MORT'S MUSINGS

In honor of that Constitution Day, I’m posting an article out of Florida and asking some questions about the Constitutionality of state efforts to support or oppose state constitutional amendments. Your thoughts, concerns, questions, and/or reactions are solicited. Issue: Is Florida’s use of police power to question signers of a petition to amend the state’s constitution appropriate and constitutional? Police are questioning Florida voters about signing an abortion rights ballot petition https://apnews.com/article/florida-abortion-ballot-amendment-elections-police-cfd4e3479498e63e65f1116acd95f7be?user_email=85a5e31f8cb9543141697042262e5f44096be2eb9e8745228d8b4349029af0da&utm_medium=Morning_Wire&utm_source=Sailthru_AP&utm_campaign=Morning%20Wire_10%20Sept_2024&utm_term=Morning%20Wire%20Subscribers AP reports the use of Florida’s new elections police to investigate Floridians who signed a petition, placing on the November ballot a constitutional amendment on ab...

June 28, 2021 Liv Finne; WPC Education Director Additional Comments on June 23rd Posting As a follow up to yesterday’s comment, today I’d like to focus upon upon my experiences with a district and its policies on controversial material. You cited the authority in RCW 28A.150.230 (2) (g) as giving districts the local authority to reject teaching Critical Race Theory. How might this authority be exercised? In my experience, districts have followed state guideline and essential learnings and have used those as a foundation to develop their own, local, priorities. They also play a great part in textbook adoptions and purchase of support materials. Teachers are often empowered to create supporting materials from sources they have researched. I did so with Dr. Will Durant’s book, “Lessons of History”, which I used to provide higher level thinking and analytical skills in my “High Cap Freshman Social Studies classes” I wrote the unit and lesson plans and ran them by my immediate supervis...

Commentary of Washington Policy Center's Education Blog posting of June 23, 2021, about Critical Race Theory. There are too many aspects of this issue to include them all here. Today, I will focus on what’s been done in the past, as it might relate to “Critical Race Theory”. 1] When I taught my WA State History class a unit on Japanese American Internment, was I teaching an event in history, or was I teaching Critical Race Theory? 2] When I taught my Comparative Cultures Class on Russian & the Soviet Union about the pograms, was I teaching a series of events in Imperial Russian History, or was I teaching Critical Race Theory? 3] When I taught my Comparative Cultures Class on the Middle East about the Holocaust, was I teaching about an example of events commonly directed at Jewish communities, or was I teaching Critical Race Theory? These may seem like rhetorical questions, but I do not intend them to be. Since WPC seems unalterably opposed to teaching Critical Race Theory,...

Concerning the Washington Policy Center's Education Director's Posting on Critical Race Theory - June 23, 2021 I read your June 23rd posting with interest, as always. There are too many aspects of this issue to include them all here. Today, I will focus on what’s been done in the past, as it might relate to “Critical Race Theory”. 1] When I taught my WA State History class a unit on Japanese American Internment, was I teaching an event in history, or was I teaching Critical Race Theory? 2] When I taught my Comparative Cultures Class on Russian & the Soviet Union about the pograms, was I teaching a series of events in Imperial Russian History, or was I teaching Critical Race Theory? 3] When I taught my Comparative Cultures Class on the Middle East about the Holocaust, was I teaching about an example of events commonly directed at Jewish communities, or was I teaching Critical Race Theory? These may seem like rhetorical questions, but I do not intend them to be....

This message was sent to Liv Finne, Washington Policy Center's Education Director, today - May 24, 2021. Washington Policy Center’s 501C3 Status “Nothing here should be construed as an attempt to aid or hinder the passage of any legislation before any legislative body.” (*) https://www.washingtonpolicy.org/library/doclib/Finne-Governor-Inslee-Don-t-impose-divisive-and-harmful-CRT-on-our-schools.pdf Given that the Washington Policy Center has published extensive objections to one or more of the four bills that compose the Critical Race Theory legislation before the Legislature in the 2021 Session, the disclaimer statement that “Nothing here should be construed as an attempt to aid or hinder the passage of any legislation before any legislative body” (*) strains credibility. These appear on their face to be straight forward efforts to influence legislators’ votes and/or the governor’s signature. March 30, 2021 https://www.washingtonpolicy.org/publications/detail/sb-5044-...

