Daily Archives: July 12, 2021

Technology’s Evolution from Background to Backbone – Tahawul Tech

Posted: July 12, 2021 at 7:59 am

By: Dave Russell, Vice President of Enterprise Strategy, Veeam

With employees encouraged to work from home with the ongoing pandemic, IT has taken on the importance of a utility along with water, gas and electricity, Without connectivity, telecommunications and the cloud, many businesses would have ground to a halt, while consumers would have had limited means of keeping in touch, buying essential goods, and staying entertained. But thanks to IT, businesses such as supermarkets, broadcasters and financial services have continued to thrive.

Online shopping has become the norm, particularly for essential goods with online traffic growing by over a thirdglobally in the supermarket sector. Subscriptions to on-demand streaming platforms are through the roof with Netflix adding 26 million subscribers to its platform by the end of June last year. Social media, video communication and instant messaging platforms have extended their user bases. The outstanding beneficiary here has been Zoom posting a 335% increase in revenues compared to 2019. Everything from the way we receive medical advice, check our bank balance and exercise are driven by a digital-first approach. So, what is the impact of IT going from being in the background to be a core part of the backbone? For the technology industry, the impact is profound. There has been a collective and widespread epiphany of ITs value to both the economy and society. While this is music to the ears of cloud, connectivity and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers, with great power comes great responsibility.

No more downtime

If IT is to live up to this critical infrastructure status, availability must be a given. Think about the frequency with which power cuts or empty water taps actually occur. These are infrequent events which still cause surprise and generate headline news. Can we honestly say the same about the availability of IT services? Think about how often routers need rebooting and applications fail to respond to basic commands. Furthermore, cyber-breaches occur on a daily basis with some statistics suggesting around 30,000 websites are hacked every day. For technology to be elevated to utility status, there needs to be an agreed level of service to which providers are held accountable by independent regulators. Simply put, this page cannot be displayed and computer says no moments have to become a thing of the past. While in principle, such a scenario may seem unattractive to technology giants, this expectation is befitting of the vital role technology plays in almost every aspect of our lives today.

Beyond the possibility of opposition from Silicon Valley, there are other challenges to consider with regulating technology. Using the examples of social media and search, enforcing a level of service for something that the consumer does not pay to use would be an almost unprecedented move. However, subscription-based SaaS models lend themselves well to such regulation. Arguably, that regulation already exists and is called a Service License Agreement (SLA). These are set by the service provider, which is legally obliged to fulfil the SLA once a contract with a customer or partner has been signed. Given the impact of downtime on businesses, we are already seeing customers demand more of their provider.

According to Veeams 2020 Data Protection Trends Report, 95% of global organisations suffer unexpected outages lasting an average of almost two hours. For High Priority applications, which account for over half of a companys applications, one hour of downtime is estimated to cost $67,651. That means for an application such as email, payments, websites and mobile apps, one outage costs an average of over $135,000. While companies can fight the case for compensation, change providers if they are dissatisfied, or demand urgent maintenance of a system that causes downtime, there is no one size fits all insurance model to protect businesses. A step towards tighter regulation of technology and telecoms could be a set of minimum service requirements, including a maximum amount of downtime allowed, time to recover data and applications, frequency of software upgrades.

Securing techs reputation

When we talk about downtime and other glitches which possibly threaten technologys status as a utility, we turn to cybersecurity. The growing importance of IT in the worlds day-to-day operations is an opportunity that cyber-attackers will pull out all the stops to exploit. Anything that is connected can be hacked. So, what does that mean in a world where everything is connected? What it means is that cyber-attacks have risen again in 2020. Microsofts 2020 Digital Defense Report shows that Office 365 alone has blocked 1.6 billion URL-based email phishing threats in the past twelve months. Of 6 trillion messages scanned for viruses, 13 billion malicious emails were blocked. This supports Veeams own research, with IT leaders naming cyber threats their biggest challenge in the next 12 months above issues such as a shortage of skills and the ability to meet customer demands.

The penalties for businesses who fail to secure their systems and data are already high. As well as the financial cost of downtime, loss of confidence from customers and reputational damage leave a distasteful legacy, and something businesses cant always recover from. All of this once again points towards the utility-like status of technology in this case with specific reference to cybersecurity and data protection. Perhaps the question needs to change from what security provider is a business using to what security protocols should businesses be required to implement based on the data they are processing? The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which applies to all EU citizens data, goes some way to implementing a universal framework. But implementing cybersecurity measures is a choice rather than an enforced necessity. As cybersecurity becomes a utility that businesses need rather than a layer of IT they can choose, there is an opportunity to institute best practice across the board. Will cybersecurity training for office-based employees become mandatory, particularly with the rise of the remote workforce? Should all organisations publish a full disaster recovery plan, which details how they will recover data should it be lost or stolen? Going further, should personal data held by organisations be subject to a universal cybersecurity standard to ensure all citizens data is protected to a satisfactory level?

Like the ongoing cybersecurity battle, the trend of technology permeating every aspect of our working and person lives pre-dates 2021. However, this is undoubtedly a watershed moment for technology in the way it is perceived and the opportunity for the industry to demonstrate responsibility. We have already seen the techlash aimed at companies that fail to protect data or use it ethically. At the same time, business leaders and people across the world have come to realise that having access to the Internet is the new keeping the lights on. Our economies, societies and lives are enriched by the ability to communicate, share content and complete transactions online. The result is that technologys role in the world has evolved into that of something which is expected to be ubiquitous, always-on and permanently available. The world simply will not accept this page cannot be displayed anymore.

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Jeff Bezos Is Going to Space As Climate Change Threatens Life on Earth – Teen Vogue

Posted: at 7:58 am

After watching Laurence Fishburne get stuck in the deep dimensions of hell in the classic 1997 film Event Horizon, I lost any interest in space travel. If I ever have a chance to explore the worlds of the unknown, Ill choose the deep sea. There are so many different species of fish, sharks, and cephalopods that look like theyre from another planet. All the amazingly diverse creatures that exist on this planet are a wonder in and of themselves, and well worth saving.

Despite knowing that our way of life pollutes the planet, causes mass extinctions, and makes parts of the world uninhabitable, the powers that be seem to have their head in the stars instead of on Earth. On June 10, the Senate passed the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act, which, if passed into law, will devote $250 billion to fund science, research and development, manufacturing, and innovation.

