MAGA's Ongoing Plot To Steal The 2024 Election

The government ethics and accountability group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) published a report earlier this week that looks at the real threat posed by right wing MAGAts in a number of states who are poised to block the certification of elections won by Democrats. With the experience of their fake elector plot in 2020 as a "lessons learned" exercise, the election deniers aim to help the felonious authoritarian the Malignant Loser (a.k.a. "Donald Dump") steal the election if the vote count doesn't go his way. From CREW's report:

"In this report, CREW identifies 35 rogue election officials across the country who have already refused to certify election results and may be in a position to do so again. The report focuses on the eight states where county officials have unlawfully refused to certify elections since 2020: Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Michigan. The report also identifies the legal remedies available to state and federal authorities, as well as voters, to protect the certification of the 2024 election. 

These remedies include emergency court orders to compel compliance with the law, criminal charges to punish and deter misconduct and legal procedures to remove obstructionist officials from their county positions.

So far, states have shut down these dangerous efforts to sabotage the certification process—including in Arizona and New Mexico where state authorities secured emergency court orders, called writs of mandamus, compelling county officials to follow the law. But the threat of disruption looms large in this year’s election. 

If county officials successfully obstruct certification, it could have a cascading effect on state and federal certification deadlines. It could also lead to mass disenfranchisement of qualified voters."  (our emphasis)

These local election officials were emboldened by the Malignant Loser's continuing Big Lie about the 2020 election being "stolen" from him, despite losing challenges in over 60 courts of law and being told by his senior advisors that he lost in a fair election. The report continues:

"That election certification is a ministerial, non-discretionary function has been a settled principle of American election law since the turn of the twentieth century, when state courts across the country shut down partisan attempts by county officials to refuse to count lawful votes. But some officials emboldened by former President Trump’s 2020 election denial movement now seek to weaponize this routine government process, undermining the foundations of our election infrastructure." (our emphasis)

Having identified the coming assault on our voting rights, and having attorneys and voting rights advocates like Marc Elias and the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund fighting for us, should diminish their impact. But only by us beating them by a substantial amount will their plans for election theft be curbed.  

 

Lake Loses Election Case In AZ Supreme Court

On Wednesday, the Arizona State Supreme Court rejected nearly all of delusional sore loser Kari "The Flake" Lake's appeal of her decisive gubernatorial election loss in 2022. The part of her suit that the court returned to the Maricopa County court to review pertained to the County's signature verification process for early ballots in that county. Maricopa County voted overwhelmingly for Governor Katie Hobbs (D), which is why loser Lake is targeting it.  The Maricopa County Superior Court and the Arizona Court of Appeals earlier rejected Lake's unsubstantiated and clearly false claims that she lost the election through election fraud. 

Election-denying Trump zealot Lake lost by more than 17,000 votes statewide, so hanging your hopes on this procedural review is vanishingly unlikely to provide evidence that would change the election results. Don't tell that to math-challenged Lake, who called the signature verification process a "house of cards", which indicates to us that she's not playing with a full deck. 

(photo: She's back like something that won't flush. Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images)

 

AZ Official: Kari Lake May Have Violated Law

Arizona's Secretary of State Adrian Fontes has asked Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes to investigate whether Trumpist election denier and loser of Arizona's 2022 gubernatorial race Kari "Shallow" Lake committed a felony in posting signatures of voters she claimed were fraudulent. According to the Washington Post:

"As part of the former gubernatorial candidate’s grievances, a Jan. 23 tweet from Lake’s account claimed 40,000 ballots didn’t match voter signatures that Arizona had on record. The tweet included a graphic containing images of 16 voter signatures.

'I think all the ‘Election Deniers’ out there deserve an apology,' the tweet said.

In his letter, Fontes pointed to state law involving public inspection of voter registration records. That law says records containing voter signatures 'shall not be accessible or reproduced by any person other than the voter.'

Violation of that law, he wrote, is a felony."  (our emphasis)

Lake has continued to maintain falsely that she won the election, offering no credible evidence to prove her case. As late as Sunday at a so-called "Save Arizona" rally, Lake reiterated her claim that the election was "stolen" from her, specifically targeting Dem leaning Maricopa County officials for abuse. She lost statewide by over 17,000 votes to Dem Katie Hobbs. Last month, a Republican-appointed Maricopa County judge threw out her case claiming election fraud, which the judge said was based on "speculation" and "conjecture" rather than facts and evidence. He later ordered her to pay the litigation costs of the defendants in the case. Meanwhile, Lake is raking in large sums from her gullible followers in her election- denying fundraising scam.