IMPORTANCE OF THE 'CHAIN OF CUSTODY". The futility of the hand audit/recount of Maricopa County’s ballots hinges upon two issues: 1] The Arizona State Senate’s order to turn over the ballots to an outside organization has terminated the “chain of custody”, making that audit’s outcomes impossible to verify. 2] Previous recounts and audits were done by trained personnel, who retained the “chain of custody” and those recounts/audits verified the initial results.

WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THE GENERAL ELECTION RECOUNT IN MARICOPA COUNTY, AZ? False claims, intraparty feuds and the need to potentially replace millions of dollars in equipment are among the issues that continue to plague a partisan election audit ordered by Arizona Republicans seeking to prove that the 2020 presidential race was stolen. After months of court battles, a review of the November election vote in Maricopa County — where the majority of Arizonans reside — was begun at the instruction of the GOP-controlled state Senate late last month. https://www.yahoo.com/news/arizona-election-republican-audit-maricopa-county-trump-cyber-ninja-180225955.html

Returning to publication after hiatus This blog has been dormant since shortly after the Nov. 3, 2020 General Election. However, a rising tide of unsubstantiated assertions of voter fraud and malfeasence has made clear the need to reopen this blog. Readers are invited to comment on postings, with the caveat that uncivil, profane, or obscene comments or characterizations will be deleted. Further, statement of opinion will be allowed to remain. Undocumented assertion of facts not already in evidence, however, will be deleted, along with the entire commentary in which they were made. The first of the topics to be addressed will be the Arizona State Senate's partisan recount of Maricopa County's 2020 General Election presidential votes.

Study: No partisan benefit from mail voting in 2020 election By NICHOLAS RICCARDI March 5, 2021 https://apnews.com/.../donald-trump-coronavirus-pandemic... Donald Trump last year publicly worried that the explosion in voting by mail during the pandemic would increase turnout so much that “ you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again .” But a new study shows the record rates of mail voting in 2020 didn’t help Democrats or lead to an increase in voting. The research is only the latest in a years-long number of studies finding no partisan benefit to mail voting. But it also draws the conclusion that making it easier to vote did not increase voting levels because voters were already highly motivated to participate in the 2020 contest. “We find a pretty precisely zero effect on turnout,” said Jesse Yoder, one of the study’s authors and a Ph.D. student in political science at Stanford University. “Voter interest was really driving turnout more than these convenience vot...

FACT CHECKS This series will focus upon fact checks done by recognized and reputable sources Washington Post Mar. 2, 2021 “Capitol Police requested National Guard help prior to January 6th. That request was denied by Speaker Pelosi and her Sergeant at Arms.” — Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), in a tweet, Feb. 15, 2021 The Facts There are three key players here: Steven A. Sund, the U.S. Capitol Police chief; Paul D. Irving, the House sergeant-at-arms, and Michael C. Stenger, the Senate sergeant-at-arms. All three resigned under pressure after the Jan. 6 insurrection. Without evidence, Jordan asserted that House Speaker Pelosi had denied a request for National Guard troops two days before the insurrection. Instead, public testimony shows she did not even hear about the request until two days later. Jordan also tried to pin the blame on the House sergeant-at-arms, but testimony shows the Senate sergeant-at-arms also was not keen about the idea. We will keep an eye on this issue in case new...

