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Partisan tussle interrupts House probe of midterm voter suppression

The House Oversight Committee's majority Democrats have overstepped their bounds by asking officials in Georgia, Texas and Kansas for information about election procedures that prompted allegations of voter suppression last fall, Republicans say.

But the Democrats say they're not backing down on the signature effort by Congress to review abuse of voting rights and other political malfeasance in the 2018 midterm because the Constitution and the national political will are on their side.


"We have serious concerns that your letters appear to be an attempt to insert the committee into particular state election proceedings, for which we do not see a legitimate legislative purpose," the committee's ranking minority party member, Jim Jordan of Ohio, said in a letter signed by three other Republicans. "By seeking voluminous records relating to election administration of sovereign states, your investigation offends state-federal comity."

The Republicans also sent officials in the three states letters that, while not explicitly encouraging defiance, noted that the "partisan" inquiries raised "serious federalism concerns" and exceeded Congress' investigative authority.

Maryland's Jamie Raskin, the Democratic chairman of the civil rights and civil liberties subcommittee, wrote back to the House GOP overnight to say the committee "has the power and obligation to enforce the voting rights of the people" under five different parts of the Constitution.

Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings, also a Maryland Democrat, vowed to plow ahead, saying: "With a Democratic president, there was no allegation too small to investigate, but now that Donald Trump is in the White House, there is apparently no scandal too big to ignore."

Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton of Texas told the committee last week he was rebuffing the request for information about the state's aggressive but mistake-filled effort to purge suspected noncitizens from its voter rosters. But the committee says it is getting cooperation from the others. It is seeking explanations about election procedures across Georgia from GOP Gov. Brian Kemp and wants the county clerk of Ford County, Kansas, to explain why she moved the single polling location in Dodge City to a site far from public transit.

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Connecticut: Democracy, Innovation, and Economic Resilience

The 50: Connecticut

Credit: Hugo Balta

Connecticut: Democracy, Innovation, and Economic Resilience

The 50 is a four-year multimedia project in which the Fulcrum visits different communities across all 50 states to learn what motivated them to vote in the 2024 presidential election and see how the Donald Trump administration is meeting those concerns and hopes.

Hartford, Connecticut, stands as a living testament to American democracy, ingenuity, and resilience. As the state’s capital, it’s home to cultural landmarks like the Mark Twain House & Museum, where Twain penned The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, embodying the spirit of self-governance and creative daring that defines the region.

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Hand blocking someone speaking

The Third Way has recently released a memo stating that the “stampede away from the Democratic Party” is partly a result of the language and rhetoric it uses.

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To Protect Democracy, Democrats Should Pay Attention to the Third Way’s List of ‘Offensive’ Words

More than fifty years ago, comedian George Carlin delivered a monologue entitled Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television.” It was a tribute to the legendary Lenny Bruce, whose “nine dirty words” performance led to his arrest and his banning from many places.

His seven words were “p—, f—, c—, c———, m———–, and t—.”

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Fox News’ Selective Silence: How Trump’s Worst Moments Vanish From Coverage
Why Fox News’ settlement with Dominion Voting Systems is good news for all media outlets
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Fox News’ Selective Silence: How Trump’s Worst Moments Vanish From Coverage

Last week, the ultraconservative news outlet, NewsMax, reached a $73 million settlement with the voting machine company, Dominion, in essence, admitting that they lied in their reporting about the use of their voting machines to “rig” or distort the 2020 presidential election. Not exactly shocking news, since five years later, there is no credible evidence to suggest any malfeasance regarding the 2020 election. To viewers of conservative media, such as Fox News, this might have shaken a fully embraced conspiracy theory. Except it didn’t, because those viewers haven’t seen it.

Many people have a hard time understanding why Trump enjoys so much support, given his outrageous statements and damaging public policy pursuits. Part of the answer is due to Fox News’ apparent censoring of stories that might be deemed negative to Trump. During the past five years, I’ve tracked dozens of examples of news stories that cast Donald Trump in a negative light, including statements by Trump himself, which would make a rational person cringe. Yet, Fox News has methodically censored these stories, only conveying rosy news that draws its top ratings.

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U.S. Flag / artificial intelligence / technology / congress / ai

The age of AI warrants asking if the means still further the ends—specifically, individual liberty and collective prosperity.

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Liberty and the General Welfare in the Age of AI

If the means justify the ends, we’d still be operating under the Articles of Confederation. The Founders understood that the means—the governmental structure itself—must always serve the ends of liberty and prosperity. When the means no longer served those ends, they experimented with yet another design for their government—they did expect it to be the last.

The age of AI warrants asking if the means still further the ends—specifically, individual liberty and collective prosperity. Both of those goals were top of mind for early Americans. They demanded the Bill of Rights to protect the former, and they identified the latter—namely, the general welfare—as the animating purpose for the government. Both of those goals are being challenged by constitutional doctrines that do not align with AI development or even undermine it. A full review of those doctrines could fill a book (and perhaps one day it will). For now, however, I’m just going to raise two.

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