new-stories

An Alaska lawmaker was removed from the state's discrimination board after defending a license plate with the text, "3REICH," a reference to Nazi Germany.

According to The Washington Post, as most of the state's lawmakers condemned the license plate, Jamie Allard, a member of the Anchorage Assembly who also serves on the commission designated to investigate discriminatory complaints, argued otherwise.

As the Post reports, Allard defended the Nazi-inspired license plate captured on the now-viral photo as she argued a different perspective on the meaning of the personalized text. In a now-deleted Facebook post, Allard claimed, "If you speak the language fluently, you would know that [is] the English definition of the word. The progressives have put a spin on it and created their own definition."

Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) made the decision to remove Allard from the Alaska State Commission for Human Rights. His spokesperson Jeff Turne released a statement to address the situation. "The comments made by Ms. Allard regarding the license plate controversy have become a distraction for the Human Rights Commission and its mission to ensure equality and fair treatment of all Alaskans," the statement said.

Following her removal, Allard emailed her response to Alaska Public Media. Insisting that she was attacked, Allard claimed to be in agreement with it being best that she "step aside."

"I appreciate the opportunity to serve Alaskans both on the Anchorage Assembly and previously on the Human Rights Commission. I unequivocally condemn racism in every form, and support the mission of the commission 100%," she said adding, "In light of recent attacks against me, I feel it is best to step aside, so the commission can focus on its work, and it will allow me more time to focus on my Assembly duties."

If a U.S. Senate vote held this week is any indication, it's most unlikely that former President Donald Trump will be convicted in his second impeachment trial: all but five Senate Republicans voted that the trial is unconstitutional. However, Law & Crime reporter Jerry Lambe stresses, in an article published after that vote, that although the Senate will probably acquit Trump a second time, the trial could increase Trump's chances of facing a criminal prosecution.

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky proposed a vote on the constitutionality of Trump's second impeachment trial, arguing that the trial is unconstitutional because Trump is no longer president. The Democrat-controlled Senate voted 55-45 that the trial is constitutional — not unconstitutional — but most of the senators who voted in favor of the trial going forward were Democrats. The only GOP senators who disagreed with Paul's resolution were Utah's Mitt Romney, Maine's Susan Collins, Alaska's Lisa Murkowski, Pennsylvania's Pat Toomey and Nebraska's Ben Sasse.

Following the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol Building, the U.S. House of Representatives indicted Trump on one article of impeachment: incitement to insurrection. Paul knew that his resolution declaring the trial unconstitutional wouldn't pass, but he wanted to force other senators to go on the record with where they stand — and most Senate Republicans obviously don't believe the trial should even take place. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and other Republicans have been arguing that because Trump is no longer president, a Senate trial would be "pointless."

"The position of the majority of Republicans, which argues the proceeding is pointless, also suggests that lame-duck presidents are essentially not bound by the laws designed to constrain them," Lambe explains. "But legal experts pointed out that even with acquittal seemingly inevitable, the trial itself could spell trouble for Trump."

Albert Goins, a Minnesota-based attorney, has argued that the evidence presented against Trump during a Senate trial could be subsequently used against him in a criminal case. Goins tweeted:

CNN legal analyst Elie Honig tweeted:

Lambe notes that "several defense attorneys who represent those arrested at the U.S. Capitol Siege on January 6 have said their clients acted specifically because they believed Trump told them to do so."

Two Arizona Republican lawmakers who traveled to Washington, D.C. ahead of former President Donald Trump's "Save America" rally and subsequent riot at the U.S. Capitol are now refusing to release their phone records.

Under the state's public records law, the Arizona Republic requested for the state's House of Representatives to provide any correspondence between Rep. Mark Finchem, (R-Oro Valley), and then-Rep. Anthony Kern, (R-Glendale). However, the private attorney for Finchem and Kern both pushed back against the demand arguing that any phone records on their "personal devices" cannot be categorized as public records, according to Arizona Central.

The attorney's letter also acknowledged the FBI investigation into the U.S. Capitol siege as it argued that even if the two lawmakers did opt to release their records under the public records law, "the threat of criminal prosecution gives rise to certain Constitutional rights that may overcome the duty to disclose otherwise public documents under Arizona's public records law."

