Become a warrior for truth!

May 18, 2024

With a slight downtick in the velocity of the news on Friday, I urge everyone to take a breather this weekend. Let’s rest up for the closing arguments in the Manhattan trial and a possible verdict before the Memorial Day weekend.

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A lesson in how disaster declarations should be issued

President Biden declared that seven counties in Texas were major disaster areas due to “severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, and flooding beginning on April 26, 2024, and continuing.” See President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Approves Texas Disaster Declaration | The White House.

The disaster declaration focused solely on the causes and victims of the disaster. There was no implied or express demand that the Texas governor pay homage to President Biden or that Texans “remember” Biden’s generosity in the upcoming election. Turning disaster aid into an opportunity for transactional grift was an invention of Donald Trump.

Nor did President Biden comment on the fact that the period from April to May in Texas was previously known as “spring,” but is now an unrelenting series of “severe storms, floods, tornadoes, and straight-line winds.” See Texas 2036, Texas' weather is getting wilder. While the effects of climate change in Texas deserve discussion, using the grant of emergency aid as a platform to do so would be callous and opportunistic.

Texans are suffering because of natural disasters. They deserve relief from the federal government. President Biden granted it without hesitation or political agenda. That’s the way disaster declarations should be issued.

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Additional thoughts on Justice Alito’s display of Stop the Steal flag after January 6 insurrection

The righteous indignation over Justice Alito’s display of the Stop the Steal flag days after the January 6 insurrection is increasing. Two additional pieces of information that compounded Alito’s traitorous behavior emerged on Friday.

First, Alito contacted Shannon Bream of Fox News to offer a more detailed “defense” of the display of the Stop the Steal flag. That defense amounts to “a neighbor posted a “F*** Trump yardsign, so we posted a flag supporting insurrection after the bloody assault on the US Capitol.” The explanation is offensive and absurd. But even if it were not ludicrous, Justice Alito is bound by the Supreme Court Code of Ethics that prohibits any political display by justices—much less a call for insurrection.

Moreover, Alito’s expanded explanation did not attempt to disassociate himself from the message conveyed by the Stop the Steal flag. He did not condemn the Stop the Steal movement. He did not apologize to the American people.

Finally, Shannon Bream is a social friend of Mrs. Alito (see picture) and is a news host for a network that supported the overthrow of the US Constitution. See NPR (2/28/23) Under oath, Murdoch concedes Fox stars 'endorsed' lies about 2020 election. If Justice Alito was genuinely interested in clearing up the matter, he should not have given his exclusive interview to a co-conspirator in the insurrection.

More ominously, a 2021 interview with former Trump attorney Sidney Powell explains that the coup plotters planned to delay the count of the electoral ballots and then file an emergency motion for a stay with Justice Alito. See Ron Filipkowski on Twitter and embedded video.

If Alito was an active supporter of the “Stop the Steal movement” in January 2021—as his display of the Stop the Steal flag indicates—the coup plotters came within hours of having Justice Alito issue a temporary injunction against counting the electoral ballots. As Sidney Powell explained, the coup plotters’ plan was foiled only because Nancy Pelosi insisted that the House go back into session immediately upon the restoration of order in the Capitol.

The facts create a strong inference that Justice Alito was an integral part of the coup attempt—witting or unwitting. He must recuse himself from Trump-related matters. Failing that, Justice Roberts must refer Alito’s conduct to the Judicial Conference for investigation. Justice Roberts must issue a public statement calling on Justice Alito to recuse himself. And Congress should begin an impeachment inquiry.

Justice Alito could clear up this matter if wanted. He could offer to testify before Congress. He could sit for an interview with the FBI. But giving an exclusive interview to a family friend who reports for Fox news isn’t the way to restore the faith of the American people in a Court that appears to have been “in” on the plot to throw the election to Trump—at least with respect to Alito and Thomas.

Justice Alito created the appearance of impropriety; if neither he nor John Roberts will remove the stain from the Court, Congress should act.