Now a battle is mounting over how much our billionaire overlords can benefit from these programs. Currently, Elon Musks SpaceX is the sole NASA contractor for a lunar-lander program, which is focused on making it easier for humans to travel to the moon. Thanks to an amendment added by Democratic senator Maria Cantwell of Washington and Republican senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, $10 billion of the new funding could go to Jeff Bezoss company Blue Origin for its work on a similar moon-landing project. Vermont senator Bernie Sanders voted against the amendment, calling it a Bezos bailout, but it passed the Senate, and the legislations fate is now in the hands of the House. As it turns out, Blue Origin is located in the state Cantwell represents, and the Intercept reported that the company spent $625,000 lobbying the Senate ahead of the additional amendment.

The two men often competing to be the richest person in the world are poised to get billions from the government to play space cowboys. As a recent ProPublica report revealed, these same two men have paid little to no income taxes for years. Yet they have obtained U.S. contracts that will further compound their repulsively immense wealth. Musk has already announced plans to try and colonize Mars, saying last year, "If there's something terrible that happens on Earth, either made by humans or natural, we want to have, like, life insurance for life as a whole." Bezos has set his sights on colonizing the moon, telling the media in 2019, Its time to go back to the moon, this time to stay.

The outgoing Amazon CEO is set to fly into space on July 20 on the New Shepard, a crewed rocket ship created by Blue Origin that Bezos hopes will usher in a new era of space tourism for the ber-wealthy, of course. (In a surprising upset for Bezos, British billionaire Richard Branson beat him for the title of first billionaire to travel to space.) Bezos has also talked about building massive, thriving colonies of up to a trillion humans in our solar system, saying that doing so would create an incredible and dynamic civilization home to 1,000 Mozarts and 1,000 Einsteins.

While spinning their ideas of space exploration as a win for humanity, the two billionaires have shown themselves to be anything but humanitarians. Employees at Amazon, which Bezos founded, have accused the company of union busting, maintaining strenuous work environments where workers have said they sometimes had to resort to peeing in bottles, and building warehouses with operations that pollute surrounding communities of color. Musks company, Tesla, has been sued, along with four other tech companies, for allegedly benefiting from the use of children in the cobalt-mining process in the Democratic Republic of Congo. (Cobalt is used for lithium-ion batteries.) In Boca Chica, Texas, where one of Musks SpaceX launching pads is located, scattered debris from exploded rockets has raised concerns about the potential harm to protected wetlands.

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Tribune T Magazine – The Express Tribune

Posted: at 7:58 am

PUBLISHEDJuly 10, 2021

For the last decade or so, there seem to have been serious efforts by the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the scientific community in other countries to explore Mars and determine whether it can be liveable.

Known popularly as the Red Planet on account of the colour its iron-oxide rich surface, Mars is roughly half the size of the Earth and has been a constant source of curiosity for scientists over the years. This is reflected in the amount of exploration and research that has gone towards the planet to ascertain whether it is possible to establish life there. Projects like the Mars Foundation based in the Netherlands and the Mars Space Mission project based in New York are composed of scientists and aerospace companies exploring how Mars can be liveable in the first half of 21st century.

After Venus, Mars is our closet planetary neighbour. In 2003, Mars was closest to earth with a distance of 56 million kilometres. If Mars and Earth are farthest from the sun, the two planets can be 401 million kilometres apart. Travel time between the two planets in a spacecraft with a speed of 58,000 kilometres per hour that uses the closest approach will take 39 days and with farthest approach with 289 days. On average, travel time between Mars and Earth will be 162 days. With these facts in mind, scientists engaged with NASA and elsewhere are researching the characteristics of Mars that can provide a ray of hope to those dreaming of colonising the Red Planet. It may be a wishful thinking and a utopian concept to send spaceships carrying humans to Mars, but human curiosity and innovation has no boundaries.

Mars can certainly be a source of anxiety for those who realise how in the last 200 hundred years scientific innovation and discoveries made it possible to drastically cut travel time from one continent to another, and enabled people to connect each other from telephone, telex, fax, e-mail and then online sources. But while it may seem an uphill task to develop a planet with a faint possibility of having water and oxygen, our history does lead one to expect scientific miracles.

In a 2014 conference at the NASA Ames Research Centre, Dr Chris McKay, a planetary scientist and founding member of The Mars Society, presented a list of Mars most important resources that early Martian colonists would exploit to make the planet habitable. According to him, under atmospheric CO2 is Mars most easily accessible resource, providing feedstock for manufacturing methane propellant. The chemistry involved in separating it is simple, low power, and has been employed on Earth for more than a century. Referring to H2O from the atmosphere and polar ice he further argued, Mars is a dry planet compared to the Earth, but compared to other celestial bodies like the moon and asteroids, its water budget is quite generous. Mars has a polar cap composed of a mixture of water-ice and CO2 dry ice, and even at non-polar latitudes, water-ice is known to exist a few meters under the surface regolith. This water can be purified and consumed, or electrolyzed to produce O2 and hydrogen, which can be further combined with atmospheric CO2 to produce a range of useful plastics.

Traces of glaciers, lakes and water in some of the regions of Mars and human ability to make use of minimum resources necessary for colonising the Red Planet is perhaps a single most important source of hope for NASA and the worlds scientists. If they are persistent, a day will come when human settlement in Mars be not be a dream but a reality. Instincts of lust for resources and power have remained two major characteristics among human beings that gave an impetus to the colonisation of Americas, Australia, Africa and parts of Asia. Similar instincts motivate human beings from scientifically developed nations to sustain their efforts to transform Mars as the second world for human beings. People may term the vision of some scientists that Mars can be liveable as weird but science has no limit and can strive to transform unthinkable as unthinkable. Life on moon was ruled out because it has neither air nor water, but in the case of Mars the scientific results of exploration done so far tend to make scientists and explorers double-minded about the possibility of life on Mars.

