It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Thousands rally on Las Vegas Strip in support of food service workers demanding better pay, benefits
Thu, August 10, 2023
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Thousands of hospitality workers rallied Thursday evening beneath the glittery lights of the Las Vegas Strip to call attention to ongoing union contract negotiations for higher pay and better benefits for food service workers at one of the largest arenas on the famed tourist corridor.
The Culinary Workers Union, a political powerhouse in Nevada, said in a statement ahead of the rally that servers, dishwashers, cooks and bartenders who work at T-Mobile Arena have been locked in contract negotiations for nearly a year with their employer, Levy Premium Food Service. The workers say they want a fair contract that will ensure “one job is enough to provide for their families.”
Union members packed the walkways near the arena on Thursday, with the crowd mostly dressed in red spilling onto Las Vegas Boulevard.
The union represents 60,000 hospitality workers in Las Vegas and Reno, including 200 Levy employees who work at the arena, the home stadium of the Vegas Golden Knights.
The action comes two weeks after members voted 97% in favor of authorizing a strike if a contract isn't reached soon. It is the union's second gathering on the Strip in recent months highlighting the ongoing negotiations with Levy, which provides food and drink services to arenas, convention centers and other venues nationwide.
In June, thousands also dressed in red assembled on the Strip for a march to bring attention to the contract negotiations, waving signs that read “ONE JOB SHOULD BE ENOUGH” at passing cars and tourists.
Levy said in a statement it was discouraged by the union's decision to rally after several months of negotiations.
“We remain committed to working diligently with the Union to reach a fair agreement that shows our team members how much we value them,” the statement said, “and we look forward to returning to the bargaining table soon.”
MGM Resorts International, which operates T-Mobile Arena, did not respond to a request for comment.
Lucia Orozco has worked as a cook at the arena since it opened in 2016. She described herself and her husband, a hospitality worker at a nearby Strip casino, as hard workers who don't spend outside of their means. Yet they live paycheck to paycheck and don't have money saved to retire anytime soon.
“I worry about it because I'm very close to retirement,” the 56-year-old said. “I don't have too much time left.”
Orozco, who was among the block of union members who voted to authorize a strike, said she wasn't surprised by the results of the vote.
“Everybody's tired of not making enough,” she said.
A date for a strike has not been set, but the union said its members have taken major steps toward walking off the job, including making picket signs and signing up for shifts on the picket line.
The possible strike looms ahead of the Golden Knights’ first preseason home hockey game Sept. 27 against the Los Angeles Kings and the team's season opener at home Oct. 10 against the Seattle Kraken. If the union strikes, it would happen against the backdrop of thousands of hospitality workers in Southern California, also demanding higher pay and improved benefits, walking off the job last month. The union there described it as the largest strike in its history.
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Associated Press photographer John Locher in Las Vegas contributed.
Rio Yamat, The Associated Press
Monday, December 07, 2020
Ex-FBI deputy attacks Republicans for language that causes violence and recruits fighters just like ISIS
Former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence, Frank Figliuzzi (Photo: Screen capture)
Former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence, Frank Figliuzzi, said in an interview on Sunday that he sees similarities to the violent rhetoric ISIS used with that the Republicans are using in wake of the 2020 election.
Speaking to MSNBC’s Alex Witt, Figliuzzi said that the country should be looking at the “root causes” of such violent rhetoric in efforts to snub it out
“How did we get here? Where is it going? We got here because the rhetoric we are hearing from influential people is the language of radicalization, Alex,” he said. “The last week to 12 days, we heard the
“How did we get here? Where is it going? We got here because the rhetoric we are hearing from influential people is the language of radicalization, Alex,” he said. “The last week to 12 days, we heard the kind of rhetoric that should get us all very worried about the potential to incite violence. What did we see the last week or so? Well, let’s start with Joe diGenova, the lawyer for the president, who said on the air that Chris Krebs, the fired head of the Cyber Infrastructure Security Agency, should be taken out at dawn and shot. Then he said that Chris Krebs should be drawn and quartered. This isn’t funny. This is the language that gets people recruited and radicalized whether you intend it to happen or not.”
The comments come after Georgia voting system manager Gabriel Sterling revealed the tipping point that led him to speak out this week was that he got a call from a project manager from Dominion Voting Systems in Colorado. The shaken employee said that one of their contractors was threatened because of the work he did for Dominion.
“When I was going through the Twitter feed on it, and I saw it basically had the young man’s name, which was a very unique name, so they tracked down his family and started harassing them,” Sterling told “Meet the Press” Sunday. “It said his name. ‘You’ve committed treason. May God have mercy on your soul,’ with a slowly swinging noose. And at that point, I just said, ‘I’m done.'”
Figliuzzi explained that political polarization has turned the division into existentialist threats.
“What do terrorism experts tell us, Alex?” he continued. “When people think there is an existential threat to their being, what they believe, when they believe is that the other side is not just wrong, it is evil or from the devil — as Doug Collins in Georgia implied with Rev. Raphael Warnock who’s running for Senate. For the audacity of what? Being a pro-choice pastor? And Doug Collins said that is a lie from the pit of hell? When we hear rhetoric like this, it should wake all of us up.”
In his MSNBC column on the topic, Figliuzzi explained that this is the type of rhetoric that groups like ISIS use to recruit people, but not to bring people to the Republican Party to lead them to violent action.