Arizona courts have, in the past, ruled otherwise. Although the devices are categorized as "personal," the courts "have ruled that records on a public official's private device can be considered a public record if those records relate to public business and the phone was used for a public purpose," Arizona Central reports.

In fact, House staff issued a warning to lawmakers urging them to be cautious when conducting official business on personal devices as it would lead to records on their personal devices possibly being made public. They were also informed that they would have to disclose the information if requested to.

Constitutional law expert Dan Barr argued that the device type is an irrelevant factor. Despite the Republican lawmakers' arguments, Barr noted that the nature of the communication and capacity are the key points attorneys can argue.

Barr noted, "Look at the nature of the communication. Are you acting in an official capacity?"

So, what was their purpose for traveling to Washington, D.C.? Finchem and Kern expressed support for a "joint resolution" to invalidate Arizona's general election results. Their trip to D.C. appears to have been related to their previous efforts to overturn the election.

In fact, Fincham claims he had a letter to deliver to former Vice President Mike Pence and reportedly had plans to speak at one of the rallies leading up to the Capitol riots.

He also shared a social media post that read, "What happens when the People feel they have been ignored, and Congress refuses to acknowledge rampant fraud."

While Fincham claims to have left the area before violence erupted, a photo of Kern appears to show him standing on the steps of the U.S. Capitol the day it was stormed by the angry mob. Kern also argues that by Jan. 6, he had already "completed his active service as a public official at the time of the riots." The lawmaker had run for office again but lost his bid for re-election.

Mike Lindell, the pro-Trump founder and CEO of My Pillow who falsely claims Trump won re-election got permanently booted off Twitter Tuesday night for spreading lies about the election, but in an off-the-rails interview on WABC radio Wednesday Lindell claimed that Twitter was "running" his account days earlier, the first time he was suspended.

"Well I've been fighting Jack Dorsey and Twitter and Facebook and you wouldn't believe that about two weeks ago, or three weeks ago when I, when they had that new evidence of the [voting] machine fraud, I put that up on Twitter," Lindell told the "Bernie & Sid" show.

(There was no voting machine fraud.)

"Now they took my Twitter down there for about seven or about 12 hours, when it came down I put it up again. And this time, I want everyone to listen to this, they took my Twitter, or they took me off of Twitter, but they left my account up there and they were running it, they, they were, they were running it, was, my friends are going, 'Mike, Are you on, are you still up on Twitter?' I go, 'yeah but I can't control it,' they were liking things and and tagging things that weren't me that's where my friends."

"They would retweet things under my name. And they would retweet things so they wouldn't type things under, but they and then I tried to take stuff down, and I got a letter from Twitter Germany, I said, or was the email, and it said, 'You are not allowed to take this down. Penal Code 601 of the Twitter code,' I said, 'what is going on?"

Less than two weeks ago the internet exploded when Lindell was photographed walking into the White House with notes that appeared to mention "martial law" and the "Insurrection Act."

Listen:

Online news outlet Just Security, which focuses on 'rigorous analysis of law, rights, and U.S. national security policy,' has created an intense 10-minute compilation splicing together video clips from events leading up to the Capitol insurrection alongside Donald Trump's speech to the mob before they marched to and into the Capitol.

Using videos that were created and uploaded by users of the gutter of right-wing social media dumpster Parler (before the FBI lights came on and users started to scramble), the events of Jan. 6 are becoming clearer. The original video was collected by ProPublica and made available to the public, and Just Security was able to create more context for Donald Trump's speech, using the crowd responses. Set chronologically, the video is a damning piece of evidence that could and should be used in the impeachment trial of the twice-impeached former president. It shows the crowd reacting in real-time to Donald Trump's calls to "fight" for him at the Capitol, as well as whipping the crowd into a white-hot frenzy toward his own vice president.

Just Security reporters Ryan Goodman and Justin Hendrix interviewed numerous "former senior Justice Department officials and former federal prosecutors" to get their takes on the video compilation and the result is a roadmap into the possible second impeachment of Donald Trump.