There are technical and various scientific terms, which are used to judge whether there can be life on Mars? According to Robin Wordsworth in his blog (https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/can-mars-be-made-habitable-in-our-lifetime/ February 14, 2020) Its a very poorly kept secret in planetary science that many of us first got inspired to join the field by reading science fiction. For many of us who study Mars, Kim Stanley Robinsons 1990s Mars trilogy, which describes the colonisation and eventual transforming of the Red Planet, was particularly influential. But rereading these books in 2019, I noted that much of what he imagined looks pretty far-fetchedwere still a long way from landing the first human on Mars, and transforming the planet to make it habitable seems like a very distant dream. Reinforcing his arguments about establishing life in Mars he further states that, serious scientific ideas for transforming Mars into an Earth-like planet have been put forward before, but they require vast industrial capabilities and make assumptions about the total amount of accessible carbon dioxide (CO2) on the planet that have been criticised as unrealistic. When we started thinking about this problem a few years ago, therefore, we decided to take a different approach. One thing you learn quickly when you study Marss past climate, as we do in our usual research, is that while it was intermittently habitable in the past, it was never really like Earthit has always been a unique and alien world. So when were thinking about how to make Mars habitable in the future, perhaps we should also be taking inspiration from the Red Planet itself.

Human quest for knowledge, exploration and discovery has no parallel. The West, on account of its edge in science and technology in the last four hundred years wouldnt like to give up hope to make use of the opportunity to colonise Mars provided there are chances of some success. Investment on scientific missions to be sent to Mars will pay off as the West, particularly the United States will be first one to put its flag on the Red Planet and unleash the process of colonising Mars.

In his paper A way to make Mars habitable Robert Woodsworth in Harvard Gazette (https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/07/making-mars-habitable/) argues that people have long dreamed of altering the Martian climate to make it liveable for humans. Carl Sagan was the first outside the realm of science fiction to propose terraforming. In a 1971 paper, Sagan suggested that vaporizing the northern polar ice caps would result in yield ~103g cm-2 of atmosphere over the planet, higher global temperatures through the greenhouse effect, and a greatly increased likelihood of liquid water. Based on the results of a pair of NASA-funded researchers from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and Northern Arizona University in 2018 found that processing all the sources available on Mars would only increase atmospheric pressure to about seven per cent that of Earth far short of what is needed to make the planet habitable, scientists are now exploring the possibility of colonising not the entire Mars but some of its regions. Quoted by Robert Woodsworth, the researchers suggest that regions of the Martian surface could be made habitable with a material silica aerogel that would mimic Earths atmospheric greenhouse effect. Through modeling and experiments, the researchers show that a two to three-centimetre thick shield of silica aerogel could transmit enough visible light for photosynthesis, block hazardous ultraviolet radiation, and raise temperatures underneath permanently above the melting point of water, all without the need for any internal heat source.

Scientists are going an extra mile to probe how even a small percentage of available ice and CO2 can help start colonization process in Mars. Therefore, they agreed upon selecting some of the parts of mars so as to conduct engineering of environment that can at least lead to life in the red planet. According to Robin Wordsworth, Assistant Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and the Department of Earth and Planetary Science this regional approach to making Mars habitable is much more achievable than global atmospheric modification, Unlike the previous ideas to make Mars habitable, this is something that can be developed and tested systematically with materials and technology we already have. Mars is the most habitable planet in our solar system besides Earth, said Laura Kerber, a research scientist at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory. But it remains a hostile world for many kinds of life. A system for creating small islands of habitability would allow us to transform Mars in a controlled and scalable way. Unlike Earths polar ice caps, which are made of frozen water, the ones on Mars are a combination of water ice and frozen CO2. Like its gaseous form, frozen CO2 allows sunlight to penetrate while trapping heat. In the summer, this solid-state greenhouse effect creates pockets of warming under the ice. We started thinking about this solid-state greenhouse effect and how it could be invoked for creating habitable environments on Mars in the future, Wordsworth said. We started thinking about what kinds of materials could minimize thermal conductivity but still transmit as much light as possible.

According to Chelsea Gohd in her paper, Can we Terraform Mars to Make It Earth-Lie? Not anytime Soon (https://www.space.com/41318-we-cant-terraform-mars.html) while many researchers have devised ways we might use Mars' carbon dioxide to terraform the planet and make it habitable, one new study suggests that the Red Planet simply doesn't have enough carbon dioxide for this to be possible. Could we make Mars Earth-like? Not with existing technologies, one new paper suggests. For many years, Mars has existed as a hopeful "Planet B" a secondary option if Earth can no longer support us as a species. From science-fiction stories to scientific investigations, humans have considered the possibilities of living on Mars for a long time. A main staple of many Mars-colonisation concepts is terraforming a hypothetical process of changing the conditions on a planet to make it habitable for life that exists on Earth, including humans, without a need for life-support systems. Unfortunately, according to a new paper, with existing technologies, terraforming Mars is simply not possible.

Scientists researching on Mars point out that several million years ago Mars was warm and wet and at that there was a large blue fresh water lake. Huge underground aquifers of liquid water exist, according to a group of scientists, who say they have found convincing evidence. The underground lake hasnt been seen directly, but if its real, its a discovery that substantially increases the likelihood that the Red Planet might host life. Researchers detected the possible reservoir with the Mars Express Orbiter, a European spacecraft thats been orbiting Mars since 2003. While scanning the ice cap at Mars south pole, the probes radar instrument, called MARSIS, detected a feature about a mile underneath the surface that was about 12.4 miles wide. The structure has a radar signature that matches that of buried liquid water here on Earth, leading the team to conclude that theres a lake under the glacier. The researchers say theyve ruled out all other possibilities for what theyre seeing.

According to Loren Grush, in her article Scientists detect giant underground aquifer on Mars, raising hope of life on the planet (https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/25/17606966/mars-liquid-water-reservoir-) in 2015, the space agency announced that a bunch of bizarre dark streaks seen on Mars were likely made up of salty water. That was the first big confirmation that water exists as a liquid on Mars, which is remarkable when you consider that the planet has an average temperature of -80 degrees Fahrenheit. Salt in the water lowers its freezing point, allowing it to stay liquid in frigid conditions; scientists believe the salt probably comes from Martian rocks.

Other players for exploring Mars like China and United Arab Emirates (UAE) are also active with a resolve to seek the possibility of starting human life on the red planet. Drive to colonize Mars will further get an impetus because of over population, diminishing food and energy resources and worsening of global environment which will make human living on earth very difficult.

(The writer is Meritorious Professor of International Relations and former Dean Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Karachi. E.Mail: [emailprotected]).