“What I am saying, the language, it isn’t about recruiting someone to a political party,” he explained. “This is about using the kind of rhetoric that people will increasingly view as a call to arms. A call to action. We have seen it before, with people like the Kenosha shooter, the Walmart shooter, identify with this leadership that calls them toward violence. People wearing suits, with law degrees, masters of divinity, in the case of Collins, We see their main-streaming of violent rhetoric. Whether they intend it or not, contribute to a volatile flashpoint, where the language is put into action.”
Trump rally-goer arrested for assault in Washington state
By AP staff (AP) OLYPMIA, Wash. Dec. 6, 2020
Police arrested a 27-year-old man participating in a rally in support of President Donald Trump after he allegedly fired a gun at counter-protesters during a clash near the Washington state capitol
It was not immediately clear if anyone was shot.
The Olympia Police Department said the suspect was booked into jail on suspicion of first- and second-degree assault following a pro-Trump rally and march that began Saturday afternoon on the Capitol Campus.
When the Trump supporters encountered a group of counter-protesters, police said the two sides clashed in a fight involving up to 200 people, The Olympian reported. Participants were armed with bats, bottles, rocks, chemical sprays and guns, police said.
Officers had ordered the crowd to disperse when the shooting suspect allegedly pulled out a pistol and fired toward the crowd and also used the pistol to assault someone, KOMO-TV reported.
Olympia police received reports that a counter-protester may have been shot. Authorities asked for any victim to come forward so the appropriate charges could be brought.
Conservative radicalizers are well-coiffed, well-paid — and increasingly dangerous
The language of a dangerous lunatic fringe is creeping closer to the mainstream.
In the space of about a week, the dangerous language of a lunatic fringe leapt closer to mainstream madness. We were reminded that radicalized rhetoric — the kind that leads to violence — can be spewed by people dressed in a suit and tie, or in leopard print and heels.
We saw dangerous dialogue launch from the lips of people with advanced degrees such as Juris Doctorate and Master of Divinity. Those radicalized professionals held, or still hold, impressive titles like U.S. attorney, appellate section chief, U.S. senator, congressman, and lieutenant colonel and chaplain in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. This was a week that further confirmed how radicalized we’ve become as a nation and how much closer we are to the moment when treacherous talk turns into violent reality.
When we add religion and eternal damnation into the mix to demonize those with different politics, we’re sliding into extremist territory.
On Monday, Nov. 30, former U.S. Attorney Joe DiGenova, a prominent conspiracist on President Donald Trump’s election loss legal team, publicly called for a former federal official to be “taken out at dawn and shot,” and suggested that the person be “drawn and quartered” — a particularly barbaric form of torture and execution.
DiGenova’s violent ideations were aired on radio on Newsmax’s "Howie Carr Show." To whom was DiGenova directing his homicidal wrath, and for what unthinkable conduct? None other than Chris Krebs, recently terminated by Trump for simply leading our government’s election security efforts, and for daring to counter Trump’s narrative that the 2020 election was rife with fraud.
A practicing attorney calling for the murder of an election security champion who advocates for fact over fiction and defends our democracy, is dangerous enough. But when another like-minded professional adds religion and eternal damnation into the mix to demonize those with different politics than you, we’re sliding into extremist territory. And when the person behind that volatile wrath is, for example, a preacher and congressman, he can start sounding more like a radically violent leader ranting against unbelieving infidels than, say, the U.S. Air Force reserve chaplain that he is.
These well-coiffed and well-paid radicalizers might not fully grasp that their words can become a call to arms.
If we were to rearrange the titles and names, these calls to violence sound increasingly like those coming from the terrorist organizations that these very same officials and former officials validly view as a threat.
While educated and professionally trained, these well-coiffed and well-paid radicalizers might not fully grasp that their words can become a call to arms, something readily recognized by those with extensive experience in counterterrorism. Americans have for years consumed coverage of radicalized terrorist cells in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. But few are drawing the connection that many of our own prominent professionals are starting to sound, to those abroad who recruit, radicalize and raise up violent actors. Not nearly as blatantly violent, perhaps — but it’s becoming easier to imagine how rhetoric aimed at the demonization of others could get us there.
Colin P. Clarke, a senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, a global security research group, advised, “The reason a kid like Kyle Rittenhouse would go grab a gun and join a local militia is the same reason why somebody would be lured to a jihadi group.”
Clarke, who’s closely familiar with right-wing and anti-government extremism groups like the "Boogaloo Bois," said, “It’s identity, it’s grievances they have that are being exploited and magnified,” continuing: “And there’s this constant call to get off the couch and get off your ass and go do something. Like, ‘You be the guy that goes and defends whatever.’ Groups are different, the ideologies are different, but a lot of the messaging and the narrative are the same.”
On Nov. 28, Rep. Doug Collins, a Georgia Republican, attacked a Democratic Senate candidate in the state, the Rev. Raphael Warnock, by insisting that "there is no such thing as a pro-choice pastor." Collins turned his dialogue into demonization by claiming that Warnock’s status as a Christian pro-life advocate was a “lie from the pit of hell.”
This form of negative politics that devolves into dangerous radicalization is what the British political scientist Roger Eatwell has called “cumulative extremism.” As detailed by Anne Applebaum in an Oct. 30 article in The Atlantic, Eatwell believes that “people tend to become violent, or to sympathize with violence, if they feel an existential threat.” They also become more extreme, he said, when they feel their political opponents are not just wrong, but evil —“almost the devil.”
