#news from the states

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

By Hugh Jackson

Donald Trump along with the Republican National Committee and the Nevada Republican Party, both wholly owned Trump subsidiaries, sued Nevada Friday saying any mail ballots that are not received by or on Election Day must not be counted.

Nevada law requires mail ballots to be counted as long as they are postmarked no later than Election Day and received by county election officials within four days after Election Day.

The suit is almost identical to one Trump’s Republicans filed in Mississippi(!?) early this year. (Yet again Nevada is the Mississippi of the West, but this time in a different way.)

Yes, Republican advocacy of “state’s rights” has always been situational.

Other nearly identical suits to disenfranchise a segment of the mailing electorate have already been dismissed (by Trump-appointed judges by the way) in Illinois and North Dakota.

Trump & Friends keep filing the suits anyway, and presumably more are on the way in the 19 states and territories that require ballots to be counted after Election Day provided they’re post-marked by or on Election Day.

Even if Trump loses all the suits, they are a vehicle for casting aspersions on democracy and another means to try to dishonestly discredit election results in advance. (As Trump said this week, “If everything’s honest, I’ll gladly accept the results.…If it’s not, you have to fight for the right of the country.” Everyone knows what that means.)

But an additional motive was at work in Trump’s suit in deep red Mississippi: Trump is shopping for a Trumpy federal judge who will make a Trump-friendly ruling that will trigger appeals, maybe go to the Trump-McConnell Supreme Court, and possibly set national precedent and, hence, national law.

In other words, nullify ballots that arrive after Election Day even if they’re postmarked before Election Day in Mississippi, and nullify them nationwide in the process.

Meanwhile, the suit filed in Nevada is only one of many that Trump and Republicans have promised/threatened to file this year in battleground states as part of a concerted and deliberate effort to harass election officials and their employees while maligning and attempting to discredit democracy.

At the very least, the suits will be a time-consuming nuisance for people working in state and local election offices in states across the nation.

At the very worst, given the Weltanschauung of the Trump-packed U.S. judicial system, there is always the possibility – in defiance of what thus far has been ruled to be logic, case law, and constitutional interpretation – that the Republicans could prevail and scrap all ballots that arrive after Election Day, even if those ballots were postmarked before it.

Trump and Republicans would genuinely welcome anything that curbs voting by mail – or more specifically, its impact.

Remember all the Nevada Republicans howling and squealing in 2020 about how mail ballots were super vulnerable to fraud? And then remember how the only example of mail voting fraud that came to light was the MAGA guy who said somebody stole his deceased wife’s ballot and fraudulently voted on her behalf? And then it turned out the ballot stealer/fraudulent voter was none other than the MAGA guy himself?

That unsavory incident came after years of Trump, customarily without a shred of evidence, falsely asserting that voting by mail was intrinsically fraudulent.

He’s continued making those false claims in 2024. “We have to get rid of mail-in ballots because once you have mail-in ballots, you have crooked elections,” Trump said earlier this year.

But last month Trump changed his tune, and now is encouraging voting by mail.

Why the flip-flop?

Probably for the same reason there is no repetition of 2020-style evidence-free blathering about mail voting being susceptible to fraud in the suit Trump, the RNC, and the Nevada Republican/Fake Electors Party filed Friday.

They’re not suing because voting by mail is, as Trump put it, “crooked.”

They’re suing to curb the number of mail votes that get counted for the simple reason that Democrats vote by mail more than Republicans do.

“In Nevada’s 2020 general election,” the suit says, “60.3% of Democratic voters voted by mail, compared to just 36.9% of Republican voters.”

Perhaps Trump and Republicans shouldn’t have spent the last several years screeching lies about how “crooked” mail voting is.

Dang. Hoist by their own petard. What to do?

Simple.

If you can’t beat ‘em, nullify their votes.

[smashing-yng-man]

Sure wish that our Cherokee governor, Kevin Shit, was as charitable as the Cherokee Nation.

[troythecatfish]

This measure, if passed in Senate, would make it illegal for the US State Department to cite genocide statistics.

In other words, illegal to do its job.

[tomi4i]

[scramratz]

[chaithetics]

EDIT: I've now made a post that you can read here with more information about the ICJ rulings, their powers and what we can do with this ruling here. I had to this morning and will continue to delete, report, and block all comments/asks that are anti-Arab, zionist, Islamophobic, racist, and/or antisemitic.

