Notices by Chuck Darwin (cdarwin@c.im), page 4

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday would not commit to calling Congress back into session before the election
-- after President Joe Biden pressed congressional leaders about potential funding shortfalls in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

In an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Johnson was asked about Biden’s letter to congressional leaders on Friday requesting more money for federal disaster recovery efforts -- and after Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned that the department doesn’t have enough money to get through the rest of hurricane season.

In his letter, the president urged Congress to restore funding to the Small Business Administration’s disaster loan program,
which was facing potential funding shortfalls even before Hurricane Helene devastated parts of the Southeast.
The president noted that the White House requested more funding for the program as Congress prepared a short-term funding bill that passed last month to avert a government shutdown.
Pressed on whether he would call Congress back into session before the election, Johnson replied,
“We’ll be back in session immediately after the election.”
“That’s 30 days from now.
The thing about these hurricanes and disasters of this magnitude is it takes a while to calculate the actual damages, and the states are going to need some time to do that,” Johnson said

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/mike-johnson-wont-commit-bringing-house-back-election-hurricane-relief-rcna174174

The national Republican Party has broken functional government

Today’s Senate, where you need 60 votes to get virtually anything done, is a historical anomaly.
Its roots can be traced to the unyielding GOP opposition to President Barack Obama in 2009 and 2010,
when Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell turned the Senate into a dysfunctional body in which priority legislation was routinely subject to a filibuster.

When Republicans won a Senate majority in 2014, McConnell found a new way to deny Obama victories:
blocking his judicial appointments.
These actions were an expression of an attitude popular among Republican voters and leaders alike:
that Democrats can never be legitimate leaders, even if elected, and thus do not deserve to wield power.

Some of the most consequential Republican attacks on democracy happen at the state level

A map from the Brennan Center for Justice shows every state that passed a restriction on the franchise between 2010 and 2019.
These restrictions, ranging from voter ID laws to felon disenfranchisement, were generally passed by Republican majorities with the intent of hurting turnout among Democratic-leaning constituencies.

Republican state legislators were sometimes explicit about this:
“Voter ID ... is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the state of Pennsylvania,” then-state House Majority Leader Mike Turzai bragged during the 2012 presidential election cycle.

Because Republicans dominated the 2010 midterm elections, Republican statehouses got to control the post-2010 census redistricting process at both the House and state legislative level,
leading to extreme gerrymandering in Republican-controlled states unlike anything in Democratic ones.

Conservative control of the Supreme Court enabled this state-level push.
In 2013, the Court struck down the Voting Rights Act’s “preclearance” requirement
— that states with a history of racial discrimination would be required to get permission from the Justice Department on their maps and other major changes to electoral law.
In 2019, another Court ruling paved the way for further partisan gerrymandering.

The Trump presidency was a test of Republican attitudes toward democracy.
Time and again, the president abused his authority in ways that would have been unthinkable under previous presidents.
Time and again, members of Congress, state party leaders, right-wing media stars, and rank-and-file voters looked the other way
— or even cheered him on.

Two NBC polls taken about a year apart show that support for Trump’s first and second impeachment among Republicans remained exactly the same among Republicans:
8 percent.

Trump was impeached the first time because he tried to interfere with the integrity of the 2020 presidential election
— attempting to strong-arm the Ukrainian president into opening up a bogus investigation into Joe Biden.
Trump was impeached the second time because he ginned up a mob to attack the Capitol to disrupt the counting of the votes from the Electoral College.
And yet in both cases, the percentage of Republicans who supported impeaching him was the same
— a measly 8 percent.
There’s just very little popular appetite in the GOP for punishing anti-democratic excesses by Trump, regardless of the circumstances.

All the reasons for the GOP’s turn against democracy
— backlash to racial progress,
rising partisanship,
a powerful right-wing media sphere
— remain in force after Trump.

The leadership is still afraid of Trump and the anti-democratic MAGA movement he commands.

More fundamentally, they are still committed to a political approach that can’t win in a majoritarian system,
requiring the defense of the undemocratic status quo in institutions like the Senate and in state-level electoral rules.

Republicans still control the bulk of statehouses and are gearing up for a new round of voter suppression bills and extreme gerrymandering in electorally vital states like Georgia and Texas.

It’s very hard to see how any of this gets better.
It’s very easy to see how it gets worse.

The Republican Party is the biggest threat to American democracy today.
It is a radical, obstructionist faction that has become hostile to the most basic democratic norm:
that the other side should get to wield power when it wins elections.

A few years ago, these statements may have sounded like partisan Democratic hyperbole.
But in the wake of the January 6 attack on the Capitol and Trump’s acquittal in the Senate on the charge of inciting it,
they seem more a plain description of where we’re at as a country.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22274429/republicans-anti-democracy-13-charts

For the fourth year in a row, President Biden is trying to eliminate federal tax breaks for coal, oil and gas companies. But fossil fuel subsidies have proven difficult to stop.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/15/climate/tax-breaks-oil-gas-us.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Extremists and far-right movements don’t just show up on the steps of the Supreme Court on the first Monday of October out of nowhere.