Yet, DiGenova and Collins weren’t the only professionals taking us down the perilous route to potential violence. Former Assistant U.S. Attorney Sidney Powell, now a full-time spinner of election fraud fantasies, was a guest on a Nov. 21 Newsmax show. On that program, Powell used the subtle language of divine dimensions regarding her work to undermine election results when she asserted that the president’s lawyers would file a lawsuit of “biblical” proportions. The suit would allege, without evidence, that some election officials were embroiled in a pay-to-play scheme with a prominent manufacturer of voting software.
It was also Powell who used the phrase “release the kraken” to refer to the conspiracy theories she would use to avenge the loss of Trump and defeat the powers of perceived injustice and evil responsible for President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
The phrase comes from the film "Clash of the Titans," wherein Zeus, king of the gods, barks the order to "Release the kraken!" Whether intended or not, Powell’s invoking of a creature from Norse mythology, believed to be controlled by gods who release it to vanquish threats, further feeds the radicalized ideology by painting those who don’t accept Trump’s false claims as enemies.
On Tuesday, Powell’s radical extremism took a less subtle turn as she gained a troubling new ally already associated with inspiring ideologically based violence: the longtime administrator of the message board 8kun, internet home of the QAnon conspiracy theory.
Powell filed an affidavit from Ron Watkins, the son of 8kun’s owner, Jim Watkins, in a Georgia lawsuit alleging that Dominion Voting Systems machines used in the election had been corrupted as part of a sprawling voter-fraud conspiracy. As described by The Washington Post, “Powell has claimed that a diabolical scheme backed by global communists had invisibly shifted votes with help from a mysterious computer algorithm pioneered by the long-dead Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez — a wild story debunked by fact-checkers as a ‘fantasy parade’ and devoid of proof.”
Yet another degreed professional, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, a Harvard Law School alum, threw his hat into the radicalization ring with a tweet implying that some unnamed enemy was going to cancel his Thanksgiving because of recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to limit holiday travel. His message came in the form of a "war on Thanksgiving" meme featuring a turkey with the words "come and take it" — a phrase usually reserved to incite and rally those who fear their Second Amendment gun rights are in jeopardy. While Cruz implied that he might be willing to risk his life and others’ for green bean casserole, his state was tallying 1 million cases of Covid-19.
As radical rhetoric emanates from the educated elite, it becomes part of popular idiom, and the increased potential for violence over election results is no longer hypothetical. The threat is real. On Tuesday, Georgia election official Gabriel Sterling harshly admonished Trump and Georgia’s senators for their role in inciting threats against that state’s election staff. Previously, we saw reports that the FBI had opened investigations into threats against Georgia election officials.
Many Americans are attempting to find comfort in a self-delusion that domestic, politically based or ideological violence was a mere anomaly associated with mental instability, troubled youth or fringe belief systems. But make no mistake, violent rhetoric and dangerous ideology isn’t a trait of the “unwashed masses.” It’s perpetuated by the elite and powerful. The tragic repercussions of that high-level radicalization, however, will hurt us all.
Frank Figliuzzi is an MSNBC columnist and a national security contributor for NBC News and MSNBC. He was the assistant director for counterintelligence at the FBI, where he served 25 years as a special agent and directed all espionage investigations across the government. He is the author of "The FBI Way: Inside the Bureau's Code of Excellence
Sunday, December 12, 2021
Capitol attack panel obtains PowerPoint that set out plan for Trump to stage coup
Hugo Lowell in Washington Fri, December 10, 2021
Former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows turned over to the House select committee investigating the 6 January Capitol attack a PowerPoint recommending Donald Trump to declare a national security emergency in order to return himself to the presidency.
The fact that Meadows was in possession of a PowerPoint the day before the Capitol attack that detailed ways to stage a coup suggests he was at least aware of efforts by Trump and his allies to stop Joe Biden’s certification from taking place on 6 January.
The PowerPoint, titled “Election Fraud, Foreign Interference & Options for 6 Jan”, made several recommendations for Trump to pursue in order to retain the presidency for a second term on the basis of lies and debunked conspiracies about widespread election fraud.
Meadows turned over a version of the PowerPoint presentation that he received in an email and spanned 38 pages, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The Guardian reviewed a second, 36-page version of the PowerPoint marked for dissemination with 5 January metadata, which had some differences with what the select committee received. But the title of the PowerPoint and its recommendations remained the same, the source said.
Senators and members of Congress should first be briefed about foreign interference, the PowerPoint said, at which point Trump could declare a national emergency, declare all electronic voting invalid, and ask Congress to agree on a constitutionally acceptable remedy.
The PowerPoint also outlined three options for then vice-president Mike Pence to abuse his largely ceremonial role at the joint session of Congress on 6 January, when Biden was to be certified president, and unilaterally return Trump to the White House.
Pence could pursue one of three options, the PowerPoint said: seat Trump slates of electors over the objections of Democrats in key states, reject the Biden slates of electors, or delay the certification to allow for a “vetting” and counting of only “legal paper ballots”.
The final option for Pence is similar to an option that was simultaneously being advanced on 4 and 5 January by Trump lieutenants – led by lawyers Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, as well as Trump strategist Steve Bannon – working from the Willard hotel in Washington DC.
The Guardian revealed last week that sometime between the late evening of 5 January and the early hours of 6 January, after Pence declined to go ahead with such plans, Trump then pressed his lieutenants about how to stop Biden’s certification from taking place entirely.