(photo: Lake with her malignant mentor. Mario Tama / Getty Images)

 

Kari Lake, Duly Elected Governor Of Crazytown

Get the net and straitjacket!  Arizona's deluded denier Kari "Half-Baked" Lake has given herself a new title:

Arizona Republican Kari Lake played a game of make believe when she crowned herself “the duly elected governor” during a call-in to right-wing streaming channel Real America’s Voice this week.

Lake, who lost the 2022 gubernatorial election to Democrat Katie Hobbs (D) and subsequently lost an election lawsuit, claimed that the election was rigged “in broad daylight” before she gave herself the phony title.

Her opponent was sworn in as governor on Monday, but that hasn’t stopped Lake from making her latest claim.

“They had to pull out all the stops and do this in broad daylight so everyone saw it,” said Lake, who was backed by former President Donald Trump in the 2022 election.

“The way we get it changed is we get the real governor, the duly elected governor, myself, in there to work with lawmakers, to change our laws, put some teeth into the laws, and frankly, we need to recall every one of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.”... (our emphasis)

Yes, that's all absolutely going to happen, Governor Lake.  Now, if you'll put on this ceremonial jacket and come along with us, we'll take you to the Governor's mansion with the nice security bars on the window, and with your attendants all dressed in sparkling white to see to your every need! 

(Image:  via Twitter)

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

 

The good:

An Arizona judge on Saturday rebuffed an effort by Kari Lake, the defeated GOP candidate for governor in Arizona, to reverse the outcome of her November election, ruling against her after a two-day trial that showcased speculation about systematic malfeasance at the polls but failed to prove it.

The finding was in line with recent judgments against Abe Hamadeh and Mark Finchem, the unsuccessful candidates for attorney general and secretary of state, respectively, who also challenged their losses. Taken together, the rulings show how the judiciary in Arizona, a state rife with distrust in the democratic process, rejected challenges to election results and affirmed the will of voters.  [snip]

The judge hearing Lake’s case, Peter A. Thompson of Maricopa County Superior Court, earlier tossed most of her assertions but allowed arguments to proceed on two claims — that employees at Maricopa County’s ballot contractor stuffed extra ballots into the system and that the printer problems on Election Day were intentional.

In Saturday’s 10-page ruling, Thompson said the court “acknowledges the anger and frustration of voters” who were inconvenienced by technical problems on Election Day.

“But this Court’s duty is not solely to incline an ear to public outcry,” he wrote. “It is to subject plaintiff’s claims and defendants’ actions to the light of the courtroom and scrutiny of the law.” [snip]

Tom Liddy, an attorney for Maricopa County, confirmed to The Washington Post that the county will be seeking sanctions.

“A lawyer may not go to court without the evidence necessary for a chance to prevail,” Liddy said. “Lake had to make up 17,117 votes. She failed to identify one lawful ballot that was not counted, or one ballot that was counted that should not have been — and she knew that before she filed the contest.”...

Her attorneys are MAGA loons and deserve sanctioning.  After her appeals are exhausted, they need to go after "Shallow" Lake as well.  Being saboteurs of democracy should have consequences for these dead- enders.

The bad:

Three buses full of migrants arrived at Vice President Harris’s residence in Washington, D.C., from Texas on Christmas Eve amid bitingly cold temperatures, the latest in an influx of newcomers sent to the Northeast by Southern states.

About 110 to 130 men, women and children got off the buses outside the Naval Observatory on Saturday night in 18-degree weather after a two-day journey from South Texas. Some migrants were bundled up in blankets as they were greeted by a mutual aid group that had received word that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) had sent the caravan.

Volunteers scrambled to meet the asylum seekers after the buses, which were scheduled to arrive in New York on Christmas Day, were rerouted due to the winter weather. In a hastily arranged welcoming, a church on Capitol Hill agreed to temporarily shelter the group, while the restaurant chain Sardis provided 150 breakfasts, lunches and dinners, a mutual aid organizer said.

Abbott began offering asylum seekers free passage to immigrant-friendly Democratic cities on the East Coast in April, an effort to pressure the Biden administration into cracking down at the border. Other Republican governors, including Arizona’s Doug Ducey and Florida’s Ron DeSantis, have also sent buses to New York and the nation’s capital...

Rancid Christofascist Texas Republican pustule Gov. Greg Abbott sent these migrants, many clothed in shorts and sweatshirts, to Washington, DC, where the temperatures were in the teens.  What a fine thing for a "Christian" to do on Christmas Eve, no less.  Perhaps detaining the bus drivers and impounding their buses would send a message, too?

The ugly: 

The huge winter storm that has already killed 46 people in the United States looked set to continue wreaking havoc into Monday with plummeting temperatures and huge snow drifts trapping people inside their homes and snarling travel across the country.