We already knew this but the ICJ has now ruled that Israel's continued occupation of Palestine is illegal and needs to end ASAP.

They found that Israel's occupation does not give it the right of sovereignty over the West Bank and Gaza and that it is not a temporary occupation but is an illegal, permanent and discriminatory annexation. The ICJ also found violence against Palestinians, Israeli exploitation of Palestinian natural resources, transfer of civilian population (settlers and companies/organisations), extension of Israeli laws to replace local Palestinian laws, forced displacement of Palestinians, confiscation of Palestinian land, annexation. That Israel's 'security concerns' are not valid justifications for any of these measures.

The ICJ has ordered Israel to end its presence in the West Bank and Gaza immediately and to cease all new settlement activity, return all lands and assets to Palestinians that they've ceased since 1967 and that includes archives and items of cultural significance, evacuate all of their settlers from the settlements, pay compensation, and repeal all laws that maintain this occupation and discrimination. The ICJ is not legally-binding but does carry significant political weight and this ruling is important for continuing to advocate for Palestine and to put pressure on our government's to do the right thing and for them to put pressure on Israel. Keep contacting your representatives!

[taviamoth]

EDIT: Read the additions to this post! Turns out they made a vague commitment. I'm keeping it up but turning reblogs off.

[la7ma-mafrooma]

Here's a map of the original names of Palestinian cities before its colonization.

Why does it matter to know this? Because changing the names as part of colonialism is not new in history.

Learning about the history of colonialism and imperialism is important. When we say educate yourself on these matters, it's because you need to learn to recognize patterns and prevent them from reoccurring.

The idea of the West being civilized is all a sham. The idea of Arabs being terrorists is a mere lie similar to the endless lies that have been told about Native Americans and many other indigenous groups.

If you're going to use the word 'terrorist', it's about time you use it on the real enemy.

Free Palestine.

[jujusjunk]

Issued minutes ago.

Read More

"The prime ministers of Canada, Australia and New Zealand have issued a joint statement saying a

"humanitarian ceasefire is urgently needed" in Gaza and that they are "gravely concerned" about looming Israeli military operations in Rafah.

"A military operation into Rafah would be catastrophic.

About 1.5 million Palestinians are taking refuge in the area, including many of our citizens and their families," the statement reads.

"With the humanitarian situation in Gaza already dire, the impacts on Palestinian civilians from an expanded military operation would be devastating. We urge the Israeli government not to go down this path."

The statement - cosigned by Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese, Justin Trudeau and Christopher Luxon - also said that Israel "must listen to its friends and it must listen to the international community" and that Palestinian civilians can't be made to "pay the price of defeating Hamas""

ONLY TOOK 130 DAYS

[mosura780]

https://x.com/briebriejoy/status/1771603664794259513?t=OgRWHmadpYsBrItLGy902w&s=09

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

going through my old journals as part of therapy homework and i'm reading a section written in the emotional wreckage of a full-on breakdown when i get hit with this line:

There is never a satisfying answer to ‘Why didn’t they love me?’

like wow babe. good fucking point

[0x28]

The US has blocked a statement, put forward by Algeria and backed by all UNSC’s 15 members except the US, to the UN Security Council that would have condemned Israel for the killing of more than 100 Palestinians awaiting food aid in northern Gaza.

The US claimed it is trying to verify the “circumstances around how people died” to see if “we can find some language that everyone can agree on”.

[troythecatfish]

Israeli soldiers have executed disabled Palestinian youth Mohammed Salah Bahar in cold blood after confining him in his family home for a week.

Source: Mintpress

[tomi4i]

💀

[motherofplatypus]

[Original video. Downloaded for easier access.]

[amaraabbz]

Hello! Please direct your attention to this post. Today I will be sharing Lobna’s story. Lobna is 30 years old and she has 3 children and she lives in the Gaza Strip. She wishes dearly to help her children escape to a safer place but that is becoming increasingly difficult as the day goes on. Her 10 year old son Mohammed is injured and they do not have access to medical care. She has lost her home and now lives in a tent, I could not find any verification so please if you are able to please reblog and share the link. They are VERY far from their goal.

€65/€50,000