The video begins with footage of Donald Trump speaking to the Jan. 6 Stop the Steal crowd, highlighting his claims that "We will never give up. We will never concede. You don't concede when there is theft involved," and "We want to be so nice. We want to be so respectful of everybody, including bad people."

Video of the crowd obtained from Parler shows people yelling and cheering, and responding to Trump's call to action by yelling things like "Storm the Capitol," "Invade the Capitol building," and "Take the Capitol." Calling the "left" of the United States, "ruthless," Trump continuously called on then-Vice President Mike Pence to "do what's right for the Constitution and the country."

Trump hits the war and fighting metaphor again, saying that "Now it is up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy," and how the Stop The Steal folks will now march down to the Capitol building and make themselves a herd heard. The video then pivots to the march down to the Capitol building, showing charlatan luminaries like InfoWars' Alex Jones telling the crowd to go to the "other side of the Capitol building," where he claims Trump will be.

Later, the video shows a crowd at the door of the Capitol building chanting "We want Pence," over and over again. It's not a bunch of people calling for Mike Pence to speak—that's something that's never happened in America, frankly. A man inside of the Capitol building is videotaped talking into a landline phone in the building, asking for Speaker Pelosi and Mike Pence, saying "We are coming for you, bitch!"

Other video taped next to scaffolding erected at the Capitol building shows a guy speaking into a megaphone, saying he hopes Mike Pence goes to the "gallows," and that he would like to see him in front of a "firing squad." I wonder why Mike Pence didn't come out to nod paternalistically at the MAGA supporters, like he has for the past four years?

Video inside of the Capitol building hallways shows big bearded faketriots screaming at D.C. and Capitol police, telling them that "You're outnumbered. There's a million of us out there, and we are listening to Donald Trump—your boss."

The chant of "Fight for Trump" continues.

At 4:17 PM that day, after hours of inaction, Trump released his weak sauce Twitter video, once again calling the election "fraudulent," but telling his supporters to go home. This is followed by video of Mr. QAnon Narcissistic Mascot Jacob Chansley saying that Trump told them to go home and that the rioters had "won the day," because it had sent the message they would remove officials from office "one way or another" if they didn't overturn the results of the election—or whatever demands they come up with, I guess?

Finally, they cut in MAGA acolytes like Texas realtor Jenna Ryan, who chartered a private jet to go and storm the Capitol building. After first telling people she hadn't gone in the building, only to have her own footage and a lot of other footage show that she was lying, the video has a local news interview with her saying that she thought she was following Trump's instructions. She was, but that's still a crime.

Former Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Elie Honig tells Just Security that "The House impeachment managers should consider rolling this tape as their final exhibit at the trial. It shows, clearly and viscerally, how President Trump's words in fact incited the insurrectionist mob — particularly when taken in combination with Trump's own tweet, after the riot, praising the mob as 'great patriots' who should 'remember this day forever.'"

Former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania and former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Harry Litman disagrees with Honig on strategy, but not on how damning this all is:

From a legal standpoint, a prosecutor in a case charging Trump with seditious conspiracy would play this tape in an opening, and then say, "Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, the evidence will show that the insurrectionists came to Washington that day because they believed the President had called them there to do their patriotic duty; once there, the President worked them into a demented rage, telling them they had to fight like hell, and that he would be there with them at the Capitol. They went with blood in their eyes screaming 'Fight for Trump!,' threatening the lives of Nancy Pelosi and Mike Pence, and proceeded to storm and lay waste to the Capitol, the sanctum of our democracy, all while President Trump viewed the bedlam with delight from his safe perch back at the White House. They were criminals and deserved to be punished; but any fair-minded person will see from this evidence and more that we will bring forward that it was the President who lit the match and threw it on the fire because he wanted – and at a minimum reasonably foresaw – that they would become an out-of-control mob."

In lieu of real evidence of fraud, the Trump administration and its surrogates—and those wanting to make some last-minute money off the MAGA crowds—promoted the idea that the entire election of Joe Biden over Donald Trump was rigged. In every form of media, at every opportunity, they told millions of Americans that not only were their suspicions of problematic votes cast, but that in fact, a coordinated effort to overthrow the "landslide" victory of Donald Trump was underway.