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Are Clothes Made From Mushrooms, Bacteria And Yeast The Way Forward For Fashion? – ELLE India

Posted: at 7:57 am

Even though the pandemic has accelerated the shift towards sustainability by using organic, recycled or natural materials, it is not enough for the fashion industry to be truly sustainable. The real challenge is to replace the majority of textiles and materials created with fossil fuels with biodegradable materials. In the early 2000s, Suzanne Lee introduced biodesign into the fashion industry through Biocouture, which started as an academic research project. It resulted from a conversation with a biologist that answered the question, how else can we create materials for a sustainable future?

Biocouture envisions future manufacturing systems that inevitably consist of biodesigned living organisms and forming engineered materials into biodegradable products. For a few years, we have seen the advancement of some alternative materials like Piatex, a natural leather made from fibres extracted from pineapple leaves and Mycelium, a network of interwoven thread-like polymers that constitute the vegetative part of mushrooms. Lets dive deep into biodesign processes and discover how Biomaterials are changing the face of sustainable production and consumption.

Nancy Diniz, a course leader of MA Biodesign at Central Saint Martins (CSM), describes biodesign as a means to incorporate the inherent life-conducive principles of biological systems, data and inter-species relationships into design thinking and making, with the aim of protection of natural resources, the environment and ecosystems. At CSM, they are training and teaching students to work with different types of biological specimens, including mycelium, micro and macro algae strains, pigmented and bioluminescent bacterium and moss, both in and out of their Grow Lab.

We collect samples of living specimens from natural and built environments, then we examine and propagate them. We teach about the biological, biochemical and biophysical processes which govern how living systems grow, interact and thrive. This understanding of complex interconnectedness of the organic and inorganic and amplification of inter-species relationships is a core component of our design thinking strategy, states Diniz.

Working With Mycelium

NEFFA, a Dutch Research, Design and Development company focusing on fashion innovation, is making waves internationally by working on the intersection of technology, microbiology and textiles. We caught up with their founder Aniela Hoitink to understand their unique approach. We focus on changing material and production techniques instead of changing human behaviour. We believe this is easier than changing our consumption behaviour, as it is older than our production techniques, she shared.

They are currently working on MycoTEX, a spinoff project that they want to bring to the market. It is an award-winning, all-in-one solution for fashion brands. We use an automated, seamless production technology to create custom-fit products out of sustainable, vegan textiles made from mycelium (mushroom roots).

Her quest to create innovative textiles and products based on personalisation inspired her to establish biodesigned production cycles. Gathering inspiration from the biological life cycle and how nature has its own consumptive behaviour, she further explains: While working with mycelium, I discovered we could re-think not only the material but also the production technique. Every year a tree sheds its leaves to get a new set. Could we make garments that can be grown and composted after wearing, just like the tree with its leaves? This is how the concept of MycoTEX was born.

Testing Out Biodesign

Acclaimed London-based photographer and artist Ram Shergill who is known for questioning the notion of identity, dress, and the power of performance, is merging biodesign in his work. Currently, he is in the third year of pursuing a PhD on The Critical Posthuman Carapace: Constructing Exoskeletal Hybrid Living Systems (a bioregenerative system). According to Ram, his research focusses on exploring the creation of forms of design, architecture, constructing a bioregenerative carapace (a protective covering), acting as a shield for the body for use in harsher environments such as the Moon and Mars, and to see how their application would be beneficial on Earth.

Ram is collaborations with space technologies that deliver algal experiments to the ISS. Using architectural design in combination with biochemical engineering, hybrid bioregenerative outputs are created, combining human with non-human organisms (microalgae) explicating a mode of critical posthuman practice, he explains. In his research so far, the work created by Ram in fashion has been the crux of his design aesthetic to develop his upcoming design strategies.

What Does All This Mean For Designers?

Aniela and her team believe that a combination of technologies can pave the way towards the future of design. She states that many companies focus on material development and the recreation of existing types of material. They are also working on improving different parts of the manufacturing processes. We feel that by bringing the two together and developing a new method from scratch, we can truly challenge the status quo and make improvements in terms of the environmental and economical footprint that are not possible when only focussing on single aspects of the fashion life cycle.

On the other hand, Ram believes that biomaterials combined with biodesign can enhance the future of fashion. Biodesign can support new ideas in fashion and can be incorporated with new materials. My research, which is focused on bioregenerative systems through speculative bio-integrated design could potentially be a future concept for fashion on planet Earth and beyond low Earth Orbit.

According to Nancy, biodesign is the future for all design disciplines. She feels that it is necessary to raise awareness about the positive impact of bio-based fashion apparel to see a change in the production systems and consumer behaviour. In designers and consumers, we already see a desire to have a less harmful impact on natural resources. The devastating impact on ecosystems and biodiversity caused by the fashion industry has to be addressed by stakeholders from a multitude of disciplines, including bio designers, she adds.

Recently, we have seen Phillip Lim team up with industrial designer Charlotte McCurdy to create a petroleum-free dress covered in bioplastic sequins. Stella McCartney has also showcased the worlds first garments made using Mylo, the mushroom-based vegan leather. Without a doubt, companies and designers will accelerate natural, renewable material sources and regenerative practices as solutions that will actively improve natures ecosystems rather than just do less harm.

Thumbnail: Courtesy of Stella McCartney | Banner image: Courtesy ofMycoTEX.

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Trump on Jan. 6 insurrection: ‘These were great people’ – POLITICO

Posted: at 7:55 am

The remarks reflected recent efforts by Trump and his supporters to cast themselves as the aggrieved parties from the Jan. 6 riot, which left five people dead and others injured and, for a brief time, halted the wheels of democracy as President-elect Joe Bidens victory over Trump in the Electoral College was being confirmed by Congress.

Trumps reference to great people was similar to his remarks after the fatal confrontation in Charlottesville. You had some very bad people in that group, he said in August 2017. But you also had people that were very fine people on both sides.

In his interview with Bartiromo, Trump said those at the events of Jan. 6 were loving people who wanted to save the nation.

The crowd was unbelievable and I mentioned the word love, the love in the air, Ive never seen anything like it, he said of his rally on the Ellipse. Thats why they went to Washington.

He added: Too much spirit and faith and love, there was such love at that rally, you had over a million people, inflating the size of his rally crowd.

After Trumps speech, the Capitol was invaded by backers of his seeking to disrupt the Electoral College count. On the way in, they battled with police officers; according to the Department of Justice, approximately 140 police officers were assaulted. Hundreds of those who entered the Capitol have been charged with various crimes, including more than 50 who have been charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer.