The recommendations in the PowerPoint for both Trump and Pence were based on wild and unsubstantiated claims of election fraud, including that “the Chinese systematically gained control over our election system” in eight key battleground states.
The then acting attorney general, Jeff Rosen, and his predecessor, Bill Barr, who had both been appointed by Trump, by 5 January had already determined that there was no evidence of voter fraud sufficient to change the outcome of the 2020 election.
House investigators said that they became aware of the PowerPoint after it surfaced in more than 6,000 documents Meadows turned over to the select committee. The PowerPoint was to be presented “on the Hill”, a reference to Congress, the panel said.
The powerpoint was presented on 4 January to a number of Republican senators and members of Congress, the source said. Trump’s lawyers working at the Willard hotel were not shown the presentation, according to a source familiar with the matter.
But the select committee said they did find in the materials turned over by Meadows, his text messages with a member of Congress, who told Meadows about a “highly controversial” plan to send slates of electors for Trump to the joint session of Congress.
Meadows replied: “I love it.”
Trump’s former White House chief of staff had turned over the materials to the select committee until the cooperation deal broke down on Tuesday, when Meadows’ attorney, Terwilliger, abruptly told House investigators that Meadows would no longer help the investigation.
The select committee announced on Wednesday that in response, it would refer Meadows for criminal prosecution for defying a subpoena. The chairman of the select committee, Bennie Thompson, said the vote to hold Meadows in contempt of Congress would come next week.
“The select committee will meet next week to advance a report recommending that the House cite Mr Meadows for contempt of Congress and refer him to the Department of Justice for prosecution,” Thompson said in a statement.
Trump’s White House Emailed About a PowerPoint on How to End American Democracy
Ryan Bort Thu, December 9, 2021 Mark Meadows - Credit: AP
The House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the Capitol has obtained a trove of electronic messages from former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, including an email referring to a PowerPoint suggesting Trump could declare a national security emergency in order to delay the certification of the results of the 2020 election.
The revelation is the latest indication that Trump and his inner circle, including his allies in Congress, were very actively and very aggressively trying to overturn the results of the election, which Trump lost handily.
The PowerPoint presentation, which spanned 38 pages and was titled “Election fraud, Foreign Interference & Options for 6 JAN,” was part of an email sent on Jan. 5, the day before the attack on the Capitol. The email pertained to a briefing that was to be provided “on the hill.” Hugo Lowell of The Guardian tweeted slides from the presentation on Thursday detailing a conspiracy theory-laden plan for Vice President Pence to install Republican electors in states “where fraud occurred,” and for Trump to declare a national emergency and for all electronic voting to be rendered invalid, citing foreign “control” of electronic voting systems.
In the 13 months since the election, no evidence has emerged that foreign entities influenced the election, or that any significant fraud occurred.
The committee noted in a letter on Wednesday that Meadows had provided text messages in which he discussed a “highly controversial” plan to overturn the election results by appointing alternate electors in certain states. “I love it,” Meadows replied to the idea, which was sent to him by a lawmaker. Meadows discussed the same plan, which was described as a “direct and collateral attack,” in a separate email. The letter referenced the PowerPoint presentation, as well, but did not provide details of its contents.
The letter sent on Wednesday, which was addressed to Meadows’ attorney, explained that the committee had “no choice” but to move to hold Meadows in contempt of Congress for his refusal to comply with his subpoena. How, if Meadows is refusing to comply, did the committee get ahold of all of these damning documents from the former chief of staff? Meadows last week reached an agreement to cooperate, turned over the material, and then earlier this week changed his mind and is now stonewalling the committee. He’s now suing the committee in an attempt to block his subpoena.
It’s unclear what exactly inspired the reversal. Meadows says the committee was not respecting his claims of executive privilege, to which Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said the committee “tried repeatedly to identify with specificity the areas of inquiry” were subject to privilege, but Meadows wouldn’t cooperate. It’s also possible that Meadows decided to buck the committee after reports began to circulate that Trump was pissed at him for revealing a bunch of damning information about how the White House covered up details of Trump’s bout with Covid last year. It’s also possible that Meadows just isn’t very bright.
Regardless, the committee is now in possession of a trove of his documents indicating the extent of Trumpworld’s very real efforts to overturn the election results, efforts that culminated in a throng of supporters storming the Capitol in a violent attack that resulted in five deaths and dozens of injured police officers.
The material turned over by Meadows may be the tip of the iceberg. Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said last week that the committee is preparing to hold “several weeks” worth of public hearings that will tell the story of the riot at the Capitol in “vivid color.” She added on Thursday that the committee has met with nearly 300 witnesses, that it is conducting multiple depositions and interviews every week, and that it expects a ruling imminently on whether it can obtain Trump’s White House documents. “The investigation is firing on all cylinders,” she wrote.
Hours after Cheney teased an upcoming ruling on Trump’s executive privilege claim, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals struck it down.
January 6 committee releases documents detailing Trump’s plot to overthrow election by declaring bogus “National Emergency”
Jacob Crosse WSWS.ORG Earlier this week, the January 6 House Select Committee charged with investigating former President Donald Trump’s attempted coup released an explosive slide show presentation turned over to the committee by former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. The slide show revealed Trump’s and his co-conspirators’ systematic plan for overturning democratic forms of rule in the United States.
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows speaks with reporters outside the White House, Oct. 26, 2020, in Washington [Credit: AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File]
The presentation, dated January 5 and titled “Election Fraud, Foreign Interference & Options for 6 Jan,” begins by citing false claims of “foreign interference” by China through Venezuela and Dominion Voting Systems software.
