White nationalists and Twitter bots fueled the war against Al Franken -- and the Democrats fell for it
February 19, 2018 7:17AM ET
Sarah Burris is a long-time veteran of political campaigns, having worked as a fundraiser and media director across the United States. She transitioned into reporting while working for Rock the Vote, Future Majority and Wiretap Magazine, covering the Millennial Generation's perspective during the presidential elections. As a political writer, Burris has had bylines at CNN, Salon.com, BNR, and AlterNet and serves as a senior digital editor for RawStory.com.
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A man convicted of killing two people more than two decades ago was executed by lethal injection in the western US state of Oklahoma on Thursday, officials said.
Michael Smith, 41, was put to death at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, the Department of Corrections officials said in a statement.
It said the execution process began at 10:09 am Central Time (1509 GMT) and Smith was pronounced dead 11 minutes later. A "spiritual advisor" was present in the execution chamber at the time.
Smith was convicted in 2003 of the separate 2002 murders in Oklahoma City of Janet Moore and Sharath Babu Pulluru, a convenience store clerk.
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Smith initially confessed to shooting Moore and Pulluru but later claimed he had been on drugs and could not remember being arrested.
The Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board denied Smith's request for clemency last month and the US Supreme Court turned down his last-ditch appeal for a stay of execution on Thursday.
Smith's attorneys had argued that his life should be spared because he is intellectually disabled and he abused drugs for years.
There have been three other executions in the United States this year including one in Alabama that was the first using nitrogen gas.
The two others -- in Georgia and Texas -- were carried out by lethal injection.
Another execution by lethal injection had been scheduled to take place in Idaho in February but was halted after a medical team was unable to insert an intravenous line.
Capital punishment has been abolished in 23 US states, while the governors of six others -- Arizona, California, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Tennessee -- have put a hold on its use.
There were 24 executions in the United States in 2023, all of them carried out by lethal injection.
Republican state lawmaker Laurel Libby stood up on the Maine House floor to support the Second Amendment rights and right of freedom of association of neo-Nazis in the Pine Tree State. Rep. Libby, strongly opposing a bill that would place a ban on paramilitary activity or groups working to cause civil disorder, on Wednesday called the legislation "unconstitutional." 26 states currently have similar laws.
Neo-Nazi groups have been popping up in Maine. The bill Libby spoke against was in response to neo-Nazi events and issues over the past year.
“Let’s talk about the Nazis," Libby says in a clip (below) posted by the Maine House Democratic Campaign Committee. "I would like to know what they did that was illegal. I would like to know what they did, in detail if folks would like to share, that was wrong, that infringed on another person’s right."
"Holding a rally, and even holding a rally with guns, is not illegal,” Libby noted.
“We don’t have to like what said Nazis did,” Libby also said, according to Spectrum News. “We don’t have to like what they stand for. We don’t have to agree with their positions. We don’t have to think well of them. But you know what we do have to do? We have to protect their First Amendment right to free speech and association.”
READ MORE: ‘Like Saying Stick ‘Em Up During a Bank Robbery’: Why Trump Just Got Slapped Down by a Judge
“It’s is our duty to protect the Nazis’ right to free speech and association, as long as it does not infringe on someone else’s rights – as long as they are not harming someone else,” Libby said, as the Portland Press Herald added.
In the full version of her floor speech, which she posted to Facebook, Rep. Libby also argues the bill is unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds.
"The First Amendment gives us the right to free speech. Not just free speech, the right to association," she said, adding, "we have the freedom to associate with others who have a similar political, religious, or cultural beliefs."
The legislation comes after Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey realized last summer, when a reported neo-Nazi purchased land in Maine to set up a white supremacist training camp, there was no way to stop that activity.
"The bill, sponsored by Rep. Laurie Osher, D-Orono, is aimed at preventing any unauthorized paramilitary group from establishing a headquarters in Maine – something that Christopher Pohlhaus, a prominent neo-Nazi, said he was trying to do in the rural northern Maine town of Springfield last year. It also follows an increase in public displays of white nationalism around the state, including hateful literature drops and public rallies," the Portland Press Herald reported in February.
Despite Rep. Libby's opposition, the legislation passed the Maine House, by one vote.
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Last year, one neo-Nazi "group was seen in multiple locations in downtown Portland chanting, making Nazi salute gestures, and holding a sign that read: 'Defend White Communities,'" NBC affiliate News Center Maine reported. "According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting hate, NSC-131 is a neo-Nazi group based in New England. The group is known to target LGBTQ+ communities, as well as Jewish and anti-fascist groups."
Online, outrage over Libby's remarks grew.
"This is the Republican Party in 2024," said Democratic former Maine Speaker of the House, Ryan Fecteau.
Connecticut Democratic Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff commented, "What the actual $%#@? This is not normal. Vote to save democracy."
Portland At-Large City Councilor April Fournier wrote: "Grateful to at least have the quiet part said out loud so Mainers and everywhere else can see LL for who she is."
Maine Democratic state Rep. Amy Roeder said: "You ever been at work, just doing your job and enjoying the day when one of your coworkers stands up and asks why Nazis are so bad? No? Well, lemme tell ya ‘bout my day…"
Watch Rep. Libby's remarks below or at this link.
READ MORE: Jack Smith’s ‘Blistering’ Response to Judge Cannon Could ‘Remove Her From the Case’: Experts
Appearing on MSNBC's "Way Too Early" on Friday morning, Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg accused U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida Judge Aileen Cannon of trying to protect Donald Trump from being tried for obstruction of justice.
Speaking with host Jonathan Lemire, the Florida prosecutor stated the Trump-appointed judge has plunged special counsel Jack Smith into "legal purgatory" with her latest ruling.
Late Thursday, Cannon denied Trump's bid to use the Presidential Records Act (PRA) as cover for hoarding sensitive government documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort but still left a door open for the former president's lawyers to bring it up again during the trial — which still does not have a start date.
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According to Aronberg, Cannon is giving Smith little room to turn to the 11th Court of Appeals to intercede on his behalf.
After arguing that "Jack Smith is in a bit of a trick box. He wants to essentially call the judge's manager but the judge has to approve it first, and she hasn't done so yet," he was asked by Lemire what is next up for the special counsel.
"You've said the tone of special counsel Smith's filing shows he's right up against the edge, basically he's fed up with what he's heard from this judge and he might even consider going to the 11th Circuit Court and try to push them to remove Judge Cannon from the case. Do we think there's a possibility that could actually happen?" Lemire prompted.
"Judge Cannon has given Jack Smith reason to do so, but it's a high burden to reach," Aronberg replied. "If he thought he could get her removed he would have done so. He may try to file a motion to prevent Donald Trump from using this PRA defense at trial, and thus it wouldn't appear in the jury instructions. we'll see what happens, but then Judge Cannon has to hear the motion and rule on it and she can do a bunch of things to hurt Jack Smith here. He's in a bit of legal purgatory here. He can't really appeal that order so he's going to have to find other means — maybe the motion to recuse the judge is the option he chooses."
Watch the video below or at this link.
MSNBC 04 05 2024 05 47 30youtu.be
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