You can argue that the people who believe the things that Donald Trump says are being conned. They are. You can say they truly believed that their attempt to force Congress to throw out millions of American votes was just and constitutional. You can say all of those things because Donald Trump, the president of the United States, told them exactly that. Other elected officials, including senators, told them it was true.

The fact of the matter is that Trump's guilt is very easily verified. He purposely misled his supporters and then attempted to have them illegally overthrow our government. The only defense the MAGA insurrectionists being arrested right now have amounts to an insanity plea. They believed the government was out to get them and they needed to violently defend themselves because they believed they were about to be hurt by magic. It's not a worthwhile defense in most of their cases, and hopefully, they can watch from a jail cell's closed-captioned television set as their fearful leader and liar is convicted of crimes against our Constitution and the Executive office of our country.

As of the publishing of this story, Georgia has 722,062 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Georgia is passing 12,000 confirmed deaths due to COVID-19, with more than 48,498 Georgians being admitted to the hospital because of the virus. Over 8,000 people have ended up in intensive care units across the Peach State. Like most places throughout the United States, the pandemic is very much not under control. Like many places in the country, the reason for this is bad leadership combined with a federal government response that was terrible from the start. Republican operators promoting bad science and attacking public health and safety measures has also eroded the efficacy of public health departments across the country's advice.

Joe Ripley of 11 Alive News reports that Republican Rep. David Clark of Buford, Georgia, was escorted out of the state Capitol chambers Tuesday morning for refusing to take a COVID-19 test. This is a part of a set of protocols established by house leadership along with advice from the health department. Ripley, in video after being escorted out, said Clark hadn't wanted to make a big deal about everything, and then proceeded to make a big deal about everything: "I even told leadership over two weeks ago, and last night, let's not make it a big deal, can we talk about this, I'm not trying to make it an issue, I'm not trying to make it political." What exactly Clark expected his fellow human beings to do, stuck in a small space with an asshole that frequently doesn't wear a mask and refuses to take a COVID-19 test, is not clear. Republicans with piss-poor health habits have put various lawmakers health in jeopardy time and time again due to similar selfish stances.

Well, radio news anchor Rahul Bali reports that Clark just lost his office space across the street from the state Capitol. This of course, is a temporary measure, and will be remedied if Clark wants to be a big boy and "participate in safety protocols and not put other members and staff in harm's way."

Clark told reporters that his big problem was that, "I check my temperature when I come in, I go in the chambers, I wear my mask, I follow the protocols that they want in the chamber. But two tests a week is wrong, on my conscious, when teachers can't get it and first responders can't get it. We get two tests when nobody else gets the same thing out there. My grandma doesn't get two tests." The idea that Clark's test was taking away from his grandma is idiotic. If his grandma is practicing proper social distancing and public safety protections she will hopefully never need to get a COVID-19 test.

Clark seems to have been protesting a memo sent by Speaker Ralston that outlined the new health and safety protocols for the 2021 legislative session. Sidenote: there's a global pandemic going on.

During the 2021 Session, Georgia Tech will be operating a testing site for General Assembly Members and Capitol Staff. The test that Georgia Tech will be using is a saliva-based PCR test (no nasal swab required) and is intended for asymptomatic individuals only. (In the event that a Member or House staff is symptomatic, they should not report to the Capitol to be tested, but rather should seek out a test off-site. If a Member or House staff has difficulty finding a testing site with availability, they should contact the Office of the Speaker for assistance.) [...]
All Members and House staff will be required to be tested twice weekly during the 2021 Session. House staff must begin testing the week prior to session. All Members shall be tested prior the beginning of the 2021 Session at the testing location of their choosing. In the event that a Member wishes to be tested at the Capitol prior to Session beginning, they should make plans to be at the Capitol between 7:00 AM and 11:00 AM on either Tuesday, January 5, or Thursday, January 7.