Trump and Bartiromo both expressed outrage over the fatal shooting of Ashli Babbitt within the Capitol, implying repeatedly that there was a cover-up at work. Babbitt, an Air Force veteran, was fatally shot as she tried to climb through a broken window during the insurrection.

Who is the person that shot an innocent, wonderful, incredible woman, a military woman, right in the head? Trump said. There is no repercussion that were on the other side, it would be the biggest story in this country. Who shot Ashli Babbitt? People want to know and why.

Bartiromo then referred to Babbitt as a wonderful woman fatally shot on January 6 as she tried to climb out of a broken window. Their remarks echoed those of some of Trumps backers, including Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), who has claimed Babbitt was executed.

Referring to his remarks to the crowd before they stormed the Capitol as a very mild-mannered speech, Trump also suggested that the blame for any violence that day could be placed on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats because they didnt take the potential for violence seriously.

They are the ones that were responsible, he said.

Josh Gerstein contributed to this report.

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Inside Donald Trumps Last Days in the White House and Plans for a Comeback – The Wall Street Journal

Posted: at 7:55 am

On the morning of Nov. 7, 2020, the Saturday after the presidential election, President Donald Trump had just approached the tee box at the seventh hole of his golf course in Sterling, Va., when an aides phone rang with news from Jared Kushner: All of the major media outlets, including Fox News, were about to call the presidential election for Democrat Joe Biden.

Mr. Trump had tweeted on the way to the course that hed won BY A LOT! But he displayed none of that all-caps energy as he pressed the phone to his ear. Wearing a dark pullover and slacks with white golf shoes and a matching MAGA cap, Mr. Trump calmly listened to his son-in-law as he strolled across the manicured grass under a clear blue sky. He hung up, nonchalantly handed the phone back to an aide and finished the final 12 holes, as more than a dozen golf carts filled with government aides and Secret Service agents trailed behind him.

When Mr. Trump finally pulled up to the clubhouse in his customized cartcomplete with a presidential seal stitched into the seatclub members cheered him on the back patio. Dont worry, Mr. Trump told them. Its not over yet.

But the election was, in fact, over. What wasnt finished was the term hed won four years earlier, and on Nov. 7, one of the most pressing questions for staffers was how to fill his calendar. Lets do all the things we didnt get to do because of all of the distractions, and have fun, Hope Hicks, a longtime Trump aide, said to the presidents team gathered inside campaign headquarters in Arlington, Va.

Mr. Trump had won far more votes than his team projected, with surprising support from Black and Hispanic men. He was immediately the runaway favorite for the partys 2024 nomination, and Ms. Hicks was expressing that vibe with her suggestion for a jaunty curtain call. But around the table in a glass-encased conference room, the eldest Trump sons channeled their fathers reaction. What youre talking about isnt even an option, responded Donald Trump, Jr., who had called into the meeting. Its a nonstarter, Eric Trump added.

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Trumpworld wants distance from QAnon even as the ex-president winks at it – POLITICO

Posted: at 7:55 am

Trumps press team said the two men, Jeffrey Pedersen and his podcast co-host Shannon Shadygroove:, were not welcome, and had registered for the rally with Red State Talk Radio, a network that has sent people who, a Trump aide said, appear to be legitimate to events before.

Pederson and Grooove were later identified as QAnon followers by Alex Kaplan of progressive watchdog group Media Matters, after which Trumps team said they are considering a new policy to verify reporters ahead of events to prevent people like the two men from gaining access. On top of that, they said they will continue efforts to tamp down on the proliferation of swag that promotes the conspiracy at Trump events and rallies.

Rally organizers make a valiant effort to dispel Q merchandise such as t-shirts, flags, and signs at the rallies, said a Trump spokesperson.

Scott Adams from Red State Talk Radio said their network allows show hosts to use our name, image, and likeness to acquire press credentials upon request.

Content of our individual shows and hosts is not necessarily an endorsement of our station. We support and endorse content in line with America First policies, said Adams.

Trump and his aides have made efforts to keep QAnon from becoming a prominent feature of Trump events for years. There had been a longstanding (though not always successfully executed) policy at Trump rallies to remove any signs or slogans relating to non-Trump causes, and QAnon merchandising fell into that blanket policy. But as the web of QAnon falsehoods and supporters continues to grow, Trump allies have increasingly viewed the movement, which holds that a satanic sect of pedophiles is secretly controlling the government, as toxic.

If we let in one Q shirt out of hundreds of shirts, the negative press would be astounding, said one person close to Trump.A picture that's on the cover of New York Times, with a hundred [QAnon] t-shirts behind him, would be worse than him talking about QAnon.

Trump associates also told POLITICO that they had attempted to weed out any QAnon influences both adherents and postings getting close to him. As a larger matter, they have downplayed the impact that QAnon has on the MAGA movement overall.

Look, there have always been crazy people in politics, there always has been, theres always going to be, and who gives a s---? said one Trump adviser.

The attempts at creating distance from QAnon have been complicated, however, by the former president, who has refused to disavow the movement even when described to him as a conspiracy. During the campaign, Trump told NBCs Savannah Guthrie that he knew very little of the group except for their dislike of pedophiles. His non-answer was seen by QAnon adherents as a confirmation of his support. In recent months, he has met with QAnon-supporting figures.

Donald Trump gestures as he speaks to the American Legion National Convention, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016, in Cincinnati. | AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Over the weekend, Trump expressed his support for the January 6 Capitol rioters, calling them great people. That followed several supportive statements for Ashli Babbitt, the Air Force veteran and Trump supporter who was killed during riots inside the Capitol when she tried to storm the Speakers lobby, where lawmakers were running for protection from the mob. Babbitt promoted QAnon conspiracy theories on her social media pages, and has emerged as a Q martyr. Her profile has only risen as Trump has raised questions about why she was killed by a Capitol police officer, who was acting in self defense, and why the officers identity has not been revealed.

The person that shot Ashli Babbitt ... there was no reason for that. And why isnt that person being opened up, and why isnt that being studied? Theyve already written it off. They said that case is closed. If that were the opposite, that case would be going on for years and years, and it would not be pretty, Trump said during a press conference in Bedminster, N.J. on Wednesday.

