It's time to put up or shut up, dude:

While the subpoena was anticipated, it is a remarkable escalation in the investigation into whether the deadly violence on Jan. 6 was the direct result of Trump’s actions in the weeks after he lost his bid for reelection.

“As demonstrated in our hearings, we have assembled overwhelming evidence, including from dozens of your former appointees and staff, that you personally orchestrated and oversaw a multipart effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election and to obstruct the peaceful transition of power,” Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) and vice chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said in a statement, part of a 10-page letter to Trump.

It's no coincidence that Steve Bannon was just sentenced to 4 months in prison for Contempt of Congress at roughly the same time this subpoena was issued:

Executive privilege does not apply:

In a sealed decision that could clear the way for other top Trump White House officials to answer questions before a grand jury, Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell ruled that former Pence chief of staff Marc Short probably possessed information important to the Justice Department’s criminal investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol that was not available from other sources, one of those people said.

Trump appealed, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit refused to postpone Short’s appearance while the litigation continues, the people said, signaling that attempts by Trump to invoke executive privilege to preserve the confidentiality of presidential decision-making were not likely to prevail.

I've noticed several friends asking, "What is Merrick Garland waiting for?" He's not waiting. Hasn't been waiting. A true bill of indictment handed down by a Grand Jury is the proper approach in any controversial prosecution, and this one is without a doubt the most controversial one. No former/current President has ever been prosecuted for a crime, so we're in unexplored territory here. Of course this is taking a long time, because Trump is fighting every move the DOJ makes:

Did you know you can register to vote online? You can if you have a state-issued ID or Driver's License! #ncpolhttps://t.co/c7MwIqepgf

— New North Carolina Project (@NewNCProject) October 10, 2022

The deadline to register for the 2022 Mid-Term Elections is this Friday. If you have moved (even just a block away) you need to update your registration. If you miss that deadline you can still same-day register & vote at early voting locations, but it's best to do it ahead of time.

Welcome to the new normal for the GOP:

“Faith in election integrity is a huge piece of what makes democracy work,” said Paige Alexander, who leads the Atlanta-based Carter Center, a nonpartisan group founded by former president Jimmy Carter that promotes freedom and human rights around the globe.

The organization has monitored elections in foreign nations for many years, often asking candidates to sign pledges that they will accept the certified result of a free and fair contest. With the proliferation of false claims about the 2020 election, Alexander said, the center’s leadership agreed that it was time to circulate a similar pledge among candidates in the United States as well. The center is focusing on five battleground states this year — Arizona, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and Michigan — but its pledge welcomes any candidate, former elected official or organization to sign.

Of course Cheri Beasley said she would accept the results, and so did nut-jobs Herschel Walker and Mehmet Oz. But Tedd Budd apparently doesn't want to get "pinned down" promising to honor the will of the voters. But even if he said he would honor the results, he simply can't be trusted. He's notorious for taking credit for things he tried to block:

This is nothing to joke about:

“This is a novel, new violent extremist movement born in the internet age, which defies the usual characteristics of violent extremist movements that law enforcement and the intelligence community are usually used to,” said Imran Ahmed, founder and CEO of CCDH, a US-based nonprofit. “Our study shows that it is organized, has a cogent ideology and has clearly concluded that raping women, killing women, and raping children is a clear part of the practice of their ideology.”

In March, the U.S. Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center released a report warning that anti-woman violence was a growing terrorism threat. According to the CCDH analysis, members of the forum post about rape every 29 minutes, and more than 89 percent of posters support rape and say it’s acceptable.

I am generally against censorship in the commons, because a free exchange of opinions (theoretically) helps us determine the boundaries of right and wrong. It also drives some people underground, where they gather (like rats) into fringe groups, giving them a false sense of "power in numbers" which serves to reinforce their anti-social and misogynistic leanings. That being said, online platforms must exercise better censorship methods, because their ability to facilitate and amplify those voices is the equivalent of a PA system in an otherwise docile park: