Monday, May 24, 2021
'Outrageous': Georgia State Judge Allows Citizens to Examine Fulton County Ballots
"This is further shameful evidence that the Big Lie is becoming state policy," said attorney Marc Elias.
by
Julia Conley, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/05/22/outrageous-georgia-state-judge-allows-citizens-examine-fulton-county-ballots
Voting rights advocates on Saturday said that the fourth audit of some of Georgia's 2020 election results—set to go forward following a state judge's ruling Friday—is aimed at sowing doubt about President Joe Biden's victory more than six months after the election.
State Superior Court Judge Brian Amero ruled in favor of a group of local citizens under the name Voters Organized for Trusted Election Results in Georgia, allowing the group to inspect Fulton County's 147,000 mail-in ballots.
Georgia's five million ballots were subjected to a hand recount, a machine recount, and an investigation by the secretary of state—all of which confirmed Biden won the state with 49.5% of the vote and that there was no evidence of fraud in the tallying of votes.
The judge's decision to continue lending credibility to the notion that the election results are illegitimate is "shameful evidence that the Big Lie is becoming state policy," attorney and Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias tweeted.
Under the ruling the nine plaintiffs will be permitted to examine copies of the ballots to ensure they're not counterfeit. The original ballots will remain with Fulton County election officials. The audit and the citizens' demand for an official declaration that counterfeit ballots exist in the county, said Common Cause Georgia executive director Aunna Dennis, is aimed at not only creating the impression that former President Donald Trump's loss was illegitimate but also making it harder for Georgians to vote in the future.
"It's a cynical strategy," Dennis told the Washington Post. "Create artificial 'doubt' about our election processes, and then use that doubt to make voting harder for the voters you don't think will vote for you."
Republican state lawmakers in March passed a law that will curtail access to mail-in and absentee voting and make it a crime to hand out food or water to people waiting in line at polling places, among other voter suppression tactics.
The plaintiffs were given authorization to examine the county's ballots as a similar audit is taking place in Maricopa County, Arizona. Auditors there have investigated conspiracy theories including one that led them to look for bamboo fibers in 40,000 ballots that some believed were smuggled from China.
"This conspiracy theory about counterfeit ballots has been trotted out by proponents of the 'Big Lie' across the country and shot down every time," Fulton County Board of Commissioners Chairman Robb Pitts told CNN. "Whether it's looking for bamboo in Arizona's ballots or searching for counterfeits in Fulton's, it is nonsense."
Garland Favorito, founder of Voters Organized for Trusted Election Results in Georgia, acknowledged that the results of his group's investigation will not overturn Georgia's election results.
"It's not an election challenge and therefore this case alone could not do that," Favorito said. "What this case is about is the equal protection and due process, constitutional rights, of the plaintiffs and all Georgia voters. Because if counterfeit ballots were introduced into the certified results, it diluted our votes and the votes of all Georgians both within and outside of Fulton County."
Still, Pitts called Amero's ruling in favor of the group "outrageous."
"The fact remains that Fulton County safely and securely carried out an election in the midst of a public health pandemic," Pitts told the Post. "It's a shame to see that the 'Big Lie' lives on."
Nearly 200,000 Gather in London for History-Making Demonstration of Solidarity With Palestinians
"This movement is growing every single day," said the Muslim Association of Britain.
by
Julia Conley, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/05/22/nearly-200000-gather-london-history-making-demonstration-solidarity-palestinians
Nearly 200,000 people gathered in London Saturday for what organizers said was one of the largest demonstrations of solidarity with Palestinians in the United Kingdom's history.
Organizers with the Stop The War Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Friends of Al-Aqsa, Palestinian Forum in Britain, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and the Muslim Association of Britain had planned the protest before Hamas and Israel reached a ceasefire that began early Friday after an 11-day bombing campaign targeting the Gaza Strip.
The attacks killed more than 230 Palestinians including dozens of children. Rockets launched by Hamas killed 12 Israelis, according to authorities.
The groups went ahead with the demonstration despite the ceasefire—which was brokered by diplomats from Egypt, Qatar, and the United Nations—noting that "Palestinians in Gaza still face a 15-year long siege that entraps them and violates all of their human rights."
"Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem continue to face a brutal military occupation, including restrictions on movement, home demolitions, and the enforcement of military law on the civilian population," organizers said in a statement. "Palestinian citizens of Israel are still subject to over 65 laws that discriminate against them and render them second class citizens, and Palestinians in exile are still denied their right to return home."
The organizers expected roughly 150,000 people to take part in the solidarity march, but an estimated 180,000 showed up.
"This movement is growing every single day," tweeted the Muslim Association of Britain.
Participants marched from Victoria Embankment to Hyde Park, chanting slogans including "Free Palestine!" and "No Justice, No Peace!"
Chants of "Boris Johnson, shame on you!" were also heard as the demonstrators demanded the U.K. end its complicity in Israel's violent policies. As The Independent reported Saturday, equipment produced in the U.K. was used by the Israel Defense Forces in the most recent bombardment campaign.
Former Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell was among the speakers who addressed the huge crowd at Hyde Park.
"Yes, a ceasefire has been negotiated and we welcome a ceasefire," said McDonnell. "But let's be clear, there will be no ceasefire in our campaign to boycott, disinvest, and sanction the Israeli apartheid state. The message is clear, we will not cease our campaign in solidarity until there is justice. So let's make it clear, no justice, no peace."
Demonstrators also gathered in other places including Paris, Dublin, and cities across the United States.
"Israel's system of apartheid and ethnic cleansing cannot continue," organizers of the historic London march said. "We can't stop just because Israel has temporarily stopped bombing Gaza. We must campaign and protest until the Palestinian people enjoy what is their birth right: freedom, justice and equality in their historic homeland."
The GOP's Extraordinarily Economic Dark Plot (w/ Prof Richard Wolff)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFeSy27Xj7Q
The Similarities and Differences between Biden and FDR - Richard Wolff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFsEPQCk75g
Nancy Pelosi Wants Everyone To Calm Down and Boycott China's Olympics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxqCO7ED3LI
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