Donald Trump continues to obsess about old election news while American military are being killed in his illegal war of choice with Iran

RECKLESS❗ It is insane and outrageous that — once again — the keepers of our election system have to issue statements responding to preposterous claims by Donald Trump and other Republican maga U.S. leaders that the system has been somehow compromised and co-opted by threats here and abroad.

Rather than tell Americans about his plan to end the illegal Iran war he declared and is now shackled with, he went on and on about old news and fake claims about election fraud.  #ImpeachTrumpNOW

Where is Senator Susan Collins❓

Echo editorial board opinion published in the Rutland Herald, a Vermont newspaper:

In Vermont, Attorney General Charity Clark and Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas released a joint statement responding to the claims made by Trump during a national address on July 16, Thursday night concerning the integrity of the nation’s elections.
(Two national networks NBC and ABC did not carry Trump's address live and CBS cut away to regular programming after only a few minutes.)

In the speech, (for those with the intestinal fortitude to endure it) Donald Trump repeated false claims about the 2020, election that have been investigated and disproven. 

Going into the Midterm elections, Trump continues to raise doubts and conspiracies to negate Republican losses and carry on with his drumbeat that elections are “rigged” when they don’t go his way.

However, there is no evidence that China actually used that information in any way. It has long been established that China collects immense volumes of data on Americans unrelated to any efforts to manipulate votes or alter election outcomes. And public versions of voter files are widely available, including online, and can be bought and sold by campaigns and political parties so they know which doors to knock on and where to send mail.

An Associated Press reports that China’s efforts to influence the 2020, campaign were already well-documented, and there was no assessment of any direct election interference. The records released Thursday do not refute that conclusion but reveal an internal intelligence community debate about how to characterize Beijing’s efforts and motives.

In addition, Trump touted the release of a new Department of Homeland Security investigation, based on state voter rolls and public records, that he said had identified approximately 278,000 noncitizens registered to vote in federal elections.

According to published reports, the agency uncovered more than a quarter of a million noncitizens illegally registered to vote in California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Nevada, based on public records, which are often erroneous or incomplete. Another 28,000 noncitizens, it claimed, were found on voter rolls in 25 states using the new Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system.

Nevertheless, there is no allegation that any of those people actually voted, which would be a crime. That data has also not been verified. Reports have found that the SAVE database is plagued with errors, including outdated information that has often classified naturalized citizens as noncitizens. Indeed, a federal judge has barred the database from being used over fears that voters will be wrongly purged from voter rolls, the AP reports. Studies have found noncitizen voting to be extremely rare. Noncitizens are also allowed to vote in some local elections and could be on the rolls for that reason.

Trump also cited Russia, as well as issues domestically in Michigan concerning canvassing voters.

Notably, Trump told the nation the intelligence included “revealing shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure” that leave it vulnerable “to hacking, exploitation and foreign interference.” 

One report in the files included a list of recent breaches — mostly by Russia — and called on state and local election officials to step up their defenses to prevent information from being used to obtain absentee ballots or alter voter rolls.

According to the AP, election officials acknowledge that voting machines also carry risk — which is why they don’t rely on them alone to ensure the accuracy of the vote. Safeguards like physical security, equipment testing, paper ballot backups and post-election audits help to catch machine errors or threats.

But it is unclear what the administration is doing to facilitate their efforts. Earlier this month, Trump ousted members of a bipartisan federal election commission that distributes federal grants to states, oversees the testing of voting systems, and maintains the national voter registration form after the group resisted his efforts to require potential voters to document their U.S. citizenship before registering.

Trump’s address had the intended effect, with renewed claims of old news about fraud and conspiracies. So much so that election officials across the nation are having to tamp down the fires yet again. It is irresponsible and reckless to stoke these fears.

We in Vermont commend Clark and Copeland Hanzas for working diligently with our town and city clerks to ensure secure and fair elections here in Vermont. There definitely is a lack of integrity in play here, but it’s all on Trump — not within the states❗

Witnessing free speech in judiciary January 6 real time hearing

Witnessing the free press action in real time: January 6, 2022 presented in a court room worthy thriller!

Watching democracy expressed in responsible First Amendment freedom!  Watch the YouTube video here. 

