Stu D. Baker

#TrumpIsUnfitForOffice    #wtpBLUE    WE THE PEOPLE   wtp3268   Before the midterm election has even taken place, President Trump‘s administration has filed a lawsuit to block the results of the Alaska Senate race.
The addition of a similarly named candidate—another Republican named Dan J. Sullivan, Jr. —They say it’s an attempt to mislead voters into voting for the wrong candidate. If the incumbent loses by a margin less than the number of votes his same named challenger receives, the administration asked the federal judge to bar the state from certifying the race’s results. Trump told reporters he has asked the Justice Department to pursue the legal challenge - “I’m the one that said do it.”
Attorney General Todd Blanche downplayed the reports, outside of a “doomsday scenario…but if, you know, to say there’s no circumstances that we would ever do that, of course I’m not going to say that.”
 The Trump administration has kept up pressure on state-run elections, and to create doubt. The Associate Attorney General of Alaska Stanley E. Woodward has claimed in a filing, “The sole purpose of Dan J. Sullivan’s candidacy is to benefit the Peltola campaign by reducing the number of votes for Senator Sullivan.”
Dan J. Sullivan is a former independent, a retired teacher who registered as a Republican shortly before filing to enter the race this year. The state court ordered him back on the ballot after Alaskan officials tried in June to remove him. He claims he is not affiliated with Peltola’s campaign or the Democrats.
 Alaska uses ranked-choice voting, and takes longer than others to count votes. If the results are close, this will increase the chances of litigation, unless it’s a blowout for the Democrats. Please #VoteBlue.

#TrumpIsUnfitForOffice    #wtpBLUE    WE THE PEOPLE   wtp3269   Pete Hegseth signed a memo last month giving the Pentagon permission to test a military-grade heat ray and develop tactics to potentially use it in operations at the southern border. Known as the “Active Denial System,” it is a non-lethal weapon that shoots an invisible beam of electromagnetic waves that can reach a little more than a half a mile away. It causes a burning sensation when it comes into contact with human skin. It’s been compared to feeling a blast of heat when opening a hot oven. A “tingling effect“ lasts between 10 and 15 minutes, generating an urge to run from the effect. There has been discussion about it being used as crowd dispersal along the US-Mexico border.    The current administration has also discussed using it during moments of civil unrest, including during protests over George Floyd. The Pentagon is trying to absolve itself of any liability by stating, “It shall not be operated by Department of War personnel.” They will loan it to DHS (Department of Homeland Security), and they say the DHS will be solely responsible.
 The US military deployed the system to Afghanistan, but decided not to use it during active combat operations. Customs and Border Protection officials have previously discussed using it in areas where there’s a high concentration of illegal crossings, but it has never been deployed. Among the concerns are the use of it across the border in Mexico on those who had not yet crossed into the United States and could be harmed. Typically, these type of inhumane treatments get rejected. But Trump sees immigrants as enemy combatants. Currently the need is low as the border is seeing far fewer border crossings. Will that stop Trump?

#TrumpIsUnfitForOffice    #wtpBLUE   WE THE PEOPLE   wtp3267   Recent reporting show even though polls are suggesting Democrats will win both houses of Congress, the addition of $2.7 billion by Republicans and Elon Musk will not make it a sure thing. Elon Musk has become the largest donor in modern American history with his pouring of $446 million of his own money into this election, according to federal election commission filings. Former mayor Mike Bloomberg has given $60 million to Democrats. Republicans are hoping to blanket the airwaves and they are deploying more canvassers to voters’ doors.
 Democrats are trying to compete in states that President Trump won by large margins. Trump is traveling from red-state to red-state, playing defense. Some strategists worry about the reality of big challenges and growing expectations. Some deep red states have not seen the Democratic win in decades.
 Can huge amounts of Republican’s money defeat huge Democratic advantages on issues, the candidates, and the current political climate? Some pollsters say it may just be a type of modern blue wave where you win far more than normal, around all the “overheated expectations,” Molly Murphy, who has worked on previous campaigns said. Murphy said gerrymandering has left few House seats truly competitive.
 Democrats must flip four Republican-held seats and keep all of their own. In the ten Senate battleground races, four feature Republican incumbents, five are happening in states that Trump won by 11 points or more in 2024. Polling does show that Democrats are more enthusiastic about voting than Republicans this cycle, but there are still more Republicans in Iowa and Kansas than there are Democrats. Trump continues to say at his rallies, “I’m asking you to pretend I’m running… pretend I’m on the ballot.” 
 The Economist found the more partisan a state, the more polls have underestimated the strength of the dominant party. Ignore all polls, and just #VoteBlue.
Defy expectations.