They’re working in communities across the country seeking to bring cases to shape the law in what often appear to be small ways but are the pathway to a law and a jurisprudence in this country that does not represent all of us and that does not fundamentally serve the aims of democracy.

Project 2025 is not just a document about the next presidential administration
—or what could be the next presidential administration.

It’s a manifesto that reflects actual things that are happening in our courts today.

For those of us that have the privilege of being lawyers or court watchers, part of our work is to look this extremism in the face and not blink or deny it, but to understand that it is here and that we all have work to do to combat it.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/10/supreme-court-2024-election-plans.html

Elon Musk was there to convince people to join his latest startup, xAI. 
There were mandatory metal detector screenings -- ID checks. -- and security guards everywhere.
It was held by Elon Musk at the original Mission District headquarters of OpenAI,
(which Musk cofounded before leaving after reportedly failing to take it over).
The timing felt intentional.
That same day, OpenAI was hosting its annual Dev Day across town, where CEO Sam Altman had spoken hours earlier to a packed auditorium of developers.
The Silicon Valley rumor mill was buzzing about OpenAI closing in on the largest round of funding ever for a startup,
surpassing the amount Musk himself had just raised for xAI four months earlier. 
Around 8:30PM, the AI-generated music cut off, and Musk, surrounded by bodyguards, climbed onto a table in a sectioned-off area to address the room of engineers.
He began talking about why he started xAI and moved it to the same office where he helped launch OpenAI nearly a decade ago.
“We want to create digital superintelligence that is as benign as possible,” Musk said at the Tuesday gathering, according to a partial recording of his remarks shared with The Verge.
He then called on those in the crowd “to join xAI and help build the intelligence and build useful applications to derive from that intelligence.”
https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/3/24261160/elon-musk-xai-recruiting-party-openai-dev-day-sam-altman

Repeal Gun Industry Immunity

The "Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act" (PLCAA) 🆘blocks legal responsibility for gun manufacturers that have failed to innovate and make guns safer, and for manufacturers, distributors, and dealers with irresponsible, reckless and negligent sales practices that contribute to the flood of illegal firearms in our communities.

✅REPEAL THE GUN INDUSTRY
IMMUNITY LAW
(H.R. 3214 / S. 1779)

Since PLCAA passed in 2005, not a single gun manufacturer accused of negligence has gone to trial. The gun industry’s broad immunity from legal accountability must be repealed.

https://www.everytown.org/solutions/industry-reform/

In February 2022,
after enduring years of litigation to establish their right to sue firearm manufacturers under an exception to the PLCAA gun industry immunity law,
the families of the children and educators murdered at #Sandy #Hook elementary school in 2012 reached a record $73 million settlement with the manufacturer that made and marketed the shooter’s assault weapon.

But if the same families had suffered the same unspeakable tragedy in many other states, they may never have been able to seek justice at all
–not due to PLCAA but because of similar state-level gun industry immunity laws.

At present, ❌32 states provide broad #immunity to the gun industry in a way similar to PLCAA and/or prohibit cities or other local government entities from bringing lawsuits against at least some gun industry defendants.

https://giffords.org/lawcenter/gun-laws/policy-areas/other-laws-policies/gun-industry-immunity/

Donald Trump’s foul-mouthed migrant rant captured in private pitch to donors

Donald Trump unleashed a foul-mouthed tirade about undocumented #immigrants and predicted that this “could be the #last #election we ever have”
if Kamala Harris wins during a private fundraising dinner this summer.

The Guardian obtained a 12-minute recording of a speech that the Republican presidential nominee gave at a dinner on 10 August in Aspen, Colorado,
👉 where attendees were required to donate anywhere from $25,000 to $500,000 a couple.

Trump devoted most of his address to #border security and #immigration, recycling xenophobic claims now familiar from his rallies.

“Radical leftwing lunatics” want people to come in from #prisons, mental institutionsand insane #asylums, he asserted without evidence, adding that the US was harbouring “a record number of #terrorists”.

The former president insisted that “smart, very streetwise” leaders of Venezuela and other South American countries were sending murderers and drug dealers to the US to reduce their own crime rates, relieve the burden on their prisons and save money.

Trump cited a false example of 22 people he claimed had come to the US after being released from prison in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. -- “We said, ‘Where do you come from?’ They said, ‘Prison’.
-- ‘What did you do?’ ‘None of your fucking business what we did.’ You know why? Because they’re murderers.”

The candidate added, “I hate to use that foul language”, apparently recognising that his use of the F-word went further than his campaign rallies. -- The Congolese government has said there is no truth to Trump’s statements.

The candidate went on: “These are the toughest people. These people are coming in from Africa, from the Middle East. They’re coming in from all parts of Asia, the bad parts, the parts where they’re rough, and the only thing good is they make our criminals look extremely nice. They make our Hell’s Angels look like the nicest people on earth.”

Studies show that immigrants are less likely to commit crime than native-born Americans.

Trump flew to Aspen on a Gulfstream G-550 jet once owned by #Jeffrey #Epstein, the late disgraced financier and convicted sex offender, after his own private plane – a Boeing 757 known colloquially as Trump Force One – encountered engine trouble.

