Indictment, repost from end of last bread
Scott lawsuit over voting equipment in Palm Beach temporarily dismissed
Lawyers for Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Tuesday temporarily dismissed a lawsuit asking a judge to force the Palm Beach County sheriff and Florida state law enforcement officials to impound voting equipment amid an ongoing recount in the state's closely watched Senate race.
The move came after Palm Beach Circuit Judge Krista Marx said she did not have the authority to order Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw to impound and secure the equipment because he was not a party in the lawsuit.
"How do I order a non-party to do anything?" Marx asked, later adding: If [Bradshaw] chooses to sit with the parties and hammer out some kind of agreement with regard to what he is willing to do…then I will happy to sign that."
A lawyer for incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) also filed a motion to intervene in Scott's lawsuit on Tuesday.
Scott's campaign filed a similar lawsuit in Broward County on Sunday, but Broward Judge Jack Tuter on Monday rejected the request for law enforcement officials to impound and secure the equipment when not in use.
But the judge agreed to add three sheriff's deputies to the current group of law enforcement officials overseeing the recount process in Broward, saying that there needs to be "an additional layer of confidence" as votes are tallied.
The Senate race between Scott and Nelson has become increasingly bitter in recent days after late vote returns from Broward and Palm Beach showed Scott's lead evaporating.
Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner ordered a recount in the race on Saturday after unofficial results showed Scott and Nelson separated by less than 13,000 votes – a margin of about 0.15 points.
Nelson's campaign has also filed a lawsuit challenging how county officials evaluate provisional ballots. A hearing in that case is scheduled for Wednesday.
Scott and Republicans have suggested elections fraud has taken place in Democrat-heavy South Florida, while claiming that Nelson and Democrats are trying to "steal" the election.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Department of State have said that they have received no credible allegations of fraud or criminal activity.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/416442-scott-lawsuit-over-voting-equipment-in-palm-beach-temporarily-dismissed
The American Medical Association (AMA) is pushing back against a potential new policy from the Trump administration that could eliminate federal protections for transgender individuals.
The country's largest physician lobbying group said Tuesday during its interim meeting that it will “oppose efforts to deny an individual’s right to determine their stated sex marker or gender identity.”
AMA’s stance comes just weeks after a news report that the Department of Health and Human Services is spearheading an effort to narrowly redefine sex as “a person’s status as male or female based on immutable biological traits identifiable by or before birth.”
If enacted, the policy would erase federal protections for an estimated 1.4 million Americans who identify themselves as a gender other than the one they were born into.
“It is essential to acknowledge that an individual’s gender identity may not align with the sex assigned to them at birth,” AMA board member William E. Kobler said in a statement. “A narrow limit on the definition of sex would have public health consequences for the transgender population and individuals born with differences in sexual differentiation, also known as intersex traits."
The Trump administration has sought to bar transgender people from serving in the military and has legally challenged the civil rights protections for the group that were codified in ObamaCare.
The medical community, including the AMA, recognizes a distinction between sex and gender and has called for legal protections for the gender non-conforming community.
AMA previously passed a resolution saying there was no “medically valid reason” for the administration to ban transgender soldiers.
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/416425-physicians-push-back-on-trump-policy-to-redefine-gender
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/416380-top-judiciary-dem-torches-whitaker-completely-unfit-to-supervise-mueller
Poliquin Sues to Stop Maine’s Ranked Choice Voting
Maine Rep. Bruce Poliquin has sued state Attorney General Matthew Dunlap seeking an injunction to stop the tabulation of ballots under the state’s ranked-choice voting system, which is being used in his race against Democrat Jared Golden in the 2nd District.
Since no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote, the state’s ranked-choice voting system kicked in last week. This year is the first time it’s being used at the federal level in Maine, and the 2nd District will likely be the first House race in the country to be decided under this process.
The new system lets voters rank candidates in order of preference. If no one receives a majority, the last-place finisher is eliminated and his or her votes reallocated to the candidates whom voters ranked second. The process continues until someone secures more than 50 percent of the vote…
https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/poliquin-sues-stop-maines-ranked-choice-voting
President Trump slammed The New York Times on Tuesday for its coverage of a report that said it had identified 13 of the estimated 20 previously undeclared missile operating bases in North Korea, claiming that the paper's article was "inaccurate."
"The story in the New York Times concerning North Korea developing missile bases is inaccurate," Trump tweeted, referencing the paper's coverage of a report from the Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). "We fully know about the sites being discussed, nothing new - and nothing happening out of the normal."
"Just more Fake News," he wrote. "I will be the first to let you know if things go bad!"
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/416439-trump-nyt-report-on-north-korean-missile-bases-inaccurate
Several pro-Trump Facebook pages and one Twitter account on Monday posted the home address and phone number of the Broward County, Fla., election supervisor who has been the target of blistering criticism from the president and other Republicans amid highly politicized vote recounts.
Posting the home address of Election Supervisor Brenda Snipes — a tactic called “doxing” — often is a step toward harassment of people in the public spotlight and is prohibited by Facebook, Twitter and most other online platforms. The incident came amid rising vilification of the top election official in Florida’s most Democratic county as the state recounts closely fought elections for the governorship and U.S. Senate.
Facebook confirmed Tuesday that it had removed personal information about Snipes after the incident was reported to the company. Twitter declined to comment. Two tweets from an account visible Tuesday morning were deleted by noon.
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The posting of Snipes’s address and phone number was discovered by an independent researcher who reported it to The Washington Post on the condition of anonymity, out of fear of becoming a target of online attacks. The Post reviewed all the relevant pages.
Snipes expressed shock and concern that her personal information had been publicized. “That's crazy because I have not done anything wrong,” she said. “We had an excellent election with record turnout. And then it turns into this ugly monster because it gets political."
Snipes has been the target of attacks from Trump, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and others in recent days and also been the focus of critical stories in popular conservative publications such as Breitbart News. Protesters outside the Broward elections office have cried “Lock her up!” in an echo from Trump campaign rallies where Hillary Clinton was the foil….
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/11/13/recount-politics-heat-up-two-florida-election-officials-are-targets-online-harassment/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.9d3023e4d1dc