What has fed Trumps interest in the Babbitt story is unclear. But she isnt the only area of overlapping interest between QAnon and Trump. Instead, a community that once revolved around Satanic ritual-based conspiracies now seems driven by the belief that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump by a vast conspiracy of shadowy elites, assisted by voting machine companies, a slavish mainstream media, secretive government agencies, and, perhaps, the Chinese government.

They are still 100 percent dedicated to believing Donald Trump is the rightful president, so the prophecy of what theyre waiting for has changed, said Mike Rothschild, the author of the recently published book "The Storm is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything."

Unlike other QAnon obsessions, their view that the 2020 election was stolen while not supported by any evidence can not be described as fringe. A June poll from Monmouth University found that one third of Americans believe Joe Biden won the election due to voter fraud, and over one in ten Americans will never accept Biden as president. More strident adherents have gone further, attempting to audit state elections and filing lawsuits against Secretaries of State nationwide.

Even further afield, Trumpism adherents like MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell have conjured up theories about how the former president will be reinstalled in the West Wing within months.

My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell speaks as President Donald Trump listens during a briefing about the coronavirus in the Rose Garden of the White House, Monday, March 30, 2020, in Washington. | Alex Brandon/AP Photo

Lindell said in an interview that by the time of an upcoming election symposium hes throwing in South Dakota on August 13, he would have marshaled enough evidence to prove that China had launched a cyberattack that swung the election to Biden, and that it would be so compelling that the Supreme Court would rule 9-0 to switch the election results to Trump.

I said before, a couple months ago, he should be back in by August. I did say that, he clarified. That's me being hopeful there. It could be September. I don't know. It'll be whenever the Supreme Court protects our country and gets this thing pulled down after they see it really happened.

Some Trump associates said they have been displeased with Lindells appearances at rallies and communications with the former president. They are also fearful that his wild talk of reinstallment will lead to QAnon followers lashing out in August, when Trump does not resume his presidency.

You want to tell people you think the election was stolen? Well thats your opinion, said a former Trump adviser. But if you say in August Trumps coming back to office, thats no longer your opinion, now some crazy s--- is going to happen and you're not offering any proof. And its beyond just saying Hey, Im personally convinced the election is stolen.

But if Lindells continued public appearances are worrying some in Trump World, they dont appear to be bothering Trump himself. Recently, the former president tipped his hat to the conspiracy theories about his imminent reinstallment, by hinting that he would return to the White House in 2024, or before. He has also been closely monitoring the ongoing audit in Arizona that was described by one QAnon expert as the conspiracy theorists Super Bowl, and at a recent rally in Ohio, name-dropped Lindell and called him a patriot.

Lindell said he had not spoken to Trump since he left office, nor had he been in communication with Trumps team, but believed that Trump was watching his news appearances.

They see the same thing you do on TV, he said. I don't call anybody up from there and go What do you guys think? You guys know I haven't done that. I've been my own person. Because you know what, this isn't about them. This is about our country.

The persistence of QAnon has been problematic enough that the Department of Homeland Security recently told members of Congress during a closed-door briefing that they are following discussions about the theory online though they did not have reports of any specific threats. Experts on QAnon say it may just be a matter of time before the threat materializes.

When they dont win, that will work into their sense of grievances that theyve had building up over the past few years and I think that will be a very dangerous moment, said Rothschild. I think there will be QAnon believers who have spent so much time building up to this moment where the dominoes are going to start falling and when they dont people will get upset.

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Trump team waited for Wisc. election updates, had time zones wrong: book – Business Insider

Posted: at 7:55 am

In the early hours of November 4, after one of the most tumultuous presidential elections in US history, then-President Donald Trump rattled off the states that were called in his favor, which included the key electoral prizes of Florida, Ohio, and Texas.

He was optimistic about his chances in swing states like Arizona, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin, highlighting election day vote leads that he felt would endure.

However, in a nationally-televised White House speech that he envisioned as a rousing victory message, Trump alleged voter fraud and vowed to go to the Supreme Court to "stop" the counting of additional ballots.

After the speech was over, the president walked into the Map Room, with family members and a tight circle of advisors that soon followed, according to a forthcoming book by Michael Wolff.

It was almost 3:30 a.m., and the campaign began to look hard at Wisconsin, a swing state that Trump narrowly won in 2016 and hoped to put back in his column in 2020.

Trump and then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden had been competitive in the Badger State all night, but the president hoped to put the race away with updated numbers from a 3:30 a.m. data release.

The campaign team wanted the new Wisconsin numbers to provide them with some momentum, but the unfolding situation only left them frustrated, which Wolff describes in "Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency."

At 3:30 a.m. eastern time, Wisconsin did not report any updated figures.

"Everybody waited, without much to say, anxiety ramping up, the president muttering: Why the delay? What was happening? Had they stopped counting? What was going on?" Wolff wrote.

Read more:Where is Trump's White House staff now? We created a searchable database of more than 327 top staffers to show where they all landed

Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal lawyer at the time, insisted that the "delay" confirmed his suspicions of electoral wrongdoing.

"They now knew how many Biden votes they needed to offset Trump votes, and they were producing them! That's what the delay was about," Wolff wrote in describing Giuliani's line of thinking.

Trump stuck around for twenty minutes, but eventually became "agitated" and "angry" by the situation before heading to the White House Residence.

Election lawyer Matt Morgan, who was in the Map Room for much of the night, left the White House at 4 a.m.

As Morgan drove home, he realized that Wisconsin is in the central time zone, meaning it was an hour behind the East Coast.

The so-called "delay" was actually a failure to account for the time zone difference, and the updated data was released that morning.

Biden went on to defeat Trump in Wisconsin by roughly 20,000 votes out of nearly 3.3 million ballots cast.

Milwaukee County, the state's most populous jurisdiction and a longtime Democratic stronghold, gave Biden a hefty 183,000-vote margin over Trump, ensuring his victory in the Midwestern presidential battleground.

The Trump campaign, which questioned the results, last year spent $3 million on recounts in Milwaukee County and Dane County, another Democratic stronghold, only to see Biden pick up 132 votesin Milwaukee.

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Governors’ races see flood of pro-Trump candidates | TheHill – The Hill

Posted: at 7:55 am

Pro-Trump candidates are racing to launch gubernatorial campaigns across the country, posing a test for the former presidents political brand in a number of key states going into 2022.

Over the July 4 holiday weekend, former GOP Chairman Allen West became the second primary challenger against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), while Republican Geoff Diehl announced he was running for governor in Massachusetts, potentially sparking a challenge against Gov. Charlie Baker (R), who has yet to announce whether he is running for another term.