Speaker Ralston released a statement saying that "the member in question had been advised numerous times about the requirements and had refused to be tested at any point during this session." It's not about Clark's feelings it's "about preventing the spread of a disease that has killed more than 12,000 Georgians."

Gov. Brian Kemp was asked during a press conference today about Clark's removal from the state House, and tried to walk a circular tightrope of logic in the hopes of not offending the indefensible position of Clark. "I don't really know a whole lot about that but I know that Speaker Ralston and the House leadership has worked with their members and worked with Dr. Tumi's team to set up protocols to be able to keep this building safe during this session." He went on to say that his office also had a testing protocol and everyone should follow the "best practices," and test protocols set up. This is rich coming from a governor who has very directly helped exacerbate the pandemic in his state, for similar choices of political whimsy over good policy.

Gov. Kemp and his new tune.

Gov. Kemp responds to Georgia legislator removed from House for refusing COVID-19 testyoutu.be

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has repeatedly shown support for the execution of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, along with FBI agents, and several prominent Democrats including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Maxine Waters, according to a lengthy examination of her Facebook account by CNN's K-File.

"In one post, from January 2019, Greene liked a comment that said 'a bullet to the head would be quicker' to remove House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In other posts, Greene liked comments about executing FBI agents who, in her eyes, were part of the 'deep state' working against Trump," CNN's Em Steck and Andrew Kaczynski report.

Greene is a freshman member of Congress who has shown support for the dangerous and debunked far right conspiracy theory known as QAnon. The New York Times calls Greene "an avowed QAnon supporter," and describes the cult as "a sprawling set of internet conspiracy theories that allege, falsely, that the world is run by a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophiles who are plotting against Mr. Trump while operating a global child sex-trafficking ring."

QAnon cultists "also believe that, in addition to molesting children, members of this group kill and eat their [child] victims in order to extract a life-extending chemical from their blood."

Greene has also "suggested Pelosi could be executed for treason," CNN notes.

"She's a traitor to our country, she's guilty of treason," Greene said in a Facebook video. "She took an oath to protect American citizens and uphold our laws. And she gives aid and comfort to our enemies who illegally invade our land. That's what treason is. And by our law representatives and senators can be kicked out and no longer serve in our government. And it's, uh, it's a crime punishable by death is what treason is. Nancy Pelosi is guilty of treason."

CNN adds that Greene did not push back against a Facebook commenter who asked, "Now do we get to hang them ?? Meaning H & O ???" They were referring to President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

"Stage is being set," Greene responded. "Players are being put in place. We must be patient. This must be done perfectly or liberal judges would let them off."

In a separate video Greene said Speaker Pelosi will "suffer death or she'll be in prison" for "treason," and suggested Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) was "just as guilty of treason as Nancy Pelosi."

The word "treason" is used in the CNN report ten times.

Greene posted a strange response to CNN's report via Twitter,

Read the full report here.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) called impeachment a "waste of time," and he was drowned in fury and ridicule for sucking up to former president Donald Trump.

The Florida Republican made clear he would not vote to convict Trump for inciting a violent insurrection Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol in a last-ditch effort to stop the certification of President Joe Biden's election win.

"Waste of time impeachment isn't about accountability," Rubio tweeted. "It's about demands from vengeance from the radical left. And a new 'show' for the 'Political Entertainment Industry.'"

Rubio's tweet was swiftly condemned by other social media users.

Hours before a violent mob of pro-Trump extremists stormed the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, then-President Donald Trump and his allies spoke at a so-called "Save America Rally" in Washington, D.C. According to a study by the Center for Responsive Politics issued on January 22, the rally's organizers received millions of dollars from Trump's reelection campaign.

"Trump's campaign disclosed paying more than $2.7 million to the individuals and firms behind the January 6 rally," the Center for Responsive Politics' Anna Massoglia reports. "But (Federal Election Commission) disclosures do not necessarily provide a complete picture of the campaign's financial dealings since so much of its spending was routed through shell companies, making it difficult to know who the campaign paid and when."

The National Parks Service permit for the Save America Rally, Massoglia notes, lists Maggie Mulvaney — a niece of former White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney — as a "VIP lead" for the event. The Trump campaign, according to Massoglia, paid her "at least $138,000 through November 2020."