The full brunt of the storm was being felt in western parts of New York, which had become a “warzone,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Sunday, with looting incidents and roads blocked by emergency vehicles.

A “band of heavy snow” in the Buffalo area was producing two to three inches of hourly snowfall, the National Weather Service said in a 3 a.m. bulletin, warning of rapidly deteriorating conditions. 

Stretching from the Great Lakes near Canada to the Rio Grande along the Mexican border, the storm has killed at least 46 people as of Monday morning, according to an NBC News tally. The deaths were recorded in 12 states: Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Wisconsin. [snip]

The National Weather service said “hazardous travel conditions” were expected to continue over the next few days and that they would slowly ease over the new year.

“Much of the eastern U.S. will remain in a deep freeze through Monday before a moderating trend sets in on Tuesday,” it said in a 2:56 a.m. bulletin.

Meanwhile, the western parts of the country were also bracing for an incoming storm, with forecasters warning of a “potent surge of moisture” into the Pacific northwestern and California on Tuesday, threatening flash floods.

“The life-threatening cold temperatures and in combination with dangerous wind chills will create a potentially life-threatening hazard for travelers that become stranded, individuals that work outside, livestock and domestic pets,” the National Weather Service said in an earlier bulletin...

Especially hard hit Buffalo, NY, is currently reporting 16 storm-related deaths, with the number expected to rise. 

Loser Kari Lake Files Frivolous Lawsuit

Sore loser and Trumpette Kari "The Flake" Lake filed with the Arizona Superior Court yesterday challenging the election which she lost to Governor-elect Katie Hobbs.  Following the official certification of Hobb's win, Lake filed a 70-page rant with the court alleging that the election results in populous Maricopa County -- which she lost -- were tainted by printer failures, long lines at the polls, and (of course) mail-in ballots. Per CNN:

"....Maricopa officials have said that printer problems affected about 70 vote centers, preventing some ballots from being read by tabulator machines on Election Day, but that the problems were fixed and that those ballots were set aside in a secure ballot box and counted separately. Bill Gates, the Republican chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, called the inconvenience and the long lines that resulted 'unfortunate' in one Twitter video but said that 'every voter had an opportunity to cast a vote on Election Day.'

Among other concerns, Lake also cites long lines and criticizes the use of mail-in ballots in the suit."

Lake has been suggesting that the elections in Arizona would be rigged weeks before her defeat, and has doubled down on those false charges, much like her role model the Malignant Loser is still doing. She said during her failed campaign that she wouldn't have certified President Biden's win in Arizona in 2020, and believed the Malignant Loser to be the rightful President. 

Lake's lawsuit asks the court for “an order setting aside the certified result of the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election and declaring that Kari Lake is the winner of the 2022 gubernatorial election,” thereby disenfranchising the 1.2 million voters who cast their ballots for Katie Hobbs. Hobbs called the lawsuit "frivolous," saying further:

"Kari Lake needs attention like a fish needs water – and independent experts and local election officials of both parties have made clear that this was a safe, secure and fair election.”

It's time the court reeled in this dead fish, and impose fines for filing a frivolous lawsuit based on her misplaced grievances and conspiracy theories.

 

Rogue AZ Supervisors May Face Prosecution

 

Weeks after the election results determined that Dem Governor-elect Katie Hobbs had won the governorship of Arizona over radical right- wing Trumpist election denier and loser Kari "Fake" Lake, two election-denying Republican county supervisors in Cochise County who refused to certify their county's election results now face investigation and prosecution for violating state election law. The rogue Republican supervisors, Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd, refused to perform their duty in the certification process, and jeopardized not only their county's ballots but the overall certified count for the state:

"Crosby and Judd threw the state certification process into disarray last month when they delayed their official canvassing of the midterm election results in Cochise County, citing bogus claims that electronic tabulators didn’t meet state or federal standards. It was only after a court ordered them to complete their statutorily mandated duties that they did so on Dec. 1, days after the Nov. 28 deadline." (our emphasis)

Hobbs, the current Secretary of State for Arizona, has the statutory responsibility for the state's overall election certification. Ironically, all of the ballots of heavily Republican Cochise County would have been set aside and would have helped to flip some races to the Dems:

"Their actions put the official statewide canvass in jeopardy, as Hobbs must meet a Dec. 5 deadline to certify the results. She can only push that deadline as far as Dec. 8. If she decided to go ahead with the process without the results from Cochise County, a heavily Republican region, more than 47,000 voters could have seen their ballots ignored and a number of races would have flipped in favor of Democratic candidates."

The penalties for Crosby and Judd, if they are prosecuted and found guilty, could range from misdemeanors to felonies. Interestingly, if found guilty of a felony, the two morons would have their right to vote revoked and could lose their elected positions. Sad!