Meanwhile, in Maine, former Gov. Paul LePage (R) formally announced his campaign for a third term as governor, while Republican Dan Cox jumped into the gubernatorial race in Maryland.

These candidates join a growing list of Republicans with their sights set on the governors' mansions in Ohio and Georgia.

Youre going to see situations where people are trying to out-Trump each other, said Republican strategist Doug Heye. Ultimately, these candidates are making a bet, and the bet is Trump is powerful enough for them to be a vehicle to move into the governors mansion.

But operatives note that the incumbents and candidates running face very different challenges in uniquely different states.

These are statewide races, and they are specifically for state governments, so the issues are just a little different, said one Republican operative.

But others point out that combative primaries can leave nominees bruised heading into a general election or even future races.

A not-strong-enough showing in the state of Texas can also hamper your standing with donors in the national press when it comes to actually announcing a presidential campaign, said one Republican consultant who has done work in Texas.

Abbott, a potential 2024 presidential contender, faces three primary challengers: West, former Texas state Sen. Don Huffines (R) and conservative political commentator Chad Prather.

A University of Texas-Texas Tribune poll released last month shows 44 percent of Texas voters saying they approve of Abbotts job as governor, while 44 percent say they disapprove. But among Republicans, he enjoys a 77 percent approval rating.

The challengers are working to hit Abbott from the right, citing a number of hot-button conservative issues, notably border security. If elected, Huffines has promised to close all border crossings on the Rio Grande River as a means of pressuring Mexico to deal with the issue of undocumented migrants coming to the U.S.

When it comes to primary rhetoric, its actually pretty good rhetoric, and he knows that Abbott wont be able to go there or go that far, the GOP consultant said.

But Trump, who has been vocal about the border since his 2016 presidential campaign, endorsed Abbott early last month. On top of that, the two appeared together late last month at the southern border,where they hit the Biden administrations handling of the flow of undocumented migrants into the U.S.

He didnt leave any wiggle room for West or anyone else to say that Trump is not with the governor, said the GOP operative.

In Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWineMike DeWineGovernors' races see flood of pro-Trump candidates Kyle Kondik: 'Growing trend' is fewer American voters splitting tickets Ohio governor deploys nearly 200 National Guard members to US-Mexico border MORE (R) is facing a challenge from former Rep. Jim RenacciJames (Jim) B. RenacciGovernors' races see flood of pro-Trump candidates Former House Republican to challenge DeWine for Ohio gubernatorial nomination The Hill's Morning Report - Presented by Facebook - Republicans seek to sink Jan. 6 commission MORE (R). Renacci has aligned himself closely with the former president and even enlisted Trumps former campaign manager Brad ParscaleBrad ParscaleAides tried to get Trump to stop attacking McCain in hopes of clinching Arizona: report MORE as an adviser.

Ohio went for Trump in the 2016 and 2020 elections, and the former president traveled to the state last month to hold his first rally since leaving office. DeWine notably drew the ire of Trump in November after he acknowledged Joe BidenJoe BidenEric Adams to meet with Biden on curbing gun violence: reports Democrats hit crunch time in Biden spending fight US troops in Syria come under 'indirect fire attack' MORE as the president-elect.

Who will be running for Governor of the Great State of Ohio? Trump tweeted, appearing to hint at a primary challenger.

DeWine also faced some pushback from conservatives during the height of the pandemic for the states coronavirus restrictions.

Renaccis allies have pointed to polls showing the former congressman leading the governor, while DeWine said last month hes feeling very, very good about his reelection chances.

DeWines supporters also point to Renaccis 2018 loss to Democratic Sen. Sherrod BrownSherrod Campbell BrownDemocrats hit crunch time in Biden spending fight Governors' races see flood of pro-Trump candidates TIm Ryan raises .28 million for Ohio Senate bid MORE (Ohio), which they say helped to put a major dent in his credibility with Buckeye State Republicans.

There is some rumblings from the base, said one Republican Ohio operative. If it was somebody that was a more credible challenger, like, say, [Rep.] Warren DavidsonWarren Earl DavidsonGovernors' races see flood of pro-Trump candidates 21 Republicans vote against awarding medals to police who defended Capitol Cheney set to be face of anti-Trump GOP MORE [R-Ohio], I think that would be more of a cause for concern.

DeWines allies also argue that Trump is focusing most of his ire in Ohio at Rep. Anthony GonzalezAnthony GonzalezGovernors' races see flood of pro-Trump candidates Cheney, Kinzinger are sole GOP votes for Jan. 6 select committee Trump, GOP return to border to rev up base MORE (R), who voted to impeachthe former president earlier this year.

In Massachusetts, Diehl has appeared to distance himself from the former president. Diehl, who co-chaired Trumps campaign in Massachusetts in 2016, told Politico that hed rather leave national politics out of the race.

I did want people to support the president back in 2016 because he was speaking to me about issues that I was trying to talk about here on Beacon Hill, Diehl told Politico Massachusetts.

At the time, I felt it was important to support him, he added.

There are questions about the future direction of the Massachusetts Republican Party, as some state Republicans have criticized the governor for being too liberal.

"Maybe we're better off without the governorship and we're able to grow the party from the ground up," Republican State Committeeman Steve Aylward said at a state committee meeting last month, according to NBC10 Boston.

Its unclear whether Trump will get involved in the race or if Baker will even seek reelection. Regardless, polls show Baker in good standing with Massachusetts voters. A Suffolk University poll from May shows Baker with a 67 percent approval rating from voters in the state, while 71 percent and 58 percent of voters say they approve of his handling of the pandemic and vaccine distribution, respectively.

Up north in Maine, LePage, who has called himself Donald TrumpDonald TrumpYoungkin releases new ad seeking to tie McAuliffe to Trump in Virginia's governors race Trump says being impeached twice didn't change him: 'I became worse' Lobbyists, moderate Democrats rely on debunked arguments against tax hikes MORE before Donald Trump became popular, is launching his campaign against Democratic Gov. Janet MillsJanet MillsGovernors' races see flood of pro-Trump candidates Equilibrium/Sustainability Presented by NextEra Energy China: Wild pandas no longer endangered The Hill's Morning Report: Afghanistan's future now up to Afghans, Biden says MORE.