In response to the alleged “INFLUENCE and CONTROL” of “US Voting Infrastructure in at least 28 States as part of [an] ongoing globalist/socialist operation to subvert the will of United States Voters and install a China ally,” the slides describe in detail the multifaceted plot by Trump and his allies to declare a phony “National Security Emergency” in order to use US Marshals and the National Guard to seize election infrastructure nationwide and “declare electronic voting in all states invalid.”
After declaring the results invalid, the slides call for a “federalized” National Guard, under the command of a so-called “Trusted Lead Counter” appointed “with authority” from Trump to “direct the actions of select federalized National Guard units and support from [Department of Justice], [Department of Homeland Security] and other US government agencies.” These entities would “disqualify all the counterfeit ballots” (emphasis in original) and “then count all the remaining legal paper ballots.”
In a slide titled “Ballot Adjudication,” the document outlines the procedure for suspending the Constitution in order to facilitate the counting of “legal paper ballots.” After the National Guard finishes counting every so-called “legal” ballot in “5-10 days,” the ballots would then be approved by state legislators. Ballot exceptions, the document states, “will require an affirmative vote by the [Supreme Court of the United States] stating that Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 has been suspended. Otherwise all officials will follow the Constitution.”
The shoddy slide show presentation is a window into the thinking of an increasingly fascistic and desperate ruling class that is becoming further untethered from reality by the day. Its existence is further confirmation of the wide-ranging plot orchestrated by Trump, and supported by significant sections of the Republican Party, to overthrow the election of Biden and with it, what little remains of bourgeois democracy in the US. It is further proof that the storming of the Capitol on January 6, which the World Socialist Web Site alone warned the working class in the months following Trump’s electoral defeat, was not a spontaneous riot but the culmination of the dictatorial scheme orchestrated from the highest levels of the US government.
The presentation was part of a tranche of documents turned over by Meadows before he declared earlier this week that he would no longer be complying with the committee’s request. In a letter to Meadows’ lawyer Wednesday citing the presentation, Select Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (Mississippi-Democrat) wrote that the document was slated for distribution to those “on the hill,” that is, it was to be presented to members of Congress.
In the same letter to Meadows’ lawyer, Thompson noted that in the documents already turned over by Meadows to the committee, the former chief of staff is shown sending emails as early as November 7, 2020 suggesting Republican-controlled states send “alternate” slates of presidential electors to Congress on January 6.
Meadows also turned over to the committee “a November 6, 2020, text exchange with a Member of Congress apparently about appointing alternate electors in certain states as part of a plan that the Member acknowledged would be ‘highly controversial’ and to which Mr. Meadows apparently said, ‘I love it,’” Thompson said.
Thompson noted that in addition to the texts and slide show, Meadows turned over “a January 5, 2021, email about having the National Guard stand by.” This revelation is significant, given the ongoing cover-up within the Pentagon over the purposeful delay of sending National Guard soldiers to the besieged Capitol.
The plan to reject Biden electors and appoint new pro-Trump electors was further described in the presentation as part of three different “options” for Vice President Mike Pence on “6 JAN.”
These options included Pence unilaterally and illegally seating “Republican Electors over the objections of Democrats in states where fraud occurred.” Mimicking the arguments laid out previously in coup lawyers John Eastman’s and Jenna Ellis’s memoranda, the document also suggests that Pence “reject[s] the electors from States where fraud occurred causing the election to be decided by remaining electoral votes.”
The slide directed Pence to delay “the decisions in order to allow for a vetting and subsequent counting of all the legal paper ballots.”
The coup slide show is believed to have been written by retired Army Colonel Phil Waldron of the Allied Security Operations Group, according to professor and national security expert Karen Piper.
Waldron and co-owner of the Allied Security Operations Group, Russell Ramsland Jr., were frequent visitors at Trump’s Willard “war room” command center. The Washington Post previously noted that Waldron, who specialized in “psychological operations” with the Army, led a team of people that reported to Rudy Giuliani’s political crony, Bernard Kerik. This team allegedly provided Kerik with election data analysis supporting Trump’s fraudulent claims.
In a separate article by the Post they write that “to an extent not widely recognized, Ramsland and others associated with ASOG played key roles in spreading the claims of fraud. … They were circulated by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.), a staunch Trump ally who had been briefed by ASOG. And Ramsland’s assertions were incorporated into the “kraken” lawsuits filed by conservative lawyer Sidney Powell who the Post learned had also been briefed two years earlier by ASOG…”
Confirming the authenticity of the slide show in an interview posted this past June was the recently subpoenaed founder of the fascistic 1st Amendment Praetorian paramilitary group, Robert Patrick Lewis. In an interview with Doug Billing’s “The Right Side,” Lewis, who boasts of providing security to Flynn, describes the “national objectives” and “intelligence” he claimed to be “delivering to the White House, directly to the President.”
“That was stuff based on China’s influence in the United States and specific propaganda that we were outlining…”
A month prior, Lewis gave another interview in which he cited the Maricopa County recount, which was conducted in Arizona earlier this year by Trump partisans as an example of what “we” were “suggesting to Trump” his last week in office.
“It’s interesting how the Maricopa recount ... is extremely similar to what Patrick Byrne, General [Michael] Flynn and Sidney Powell suggested to President Trump there in the last week in the White House,” said Lewis.