#TrumpIsUnfitForOffice    #wtpBLUE    WE THE PEOPLE   wtp3266   The American Foreign Service Association, the union for foreign service officers has heard anecdotes of senior foreign service members not getting jobs after going through interviews with questions that were political. If you are up for promotion as a foreign service official, you will be asked how you voted in the 2016, 2020 and 2024 presidential elections, a violation of federal law. Those at the top of Donald Trump’s State Department have made it clear—only Trump voters will be eligible for mid-to-upper-level foreign service roles. They were also told their political donation history would be examined, and any donations to Democrats would disqualify them.   “We are working with the house and other relevant committees to thoroughly investigate…all such claims,“ said Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The majority of the government workforce are permanent career staff intended to be protected by political influence.
 The State Department has added a “Fidelity“ section to the foreign services evaluation process, saying “Fidelity means upholding the constitution and the law and executing policy with loyalty to the American people and their interests...It emphasizes the critical importance of service, integrity and policy alignment about executing the president’s vision for foreign policy.” A recent test taker said there were questions about Reagan‘s tax policies, and the accomplishments of Mike Pompeo, the former Secretary of State on the exam. The Trump administration is facing legal actions against their efforts to identify supporters among the civil service.
A court order already required them to stop asking applicants to write a short essay on their favorite Trump policies. That’s fascism.

#TrumpIsUnfitForOffice    #wtpBLUE    NOSOTROS, EL PUEBLO   Una combinación de negociaciones y diplomacia de alto riesgo ha definido los intentos de Trump por poner fin al conflicto más sangriento de Europa desde la Segunda Guerra Mundial, según los reportes del New York Times. Una de las mayores compañías energéticas de Rusia, Novatek, se beneficiaría de cualquier acuerdo discutido, ya que se usaría la tecnología de Novatek y la empresa rusa tendría una participación en cualquier acuerdo de gas natural de Alaska con Polar LNG.   Esto se suma a la posible venta de LUKOIL, uno de los gigantes energéticos de Rusia. Geoffrey R. Pyatt, exsecretario asistente de Estado para recursos energéticos en la administración de Biden, ha dicho que la idea de llevar a Novatek al norte de Alaska sería terrible por motivos ambientales, económicos y geopolíticos.  “Esto alimenta la creencia de que Putin puede conseguir una carta de libertad.” Por supuesto, el acuerdo implicaría a alguien con vínculos con la familia Trump.   Gentry Beach, un amigo de la universidad de Donald Trump Jr., dijo que él sostuvo negociaciones con Novatek sobre llevar su tecnología de gas natural a Alaska. La propuesta de Polar LNG es comprar un enorme dispositivo de 640,000 toneladas de concreto y acero de Novatek llamado “estructura basada en gravedad”, que se colocaría en el mar justo frente a la costa norte de Alaska. Se suponía que la financiación no vendría de Rusia. Novatek ya está bajo sanciones de EE. UU. Donald Trump levantó las sanciones la semana pasada como un pretexto para mantener las conversaciones de paz. Algunos altos ejecutivos han renunciado en protesta por permitir que una empresa vinculada a sanciones invierta en secreto en el posible acuerdo.   Es un insulto adicional a Ucrania y no debería ser parte de las negociaciones para terminar la guerra, dijo Ilya Zaslavskiy, consultor de la industria del gas. Pero hemos visto de qué lado está Trump. Tenemos que #VotarAzul.

#TrumpIsUnfitForOffice    #wtpBLUE    WE THE PEOPLE   A combination of deal-making and high-stakes diplomacy has defined Trump‘s attempts to end Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II, according to the New York Times’ reporting. One of Russia’s biggest energy companies, Novatek, would benefit from any deal discussed as it would use Novatek’s technology and the Russian company would own a stake in any Alaskan natural gas deal with Polar LNG.
 This is in addition to the possible sale of LUKOIL, one of Russia’s energy giants. Geoffrey R. Pyatt, former assistant Secretary of State for energy resources in the Biden administration, has said the idea of bringing Novatek into the high north of Alaska would be terrible on environmental, economic, and geopolitical grounds.
“This feeds the belief that Putin can get an out-of-jail-free card.” Of course, the deal would involve someone with ties to the Trump family.    Gentry Beach, a college friend of Donald Trump Jr’s, said he held negotiations with Novatek about bringing its natural gas technology to Alaska. Polar LNG‘s proposal is to buy a giant 640,000 ton concrete-and-steel device from Novatek called a “gravity based structure,” that would be placed in the sea just above the northern coast of Alaska. Financing was not supposed to come from Russia. Novatek is already under US sanctions. Donald Trump waived the sanctions just last week as a pretense to keep peace talks going. Some top executives have resigned in protest over a company tied to sanctions being allowed to invest secretly into the possible deal.
 It’s a further insult to Ukraine, and should not be part of talks to end the war, said Ilya Zaslavskiy, a gas industry consultant. But we have seen what side Trump is on.  We have to #VoteBlue