FACT CHECKS This series will focus upon fact checks done by recognized and reputable sources Washington Post Mar. 2. 2021 “I requested … I definitely gave the number of 10,000 National Guardsmen, and [said] I think you should have 10,000 of the National Guard ready. They took that number. From what I understand, they gave it to the people at the Capitol, which is controlled by Pelosi. And I heard they rejected it because they didn’t think it would look good. So, you know, that was a big mistake.” —Former president Donald Trump, in an interview with Steve Hilton of Fox News, Feb. 28, 2021 We’re going to try to have a high bar for fact checks of former president Donald Trump. His speech Sunday to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) was mostly a replay of false claims he has said many times before, all documented in our Trump claims database. So we took a pass on that. But this is something new. Trump’s claim generated a lot of attention in right-leaning circles, espe...

As usual, Will makes a great deal of sense. Read the whole column, using the link below.  I have often suggested the Republican Party may someday go the way of the Whigs and Federalists.     kmortland The Washington Post:  Opinions Will Senate Republicans allow their louts to rule the party? George F. Will Columnist Feb. 13, 2021 at 10:35 a.m. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/will-senate-republicans-allow-their-louts-to-rule-the-party/2021/02/11/ce082db6-6caf-11eb-9ead-673168d5b874_story.html?utm_campaign=wp_week_in_ideas&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_ideas&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F2fa130d%2F602910db9d2fda4c88e2c8fe%2F5972a49dae7e8a1cf4aca9d0%2F10%2F76%2F602910db9d2fda4c88e2c8fe  “As the trial proceeded, there appeared a new aspirant for membership in the Republican senators’ large Lout Caucus: Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), Ted Cruz (Tex.), Josh Hawley (Mo.), Marco Rubio (Fla.), Ron Johnson (Wis.), e...

FACT CHECKS This series will focus upon fact checks done by recognized and reputable sourcesAP WP Fact Check “Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, under these critical asylum cooperation agreements, the burden of illegal immigration is now shared all across the region. Now, when an illegal immigrant is arrested at our border, they can be sent to a neighboring country instead of into a U.S. community. Before my getting here, countries wouldn’t accept them. They would say, no, no, no. … They said they won’t take them back. They came. They may be murderers, they may be cartel heads. They may be some really vicious people. The countries didn’t want them back. And I stopped all payments to those countries. I stopped everything going to those countries. And after we stopped for about a month, you remember after we stopped for about a month, they called. They said we’d love to have them back.” - Trump Trump often fabricates conversations in which he stuns various heads of state with his ...

FACT CHECKS This series will focus upon fact checks done by recognized and reputable sourcesAP WP Fact Check “We also have, and we had, but we have them all the time, we have terrorists from the Middle East coming into our country through the southern border. That was before what you see right here [gestures at border wall], because it was easier to come into our country through the southern border than it was through airports or any other means. … These are people from some very seriously dangerous places in the Middle East. And the numbers are far greater than anybody would understand.” - Trump The Trump administration first asserted this in the run-up to the 2018 midterm elections, offering a range of misleading statistics to buttress the claim that terrorists from the Middle East were filtering through the U.S.-Mexico border. But administration officials never offered any proof or identified a single terrorist. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/01/14/guide-understa...

FACT CHECKS This series will focus upon fact checks done by recognized and reputable sources AP Fact Check AP Fact Check TRUMP: “We have anywhere from 250 (thousand) to 300,000 ballots were dropped mysteriously into the rolls, much of that had to do with Fulton County, which hasn’t been checked.” THE FACTS: There’s nothing mysterious or suspect about it. He is describing a legitimate vote counting process, not a sudden surge of malfeasance. Trump appears to be referring to large numbers of votes that were tabulated in the early hours of Wednesday morning after Election Day and later. The arrival of those votes was not mysterious, but expected, because many of Georgia’s 159 counties had large stacks of mail-in ballots that had to be tabulated after polls closed and in-person ballots were counted. Indeed, news organizations and officials had warned in the days leading up to the election that the results would likely come in just as they did: In-person votes, which tend to be counted...