Others listed on the rally permit, Massoglia reports, include Megan Powers (who was the campaign's director of operations) and Caroline Wren, a long-time GOP fundraiser. Powers, according to Massoglia, "was paid around $290,000 by Trump's campaign while on its payroll from February 2019 through at least November 2020, FEC records show" — and Wren "received at least $20,000 from the campaign each month as its national finance consultant for its joint fundraising committee with the Republican National Committee, totaling $170,000 from March through November."

"The rally's production manager is listed as Justin Caporale, the Trump campaign's advance director who received more than $144,000 in direct payroll payments from the campaign in the one-year period leading up to November 2020," Massoglia explains. "Caporale's business partner, Tim Unes, was the rally stage manager and was paid more than $117,000 by the Trump campaign through at least November 2020. Event Strategies Inc., their firm, was paid more than $1.7 million from Trump's campaign and joint fundraising committee."

Massoglia adds, "Trump-affiliated dark money group America First Policies paid the firm another $2.1 million from 2018 to 2019, the most recent years for which data is available. America First Policies' tax returns obtained by OpenSecrets show it also provided funding to Women for America First, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit that submitted the rally's permit records to the National Park Service."

The organizers of the Save America Rally and the far-right insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6 were hoping to prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden's Electoral College victory in the 2020 presidential election. Regardless, the certification went ahead as planned, and Biden was sworn in as president on January 20.

Dr. Anthony Fauci on Tuesday scolded a Fox News host who tried to grill him on his alleged "aggressiveness" toward former President Donald Trump.

The confrontation came during an interview on Fox News with hosts Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino.

At one point in the interview, Perino noted that Fauci had complained about his former boss to The New York Times.

"I know that those questions are irresistible for reporters to ask," Perino admitted. "But is there a law of diminishing returns to continue to answer the questions about that relationship if the crisis is as acute as you say?"

"I agree with you, Dana," Fauci replied. "After that interview, I said to myself, we've really got to look forward and ahead and just put that behind us. I totally agree with you. So looking forward, I'm really not enthusiastic at all about reexamining what happened back then rather than looking forward to what we need to do now."

"That's a fair answer," Hemmer interrupted, inserting himself into the interview.

"I heard a lot of interviews with you over the weekend," the Fox News host continued. "It just seems like there's this aggressiveness toward the Trump administration -- I mean, you're the most respected man in America on this topic. Why do you even feel the obligation to answer these questions?"

"And when you were at the White House, no one prevented you from talking," Hemmer added. "Did they?"

"No, that's why I got into trouble," Fauci revealed.

"What do you mean?" Hemmer pressed.

"Well it wasn't happy about some of the things that I said," Fauci said before observing that Hemmer was trying to force him to answer the very types of questions that he was being criticized for entertaining.

"Again, we're getting in to rehashing it again," the doctor pointed out. "I think we should do what Dana just suggested. Namely, put that behind us and take a look at the problems we have ahead."

Hemmer responded by retreating from his question.

"At 9:37 on this Tuesday morning, January 26th, we will mark this moment," Hemmer said. "I'm ready to move on with you as well."

Watch the video below from Fox News.

Dr. Fauci takes down Fox News host who accuses him of 'aggressiveness' toward Trumpyoutu.be

The word "deprogramming" is typically used in connection with extremist religious cults such as the Unification Church, the Tony & Susan Alamo Christian Foundation or Jim Jones' the People's Temple, but cults can be political as well — for example, the QAnon movement. Political science expert Brian Klaas, in a Washington Post op-ed published on January 25, lays out some reasons why it is so difficult to "deprogram" Americans who have embraced far-right political cults and outlandish conspiracy theories.

"For the past four years, the United States was governed by a conspiracy theorist in chief," explains Klaas, who teaches global politics at University College London. "Whether by retweeting QAnon accounts from the Oval Office or painting himself as the victim of shadowy 'deep state' plots at rallies, President Donald Trump injected the toxin of baseless conspiratorial thinking straight into America's political bloodstream. On January 6, America saw how far that venom had spread as a ragtag group of militias, racist extremists and flag-waving disciples of Trumpism stormed the Capitol."

