, teamed up with Bobb and started a group called Voices and Votes.

**The group's website says that Voices and Votes is registered as a 501(C)(4) organization, meaning the donors will never be made public.

**The group is raising money for the company Cyber Ninjas, the firm running the audit and owned by a Trump supporter who believes the election was stolen.

**Reminder: This so-called audit is not an audit at all.

To put this all in perspective the Maricopa Country Board of Supervisors, which is majority Republicans, wrote a scathing letter to Arizona Senate President Karen Fann, calling the audit a threat to democracy and telling her to end it.

"The Arizona Senate is not acting in good faith, has no intention of learning anything about the November 2020 General Election, but is only interested in feeding the various festering conspiracy theories that fuel fundraising schemes of those pulling the strings. The result is the Arizona Senate is held up to ridicule in every corner of the globe and our democracy is imperiled," the board wrote.

There are many more examples of fundraising off the Big Lie. 

For example, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is bringing in bushels of cash promoting conspiracies' from Jewish Space Lasers causing California fires to the Big Lie.

Don't expect Republicans to change this corrupt fundraising tactic, because it's working.

Exposed: Nunes' Failed Attempt To Unmask a Critic With Help From Bill Barr

 

© Provided by Salon Bill Bar; Devin Nunes; Donald Trump

Rep. Devin Nunes is a traitor with thin skin.

He'll likely be remembered for one of the lamest political gambits in history - his infamous "Midnight Ride" to the White House.

What happened is Nunes heard a rumor that Obama was phone tapping Trump Tower. The rumor came from Trump himself.

The next day after his midnight ride to the White House to supposedly warn Trump, Nunes tweeted "Obama wire-tapped Trump Tower." 

In a strange press conference later in the day Nunes claimed he had to run to Trump to tell him about the reported phone breech because it was his duty.

As the House Intelligence Committee chairman he worked diligently to sabotage any meaningful investigations into Trump's corrupt dealings with Russia during the 2016 campaign.

Without any sign of remorse for his attempt to squash the investigation, he lied about having any knowledge of calls between Trump's advisor Michael Flynn and Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak.

On Nunes thin skin

There were plenty of detractors who saw Nunes as a corrupt lackey of the president. Some of Nunes critics spent time on Twitter, calling him out for being a traitorous asshole.

A couple of those Twitter media detractors   irritated Nunes so much he tried to sue them - and lost.

So he turned to Bill Barr to go after the identity of @NunesAlt. The DOJ even went as far as to get a grand jury subpoena - a unique power that requires no judge to sign off - to demand that Twitter turn over the person's name.

The reason the case didn't go anywhere was that after Barr left the new AG, Merrick Garland, withdrew the subpoena. 

Will there be repercussions for this blatant abuse of power? Not likely. His fellow Trumpies in Congress will cover his ass if an investigation is ever launched.

Nowadays Nunes is comparatively quiet, content to push the Big Lie and support his idol Trump.

The Biggest Threat To America Today

Russia is not the biggest threat America faces.

China is not the biggest threat to America.

Nor is North Korea.

Or Iran.

Or any other hostile nation.

The biggest threat to our very way of life, our democracy, is coming from one man...

Trump.

He's holding the Republican Party in thrall. So much so that eighty-percent believe in his Big Lie, and that Biden is not the current president.

It's a matter of reality, ideology, and an alternate universe clashing in the headlines every day.

No president has ever threatened our electoral system like Trump has, and is doing right now months after losing the 2020 election.

Rational Republicans are being canceled by radical Republicans who think Trump is some kind of god and deserves unswerving loyalty regardless of how much it hurts this country.

Far from accepting his loss, Trump continues to play his favorite hits: "They stole the election. Biden is not president, I am. Only I can save this country from becoming a communist nation. Blah, blah, blah."

Like a badger emerging from it's den, Trump is increasingly becoming more visible news wise.

His appearances thus far have been limited to interrupting his guests weddings at Mar-a-Lago and delivering an impromptu Stop the Steal rant.

That's going to change next month. Trump minions are hinting his highness will re-start his infamous rallies in mid to late June.

Conclusion.

Trump's efforts to attack our democracy are ramping up as his minions seek to suppress voters in the upcoming 2022 mid terms. 

Like termites they're eating away at the very foundations of our republic. Republican governors are signing voter suppression laws to ensure that the mid terms will be a lot harder to vote for democratic voters and independents.

In Trump's own words, "They're rigging the election."

A free and open election is the bedrock of our Constitution. We must always speak truth to the lies Trump tells. Democracy depends upon us all.

Removing Troops Worldwide: Trump's 11th Hour Attempt To Create Chaos

On November 9th, 2020, Trump tried to create havoc by issuing a secret order to withdraw troops from around the world. 

The effect would have hurt and angered our allies - especially in Germany. Congress would have exploded in partisan accusations creating chaos at home.

Lucky for all of us, it didn't happen. Bit it was close. It was a case of a lame duck president intent on hurting the country that had booted him out of office.

The military establishment was aghast when word got out of Trump's intentions. It would have completely realigned our foreign relations.

Trump was determined to derail the election and no act was too low. His resistance culminated in a coup attempt at the Capitol on January 6th.

If high officials in the military hadn't intervened the United States would be paying the price today.

The Trump threat to democracy continues. He's torn the Republican Party into pieces with his Big Lie and plans on holding hate rallies again in June.

Until justice catches up to Trump in the many lawsuits against him, he'll be a thorn in our nation's side.