FACT CHECKS This series will focus upon fact checks done by recognized and reputable sources AP Fact Check TRUMP: “People should be happy to have an accurate count... We have other states I believe will be flipping to us shortly.” THE FACTS: No reversal of the election outcome is in the offing, in Georgia or other states. Biden defeated Trump by some 7 million popular votes nationwide and by a tally of 306-232 in the Electoral College, achieving victory in other key states such as Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Arizona. Trump’s former attorney general, William Barr, found no evidence of widespread election fraud. Trump’s allegations of massive voting fraud have been dismissed by a succession of judges and refuted by state election officials and an arm of his own administration’s Homeland Security Department. https://apnews.com/article/ap-fact-check-donald-trump-georgia-elections-electoral-college-407d934b6649a4e4059ec28c4cb70512?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=e...

FACT CHECKS This series will focus upon fact checks done by recognized and reputable sources AP Fact Check TRUMP: “If we can go over some of the numbers, I think it’s pretty clear we won, we won very substantially in Georgia.” THE FACTS: No, Trump lost Georgia in an election the state has certified for Democrat Joe Biden. Republican election officials have affirmed the election was conducted and counted fairly. With ballots counted three times, including once by hand, Georgia’s certified totals show Trump lost to Biden by 11,779 votes out of nearly 5 million cast. Raffensperger certified the totals with officials saying they’ve found no evidence that Trump won. No credible claims of fraud or systemic errors have been sustained. Judges have turned away legal challenges to the results, although at least one is still pending in state court. https://apnews.com/article/ap-fact-check-donald-trump-georgia-elections-electoral-college-407d934b6649a4e4059ec28c4cb70512?utm_source=Sailthru...

Is Justice Barrett the Latest Shot in the “Deconstruction of Government” Pt. 5 /. What is Originalism? / 11.2.20. / Much is made of Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s adherent to the Constitutional interpretation of “Originalism”. The concept is associated with Justice Scalia , for whom Barrett clerked, and with Supreme Count nominee and Appellate Court Judge Robert Bork . It would seem prudent for us to examine this interpretation in as much detail as we can manage. To do otherwise, would be a disservice to Justice Barrett and to other conservatives. The following is quoted from Wikipedia , though I will seek other sources, as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Originalism / ----------------- In the context of United States law, originalism is a concept regarding the interpretation of the Constitution that asserts that all statements in the constitution must be interpreted based on the original understanding "at the time it was adopted". This concept views t...

Is Justice Barrett the Latest Shot in the “Deconstruction of Government” Pt. 4 Cont. / A Moderate Republican’s Look at the Impact of the Barrett Confirmation / Fourth, I acknowledge that this senate confirmation will place a conservative stamp upon the US Supreme Court, possibly for a generation. Long after the Trump presidency is history, the conservative swing of the pendulum will continue; as a solid majority of conservatives, some of whom seem willing to find justification for supporting Pres. Trump over the Constitution, will be turning aside efforts to modernize both our political and judicial systems. Fifth, there was an unseemly rush to complete this confirmation, which stands in stark contrast to the despicable manner in which Pres. Obama’s last nomination was handled. That Senatorial misbehavior will go down in history as one of the blackest moments of a Republican Senate. And it could have all been avoided by the application of a little statesmanship. Unfortu...

Is Justice Barrett the Latest Shot in the “Deconstruction of Government” Pt. 3 / Justice Amy Coney Barrett may not be one of the most qualified candidates for the Supreme Court to receive confirmation, but her scholarship credentials are superlative. Barrett earned her law degree, summa cum laude, in 1997 at the #22 law school in the country, according to USNews, Notre Dame . She also taught law there since 2002. / She was confirmed as an Appellate Court Judge in the Seventh Circuit on Oct 30, 2017 . That means she’s been a Circuit Court Judge for all of three years , during which time she wrote 79 majority opinions. So, there is ample written record in her 79 opinions to give researchers an opportunity to measure her abilities to analyze legal issues and write concise opinions. / The uproar over her nomination and confirmation seems to stem largely from her almost categorical obverse legal philosophy from that of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg . And, she inherit...