The January 6 "insurrectionists," Klaas adds, had certain things in common: they were "unified by their support for Trump" and were also "conspiracy theorists."

"There is no doubt: the United States has a serious problem with pathological political delusions," Klaas warns. "So, do we have any hope of deprogramming the millions of Americans who are devoted to dangerous lunacy? Don't hold your breath….. Once people have gone far enough down the rabbit hole of conspiratorial thinking, it can be nearly impossible to get them back out."

Klaas goes on to list some reasons why it is so difficult to "deprogram" conspiracy theorists. According to Klaas, "First, conspiracy theorists are far more likely to have a Manichaean worldview, meaning they interpret everything as a battle between good and evil….. Second, those who seek to debunk conspiracy theories are precisely the people that true believers distrust…. Third, these organized mass delusions are designed to resist debunking."

There's a joke among critics of far-right conspiracy theorist and radio host Alex Jones that goes something like this: what did the Alex Jones listener say when told that there is no New World Order? The listener said, "Yeah, that's what the New World Order wants you to think." It's a joke, but it speaks to one of the important points Klaas makes in his op-ed — that when someone pushes back against conspiracy theorists, they sometimes respond by digging in even more.

A variety of media outlets, from CNN and MSNBC to Mother Jones and The Nation, have been relentless when it comes to debunking the far-right conspiracy theories that came from the Trump Administration and its sycophants. But Klaas notes that "if someone believes the media is controlled by sinister but unseen puppet masters, fact- checks from CNN will never convince them they're wrong."

"For the past four years," Klaas notes, "those who have worked hardest to dispel QAnon believers of their fantasies are the very people that 'Anons' trust least: anti-Trump academics like me, news outlets such as the Post and politicians who they believe to be co-opted by the 'deep state.' Political scientists Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler have documented the risks of a backfire effect, in which correcting misperceptions actually ends up entrenching them. In the world of conspiratorial thinking, the harder the pushback, the greater the proof that a coverup is afoot."

According to Klaas, the "rise of social media" has made it much easier for far-right conspiracy theorists to live in a bubble.

"Bowling alone has been replaced by tweeting together — a cardboard cutout for real social interaction, but one that has a seductive allure to millions of people," Klaas warns. "Many of the fanatics who stormed the Capitol were neither poor nor social misfits, but rather, had found a digital community to augment or replace their offline one. We can no longer pretend that conspiracy theorists are beneath our attention. They've shown they have tremendous capacity to inflict damage on society."

Klaas discussed his Post op-ed during a January 26 appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." Watch the video below:

'Coalition Of Reality' Needed To Combat Conspiracy Theories, Says Writer | Morning Joe | MSNBCwww.youtube.com

In October of 2019, former elected county assessor for Maricopa County Paul Petersen was charged by Utah's attorney general with 11 felonies. Those felonies included "human smuggling, sale of a child and communications fraud." The charges stemmed from what prosecutors said was an illegal "adoption scheme" where Petersen recruited and transported at least 40 pregnant women from the Republic of the Marshall Islands to Utah, where they birthed and then gave up their babies. Petersen cut a plea deal in Arizona and was sentenced to 74 months in prison.

On Jan. 21, Petersen began his sentence at a federal prison near El Paso, Texas. Petersen is still facing sentencing for fraud convictions in Arizona and the human trafficking convictions in Utah. The Associated Press reports that Petersen is appealing the sentencing in the Arizona case after the judge gave him two years more than the guidelines recommend.

Petersen was able to cut a deal allowing him to plead guilty to "Alien Smuggling For Financial Gain," a way of saying he's a straight-up monster and that Arizona is racist. According to CNN, Petersen is also on the hook for $105,100 in fines and court costs and will submit to three years of supervised release after his time in federal prison. The Utah conviction was a deal with Petersen pleading guilty to "three counts of human smuggling and one count of communications fraud."

QAnon are still running around looking for human traffickers at pizza shops.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2021/01/25/supreme-court-texas-abortion-ban/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.