The dinner was held at the $38m home of the investors and art collectors ♦️John and Amy #Phelan.
Guests included the casino mogul Steve #Wynn, billionaire businessman Thomas #Peterffy, Texas governor Greg #Abbott, Florida congressman Byron #Donalds, Colorado congresswoman Lauren #Boebert and former Colorado senator Cory #Gardner.

Trump, who instigated an attempted coup on 6 January 2021 and has claimed that his Democratic rival Harris poses the true threat to democracy, used the exclusive event to warn of dire consequences if she becomes president.

“Look, we gotta win and if we don’t win this country’s going to hell,” he said.
“You know, there’s an expression, this could be the last election we ever have and it’s an expression that I really believe, and I believe that this could be the last election we ever have.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/04/trump-fundraiser-recording?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Two Harvard students have created an eerie demo of how smart glasses can use facial recognition tech to instantly dox people’s identities, phone numbers, and addresses.

Students Nguyen and Ardayfio are shown chatting up complete strangers on public transit -- pretending that they know them based on information gleaned from the tech.

The most unsettling part is the demo uses current, widely available technology like the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and public databases.

AnhPhu Nguyen, one of the two students, posted the video showcasing the tech in action that was then picked up by 404 Media.

Dubbed I-XRAY, the tech works by using the Meta smart glasses’ ability to livestream video to Instagram.

A computer program then monitors that stream and uses AI to identify faces.

Those photos are then fed into public databases to find names, addresses, phone numbers, and even relatives.

That information is then fed back through a phone app.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/2/24260262/ray-ban-meta-smart-glasses-doxxing-privacy

Hi, it's #Eugene #Vindman.

I am about to take the stage to debate my MAGA opponent.
But before I do, I need to know I have this grassroots team behind me, ready to defeat him.

Can you please rush $10 to my campaign before the debate begins?
https://vindman4va.com/

A new tropical depression has formed in the eastern tropical Atlantic -- and may strengthen into a significant hurricane later this week.

For updates, visit the National Hurricane Center.

https://mapstodon.space/@zoom_earth/113222275766519050

Scientists just discovered why Earth’s atmosphere is leaking

Since the late 1960s, satellites over the poles detected an extremely fast flow of particles escaping into space
— that were being leaked by our atmosphere.

Now, scientists have discovered a global electric field that explains how particles from our atmosphere are catapulted into space.

Scientists suspected that gravity and the magnetic field alone could not fully explain the stream.

There had to be another source creating this leaky faucet.

It turns out the mysterious force is a previously undiscovered global electric field, a recent study found.

The field is only about the strength of a watch battery
— but it’s enough to thrust lighter ions from our atmosphere into space.

It’s also generated unlike other electric fields on Earth.

This newly discovered aspect of our planet provides clues about the evolution of our atmosphere, perhaps explaining why Earth is habitable.

The electric field is “an agent of chaos,” said Glyn Collinson, a NASA rocket scientist and lead author of the study.

“It undoes gravity. ... Without it, Earth would be very different.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/09/29/earth-electric-field-discovery/

Trump on #Project2025:

Heritage will lay the groundwork and detailed plans for what our movement will do and your movement will do when the American people give us a colossal mandate to save America

And that's coming
That's coming

Balanced lessons on missions and the gold rush in California

🔸There is a flip side to the narrative about the cultural richness that Spanish #colonists brought to California.

🔸The discovery of #gold at Sutters Mill in 1848 did more than just spark the largest settler migration in the country’s history.

🔥In both cases, the damage to the lives and cultures of the state’s Indigenous populations was profound.

At the time, there were far more #Indigenous #people than the Spanish or European-descended Americans.

In its effort to provide Native-led historical instruction, the "National Museum of the American Indian" has developed curricula that provides perspective about the people who were there long before anyone else.

Join Native America Calling to learn about NMAI’s educational goal and how it’s being used

https://indianz.com/News/2024/09/23/native-america-calling-balanced-lessons-on-missions-and-the-gold-rush-in-california/

The majority of Americans want to ditch the #Electoral #College and 💥"would instead prefer to see the winner of the presidential election be the person who wins the most votes nationally."

Pew Research Center surveyed 9,720 adults across the United States in late August and early September, and found that
✅ 63% want to abolish the process outlined in the U.S. Constitution
and replace it with a #popular #vote approach,
compared with just 35% who favor keeping the current system.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/electoral-college-map-2024

Sheldon Whitehouse here.

President Biden and Vice President Harris endorsed sweeping reforms to the Supreme Court,
including 18-year term limits for justices and an enforceable code of ethics.

I've been leading the way on reforming the Supreme Court for many years.
This has been a long, and at times lonely, fight.
But we've got momentum now.

My SCERT Act, which would create real ethical guardrails at the Supreme Court, is through committee and ready for a floor vote.

AND I have the Supreme Court Biennial Appointments and Term Limits Act to establish eighteen-year term limits for justices.

Will you chip in before our end-of-quarter fundraising deadline on September 30th to support my re-election campaign
so I can keep building on our momentum to clean up the mess at the
Court That Dark Money Built?

https://go.whitehouseforsenate.com/9261