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In Georgia, conservatives seek to have voters removed from rolls without official challenges
  • What business is it of anyone if the rolls have too many names? People can still only vote once, and the system comes down hard on people who try and trick the system. It should be the State's job to purge registrations after due process, not the voters' (and certainly not some random busybody).

  • In Georgia, conservatives seek to have voters removed from rolls without official challenges
  • “You have the constitutional right to challenge any other voter in your county,” Frank said at Cherokee County Republican headquarters in Woodstock. “In fact, it’s not merely your right. It’s your duty to clean the voter rolls.”

    Which Constitution says that? Not the US Constitution, the word "challenge" doesn't appear there at all. And not in the section of the Georgia State constitution regarding voting, either. Is there a secret MAGA Constitution which only they know about, but applies to everyone? That might explain some of the recent SCOTUS shenanigans.

  • What happens if Biden dies before the next inauguration (see inside)?
  • Vice President Jefferies

    It doesn't work that way. First of all, Mike Johnson is the Speaker, and is next in line for the Presidency after the VP, not Jeffries. But that entire list is strictly to see who would be President if the office were suddenly vacant. The House Speaker would only take over if there is a Presidential vacancy while the office of VP is also vacant.

    Should Harris becomes President due to Biden leaving office early, the office of VP would become vacant and remain so until President Harris picks a replacement, and that replacement is ratified by both houses of Congress. Sadly, in today's political climate that is not a guarantee.

  • Gathered at Camp David, Biden’s family tells him to stay in the presidential race and keep fighting
  • NYT is reporting on a hastily arranged call of the DNC finance committee today with some big donors. I don't see a non-paywalled source about it, but I assume it is happening.

    That is a hugely important meeting because if Biden's donors say they will not support the campaign financially anymore, that will be one of the dominoes that would need to fall to get Biden to back out. Campaigns are expensive, and Trump's fundraising is focused on his campaign as third priority, after paying his legal bills and Trump himself.

    I'm not really sure whether Biden can pull this off or not, but his chances are zero if his big donors stop giving.

  • US Supreme Court rules Trump has immunity for official, not private acts
  • After mulling this over for these few hours, I realize what this ruling really does is render the President unaccountable to his Oath of Office. Any official act is presumed to be totally legal by the courts, unless he is impeached and removed from office over it. Much of his communications with his staff is now also not subject to review anywhere but Congress, as part of a formal impeachment proceeding.

    A President is now officially a king, restrained by no law in what he can use his office to do, as long as he has the support of half of the House, or 1/3 of the Senate.

  • US Supreme Court rules Trump has immunity for official, not private acts
  • Because presiding over the counting of the votes is one of the very few duties the Constitution allocates to the VP, so is covered under this new doctrine. He has the absolute right to conduct that how he sees fit, without regard to whether he is upholding his oath to the Constitution or not, and any conversations he had with the President are part of that duty, and similarly protected. If it turns out he is not upholding that oath, the only remedy is impeachment. (And finding 67 Senators to agree to convict.)

    Absolute power, just as the Founders intended.

  • US Supreme Court rules Trump has immunity for official, not private acts
  • Some of the evidence that Jack Smith has put together involve some form of Trump's official capacity. for instance, the Times notes that one of the points of the prosecution was that Trump tried to get Jeffrey Clark installed as acting AG in the days before Jan 6, presumably because he would go along with the coup. One of the findings of the Court is that appointments like that are within the President's direct duties, and can't be used as evidence against him, even if it can be proven that the appointment was made to directly piss on the Constitution Trump swore to protect.

    The Times also notes that Trump's pressure campaign on Pence is similarly protected now.

  • What happens if Biden dies before the next inauguration (see inside)?
  • See inside what? Did you link to anything?

    As I see it, key deadlines are:

    • The party conventions, where each parties nominee will be formalized. (But recall that the actual Democratic Nomination will be done before the convention, to meet some State deadlines).

    • The election itself, where voters choose which slate of electors cast EC votes.

    • The electoral college election that really matters.

    • The counting of the EC Votes

    • the inauguration

    Once the nominations are formalized, they probably can't be undone, since there are State deadlines involved.

    But always remember that people are not voting for the candidates themselves, but for a slate of electors. And while the expectation is for these electors to vote for the ticket they were pledged to, if one candidate is subject to God's Almighty Recall Vote, they appear to have the discretion to file votes differently.

    Once the EC votes are cast, though, there would probably be no choice but to accept them. (Congress recently revamped the counting process to eliminate some of the shenanigans that happened last time). I expect that if either one croaks after that, they would probably just inaugurate the VP on the ticket directly.

    (Edited to add: states may be able to change EC votes after the December EC election. That date is based on a "safe harbor" deadline which makes EC votes harder to challenge. So, if the winning candidate bites it on Christmas Day there's probably a way for State Legislatures to certify new EC votes before Congress counts them Jan 6, but we should expect a challenge to that.)