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Opportunity for reader engagement

On Wednesday, May 22 at Noon ET, Dr. Carol Anderson, award-winning author, and the Robert W. Woodruff Professor of African American Studies at Emory University, and Lauren Groh-Wargo, CEO of Fair Fight, will breakdown how Georgia has changed election laws since 2020 and made it harder for certain Georgians to vote. 

 BigTentUSA is a moderate, inclusive, and collaborative community empowering citizens to take action to protect democracy, defend women’s rights, and protect our children. Join our free educational series of events and our calls to action detailed and updated regularly on our website.

Please use this link to register!  

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Concluding Thoughts

I have been reflecting on why Democrats feel so besieged by the news. One obvious explanation is the patent bias against Biden and the double standard employed by the major media. However, it is also that the news outlets that are supposedly more liberal in their editorial policies and news reporting are sliding into “both siderism” and false equivalencies.

In Michael Cohen’s testimony on Thursday, he said that he would call Maggie Haberman of the NYTimes and Katie Tur of MSNBC when he wanted to plant “pro-Trump” stories. (I don’t have the actual testimony; I would appreciate it if a reader can send to me or post the testimony in the Comments section. I will pin it to the top.)

Maggie Haberman is no surprise. She is a former Daily News political reporter who thrived at the Times by engaging in “access journalism.” Haberman was brutal in her reporting on Hillary Clinton’s non-scandal relating to emails, but passively supportive in her reporting on Trump, withholding some of the most damning details discovered during her interviews and investigations.   

Katie Tur was a surprise—but not really. Nancy Pelosi recently scolded Tur on-air for being an “apologist” for Trump. On another occasion, Tur mused whether it was “fair” for New York to charge Trump with business fraud. Katy Tur Asks Whether It's Fair to Charge Trump For Fraud (mediaite.com).

But it doesn’t stop there. Ari Melber frequently platforms pro-Trump surrogates or Republicans who oppose Trump but are happy to trash Joe Biden (like former Governor John Kasich). Alex Wagner hosted a Republican consultant on Friday evening and allowed the consultant to expound on Joe Biden’s alleged weaknesses as a candidate. Wagner either didn’t care to contradict his misstatements or was not equipped to do so. Either way, she platformed a Republican operative and failed to fact-check him.

So, yeah, it feels like the leading news organization on the side of democracy and decency is giving unchecked airtime to Trump surrogates, current Republicans, or former Republicans who will rejoin the GOP when Trump is gone. The MSNBC hosts rarely challenge the anti-Biden bias of those guests. (Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes, and Lawrence O’Donnell are exceptions.)

What should we do? On the whole, outlets like MSNBC deserve our support. Without it, the leading source of criticism of Trump and MAGA extremism may disappear. But be prepared to send critical emails and turn off offending programs when they drift into placid acceptance of lies about Biden.

Also, support independent writers like Heather Cox Richardson, Simon Rosenberg, Joyce Vance, Jay Kuo, Jessica Craven, Dan Rather, Robert Reich, Judd Legum, Lucian K. Truscott IV, Dan Pfeiffer and others on Substack who are striving to bring balance to reporting on the news. Talking Points Memo and The Guardian are also high on my list of objective sources.

Most importantly, you must become a reliable news source for friends and colleagues. If you read a factual, well-written article, op-ed, or newsletter, do not hesitate to forward it to others. I know that thousands of you forward this newsletter to friends and family—and I encourage more of you to do so!

Millions of people are hungry for objectivity, balance, and hope in the face of a news industry that profits from cynicism and negativity. Do friends and family a favor by giving them something positive to hold onto during challenging news cycles.

We are engaged in a permanent information war. You must be a warrior for truth in that ongoing struggle. I wish it were otherwise, but here we are. If you become a source of truth and hope for others, you will feel less besieged by the misinformation and bias that washes over us daily. Instead, you will take charge of the narrative in your life, a narrative grounded in truth and accuracy. It doesn’t get any better than that!

Talk to you on Monday!