Maine Republican Party Chairwoman Demi Kouzounas praised LePage as a proven governor in an interview with WMTW on Wednesday, a sign of the states GOP establishment coalescing around him. LePage is the only major Republicanwho has jumped into the race.

The way LePage governed was kind of Trump in style before there was a Trump, with a lot of what I would politely say are brash statements and getting into similar fights that Trump would, but he won, Heye said, There I dont think its so much of a play for Trumps base per sethan LePage being LePage.

Republicans say they are aware that Maryland will be an uphill battle for them as Gov. Larry Hogan, a noted critic of Trump within the GOP, leaves office.

Cox, a pro-Trump firebrand, gained attention for speaking out against the pandemic shutdowns and organized a bus to bring protesters to Washington on Jan. 6 but later said the group was not in the Capitol and did not take part in any violence.

Cox joins Hogan Secretary of Commerce Kelly Schulz in the Republican primary field.

Its an uphill climb for any Republican, and if youre going down the Trump lane, your path gets very limited, Heye said. If Maryland Republicans want to have a shot at winning, they nominate Kelly Schulz or they lose.

Republicans say the situation that Georgia Gov. Brian KempBrian KempGovernors' races see flood of pro-Trump candidates Stacey Abrams PAC tops 0 million raised The Hill's Morning Report: Afghanistan's future now up to Afghans, Biden says MORE (R) is facing is a category of its own.

Kemp has now long faced the ire of Trump for refusing to overturn Trumps electoral loss in Georgia. Pro-Trump Republican Vernon Jones launched a challenge against Kemp in April and has claimed the presidential results in Georgia were fixed.

Joness campaign said he raised $650,000 in his first 10 weeks as a candidate. And while Trump has yet to endorse him, Jones has received shoutouts from notable Trump allies, including Donald Trump Jr.

Kemps backers warn that the GOP base needs to be united ahead of 2022,when Georgia will see highly contested races for the Senate and governors mansion. His supporters also say that Kemps election legislation that put new restrictions on voting in the state has helped unite the base.

Its kind of shored up the base for Kemp in a way that they see him as fighting for the state, said the GOP operative.

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F–k Him: Rupert Murdoch Reportedly Made the Call to Bury Trumps Election Night Dreams in a Shallow Grave – Vanity Fair

Posted: at 7:55 am

In the early-morning hours of November 4, the day after the 2020 election, Donald Trump held a news conference in the East Room of the White House in which he falsely claimed that the fact that he had been ahead in the early tallying of votes, and then later behind, meant that the election had been stolen from him. This is a fraud on the American public, he declared. This is an embarrassment to this country. We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election. Obviously that wasnt true at allTrump hadnt won anything because not all of the votes had been counted yet. Still, in some states it had become clear that he was very likely going to lose, hence Fox Newss decision to declare Arizona for Joe Biden. At the time the call from the right-wing outlet, made before any other major network, shocked the countryand according to a new book, it was Rupert Murdoch who gave it the greenlight, with some less-than-charitable things to say about Trump!

Insider reports that Michael Wolffs forthcoming book, Landslide, includes a scene in which Lachlan Murdoch, the nonagenarian billionaires son, got a call from Foxs election desk saying it was ready to announce Biden had won Arizona, which he then took to the top:

The book [notes] that the Murdochswho spearhead a vast right-wing media empirehad every reason to delay calling Arizona at the time, given Foxs steadfast allegiance to Trump and the fact that no other network had made the call yet. Lachlan got his father on the phone to ask if he wanted to make the early call. His father, with signature grunt, assented, adding, F--- him, Wolff wrote. The book [says] that Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer then called Trumps lead social media strategist, Jason Miller, to let him know the network was going to call Arizona for Biden. Miller involuntarily rose from his seat. What the f---? he said out loud, looking around and seeing the still-merry and untroubled faces in the Map Room...Wolff wrote. Hemmer reportedly replied: Thats what theyre doing. Thats what theyre going with.

Who? Miller asked.

The election desk, Hemmer said, adding that the networks decision was going to be aired imminently. The decision to call Arizona for Biden was a pivotal moment on election night, indicating the Democrat was poised to win the traditionally Republican-leaning state and complicating Trumps ability to declare an early victory in the overall race.

In a statement, a Fox News Media spokesperson told the Hive: "This account is completely false. Arnon Mishkin who leads the FOX News Decision Desk made the Arizona call on election night and FOX News Media President Jay Wallace was then called in the control room. Any other version of the story is wildly inaccurate. Regarding Bill Hemmers call to Miller, a Fox News spokesperson insisted This never happened and is completely untrue.

Trump was unsurprisingly livid about the Arizona decision and, as my colleague Gabriel Sherman reported at the time, personally called Murdoch to scream about the call and demand a retraction. Murdoch refused, and the call stood. (Jared Kushner also reportedly tried to convince the Fox News founder to withdraw the call, a desperate plea that fell on deaf ears.)

Biden ultimately won Arizona by roughly 10,000 votes. But if anyone thought Foxs (and Murdochs) decision to momentarily refrain from serving as a right-wing propaganda machine suggested the network had changed its ways, they were deeply mistaken. Chris Stirewalt, the politics editor at the time, was fired in January. And the networks hosts have, of course, perpetuated the lie that Trump won the election, while pushing bullshit conspiracy theories about the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

Texas remains committed to turning state into uninhabitable hellhole

Insane open carry laws? A ban on abortions after six weeks? Anti-trans legislation? The potential disenfranchisement of millions of people? Gelatinous tubeworm Ted Cruz? The Lone Star State has got it all. Per The Washington Post:

Republican lawmakers in Texas on Thursday launched their second effort this year to pass new voting restrictions after Democrats blocked them in May with a dramatic walkout at the state Capitol. The legislature convened Thursday for a special session called by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to enact alaundry list of conservative priorities, including a ban of transgender athletes on youth sports teams and beefed-up border security. But Abbott has made clear that election integrity is a top priority, and Republicans filed bills in the House and Senate that include many of the same voting provisions they sought to enact earlier in the year.

The new election proposals include a number of restrictions championed by former president Donald Trump. The measures would ban several election programs implemented last year to help people vote during thecoronaviruspandemic, including drive-through voting and 24-hour and late-night voting. Voting rights advocates noted that voters of color used these programs disproportionately, meaning they could disproportionately feel the impact of the restrictions.

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