Former Rep. Dennis Kucinich‘s (D-OH) latest campaign for Cleveland mayor came to an end Tuesday night, when he failed to earn one of the top two spots in the primary, WJW reports.
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26 States Have Restricted Public Health Powers
“Republican legislators in more than half of U.S. states, spurred on by voters angry about lockdowns and mask mandates, are taking away the powers that state and local officials use to protect the public against infectious diseases,” the AP reports.
“While some governors vetoed bills that passed, at least 26 states pushed through laws that permanently weaken government authority to protect public health.”
Judge Refuses to Stop Defamation Suit Against Trump
“A federal judge overseeing columnist E. Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump has denied Trump’s request to stop the case from moving forward as they await an appeals court decision,” CNN reports.
How ‘Voter Fraud’ Misinformation Undermines the GOP
Jonathan Bernstein: “While the California recall tells us nothing helpful about voter mood, it does say something small and something large about the Republican Party that may affect upcoming elections.”
“The minor point is that Republicans are still following their 2020 strategy of giving their own voters a one-two demobilization punch. They’re still demonizing absentee and other mail-in or drop-box voting, thereby discouraging their own voters from using those methods and making it harder for their own supporters to vote. Some of the recent Republican state laws making voting harder are in part simply a convoluted way of making up for the campaign that’s pushed Republican voters away from voting methods they were in the habit of using.”
“The bigger idea is that Republican claims of election fraud are not only fictional and dangerous for democracy, but also may be sending a message to Republican voters that voting is futile.”
Boris Johnson Shakes Up His Cabinet
“British Prime Minister Boris Johnson demoted his top diplomat and fired his education minister in a major government shakeup Wednesday, as he tried to move on from a series of political missteps and revive his promise to ‘level up’ prosperity across the U.K.,” the AP reports.
“In the biggest move, Johnson demoted Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who has faced criticism for delaying his return from a holiday in Greece as the Taliban took over Afghanistan last month.”
“Raab was appointed justice secretary with the added title of deputy prime minister. Despite the grand title, that is a demotion — the deputy has no formal constitutional role.”
The BBC has more on the changes.
North and South Korea Ratchet Up Tensions
North and South Korea have tested ballistic missiles hours apart from each other, highlighting an arms race on the peninsula as nuclear talks with the North remain stalled, the BBC reports.
Big Majority Say Recent Covid Deaths Were Preventable
A new Quinnipiac poll finds an overwhelmingly majority of Americans say by 68% to 24% that the recent rise in Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. was preventable.
However, a slight majority of Americans — 51% to 48% — disapprove of President Biden’s plan to mandate vaccines for millions of Americans in the public and private sectors.
Wisconsin Election ‘Audit’ Off to Rocky Start
“Wisconsin election clerks are reacting with a mixture of concern and confusion to the first inquiry made by a special investigator hired by Republicans to examine how the 2020 presidential election was run in the battleground state,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
“The email from the lead investigator landed in the junk folders of at least seven counties and wasn’t received by at least 11 others. Several that did get it flagged it as a security risk.”
Biden Has ‘Complete Confidence’ In Mark Milley
The White House said that President Biden has “complete confidence” in Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, following a report in a new book that the country’s top military officer privately conferred with his Chinese military counterpart to avert armed conflict with the United States late in the Trump administration, the Washington Post reports.
How Facebook Rewarded Outrage and Toxicity
When Facebook made an algorithm change in 2018 the company said it “would encourage people to interact more with friends and family,” but staffers warned in internal documents “the change was having the opposite effect… It was making Facebook’s platform an angrier place,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Company researchers discovered that publishers and political parties were reorienting their posts toward outrage and sensationalism. That tactic produced high levels of comments and reactions that translated into success on Facebook.”
The research concluded: “Misinformation, toxicity, and violent content are inordinately prevalent among reshares.”
Pandemic Has Now Killed 1 In 500 Americans
The U.S. death toll from Covid-19 has now exceeded 663,000, which means the coronavirus has led to the deaths of roughly 1 in every 500 Americans, the Washington Post reports.
The Great Political Mystery of Our Time
Charlie Sykes: “The great political mystery of our time has been the refusal of the GOP to take the many off-ramps from Trumpism.”
“They could have put the petulant, disgraced, defeated one-term president firmly in the rearview mirror — but, instead, they have embraced their hostage status with an obsequiousness that makes the Stockholm Syndrome seem quaint.”
“Republicans could have moved on after the election; they certainly could have bailed after January 6. They even had a chance to wipe the slime off during the impeachment process. They could have refused to go along with the Big Lie and easily segued into post-Trumpian oppositional politics.”
“Instead, they are poised to wear Trumpism like a coat of many colors into the mid-terms; and to nominate him for a second term in 2024, so that he can wage his paranoid revenge campaign against his enemies.”
Third Republican Drops Race to Challenge Liz Cheney
Former President Trump’s endorsement of Harriet Hageman (R) to take out Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) has pushed out a third candidate in under a week, further clearing what was a crowded field, The Hill reports.
Pennsylvania GOP Seeks Voters’ Personal Information
“Pennsylvania Republicans moved on Wednesday to seek personal information on every voter in the state as part of a brewing partisan review of the 2020 election results, rubber-stamping more than a dozen subpoenas for driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers,” the New York Times reports.
“The move adds Pennsylvania to a growing list of states that have embarked on partisan-led reviews of the 2020 election, including a widely criticized attempt to undermine the outcome in Arizona’s largest county.”
Most Americans Feel Democracy Is Under Attack
A new CNN poll finds 56% of Americans feel democracy is under attack in this country and 51% say it is likely that elected officials will successfully overturn the results of a future election because their party did not win.
In addition, nearly all Americans feel that democracy in the US is at least being tested: 93% total say that democracy is either under attack (56%) or being tested but not under attack (37%). Just 6% say that American democracy is in no danger.
For members: Democrats Must Make Democracy an Issue In 2022
Mercer Family Gave $20 Million to Dark Money Group
“The wealthy family led by conservative megadonors Robert and Rebekah Mercer, whose money helped propel Donald Trump to victory in 2016, invested nearly $20 million last year into a GOP-friendly dark money fund that allows donors to keep secret the ultimate destination of their contributions,” CNBC reports.
“The Mercers’ donation, delivered through their family foundation, went to the Donors Trust, according to a new 990 disclosure form. The hefty contribution reveals that the Mercers played a much bigger role in financing groups during the 2020 election than previously known.”
Majority Back Vaccine, Mask Mandates
A new Monnouth poll finds support for instituting, or reinstituting, state-based face mask and social distancing guidelines has increased in the past few months.
Currently, 63% support these measures in their state, which is up from 52% in July.
The poll also finds that 66% of Americans support requiring that face masks be worn by students, teachers, and staff in schools.
Pope Says There’s No Place for Politics In Communion
“Pope Francis said that Catholic bishops must minister to politicians who back abortion with ‘compassion and tenderness,’ not condemnation, and warned that they shouldn’t let politics enter into questions about receiving Communion,” the AP reports.
“Francis recalled cases when the church had held fast to a principle on political grounds and it ended badly, citing the Inquisition-era condemnation of Giordano Bruno for alleged heresy. He was burned at the stake in Rome’s Campo dei Fiori.”
