Kari Lake offers no defense in defamation case

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/kari-lake-defamation-arizona-senate-b2519690.html

Kari Lake is running against Democrat Reuben Gallego for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Kyrsten Sinema. Steven Richer was a Republican elections official in Maricopa County when Lake ran for governor of Arizona in 2022. She accused him of purposely misprinting ballots and otherwise trying to prevent her from being elected. Now she has refused to offer a defense against defamation charges filed by Richer. Instead, she filed a motion to proceed directly to the damages phase of the trial.

On March 26, 2024, Mr Richer, posted this to Twitter: "It was a lie. It was always a lie. She did it to get your $25. Or to fire you up. But it was all a lie. There were no '300,000 fraudulent early ballots' etc. She defamed me. But she also lied to you."

Charlie Cooper

Crypto using big money to influence races for Congress

https://revolvingdoorproject.substack.com/p/crypto-is-hoping-you-wont-notice

The cryptocurrency industry seeks to avoid much-needed regulation. They have hired some of the same consultants working for key Democratic incumbent senators in order to either replace those senators (!) or influence their stance on crypto regulation. The article names office-holders and key operatives in both parties who are working for lax crypto regulation.

" Rep. David Trone, a democratic candidate for Senate in Maryland recently began echoing the industry's calls for federal regulations to legitimate the industry. His opponent in the Democratic primary, Angela Alsobrooks, has also been promoting crypto."

Charlie Cooper

RFK, Jr.'s VP pick is all about money

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/03/27/todays-edition-rnc-is-asking-job-interviewees-if-2020-election-was-stolen-florida-donors-with-state-business-fueled-end-desantis-presidential-run/?utm_campaign=wp_power_up&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_powerup

Nicole Shanahan is the ex-wife of Google founder Sergei Brin who is worth $129 billion. She will be in a position to spend unlimited amounts on the election if she so chooses.

Charlie Cooper

Details of one of Trump's fundraising schemes

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/03/24/trump-super-pac-funds-save-america-spending/73026734007/

Fund transfers between a "leadership PAC" and a SuperPAC are helping to pay Trump's legal fees.

Charlie Cooper

Deepfakes threaten to exacerbate cynicism around elections

https://apnews.com/article/artificial-intelligence-elections-disinformation-chatgpt-bc283e7426402f0b4baa7df280a4c3fd

Until very recently, deep fakes, could only be generated with a team of talented technicians and advanced hardware and software. Now the technology is open to anyone, and the number of false stories, images, and video/audio tracks may proliferate. It will be even more difficult for voters to ascertain whether a communication is true.

Charlie Cooper

SCOTUS could have but did not exonerate Trump

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-colorado-supreme-courts-ruling-silver-lining-rcna141769

The Supreme Court could have ruled that Trump did not participate in insurrection. Instead they came up with a technicality about state versus federal authority.

Charlie Cooper

Planning A Simcha?

Planning A Simcha? Plan Your Simcha The Smart Way With SmartSimcha.com
“SmartSimcha.com Is Online Simcha Planning Software That Is Jam Packed With A Million Clever Ideas To Make Your Simcha Planning Much, Much Easier” “SmartSimcha.com Is YOUR ESSENTIAL Simcha Planning Tool” “Save Time & Money With SmartSimcha.com, A Simcha With 500 Invitations, The Hosts Saved $800 - $1000”	Abby Pienle, Simcha Planner
SmartSimcha.com Has These 3 Main Components: Superior Guest Management Tools   Add guests quickly with our BUILT IN SEARCH.   Made a simcha already? Tired of dealing with excel files? SmartSimcha.com GOES WAY, WAY BEYOND EXCEL.   Plus many more tools to make your simcha planning MUCH, MUCH EASIER. Smart (Personalized) Invitations And eVites   Delight and surprise your guests with PERSONALIZED invitations.   A classic invitation, custom styled to your liking, personalized for each guest, backed up by our innovative and robust system.   We have crafted a very INNOVATIVE AND UNIQUE way of offering printed invitations COMBINED WITH eVites, online RSVP, and paper reponse cards that will bring in WAY MORE RESPONSES.   There is nothing else quite like it. Anywhere. All this the at no additional cost over reqular invtations. Integrated Gift Registry   Gift giving, gift tracking, and thank you cards that is incredibly easy for you, even easier for your guests.   Print your thank you cards IN YOUR OWN HANDWRITING. For Your Organization   SmartSimcha.com is perfect for school/shul/synagogue dinners and fundraisers.   You can use SmartSimcha.com as a fundraising tool for your organization.   Click here to go to SmartSimcha.com, click on Connect With Us on the menu bar.We will get back to you as soon as possible.
Visit SmartSimcha.com Now For More Information Please Forward This Email To Someone Who Is Planning A Simcha
All The Best, Abby Pienle Expert Simcha Planner Please Feel Free To Email Me Happy Simcha Planning!!
PEM Marketing | 45 West 56 st | New York, NY 10022 This Email Was Sent To angad.gmom.hipops@blogger.com unsubscribe

SCOTUS may make it more difficult to prosecute corruption

https://www.levernews.com/the-supreme-court-case-designed-to-legalize-bribery/?utm_source=newsletter-email&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=newsletter-article 

"Conservatives" are pursuing this case to reverse a conviction because they have the money to buy favors from public officials.