“We said, ‘Bring the National Guard in, have a recount’ and livestream across the nation so that everybody can look and see that everything is above board.
“Minus the National Guard,” added Lewis. “Everything they (Byrne, Powell, Flynn) suggested is going on in Maricopa.”
There is no doubt that there remains a mountain of evidence left to uncover that will further implicate Trump, the Republican Party and elements of the police-intelligence-military apparatus in the coup.
Ranking member and one of two Republicans on the committee, Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney, promised earlier this week that the committee will hold a series of hearings “next year” to lay out what has been uncovered, presumably after which the committee will wind down in preparation for the midterms.
Like the “bipartisan” 9/11 Commission that the Select Committee is modeled after, information revealing the widespread support for Trump’s coup within the Republican Party and the capitalist state as a whole will continue to be excluded and omitted. Despite claiming to have interviewed nearly 300 witnesses, the Select Committee has continued to hold hearings and depositions behind closed doors.
The chloroforming of the working class to the true danger of fascism by the Democrats, the pseudo-left and their media supporters continues. This coup memo was known to lawmakers and media sources, prior to Meadows turning it over to the committee.
In fact, the entire document was publicly tweeted out by current far-right Fox News host and former CBS correspondent Lara Logan on the morning of January 5.
The fact that its contents are only now being publicly broadcast by the committee and select news outlets, nearly a year after the coup and 10 months after Trump’s truncated second impeachment trial ended with his acquittal, is a testament to the scale of the ongoing bipartisan cover-up of Trump’s coup.
Crazy for cryptids: The International Cryptozoology Museum blurs the line between fact and fiction Founder Loren Coleman has been searching for Bigfoot and other legendary creatures for almost six decades
In March 1960, Loren Coleman watched a film on the Yetis of the Himalayas. When he inquired about the creature (also known as the Abominable Snowman) in school, his teachers were less than helpful. They told him to “get back to work” because “[Yetis] don’t exist.” Coleman decided to conduct his own research, and a lifelong interest in cryptozoology—the study of legendary or unknown creatures—was born.
Over the past six decades, Coleman has written letters, articles, and books about cryptozoology, he has taught at universities around New England, and has conducted investigations in 48 states. As he searched for cryptids (alleged animals such as lake monsters, hairy bipeds, or swamp creatures), Coleman collected more than 10,000 objects.
A Bigfoot photo-op. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan
The museum’s entrance. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan
“People would give me, donate, or sell me cryptozoology items from the beginning and my home became a museum of sorts,” Coleman says. The first item was a flag from Sir Edmund Hillary’s 1960 expedition to collect evidence of the Yeti. In 2009, Coleman’s collection of native art, foot casts, hair samples, models, and other memorabilia opened to the public as the International Cryptozoology Museum (ICM)—the first of its kind in the world.
ICM is located in a strip of shops and restaurants on Thompson’s Point along the banks of the Fore River in Portland, Maine. To reach the entrance of the small museum, I have to walk through a restaurant, Locally Sauced, which serves burritos, nachos, and pulled pork sandwiches.
A revitalized, industrial waterfront featuring craft breweries, an outdoor concert venue, and an ice-skating rink may not seem like the most natural place to find a museum dedicated to a fringe pseudoscience, but that’s the thing with mythical creatures—they pop up where you least expect.
To get to the museum, visitors walk through a restaurant. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan Bigfoot and the Dover Demon
Probably the best-known cryptid in North America is Bigfoot (also known as Sasquatch), and he has an appropriately-big presence at the ICM. I encounter at least three versions of the upright, ape-like creature before I even pay my admission. A carved, wooden totem-style statue sits outside of the museum, and wooden cutouts line the otherwise-sterile hallway that connects ICM to Locally Sauced.
The museum includes several “Bigfoot Parking Only” signs, casts of the creature’s namesake big feet, and numerous dolls and other artwork devoted to Bigfoot. The infamous 1967 Patterson-Gimlin film plays on a loop, and visitors are encouraged to take a selfie with an eight-foot-tall replica. Although Bigfoot is traditionally associated with the Pacific Northwest, a sign urging people to “visit Squatchachusetts” proves that all over the country, people want to believe.
Posters in the museum. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan
A cast of Bigfoot’s big foot. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan
It’s hard to pick favorites, but Coleman has a soft spot for a creature closer to home: the Dover Demon. The small, orange, hairless being was reported by four different people over the course of one week, in Dover, Massachusetts in 1977. It was spotted both sitting on a wall and leaning against a tree. Eyewitnesses described it as having large, glowing eyes and tendril-like fingers. Although skeptics have dismissed the Dover Demon as a foal or a moose calf, “the whole idea of cryptozoology is to be open-minded about the possible discovery of new animals or species,” Coleman says.
While some people are quick to dismiss cryptozoology as a silly pseudoscience, Coleman urges people to not only open their minds, but their eyes and ears as well. Most cryptids had been appearing in folklore and local legends for thousands of years before Coleman brought them to Portland. “Listening to Indigenous people is key,” he says. “Ethno-known information is important, and then you can look for physical evidence.”
Loren Coleman, founder of the International Cryptozoology Museum. | Photo courtesy of Loren Coleman.
Fact is fiction
ICM is billed as “the world’s only cryptozoology museum,” but that’s no longer true. In fact, “truth” is a loose concept within the confines of a museum dedicated to cryptids, the very existence of which haven’t yet been verified by traditional science. A lot of the “evidence” presented in the museum may seem suspect, but the roots of cryptozoology are planted firmly within the realm of provable science.
