News bits: Republican scofflaws; Republican liars; An abortion-related murder

Azcentral newspaper writes about a radical right Republican who continues to refuse to turn over thousands of emails a judge ordered him to turn over. That this thug is not in jail is evidence of the weak and failing rule of law. Azcentral writes:

Thousands of texts from Trump allies stay hidden 

in Arizona a year after judge's order on 'audit'

More than a year after a judge ordered the leader of the controversial Arizona "audit" to turn over his texts and other electronic messages, thousands still remain inexplicably hidden.

Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan has released more than 39,000 messages, available to anyone who wants to try to make sense of the disordered, sometimes duplicative documents. But his refusal to let go of an estimated 3,000 more raises questions about what's in them, and why they remain secret despite a court order.

The Arizona Republic has fought for public records of the review of the 2020 Maricopa County general election for almost two years from the Arizona Senate and from the Cyber Ninjas. Reporters have reviewed what has been released and noted the redactions. The news organization's attorneys have raised objections where they believe information was improperly withheld.

“It has been like pulling teeth getting these records from the defendants,” said attorney David Bodney, who represents The Arizona Republic.  

The Arizona Senate ordered an "independent" review of Maricopa County election results. The documents show the partisanship baked into Logan's project as he worked for the Senate. They detail how former President Donald Trump's loyalists were involved, proving the exercise was anything but independent.  

The Republican Senate and Cyber Ninjas have followed a familiar pattern in response to requests for records under the Arizona Public Records Law. First, they released thousands of innocuous messages, such as emails from supporters. Then, after continued pressure through the courts, more documents have come out.

Logan has turned over records in different formats, making them time-consuming to cross reference. On top of that, they were initially released in non-chronological order.

At this point, one can reasonably believe the illegally withheld information incriminates themselves, Trump and other prominent fascist election deniers in illegal activities. All that the scofflaw thugs have to do to dispel that belief is release all the information they are legally required to release.

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Newsweek reports about a prominent House Republican "loosing track" of a key witness who would testify that Joe Biden broke a law(s) and committed whatever other horror(s) that Republicans were planning slander Biden with. Newsweek writes:

Republican Admits Key 'Informant' Against Joe Biden Now Missing

Representative James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, admitted on Sunday that his fellow Republicans lost track of a key witness in an investigation about the Biden family being involved in an alleged bribery scheme.

On Wednesday, House Oversight Committee Republicans released a 36-page memo accusing members of the Biden family of earning millions of dollars during Joe Biden's term as vice president under former President Barack Obama from a number of Chinese and Romanian companies they claim posed "potential threats" to the United States.

The memo, a copy of which was obtained by Newsweek, includes redacted images of transactions involving a number of bank accounts purportedly belonging to members of the Biden family. It outlines a network of secretive bank accounts connected not only to Biden's son, Hunter, but to a number of other family members, all of whom Comer, the committee's chairman, accused of using Biden's position to curry favor with foreign governments and peddle influence on U.S. foreign policy.

The documents released Wednesday provide no evidence that President Biden was ever directly involved in the alleged schemes—or even if the payments in question resulted in tangible impact on U.S. policy.

"Well, unfortunately, we can't track down the informant," Comer responded on Sunday. "We're hopeful that the informant is still there. The whistleblower knows the informant. The whistleblower is very credible."

Comer also criticized the FBI's efforts to investigate the allegation, before Bartiromo asked him again about the informant, "Did you just say that the whistleblower or the informant is now missing?"

"Well, we're hopeful that we can find the informant," Comer responded, adding that the informant was in the "spy business" and therefore "they don't make a habit of being seen a lot."

He continued: "The nine of the 10 people that we've identified have very good knowledge with respect to the Bidens. They're one of three things, Maria, they're either currently in court, they're currently in jail, or they're currently missing.

This smells like another radical right GOP crackpot conspiracy theory to smear Biden and his family. All the radicals have to do to dispel that belief is show the American people the evidence they have that undeniably proves their case. Until that happens, one can reasonably believe that this is another of many unfounded fascist Republican attacks on democracy, political opposition, inconvenient truth and the rule of law.

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Abortion wars: There is more than one way that forced birth laws and beliefs can kill a woman. The AP writes about one of them:

A Texas woman was fatally shot by her boyfriend after she got an abortion, police say

A man who didn’t want his girlfriend to get an abortion fatally shot her during a confrontation in a Dallas parking lot, police said.

He was jailed on a murder charge as of Friday.

Texas banned abortions after roughly six weeks of pregnancy in September 2021. But nearly all abortions have been halted in Texas since Roe v. Wade was overturned last summer, except in cases of medical emergency.

Gabriella Gonzalez, 26, was with her boyfriend, 22-year-old Harold Thompson, on Wednesday when he tried to put her in a chokehold, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. She had returned the night before from Colorado, where she had gone to get an abortion. 

Surveillance video from the parking lot shows Gonzalez “shrugs him off,” police said, and the two continue walking. Thompson then pulls out a gun and shoots Gonzalez in the head. She falls to the ground and Thompson shoots her multiple times before running away, the affidavit said.

This death is on the hands of people who support forced birth laws and/or beliefs. It is reasonable to put significant blame on the toxic influence of anti-abortion, pro-gun, pro-violence Christianity and religion in America. The shooter bears most of the blame. But society's beliefs and norms do influence morals and behavior, whether religious people believe it or not. 

Q: Is it unreasonable, irrational or unfair to partly blame Christianity and it's rigid intolerance of deviation from anti-abortion, pro-forced birth dogma for this murder?