This opinion editorial was published in the Rutland Herald, in Vermont:

It was compelling even if the images — visual and spoken — were awful. (IMO- Moreover, the committee presentations have launched Representative Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) to the status of a political rock star!)

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/first-jan-6-hearing-draws-20-million-viewers-preliminary-nielsen-data-rcna33046

We saw the aftermath, the carnage. It was surreal that it had happened in the U.S. Capitol. It seemed crazy it happened in the United States at all.

January 6, was unique in modern US history. Five people died, Congress went into hiding, and the country briefly teetered on the edge of a coup d’etat.

We saw firsthand it had. The January 6, 2021 insurrection riot left more than 100 police officers injured, many beaten and bloodied, as the crowd of pro-Trump rioters, some armed with pipes, bats and bear spray, charged into the Capitol. At least nine people who were there died during and after the rioting, including a woman who was shot and killed by police.

As U.S. Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards testified Thursday night, “it was chaos.”

By Friday morning, all sides dug in like ticks.

You were either going to defend the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. Or you weren’t. Some Republicans insisted it was old news and that it was ridiculous to place any blame on former president Donald Trump.

But so far, the evidence would suggest that the assault was hardly spontaneous. It was not a farce, with broad implications. The Justice Department has arrested and charged more than 800 people for the violence that day, the biggest dragnet in its history.

“Democracy remains in danger,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chair of the panel. “The violence was no accident.”

In the weeks ahead, the panel is expected to detail Trump’s public campaign to “Stop the Steal” and the private pressure he put on the Justice Department to reverse his election loss — despite dozens of failed court cases attesting there was no fraud on a scale that could have tipped the results in his favor.

Trump defended Jan. 6 Capitol rioters chanting ‘hang Mike Pence

The panel faced obstacles from its start. Republicans blocked the formation of an independent body that could have investigated the Jan. 6 assault the way the 9/11 Commission probed the 2001 terror attack.

The hearings might not change many right wing Americans’ views of the Capitol attack, but the panel’s investigation is intended to stand as its public record. Ahead of this fall’s midterm elections, and with Trump considering another White House run, the committee’s final report aims to account for the most violent attack on the Capitol since 1814, and to ensure such an attack never happens again.

Thursday night was likely the panel’s “greatest hits.” (It was also widely watched!)

WASHINGTON — About 20 million people in the United States tuned in to the first hearing on the House's investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol Thursday night, according to preliminary data released by Nielsen on Friday.

Nielsen noted that while coverage varied, there were 12 networks that carried the hearing live between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET.

But, it is also about what will happen next. Americans must be concerned and forewarned about the uptick in violence nationwide, including the ramped up harassment of marginalized minority groups and attacks on members of the media.

And those willing to harass, threaten and intimidate are unjustly feeling emboldened, like they have good reasons and excuses for acting inappropriately. And they are using social media as both organizer and megaphone.

Much akin to what led to the insurrection on Jan. 6.

In recent weeks, since several mass shootings in the United States, the chatter has elevated to the point of becoming shrill.

According to a report by the Associated Press released Friday morning, White nationalists and supremacists, on accounts often run by young men, are building thriving, macho communities across social media platforms like Instagram, Telegram and TikTok, evading detection with coded hashtags and innuendo.

“Their snarky memes and trendy videos are riling up thousands of followers on divisive issues, like abortion, guns, immigration and LGBTQ rights. The Department of Homeland Security warned Tuesday that such skewed framing of the subjects could drive extremists to violently attack public places across the U.S. in the coming months,” the AP article notes.

These types of threats and racist ideology have become so commonplace on social media that it’s nearly impossible for law enforcement to separate internet ramblings from dangerous, potentially violent people, Michael German, who infiltrated white supremacy groups as an FBI agent, told the Senate Judiciary Committee this week. The problem is: So many false alarms drown out threats, he testified.

We are seeing more references to hate-filled ideologies. Authorities are learning about more coded messaging urging on violence and fear. They are seeing recruitment efforts. (A closer look reveals hundreds of posts steeped in sexist, anti-semitic, racist and homophobic content, the AP notes.)

As a nation, we are seeing compelling evidence — visual and spoken — that are leading to carnage and intimidation.

The concern is that Jan. 6 may have signaled a new normal. That truly does put democracy in danger.