“Hidden animals with which cryptozoology is concerned, are by definition very incompletely known,” Bernard Heuvelmans wrote in the 1988 journal Cryptozoology. ”To gain more credence, they have to be documented as carefully and exhaustively as possible by a search through the most diverse fields of knowledge. Cryptozoological research thus requires not only a thorough grasp of most of the zoological sciences, including, of course, physical anthropology, but also a certain training in such extraneous branches of knowledge as mythology, linguistics, archaeology, and history.”
A handpainted banner. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan
A mythical beast. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan
You can’t break the rules without first learning what they are, and according to ICM’s website, “cryptozoology is a ‘gateway science’ for many young people’s future interest in biology, zoology, wildlife studies, paleoanthropology, paleontology, anthropology, ecology, marine sciences, and conservation.” As such, the museum also features exhibits on creatures that were once thought to be too fantastical to be real or long since extinct—until actual, live specimens were discovered.
In 1938, fishermen off the coast of Africa discovered a coelacanth, a fish that was thought to have become extinct around 66 million years ago. Between 1938 and 1975, 84 more specimens were caught and recorded, and Coleman’s collection includes the only life-size model of the rediscovered fish displayed in North America. The two-floor museum also includes alleged Yeti hair samples and a FeeJee Mermaid—half monkey, half fish—created for a film about P. T. Barnum, who notoriously loved a hoax. I want to believe
I have a feeling that P.T. Barnum would have loved ICM—the longer I browse the exhibits, the harder it becomes to distinguish fact from fiction. Since actual artifacts are understandably hard to come by, the museum has several full-sized art sculptures including a Tatzelwurm (a mythical, cat-headed serpent) and a lifesize thylacine (a real-life dog-kangaroo hybrid that is now thought to be extinct).
A mermaid creature. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan
One of many Bigfoot depictions. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan
I try to keep an open mind, but after a few hours spent browsing Coleman’s collection, I wouldn’t exactly consider myself a cryptozoology convert. However, everything known was once unknown, which seems to also suggest the opposite: With enough time and evidence, anything unknown can presumably become known.
“Cryptozoology is all about patience and passion—and so is the museum,” Coleman says. “People enjoy themselves if they come visit to allow new ideas in. The museum teaches critical thinking but also open-mindedness.”Previous
The elusive Fur Bearing Trout. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan
Another depiction of Bigfoot. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan
Bigfoot signs. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan
A collection of skulls. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan
Bigfoot or giant ape? | Photo: Alexandra Charitan
Footprint casts. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan
Various examples of scat. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan
Cryptozoology-inspired labels. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan
A Fiji Mermaid. | Photo: Alexandra Charitan
SUCH CREATURES WERE POPULAR IN FOLKLORE MUSEUMS,
WHEN I WAS A KID WE WOULD GO ANNUALLY THROUGH BANFF ON VACATION
AND I ALWAYS STOPPED AT THE FOLKLORE MUSEUM THERE WHERE SUCH A
HALF CHIMP HALF TROUT MERMAN/MERMAID WAS ON DISPLAY
HOWEVER THE REAL THRILL WAS THE 12 FT KODIAK BEAR, LUCKILY STUFFED. SEE BELOW
Swamp creature memorabilia. | Photo: Alexandra CharitanNext
From Labor Day until Memorial Day, the International Cryptozoology Museum is open Mondays, Wednesdays, and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 6 pm. It is closed on Tuesdays.
Where to Find the World's Best Hometown Monsters Where to Find the World’s Best Hometown Monsters Here are 25 places to see yetis, sea monsters, Sasquatch, and other cryptids.
A CRYPTID IS A CREATURE whose existence, diplomatically put, cannot be proved or disproved by science. Cryptid lore tends to be less fantastical than ghost stories or fairytales, but not altogether believable. For some though, an unusual rock, unexplained crop circles, a footprint, or some hair are all the evidence they need that there are creatures unknown to humanity, hiding in the woods.
In these places, tales of mysterious creatures have become so embroiled within local narrative that whether the beast actually exists or not doesn’t matter anymore. Can you imagine Loch Ness without its monster?
HAIRY HUMANOIDS
The Sasquatch, or as it’s colloquially known, Bigfoot, is America’s best known cryptid. It is typically depicted as a giant ape, standing around seven feet tall. Sasquatch lore extends back to American Indian mythology, which describes hairy wild men living in the woods. Anomalous sightings continued into the 20th century, but Sasquatch mania reached its peak following the famed Patterson-Gimlin tape.
Bigfoot is generally associated with the Pacific Northwest, with most sightings reported in Washington. Ape Canyon was the site in which a group of miners came under attack by a gang of wild “apemen” in 1924. According to the five miners, all of whom survived the incident and seemed convinced of its facts, they were asleep in their cabin when the assault started, and the beasts seemed out for blood. The event was widely publicized and no logical explanation was ever found. Ape Canyon: Sasquatch Country COUGAR, WASHINGTON
The Sasquatch mythos has caught many in its spell. Refusing to accept claims that Bigfoot sightings are actually black bears or intentional hoaxes, believers continue their search for the hidden primate. California, Oregon, Washington and Canada are dotted with Sasquatch museums and research institutions for those who want to see footprints, photos, and other evidence. Bigfoot Discovery Museum FELTON, CALIFORNIA
Ever since sailors first traversed the ocean they have returned with stories of unbelievable creatures emerging from the murky depths. Perhaps it’s because we didn’t (and still don’t) really know what lies beneath the ocean’s surface, a whale or squid could be mistaken for the Leviathan or a Kraken.