Charlie Cooper

How proportional representation could reform Congress

https://thefulcrum.us/electoral-reforms/proportional-representation

Charlie Cooper

Brennan Center report on party-biased voter purges

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/mass-purges-are-new-voter-suppression

Republicans seek to gain advantage, led  by Cleta Mitchell and Mike Lindell. Their "efforts appear to be focused on precincts that lean Democratic or are home to large communities of color."

Charlie Cooper

Software consultant publishes book refuting Trump election fraud claims

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/03/10/trump-ken-block-campaign-fraud-book/?fbclid=IwAR3L4K1pqPeyVV8Elf_HNdDQdXFwMJf7dRzlEhQZT34a7Rv3tRXXUIcDD5A

Ken Block was paid $800,000 by the Trump campaign to examine claims of fraud in the frantic period following the 2020 election. He never was able to substantiate any of the claims. Now he has published a book recounting his experiences. "[H]e has received subpoenas as part of investigations by special counsel Jack Smith and Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani T. Willis, who are both pursuing criminal cases against Trump, alleging that the former president improperly tried to overturn the election."

Charlie Cooper

Michigan election officials speak out against right-wing voter purge effort

https://gandernewsroom.com/2024/03/07/michigan-reinstates-voters-amid-right-wing-scheme-to-challenge-voter-registrations/

Michigan officials restored 1,100 voters to the rolls in two townships because voters are entitled to time to explain whether their voting residency has really changed or whether an address change is temporary.  "[Journalists] exposed a targeted, right-wing plot to expedite that cancellation schedule ahead of the 2024 presidential election—including a failed scheme to cancel registrations in Genoa and Waterford townships."

Right-wing activists target Democratic areas and then seek to expedite removal of voters from the rolls. But their allegations rarely prove true. "Just last week, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit against [Michigan Secretary of State] Benson's office that alleged officials were allowing thousands of dead voters to remain on the voter rolls, finding that Michigan is 'consistently among the most active states' in canceling the registration of dead voters."

Charlie Cooper

Lawsuit details Trump-supporters' efforts to hack into Georgia election systems

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/03/trump-infiltrate-voting-machines-georgia-2020.html

The article alleges that Georgia Secretary of State Raffensberger should have investigated the attempts by Trump supporters to obtain election system software.

Charlie Cooper

Nonprofit group classifies swing state legislators as election deniers

https://penncapital-star.com/government-politics/report-classifies-pennsylvania-lawmakers-as-election-deniers/

The group used analysis of social media posts and votes in the state legislature. Their criteria may be controversial.

Charlie Cooper

Corporations finance racist campaign via Republic Governors Association

https://popular.info/p/how-millions-in-corporate-cash-could?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=cw8n&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Mark Robinson is the Republican nominee for Governor of North Carolina. He has made many virulent anti-Semitic and anti-LGBTQ statements. Big corporations that say they abhor such hate speech nevertheless fund his campaign through the Republic Governors Association.

Charlie Cooper

https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/politics-power/state-government/maryland-board-election-lawsuit-42TN7IZH7FDUZCWR5SBYPSJYNM/?schk=YES&rchk=YES&utm_source=The+Baltimore+Banner&utm_campaign=ad6369934f-NL_PMSC_20240307_1740&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-ad6369934f-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&mc_cid=ad6369934f&mc_eid=db16e63ea4 

Group sues Maryland State board of elections, alleging incompetence and violations of state law.

Charlie Cooper

Raskin plans bill to enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment

https://www.axios.com/2024/03/04/jamie-raskin-trump-ballot-ruling-supreme-court

He knows it can't pass in the GOP-lead House, but it will be on a long list of priorities if he becomes House Oversight Committee Chair in the 119th Congress.

Charlie Cooper

National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is popular in Maine

https://www.publicnewsservice.org/2024-03-04/civic-engagement-and-voting/majority-of-mainers-support-leaving-electoral-college-for-national-popular-vote/a89164-1

The Maine legislature is on the brink of passing the NPV Interstate Compact. A recent poll indicates that about 70% of voters in Maine support the idea.

Charlie Cooper

Analysis of disturbing implications of SCOTUS ruling on 14.3

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/04/opinion/supreme-court-trump-colorado-constitution.html

By ruling that Congress must pass an enabling statute to activate section 3 of the 14th Amendment, the Court has ignored the plain language of the Constitution and relegated the provision to lower status than other Constitutional Amendments.

Charlie Cooper

Study shows racial turnout gap widens since the end of pre-clearance

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/growing-racial-disparities-voter-turnout-2008-2022

The Brennan Center sponsored a study which found that the racial turnout gap "has consistently grown since 2012 and is growing most quickly in parts of the country that were previously covered under Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which was suspended by the Supreme Court in its 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder."

The authors state that "our primary models indicate that the white–Black turnout gap in these [covered] regions was about 5 percentage points greater than it would have been if the Voting Rights Act were still in full force, and the white–nonwhite gap was about 4 points higher."

Charlie Cooper

Wyoming House votes on money in politics

https://thefulcrum.us/electoral-reforms/for-our-freedom-amendment

In Wyoming, "a majority of state House members voted for Joint House Resolution 0002, calling on Congress to propose a constitutional amendment to ensure transparency in election spending and allow states to regulate corporate, union and other political contributions." Unfortunately, the measure required a two-thirds majority to advance; however, the organizing work done among Republicans in Wyoming is encouraging.

Charlie Cooper