    (It would suck if Trump won, and Biden croaked on Jan 19th. We might have our first female President, for one day.)

  • NJ Does Not Renew Trump's Liquor Licenses At 2 Golf Clubs After Felony Conviction
  • You are correct, of course. And that's why this movement to get him to step aside is gaining so much traction. The more I see key Democrats defending him in public, the more I think the private conversations are getting heated.

    There is so much riding on this election that we can't just call a mulligan and say "we laid an egg this time, we'll try again in 2028".

  • NJ Does Not Renew Trump's Liquor Licenses At 2 Golf Clubs After Felony Conviction
  • To me, it looked like the problem was not his brain, it was between his brain and his mouth. His brain knew what it wanted to say, his mouth took the long road to get there. And when you only have a minute or two to make your point, every second counts.

    I am not saying that to try and gloss over the problem. But I've watched older relatives succumb to Alzheimer's and dementia over the years, and this is not it. It's different. It's still bad for any older person, though, much less a President.

  • California Moms for Liberty chair’s shocking attack on drag queens goes viral
  • The article itself is worth reading, but it includes a link to a Sacramento bee article about this woman and her trans kid. It seems like after the kid came out as trans, the mom really went off the deep end :

    https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article285961211.html

    This woman is so wrapped up in her anti-trans crusade that it's not just ruining her relationship with her child, but it's consuming her to the point that it's all she talks about. The article mentions that her friends and co-workers have had to ask her to stop sending articles about it. And now she's been kicked out of the hotel she was staying at because she saw some guys in dresses and started throwing a fit. The hotel even offered to refund her stay, but she persisted and got escorted out by the cops instead.

    She seems stuck in a misery of her own making. At least her kid seems to have a level head about all of it. I will never understand how some parents would let stuff like that get in the way of their relationship with their kids.

  • Supreme Court says marketer is not entitled to a trademark for 'Trump too small' T-shirts

    The phrase “TRUMP TOO SMALL” stems from a memorable moment in the 2016 Republican presidential debates, during which Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., made a crude joke about the size of Trump’s hands.

    “And you know what they say about guys with small hands,” Rubio quipped.

    8
    apnews.com Biden challenges Trump to 2 debates but won’t participate in nonpartisan commission's debates

    President Joe Biden says he won’t participate in the campaign debates sponsored by a nonpartisan commission, instead challenging Republican Donald Trump to a pair of debates.

    Biden challenges Trump to 2 debates but won’t participate in nonpartisan commission's debates

    Biden’s campaign proposed that the first debate between the presumptive Democratic and Republican nominees be held in late June and the second in September before early voting begins. Trump responded to the letter in an interview with Fox News digital, calling the proposed dates “fully acceptable to me” and joked about providing his own transportation.

    27
    www.jsonline.com Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is talking to Aaron Rodgers about being his presidential running mate

    Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is talking to quarterback Aaron Rodgers about being his running mate.

    Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is talking to Aaron Rodgers about being his presidential running mate
    10
    thehill.com McCarthy scolds Gaetz in GOP meeting: ‘Sit your ass down’

    Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) scolded Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) during a closed-door GOP conference meeting Thursday, telling the Florida Republican to sit down when he tried to interrupt…

    McCarthy scolds Gaetz in GOP meeting: ‘Sit your ass down’

    Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) scolded Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) during a closed-door GOP conference meeting Thursday, telling the Florida Republican to sit down when he tried to interrupt McCarthy’s remarks.

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    Clueless Tourist and Parking

    Hi all! I'll be visiting with my family soon. I go to San Jose/Santa Clara often for work, but this will be my first time in the area as a tourist in 20 years. Were have 3 days planned for San Francisco on the trip, from a hotel near SFO. We have a rental car, and are 5 people, so it may make sense to drive. The hotel isn't walkable to BART or Caltrain, so if we were going to take those into the city we'd have to park at the station anyway. (South San Francisco would probably be the closest station).

    I'm planning to park the car for the day and take the MUNI most places, since it's free for teens. Any suggestions on safe garages? I don't mind paying to make sure the car is secure. If there's a good garage around Union Station, that may be the best bet because we can get anywhere. But it might be nice to park closer to the Presidio for the day we do things there.

    Any suggestions? My coworkers who live in the Bay Area think I'm crazy to take a car into SF at all, but surely there are some safe places to park?

    We're a bunch of nerds, and will hit up the Exploratorium. (We have a fourth day planned at the Chabot Center and Berkeley, and other days further afield). Any other suggestions for nerdy things to see would be appreciated. (We already have the Wave Organ on the list....)

    Thanks!

    7
    InitialsDiceBearhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/„Initials” (https://github.com/dicebear/dicebear) by „DiceBear”, licensed under „CC0 1.0” (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)DH
    dhork @lemmy.world
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