First Thoughts: You've Gotta Know When To Hold'em

A rural Colorado county courthouse beefed up security Friday after threats were made against staff and a judge who sentenced former county clerk Tina Peters to nearly nine years behind bars and admonished her for her role in a data breach scheme catalyzed by the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump. Courthouse staff in Grand Junction received multiple threats that were being vetted by law enforcement while extra security was provided, said spokesperson Wendy Likes with the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office. She did not say how many threats were made or how they were received.

As any schoolkid might tell you, US elections are based on a bedrock principle: one person, one vote. Simple as that. Each vote carries the same weight. Yet for much of the country’s history, that hasn’t been the case. At various points, whole classes of people were shut out of voting: enslaved Black Americans, Native Americans, and poor White people.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp made his first appearance of the 2024 election with Donald Trump on Friday. The event marked another key moment of support by Kemp for Trump’s presidential bid, despite the vitriol Trump has directed at him and his family. The two appeared together at a relief shelter in the east Georgia town of Evans, which was badly damaged last week by Hurricane Helene.

Donald Trump’s claim that non-citizens are crossing the Southern border and registering to vote in US elections has become a centerpiece of his presidential campaign, even though every major study shows that non-citizen voting is exceedingly rare. But a lawsuit filed last month shows that those false assertions of voter fraud are leading to real world instances of qualified voters being blocked from casting a ballot. On August 13, Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen, an election denier who supported Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 results, announced that his office had identified 3,200 alleged noncitizens who had registered to vote in the state and had begun removing them from the voter rolls.

Above, Elderbrook performs, The End. They say the world will end with a whimper and not a bang, and so yeah, we're looking at JD Vance today —who wrote a best-selling (BS?) memoir— and a couple of other memoirs. What a way to commemorate Banned Book Week! No More Mister Nice Blog notes that our liberal media is measuring the White House Drapes for JD Vance —again! Jill Filipovic asks if JD Vance is the future of the right? North Carolina Newsline reports that more women are seeking sterilization post Dobbs.

Vice President Kamala Harris bashed Donald Trump for his role in refusing to adhere to his oath of office when he helped foment the insurrection on January 6th, KAMALA HARRIS: And your words today and the reason we are all here today, I think, really do underscore, perhaps, one of the most fundamental questions that is facing the American people in this election. Who will obey that oath?