That lore is celebrated in places like Skrímslasetrið, Iceland’s sea monster museum. Maritime history is inextricable from Icelandic identity, which includes many tales of ocean beasts lurking just off the edge of the map. Skrímslasetrið ICELAND
Creature stories also provided a useful explanation for misunderstood natural phenomena. The geyser of Kauai’s Spouting Horn blowhole was originally attributed to a giant lizard monster trapped beneath the rock. Spouting Horn Blowhole KOLOA, HAWAII
Lakes have their fair share of mystery too. The Loch Ness Monster is the most widely known, but prehistoric serpentine beasts have been reported on almost every continent. Lake Tele: Home of the Legendary Mokèlé-mbèmbé Monster EPENA, REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
That said, not all sea monsters take the form of slithering water snakes. The Kelpies of Scottish lore are massive demonic horses found in rivers and streams. The Kelpies GRANGEMOUTH, SCOTLAND
Mermaids are another sea beast, albeit a significantly more alluring version. Much of our modern mythos surrounding mermaids comes from Hans Christian Anderson’s The Little Mermaid, but before the 19th century, mermaids were thought of as the deceptive, even evil sprites, no doubt based on the sirens in Homer’s Odyssey.
The myth of Feejee mermaids was transported to the West from Japan. Travelers saw mummified “mermaids” in shrines like the 1,400-year-old one at the Tenshou-Kyousha Shrine. Allegedly, this mermaid was once a fisherman who trespassed in protected waters and was transformed into a hideous creature as punishment.
These weird hybrids, crafted from the upper half of a monkey and the bottom half of a fish, may have been inspired by the Japanese kappa, a mischievous water spirit.
Despite the fact that they were nothing like the lovely fishtailed maidens of fairytales, Feejee mermaids (as they came to be called—allegedly brought back from Fiji, not Japan) captured the Western imagination. They were quickly disproved as fakes, yet after P.T. Barnum had one in his famous sideshow, no cabinet of curiosity was complete without one.
WHEN I WAS A KID WE WOULD GO ANNUALLY THROUGH BANFF ON VACATION
AND I ALWAYS STOPPED AT THE FOLKLORE MUSEUM THERE WHERE SUCH A
HALF CHIMP HALF TROUT MERMAN/MERMAID WAS ON DISPLAY
HOWEVER THE REAL THRILL WAS THE 12 FT KODIAK BEAR, LUCKILY STUFFED.
CHIMERAS The chimera, another creature of Greek mythology, was said to have the body of a lion, the head of a goat, and a snake for a tail, though today the term is applied to any creature with the body parts of various animals. Nobody does body horror like the Ancient Greeks, whose Minotaur myth (the half-man, half-bull trapped as the protector of the labyrinth) persists to this day. Labyrinthos Caves: the Minotaur’s Home GREECE
Chimera made their way into American folklore. The Texas Woofus in Dallas is a longhorned pig-legged sheep-bird. Its critics call it pagan, and they may not be so far off the mark. The Texas Woofus DALLAS, TEXAS
Another American chimera is the Piasa bird, a mysterious feathered beast painted on a rock in Alton, Illinois. The painting has been there since at least the 1670s, though no one knows its origin.
The chimera best known to Americans is the jackalope, a jackrabbit with the antlers of a buck. Mismatched animals like this abound around the world though, likely because hucksters could prove their existence through falsified taxidermy, or “gaffs.” Still, reports of bunnies with massive horns proliferate in the Southwest and elsewhere.
Not all cryptids and chimera are leporine and sweet though. Some are more sinister, like the Pope Lick Monster, named after the Pope Lick Trestle Bridge it has been sighted beneath. It is said to be a monstrous man-goat hybrid that lures its victims onto the railway trestle.
The Jersey Devil was another cryptid seen throughout New Jersey in the 19th and early 20th century. In 1909 alone, hundreds of people reported seeing an unknown creature flying over the Pine Barrens, a forested area on the Jersey coast. They described it as something like a kangaroo with hooves and leathery bat wings that would let out a terrifying shriek before disappearing from the sky. The Jersey Devil hasn’t been reported in recent years, though its memory is now thoroughly embedded in New Jersey folklore.
One of America’s more recent cryptids is the Mothman. In November of 1966, numerous people reported seeing a man-like figure with wings spanning upwards of ten feet. Those who saw the creature from their cars reported that its eyes shone red like bicycle reflectors when their headlights hit it. After a local bridge collapsed, killing dozens, Mothman sightings ceased. Conspiracies began to arise. The sightings had all been near the TNT area, a WWII munitions factory, leading some to surmise that the Mothman was a military experiment or an alien visitor.
The mystery was never solved, though skeptics claim it may have simply been an owl. Nevertheless, the story inspired a book and several films, and Point Pleasant commemorates its cryptid with a storefront museum as well as a downtown statue. Mothman Statue
Cryptids come from all kinds of sources—misunderstandings of natural phenomena, tall tales, and sometimes, sheer human ingenuity, as with Karachi’s very strange fortune-telling fox woman, Mumtaz Begum. They can become a mascot for the place that claims them, a weird source of pride for the people that live there.
Is there a cryptid lurking in your hometown we should know about? Have your own Feejee mermaid or creepy chimera? Add it to the Atlas!
